The Victors: Project OSPREY
Sunday, 3 March 2013
(№ 4) Michigan 58-57 Michigan State (№ 9)
24-5, Big Ten 11-5

Huzzah! Any victory by the valiant Wolverines over the dastardly Spartans is to be feted, Sunday's especially as it followed on the heels of our most ignominious loss. Additionally, the valiant Wolverines extended their (slight) domination of the recent internecine series, prevailing in four of the last six contests. True, the valiant Wolverines squandered a second-half lead, but they also hustled not to allow victory to slip from their grasp in the waning minutes. That said, though, it is yet too soon to say that the Maize & Blue ship has been righted; as I strive to remind my fellow Wolverines, neither the Big Ten nor the N.C.A.A. Tournaments will be played within the friendly confines of the Crisler Center, & the valiant Wolverines have not won a game outside of Crisler in over a month—0-4 on the road, contrasting with 5-0 at home. We have problems that have not yet been resolved, a single-elimination post-season play provides for precious little margin of error. The valiant Wolverines are a brilliantly talented club, but young & to all appearances mentally fragile. Will they find their mettle in the next fortnight, before the "Big Dance" begins? Let us hope so.

Go Blue!

This Week in Motorsport
By Endurance We Conquer
Rolex Sports Car Series
Round 2
Grand-Am of the Americas
Saturday, 2 March 2013

This was only the second race I'd seen at Austin's new Circuit of the Americas (C.O.T.A.), following November's F1 United States Grand Prix. C.O.T.A. is a fantastic course, facilitating quality racing, the mountainous climb up the front straight to Turn 1 being the circuit's signature feature. Alas, the race also served to remind me that the endurance aspect was the facet of the 24 Hours of Daytona that really caught my fancy, neither the Daytona Prototypes nor frankly inferior G.T. field (compared to the American Le Mans Series's (A.L.M.S.) peerless G.T. field). 2013 is an odd year, the last season of both the A.L.M.S. & the Rolex Series, as the Grand-Am Road Racing Association, a subsidiary of N.A.S.C.A.R., now owns the A.L.M.S. & plans to run a single unified endurance series from '14 onwards. I'll continue to watch Grand-Am races when there isn't any other, better racing available, but I do so with little passion.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Cherry Poppin' Daddies, "Jump in the Line (Shake Shake Senora)" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: The title should be "Jump in the Line (Shake, Shake, Senora);" the commas are not optional. My favorite thing about the Cherry Poppin' Daddies is the long, often vicious, battle in their native Eugene, Oregon over the band's name, a battle that pitted advocates of free speech against anti-free speech activists (though they'd surely describe themselves as "anti-hate speech" activists) at the University of Oregon & surrounding environs. We imperil all of our liberties, as well as our human dignity, when we allow the right to speak freely to be trumped by an insidious right not to be offended.