The Victors: Maize & Blue & Red*
I shan't pretend that I've been paying close attention to the ice hockey team's fortunes throughout the year. Except for the Big Chill at the Big House in December, I haven't seen a college hockey game in person since '02 or '03. That said, I was once a regular at Yost Ice Arena; I have the ticket stubs & I know the filthy chants to prove it. I have been irked all year by MGoBlog's hostility toward this year's valiant Wolverines, the bizarre insistence that this team just isn't any good because it isn't as flashy as teams past. The valiant Wolverines defied expectations, earning a spot in the N.C.A.A. Tournament—extending the record-setting streak of twenty consecutive tournament appearances—& playing their way into the Frozen Four, the semifinals of the championship. On Thursday, Michigan beat North Dakota, the top-seeded team in the whole tournament, for a berth in Saturday's national championship game. The valiant Wolverines of the University of Michigan are sixty minutes of game time away from their record-extending tenth National Championship. If that's not a reason to get excited, I don't know what is.

Go Blue!

The Victors: Project OSPREY
Debate does not like basketball. The Ohio Wesleyan tournament (the forthcoming "Master Debating, 3 of 4") took place during the first weekend of the Big Dance, the frantic four days that whittle a field of sixty-four down to the Sweet Sixteen. Nationals at Vermont, a fortnight later, overlapped with the Final Four; I was home in plenty of time to watch the national championship game on Monday night (4 April), but by the time the game tipped-off I was beat after the emotional stress, sleep deprivation, & hit-or-miss diet of the weekend & not in much of a mood for the game. Shame about Butler's collapse, but having seen Kemba Walker's clinic in domination at the Maui Invitational back in November I can hardly say I'm surprised that UConn won it all.

Sunday, 20 March - N.C.A.A. Tournament "3rd Round" (Rd. of 32)
(№ 3 overall, № 1 seed) Duke 73-71 Michigan (№ 8 seed)
21-14, Big Ten 9-9

We learned that Michigan was making a game of it just as we were going into the final round at the Ohio Wesleyan tournament; that the valiant Wolverines were making a game of it against the diabolical Blue Devils was tremendously uplifting; that the game came down to the very last shot was a thrill that no one could have predicted coming into this season. I've rarely been so excited & joyous after a loss. To those who dismiss the notion of moral victories, I submit Michigan's loss to Duke as Exhibit A in favor. Wow, what a team!

Friday, 18 March - N.C.A.A. Tournament "2nd Round" (Rd. of 64)
(№ 8 seed) Michigan 75-45 Tennessee (№ 9 seed)
21-13, Big Ten 9-9

The game tipped-off at 12:30 P.M. & we departed from campus at 1:00; I was motoring to Delaware, Ohio for a debate tournament during all the action. It was thrilling to learn that we hadn't just advanced in the Big Dance, but had done so at the expense of that sleazebag Bruce Pearl & in such spectacular fashion. This was Michigan's second N.C.A.A. Tournament berth in three seasons, & second opening-game victory in those two berths. Thank you, John Beilein!

Saturday, 12 March - Big Ten Tournament Semifinals
(№ 1) Ohio State 68-61 Michigan
20-13, Big Ten 9-9

The valiant Wolverines played the hated Buckeyes, the best team in all the land, even for thirty-five minutes; unfortunately, for five minutes starting halfway through the second half, we stopped playing both offense & defense, allowing our hated foes to jump out to an ultimately insurmountable eighteen-point lead. Blast!

Friday, 11 March - Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals
Michigan 60-55 Illinois
20-12, Big Ten (regular season) 9-9

The feisty Fighting Illini lead for almost the entire game, but the valiant Wolverines lead when it counted. I was terrified that the Maize & Blue would drop another close contest, as we had against Illinois in February, but there was a discernible confidence in the valiant Wolverines' body language that buoyed by spirits even before they captured the lead. As the № 4 seed playing the № 5 seed, Michigan had the toughest quarterfinal in the Big Ten tourney, but struggled far less than the higher-seeded pesky Badgers & ill-starred Boilermakers. Woot!

Saturday, 5 March
Michigan 70-63 Michigan State
19-12, Big Ten 9-9

I spent the whole of that Saturday master debating in Portland, Oregon. A month later, I can still scarcely wrap my mind around the enormity of it: a season sweep of the dastardly Spartans. A season sweep of the dastardly Spartans! That ridiculous count of days that those illiterate pyromaniacs kept (just because they don't know their letters does not necessitate that they don't know their numbers), shoved back into their scavenger faces! Beating them in their own house, & then finishing the season by holding serve in the House that Cazzie Built! Besting that asshat Izzo not just once, but twice! Bwa ha ha ha ha! We've been so mired in basketball futility for so long that I'd essentially ceded that ground to our devious brethren in Evil Lansing. No more, because the valiant Wolverines swept the dastardly Spartans! Ha! Put that in your pipe & smoke it, you cretins.

Saturday, 26 February
Michigan 70-63 Minnesota
18-12, Big Ten 8-9

I spent the whole of that Saturday master debating in Danbury, Connecticut. (Scroll down to the recent "Master Debating, 1 of 4: West Conn.") I have great respect for Tubby Smith, the head coach of the luckless Golden Gophers; so, I'm always pleased by a win over his squad. I find having missed the game vexing.

Wednesday, 23 February
(№ 12) Wisconsin 53-52 Michigan
17-12, Big Ten 7-9

I missed the tight loss to the pesky Badgers because I was still slightly ailing & using all my meager strength to play catch-up after losing a week to the dreadful sick. Plus, watching the pesky Badgers is usually akin to Chinese water torture: it sounds kind of interesting, but soon becomes monotonous & disheartening.

Sooner rather than later, I will put down a few thoughts on the season as a whole & what it may mean for next season. In six seasons in Ann Arbor, Tommy Amaker never took the valiant Wolverines to the Big Dance, something John Beilein has now done in two or his four seasons. This season, Michigan's roster didn't boast a single senior. Wonder of wonders. Will all the discord of the Rodriguez era & all the uncertainty yet surrounding Hoke, these so young valiant Wolverines & their wild ride through the season were exactly what the Michigan Nation needed. To borrow a line from the Detroit Tigers, Bless you, boys!

Go Blue!

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day: SKApril
Chris Murray, "Let There be Peace" from Plea for Peace (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: Last weekend in Burlington, Vermont, a very "crunchy" burg, a fellow defined the difference twixt ska & reggae thusly: "In ska, you just get drunk & have fun. In reggae, you get high & try to change the world, except you don't accomplish anything because you're high." Heh! I quite enjoyed that. Reggae grew out of ska, the original Jamaican ska, but by no means does reggae have a monopoly on a social conscience. Never forget that not too many years ago a multiracial band, as many ska bands have been going all the way back to 2-Tone (the second wave of ska), was an unusual sight, pioneers in the normalization of race relations. The symbolism of the black & white checkerboard pattern isn't subtle, nor was it supposed to be.

*Maize & Blue are Michigan's colors. Red? That would be Michigan's head coach, Gordon "Red" Berenson, All-American player in college & Stanley Cup winner in the N.H.L., under whose leadership the valiant Wolverines won National Championships in 1996 & 1998. Red is a legend in his own time.