№ CCLVI - The Berlin tunnel (Operation GOLD/Operation STOPWATCH), 1952-1956, a joint U.S.-U.K. mission blown by the British traitor George Blake.
Two of this episode's three images are courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency. Your tax dollars at work!
The Victors
(№ 12) Michigan 42-24 Northwestern
6-0, Big Ten 2-0
As hoped, Shoelace's successes in the second half were more spectacular than his failures from the first half. More laudable still, the defense stepped up & shut down the plucky Wildcats in a way that was simply impossible under the previous coachign staff, with its self-defeating neglect of the non-offensive phases of the game. Mayhap Athletic Director Brandon was not speaking hyperbolically when he said he wanted even the ball boy to be defensive minded?
Also, I've concluded that I dislike night games. Yes, yes, the spectacle is all well & good, but they throw off the whole rhythm of a Saturday. A creature of habit am I, I like my distinctive daily rhythms, confound it!
It speaks volumes about the trauma of Coach Rodriguez's disastrous tenure that my first thought after the victory was, "Six & oh. Good, we're bowl eligible." Before 2008, Michigan had a streak of consecutive post-season (bowl) appearances that stretched back to the 1970s, to before I was born. Qualifying for a bowl was no big deal; indeed, it was a foregone conclusion. The only question was if the valiant Wolverines would play in a "loser" bowl or a "good" bowl, the Fancy Pants Salad Bowl on Boxing Day or the sacred Rose Bowl on New Year's Day against the ancient enemy, the Pac-10 (now the Pac-12). I long for the return of those days. Two bowls in as many years, the streak begins anew.
Next up: The second (in more sense than one) of the valiant Wolverines' three rivalry games, the in-state rivalry: Michigan, № 11 in the latest Associated Press poll, versus Michigan State, № 23. The dastardly Spartans reentered the Top 25 without playing a game this past weekend, & despite another loss that dropped the opponent from their marquee win, the hated Buckeyes, to 3-3. I write the following in earnest, without a trace of irony: I love the inconsistency & arbitrariness of college football rankings. In a world that is increasingly obsessed with quantification & a metric for everything under the Accursed Sun, the Top 25 remains a black art, as capricious & flawed as anything of human device is apt to be. It is unfair in the best possible way.
Go Blue!
Obamboozled
The Russian Federation & the People's Republic of China have vetoed the already watered-down version of a United Nations Security Council resolution concerning the rebellion/repression in the Syrian Arab Republic: the Mandate of Syria-link. The thing is, President Obama said that if the United States just gave the Russians & the Chinese everything they wanted, if we kowtowed to their wishes & acceded to their demands, that Russia & China would play ball on other issues. The U.S. bowed to the Kremlin's demand to cut back to the point of uselessness our plans for strategic missile defense, in the process leaving our Polish & Czech allies twisting in the wind; Mr. Obama & Secretary of State Clinton called this the "reset" of Russo-American relations. The U.S. sought to placate the P.R.C. by refusing to sell new F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets to our long-standing ally, the Republic of China (Taiwan)—this despite the fact that the sale would have preserved or generated hundreds of high-paying jobs for American workers at a time when Mr. Obama is haranguing the Congress daily to pass "right now" a supposed jobs bill. Where was all the goodwill these shameful capitulations bought Washington in Moscow & Beijing when Damascus came to a vote in Turtle Bay? To borrow a colorful phrase from Batman Returns, it would seem that President Medvedev & President Hu "played" President Obama "like a harp from Hell!" Oh, right, just as those of us who gaped in horror at Mr. Obama's naïveté predicted they would. Authoritarian regimes like those in Moscow & Beijing respect only strength, not the weakness & tentativeness inherent in the U.S.'s new strategic policy of "leading from behind." I would chortle in vindicated delight if the consequences of our charlatan president's naïveté were not so dire.
What exactly is your Plan B, Mr. President?
Also, dear readers, I know that many of you voted for Mr. Obama in 2008 & some of you might still believe in his administration. If my analysis of these events is wrong, please do not hesitate to inform me of in what way it is flawed or false. I would be tremendously grateful for your feedback. Thank you.
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Fountains of Wayne, "Michael and Heather at the Baggage Claim" from Traffic and Weather (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: Our F.O.W. "planes, trains, & automobiles" series rolls on. I suppose that means I'll have to keep listening to Fountains of Wayne. Drat!
6 comments:
I'll take a night game over a 3:30 game. Just me, though.
Fair enough. Is it reasonable to infer that you & I agree that noon games are the best of all?
It is, yes. Especially with "BTN only" games, the necessary "going to the bar to watch" indicates random mid-afternoon drinking that is just not awesome -- it's okay sometimes but a couple years ago, the season every damn game was at 3:30 SUCKED.
I shall have to add "The ability to watch Michigan games from the comfort of home" to the list of pros of remaining in the Mitten.
I know you will never be moving to the Sunshine State, but I do get the Big Ten Network through my cable company here. In the 13 months I have lived here, I have only been unable to watch one U-M game on TV at home (that was last season's game against Massachusetts, as BTN chose to air a game featuring a team from Columbus, Ohio instead).
I could pay to get the BTN, but, ugh, beyond a game or two I miss if I don't go out, there's just no point. Besides, the alumni bar is awesome and sometimes I run into GB alums ;)
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