This episode returns "The Explorers Club" to weekly publication, as we have successfully caught up from the rueful December '09 to May '10 silence. "And there was much rejoicing."

The Explorers Club
No. CCXI - Operation MINCEMEAT, a masterstroke of deception & the basis for the book & motion picture The Man Who Never Was.









The Victors
(No. 8) Ohio State 37-7 Michigan
7-5, Big Ten 3-5

The bad news: The worst part of yesterday's game is that we really, truly had a chance. If we hadn't made so many mistakes—for example, if Roy Roundtree hadn't dropped so damned many passes—we honestly could have beaten the hated Buckeyes. That would have been an enormous step toward restoring our national prestige, which has taken a drubbing the last four years (it all started under Coach Carr, with the loss to Appalachian State), but especially over the last three. But we didn't take that step, instead we practiced the same lamentable self-sabotage that has been, as much as anything else, the hallmark of the Rich Rod era. Drat! Drat! Drat!

The good news: Three of our five losses came to teams that finished tied for the Big Ten championship & ranked within the top ten in the A.P. poll. Clearly, we are not yet ready for prime time. But, against middling opposition the valiant Wolverines posted much more respectable records of 7-2 overall, 3-2 Big Ten. We aren't back to being the Michigan of yore, but considerable progress has been made since the dark days of '08. If we can manage to field a defense that's middle-of-the-road as far as overall rank in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (what used to be called Division I-A) instead of perilously close to dead last, the valiant Wolverines will be damned hard to beat.

The better good news: The season isn't over in November! There is yet a bowl game for which we must prepare. It's only one of many steps to once again being the Michigan we are supposed to be, but it's one step we have taken. Woot!

The worse bad news: What do I hate even more than losing to the hated Buckeyes? Losing to the hated Buckeyes by thirty #@*%ing points. Thirty #@*%ing points!? Are you #@*%ing kidding me?! #@*%!

Coming Attractions
Rich Rod: "To be or not to be."

Go Blue!



The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Sufjan Stevens, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" from Songs for Christmas (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: 'Tis the first Sunday of Advent. Note that there are three separate recordings of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" on Songs for Christmas; today's R.B.D.S.O.T.D. is the purely instrumental rendition, 1:06 in duration.

Samstag, 27 November
Reel Big Fish, "Beer" from Turn the Radio Off (The Guy & T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: I had the supreme privilege of spending last evening in the company of my boon companion The Guy, & in the course of the night a strong case was made for the candidacies of "Zak and Sara" & "Rockin' the Suburbs," both by Ben Folds, but in the end it was "Beer" that we sang as walked, shivering in the winter chill, from The Torch to where I'd parked Lumi. An appropriate "Project MERCATOR" post is forthcoming.

"She looks like Heaven,
Maybe this is Hell."