The Explorers' Club
№ CCCII -The Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (not Constantinople).

The Victors
Saturday, 15 September
(№ 17) Michigan 63-13 Massachusetts
2-1, Big Ten 0-0

The contest betwixt the valiant Wolverines & the epithetless Minutemen of "UMass" went about how such a contest should. Would it have been nice to hold such, & pray pardon the presumption, lesser oppostion to fewer points? Surely, but so little removed from the worst era of Michigan football in living memory we should not be greedy; let us instead be grateful for each & every win, no matter how it comes about. It will be a long, hard road back to whom we once were, & impatience will only make that road longer & harder.

Saturday, 22 September
(№ 11) Notre Dame 13-6 Michigan (№ 18)
2-2, Big Ten 0-0

Those nostaglic for the Rich Rodriguez era were given a treat Saturday night, as our offense struggled in vain against self-inflicted wounds. I'd been invited down to Xanadu to watch the game & announced our doom to my companion as soon as our placekicker misfired on that first field goal attempt. Defeatism!, you say? Nay, dear reader, 'tis just that I've watched college football since I was a wee lad & if all those years of playing coach potato on Saturday afternoons have taught me anything it is that a team that repeatedly throws away golden opportunities is both {a} undeserving of victory & {b} exceedingly unlikely to be crowned with undeserved laurels. The '11 squad of valiant Wolverines were men of grit & determination, but they were not yet supremely talented enough to be able to overcome self-inflicted adversity. There is no reason to believe any different of the '12 squad; I believe the valiant Wolverines to be men of grit & determination, but we must also face that fact that they are somewhat ragtag, & unlikely to prevail on any occasion when they do not make the most or their opportunities, nor on any occasion when they present the foe with multiple golden opportunities. On Saturday, in South Bend, we squandered our own opportunities & made a present to the vile Fighting Irish of too many of our own mistakes.

All that said, though, I doubt that too much praise can be heaped on the valiant Wolverines' defense. To have held the vile Fighting Irish to a mere thirteen points would have been impressive. To have held the vile Fighting Irish to a mere thirteen points in the face of a minus four turnover ratio (the valiant Wolverines commited six turnovers, the vile Fighting irish committed two) is nothing short of astonishing. Our offense was a tremendous liability against Notre Dame, & yet so stalwart were the valiant Wolverines' defense that we still had a chance to win the game until our last, futile offensive possession. When he was hired, Head Coach Brady Hoke quipped that he wanted the defensive mindset at Michigan to be so all-prevasive that "even the water boys think defense." Our "D." looked shaky, even suspect through the first three contests of the '12 campaign, but on saturday the valiant Wolverines put in yeoman's work, doing themselves & the University of Michigan proud. Well done, boys! "Those who stay will be champions."

To paraphrase the old axiom, those who live by Shoelace die by Shoelace (referring to Michigan's dynamic quarterback, Denard "Shoelace" Robinson). On many occasions over the last four years, including every one of last year's improbable eleven victories, the valiant Wolverines were the beneficiaries of Shoelace's unorthodox, improvisational play. On this evening, the chickens came home to roost & the unorthodoxes in Shoelace's game were turned to Notre Dame's advantage. Yet it would be un& ungrateful to place all of the blame on Shoelace's shoulders; we lose as a team & the valiant Wolverines win as a team. "The team, the team, the team." The valiant Wolverines could not have won eleven games last year without Shoelace's eccentric style of play, & they will not win this year without the benefit of those same eccentricities. Would it have been nice if Shoelace had progressed more in four years of play? Surely. Would it have been nice if he'd stopped flinging the ball around indiscriminately & set his feet before attempting forward passes? Absolutely, but I don't know if those mechanical norms could have been achieved without extinguishing the chaotic, improvisational character to Shoelace's game that has been chief offense weapon lo these last four years. That said, a handful of interceptions a personal fumble are horrific numbers; we should expect more out of Shoelace & he should expect more out of himself. Cherish the rest of this season, my fellow Wolverines, for it willbe over before you know it, young Shoelace's eligibility will be exausted, & I promise that we will miss him & his never-say-die optimisim when he is gone.

It is an idiosyncrasy of the college football rankings that the valiant Wolverines dropped a spot, from № 17 to № 18, after the fifty-point besting of UMass. Predictably, after Saturday's trevails we fell out of the Top 25 altogether. This is unsurprising & not undeserved, as the valiant Wolverines' two victories were both over unranked opponents & both of our defeats to ranked clubs were thorough drubbings. We are 2-2 after non-conference play; we are a .500 team. There is almost a fortnight 'til the start of Big Ten play, a road contest against the ill-starred Boilermakers of Purdue. No one reading this is a member of the football club, no one reading this will have anything to do with the preparations for that fateful contest. So, let us take this time not to panic, but to rededicate ourselves to the constancy & stoicism that should typify the Michigan Wolverine. We must, to paraphrase Kipling, be able to treat both Triumph & Disaster just the same, for both are impostors. Glenn "Bo" Schembechler's immortal words, "Those who stay will be champions," is not just the promise of great rewards, it is also a warning, of a kind with Churchill's "blood, toil, tears, & sweat" remarks, that those great rewards will require uncommon steadfastness & struggle. It is not those who come to Michigan who will be champions, but those who stay, those who leave everything on the field, those who put in the tedious hours to better themselves in service of a cause bigger than any one individual. Stay the course, my fellows, for only those who stay will be champions.

Go Blue!

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer, "This Briskness (Java)" from Schematics (T.L.A.M.)

Sonntag, 23 September
The Citizens of Hallowe'en Town, "This is Halloween" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: No, the R.B.D.S.O.T.D.'s annual celebration of Hallowe'en is not beginning early this year. However, at Xanadu this morning I witnessed the Hallowe'en decorations already going up, an effort akin to most families' celebration of the Yuletide. I spontaneously began singing "This is Halloween."

Samstag, 22 September
The Puppini Sisters, "Java Jive" from Betcha Bottom Dollar (T.L.A.M.)