The Victors: Project OSPREY
The valiant Wolverines are ranked № 1 in the Associated Press poll! (They are also ranked № 2 in the U.S.A. Today Coaches' Poll, with thirteen № 1 votes to № 1 Kansas's fifteen.) This is the first time Michigan has been ranked № 1 in twenty years, since the days when the "Fab Five" soared like Icarus. Jalen Rose, the most visible of those valiant Wolverines of yore, has complimented the humble attitude of the '12-'13 squad, & their continual drive to improve, never resting on their laurels. He has expressed a wish for the Fab Five to all be together sitting on the sidelines should this season's valiant Wolverines make it to the Final Four, or even the national championship game. With all respect, Mr. Rose, it would be very inappropriate & most unfortunate for all of the Fab Five to be there, as the devil Chris Webber was responsible for blatant violations of N.C.A.A. rules that got the Fab Five's achievements erased from the official record books. The devil Webber has never expressed remorse nor regret for what he did, & he would find the Wolverine faithful most unforgiving. (He was the only one of the Five not to participate in the 30 for 30 documentary The Fab Five, the reason for & meaning of this being matters of pure speculation.) But the aforementioned Mr. Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King, & Ray Jackson would be most welcome courtside anytime they could all get together.

Go Blue!

Objective ZED ALPHA
Several days ago I found an e-mail from Jeopardy! in my inbox, a several-time-a-year occurrence. I found within an invitation to enter a sweepstakes, with a ten-day trip to South Africa as the grand prize. I also found a South Africa-themed mini-game of Jeopardy!, in which I partook. I answered all six clues in the Jeopardy! round correctly, all six clues in the Double Jeopardy! round, & then wagered everything on Final Jeopardy! I correctly answered that clue too. I freely admit that two of my six answers in the first round were guesses, but the ability to guess well is essential to any trivia contest, as no one can know everything. I finished with a hypothetical maximum score of $36,000, for which I won nothing more than the satisfaction of having so often been right.

Once again, I urge anyone & everyone reading this to take the Jeopardy! Online Test, the first step in becoming a contestant. Visit the Jeopardy! website; even though the adult test is closed now, you can sign up to be alerted when it is next open. Every step in the process, from the online test to the audition to being a contestant, is a blast. Competing on Jeopardy! was one of the most worthwhile things I've ever done, & you'll thank me if only you take the leap & start the process. It is so much fun & will bring a smile to the faces of your kith & kin, your coworkers & acquaintances. Try out for Jeopardy!, already!

Need additional inducement? I'll coach you, if you like. Sure, I might have only finished third, but I still made it to the show! If we combine forces you might outstrip my paltry achievement. Think about that, you could shut me up, put me in my place, & win fabulous prizes (well, only one prize, the dough) on national television! Be my protégé (or protégée), my apprentice, & "together we can rule the galaxy" & "with our combined strength, bring an end to this destructive conflict"… on at least wipe that smug grin off Trebek's face.

This Week in Motorsport
I know there have been a lot of "This Week in Motorsport" posts of late, but I'm trying to clear up the backlog created by Speed's awesome four-race-series-a-weekend winter schedule.

G.T.1 Is the Loneliest Number
G.T.1 World Championship
Round 1
Circuit Paul Armagnac (France)
Monday, 9 April 2012

Round 2
Circuit Zolder (Belgium)
Sunday, 22 April 2012

Round 3
Circuito de Navarra (Spain)
Sunday, 27 May 2012

Round 4
Automotodróm Slovakia Ring
Sunday, 10 June 2012

Round 5
Autódromo Internacional do Algarve (Portugal)
Sunday, 8 July 2012

Round 6
Automotodróm Slovakia Ring
Sunday, 19 August 2012

Round 7
Moscow Raceway
Sunday, 2 September 2012

Round 8
Nürburgring (Germany)
Sunday, 23 September 2012

Round 9
Donington Park (England)
Sunday, 30 September 2012

The G.T.1 World Championship was a curious beast, for the cars all ran to G.T.3 specifications, not the faster & much more expensive G.T.1 spec., & though there were at various points rounds planned to be in Brazil, Argentina, South Korea, India, & China, in the end it was a purely European calendar (counting Moscow as part of Europe), very unusual for an F.I.A. world championship. As far as the cars, G.T.1 was the most interesting of the winter series, featuring a rich mix of fearsome Grand Tourers: the ubiquitous Porsche 911, the Aston Martin D.B.R.S.9, the Audi R8, the B.M.W. Z4, the Lamborghini Gallardo, the Mercedes-Benz SLS A.M.G., the Ford G.T., the Ferrari 458 Italia, & the McLaren M.P.4-12C. The race format was somewhat bizarre, one-hour races, which should be a sprint, but with a mandatory driver & tire change during the middle ten minutes. Pit stops are a plus, because they add an element of uncertainty, with good pit work gaining teams an advantage whilst bad pit work can cost them everything, whereas sprint races can be a little processional, but the driver change amidst a one-hour race still strikes me as strange.

I got to see a variety of tracks I'd never before seen, the only one with which I was familiar before this winter being the Nürburgring (the modern F1 circuit, not the old, murderous "Green Hell"). I saw Donington Park host a trio of B.T.C.C. sprint a few weeks before the telecast of the G.T.1 race, but it was still fresh in my mind. The Slovakia Ring is a magnificent circuit that was completed, as were so many circuits throughout Europe, just prior to the '08 financial meltdown; so, the G.T.1 races were the first major races it hosted. Let me reiterate, the Slovakia Ring is fantastic, & I hope fervently that I will see many more races from there in the years to come. (Full disclosure: I've felt a protective attachment to Slovakia ever since that dope fiend Dennis Quaid talked smack about the country during filming of his awful sword & sorcery movie Dragonheart.)

As great as the on-track action was, this was the last season for the F.I.A. G.T.1 World Championship, but it will return next year as the revamped F.I.A. G.T. Series, a sprint-format sister series to the ever-growing Blancpain Endurance Series. Now that Speed (Fox) was outbid for the U.S. broadcast rights to Formula One by N.B.C., my hope is that Speed will help fill the programming gap with more up-to-date coverage of an even wider variety of European racing series, including the G.T. Series & the Endurance Series. (The World Endurance Championship & the European Le Mans Series would also be most welcome.)

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Golem, "Train Across Ukraine" from Citizen Boris (T.L.A.M.)