Urbi et Orbi
This year's efforts to meet the annual attendance goal are off to an auspicious start, as not a single Sunday was skipped during January & I partook in the first of the year's holy days of obligation. Last Sunday, 20 January, the Bishop of Lansing, the Most Reverend Earl Boyea Jr., celebrated the 11:00 A.M. Mass at Holy Redeemer. The occasion for His Excellency's visit was the twentieth anniversary of Holy Redeemer's perpetual adoration chapel, wherein the Blessed Sacrament is displayed in a monstrance & adored by at least one petitioner every hour of every day of the year. I have vague recollections of the creation of the perpetual adoration chapel lo those last two decades hence, though the importance of the endeavour was beyond the comprehension of the borderline heathen I was in those days. I shall pray on whether I should seek to join the ranks of my parish's perpetual adorers.

The Victors: Project OSPREY
(№ 2) Michigan 74-60 Illinois
19-1, Big Ten 6-1

I was not able to see today's game due to a conspiracy of circumstances. I had an upset stomach this morning & so missed 11:00 A.M. Mass, necessitating attendance at the irksome (see above) 5:00 P.M. Mass; all three Scripture readings were extraordinarily lengthy, combining for the longest quotation of Holy Scripture at Mass I've experienced in all my thirty-three years of being Catholic; no sooner had I returned home & changed clothes than dinner was served, & my mother insisted on watching the hagiography of President Obama & Secretary Clinton on 60 Minutes; I was mistaken as to the time of the game, thinking it tipped off at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. when in fact it began at 6:00 P.M. Eastern/5:00 P.M. Central. Woe is me? This is, thus far, the worst thing to befall me today; so, I'd say things are going rather well.

About the game I've little to say since I didn't see it. I hope that the injury to red-shirt junior forward Jordan Morgan is not severe & will not keep him out of the lineup for long. To your health, young sir! I'm always pleased with a fourteen-point road win in conference play; there are no easy road games in the Big Ten. The valiant Wolverines deserve massive congratulations for earning nineteen wins before the end of January. 19-1 is the best start in school history. No matter what else happens, these valiant Wolverines have played their way into Maize & Blue history. I thank you for your efforts on my behalf, gentlemen, & wish you all success in the remainder of the season. Onward & upward!

Next: Northwestern at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor on Wednesday, 30 January.

Go Blue!

This Week in Motorsport
Tourists
World Touring Car Championship
Rounds 17 & 18
Race of the United States
Sunday, 23 September 2013

September's inaugural Race of the U.S. were the first two W.T.C.C. races I ever saw, as Speed showed the two races in their entirety on the weekend they happened. It was interesting seeing races I'd seen before in a shorter, edited form. The trio of factory Chevrolets were there usual dominant selves, with Norbert Michelisz mightily impressive as he brought his privateer B.M.W. home third in Round 17 & second in Round 18. Chevy teammates reigning triple World Champion Yvan Muller ('08, '10, & '11) & Rob Huff finished the weekend tied in points atop the drivers' standings, though Muller held the tiebreaker of having more victories. Three weekends of the '12 W.T.C.C. remain to be seen, with a duo of races each at Japan (mighty Suzuka!), China, & Macau.

Honda joined the championship from Suzuka, as part of the development of the Civic before a full-season campaign in '13. Suzuka is my second-favorite track, second only to Spa-Francorchamps; this will be first time I've seen it used for anything other than F1.

British Touring Car Championship
Rounds 25-27
Silverstone, National Circuit
Sunday, 7 October 2013

The odd thing about the latest trio of B.T.C.C. races is that the usually dominant Hondas, both works & privateer cars, were down on pace to the resurgent M.G.s & the inconsistent B.M.W.s. I'm familiar with Silverstone from its annual hosting of the Formula One, but between the different circuit layout the touring cars employed & the camera work of the I.T.V. crew, both different from & inferior to the F.O.M.'s F1 world feed, it looked like a completely different facility. One more weekend of the '12 B.T.C.C. remains to be seen, the season finale trio of races at Brands Hatch, on the longer Grand Prix Circuit layout.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Hans Zimmer, "As Good as It Gets" from As Good as It Gets: Music from the Motion Picture (T.L.A.M.)