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Maybe

Maybe

I know everyone will hate…

I know everyone will hate the idea, but make Tuttle the 3rd down QB. We run or do west coast type passing on 1st and 2nd down and on 3rd/4th and short. Any passing situations, bring in Tuttle. I used to hate it when OSU under Meyer would do his spread to run, and anytime there was 4 or less to gain, you knew they would make it. I could see the same situation with Orji, especially if he can pass enough to make teams pay for loading up the box.

Did you have to queue up? In…

Did you have to queue up? In other words, how was the Wichita line, man?

I'm here all week, and twice on Saturday.

What could go wrong? What could go wrong?
It's a great question! --and…

It's a great question! --and a very old one. Mental states like this can be very sticky and hard to drop. There's an old method for addressing it, however, and one that has worked incredibly well for me.

First, close your eyes and imagine the person for whom you have ill will or jealousy or some other negative feeling (e.g., imagine Rece Davis' face, but not smug Rece, just smiling and relaxed Rece).

Now quietly say to yourself, "May Rece enjoy success". See how that feels--it probably won't be easy, but do it anyway. Then say, "May that success grow," "May that success spread to others," and then allow yourself to feel some joy on their behalf, maybe a small "Yay!" or "Yippee!" or "I take joy in your success".

Repeat as needed until you find feelings of ill-will reducing. Keep in mind "success" in this context doesn't mean popularity or success in spreading shit, but it's more about success in finding fulfillment. If that's hard, keep in mind that a fulfilled and happy person is less likely to cause unnecessary harm to others, but use your own definition of success.

BTW: This won't change Rece or anybody else, other than you.

It is exactly as hard as it…

It is exactly as hard as it always has been during the FBS era--you have to be #1 out of 133 teams. The process for determining that one has and will change, and the nature of the challenges change from year to year. For example, this year it required being undefeated, which is not always true. But the overall level of difficulty remains.

What is true, however, is that this is harder on the individuals players, as they will have to play more games to be named #1.

https://www.fanatics.com…

https://www.fanatics.com/college/michigan-wolverines/o-49+t-12646186+z-937677-115263359

I was looking for a hat and found they have some cool gear.

I'd love Punt/Counter-punt…

I'd love Punt/Counter-punt articles as well. Maybe on whether the 2023 team is the greatest UM team of all time.

Yes. The team that plays…

Yes. The team that plays defense first wins 54.9% of the time. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/4731867_An_Analysis_of_the_Defense_First_Strategy_in_College_Football_Overtime_Games

ChiBlueSpouse and I will be…

ChiBlueSpouse and I will be on the 'Bama side as well. We live in Nashville and have dealt with 'Bama fans more than we would like. They can be annoying, but no more so than certain other fan bases that we deal with yearly.

I was going to recommend the…

I was going to recommend the same. My granddaughters love them.

TE coach--are we sure…

TE coach--are we sure Sanristill didn't just knock the car away at the last minute?

They could buy you a fur…

They could buy you a fur coat.

Selling MGoBlog chew toys…

Selling MGoBlog chew toys and boarding services is a good start. I think we've turned the tide on this rivalry.

69% chance of winning. Nice.

69% chance of winning. Nice.

I wonder what "More NIL…

I wonder what "More NIL commitment" means. The school doesn't control NIL, though I suppose it could be some provision that vaguely promises to support NIL initiatives of third parties. Not sure if this suggests that the reporting is bunk, or if there is something more that the school could actually promise.

It was going to be McCord,…

It was going to be McCord, but he ran through a car wash and, sadly, drowned.**

 

**Kudos to The Gorgeous One

Funny...I don't think about…

Funny...I don't think about him at all.

Kenny G needs to return…

Kenny G needs to return punts.

Thank you for sharing. It's…

Thank you for sharing. It's good to have a vocabulary for these things. I think of this process--realizing that nothing is fixed or permanent--as the falling-apartness of life. You can think of it as the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics (i.e., entropy) or, if you go for such things, anicca--the Buddhist concept that change is the basic nature of reality.

The Buddhists also outline three types of what "dukkha" or what can be called unsatisfactoriness, pain, stress or suffering, and one of the three is specifically the pain that arises because everything changes. We navigate the world based on knowing that my house is where it was when I left this morning, that my friends are still my friends, and life has a certain consistency. Then our house burns down, our friends get old, sick and die, and we realize what we rely on for happiness outside of ourselves is unreliable. Pain. In short, it sucks.

Through all of this Signgate drama, I'm trying to keep some balance. To find interest in it, without getting caught up in constant thoughts about what's fair or holding onto an image of UM that is inaccurate and out-of-date before it even arises. In short, I'm trying to increase my sensitivity to the happiness and peace that is already within me, without looking to an outside source for it or becoming a prisoner to the latest article on ESPN.

It's a learning curve, and a damn long and difficult one. But I'm here for it and for our shared experience of it.

BET

My guess is that the BIG…

My guess is that the BIG wouldn't do that--it would try to implement it after Penn State. If it does try to act this week, Michigan could always just say FU, ignore the BIG disciplinary action, and say that Jim is coaching until this has had a chance to resolve itself in court. That could, of course, just create additional actions, including a ruling of a forfeiture of the game, but it would certainly send a message. In that case, does Penn State play the game? Does the BIG back down? Interesting times.

Except Penn State. Their… Except Penn State. Their punishment is that Frames has to call all their offensive and defensive plays.
My guess is that describes a…

My guess is that describes a decent percentage of successful college coaches in their early years. Our own Jim Harbaugh was oft described as a high-functioning lunatic when he first arrived here.

There's crazy and there's out-of-control. A bit quirky and absent-minded professory can be good. Off the rails can be harder to predict, if my dating life is any indication.

That's not to say we don't need better vetting.

They should consider…

They should consider inviting folks to watch. 

Forgive me if I missed…

Forgive me if I missed something, but it seems you're saying you don't really know whether the signals use encryption, so there's a vulnerability? My guess is that you can encrypt the transmissions, and that there is security built in, but the companies don't want to publicize their security measures to give more information to would-be hackers. Also, it seems likely that the teams themselves could encrypt the transmissions if the headsets don't automatically, and it all could be behind a wifi firewall.

In other words, unless you have information of someone having actually hacked these, it seems to be creating one more area of worry when we already have enough of that.

This isn’t unusual. There…

This isn’t unusual. There are crimes relating to use of a gun, including burglary. Burglary itself requires forced entry, otherwise it’s just larceny. Sex is legal, but not if done by drugging the other person. Sometimes the method of doing something is what makes it problematic.

I’m not saying that the NCAA rules make sense, but I understand wanting to limit how something is accomplished. 

This isn’t unusual. There…

This isn’t unusual. There are crimes relating to use of a gun, including burglary. Burglary itself requires forced entry, otherwise it’s just larceny. Sex is legal, but not if done by drugging the other person. Sometimes the method of doing something is what makes it problematic.

I’m not saying that the NCAA rules make sense, but I understand wanting to limit how something is accomplished. 

Totally agree, and I find it…

Totally agree, and I find it sad that so many seem to disagree. We don't want to be the sort of fan base that starts witch hunts based on limited (or, in this case, no direct) information. For all we know, he's had nothing to do with any current investigations into UM. We're connecting dots that may have no connection. Beyond that, never underestimate the number of unhinged people on the internet willing to act completely inappropriately. Let's just not.

C'mon people, let's have some class here.

Would he beat out Cam Goode?…

Would he beat out Cam Goode? Honest question. 

Now I'm getting worried-…

Now I'm getting worried--that's the most pro-UM Michigan Monday I've read. I never thought I'd read Gerdeman say:

It also means that Michigan very much looks like the best team in the Big Ten. In JJ McCarthy, they have the one player who can impact a game more than any other in this conference. There is now a wide-open Heisman race happening and wins against Penn State and Ohio State could put McCarthy on top of the leaderboard for New York in December.

Defensively, the Wolverines haven’t shown any areas of weakness, which means that for somebody to beat them, that team will need to have a higher level of execution than they’ve had at any other point this season.

It’s not impossible, but the Wolverines are going to make you earn it. And they’re probably gonna take some skin from you along the way.

Maybe he's trying to jinx us, but if he's not seeing weaknesses, that says something. I don't trust his analysis as much as some others', but if anyone is looking at the relative strengths of OSU and UM under a microscope, it's probably him.

I respect any team whose…

I respect any team whose best player is their Tight End. The Michigan Difference(tm) is that we have 2 or 3 TEs who, arguably, are among the 10 best in the country, taking into account ability to catch and block. Depth helps.

Mel said she improperly…

Mel said she improperly disclosed. However you define “leak,” it’s clear that it’s impossible for her to have improperly disclosed what she is free to discuss. Mel is suggesting impropriety in her doing what is her right. It’s slimy and too cute by half. 

It's logically impossible…

It's logically impossible for Ms. Tracy to "leak" her own name, and Tucker's response is spurious. This is an event that allegedly happened to Ms. Tracy. She is not an employee of MSU. She has no ethical, legal or contractual limit on her ability to truthfully state what happened. She can tell whomever, whatever, she would like, short of libel or slander.

Tucker, employees of MSU, and particularly investigators, on the other hand, do have ethical and contractual and/or legal limitations on their ability to publish information regarding the investigation. Ms. Tracy can't "leak" information that is hers to share or not share as she decides. They, however, can.

Sorry if others have made this point--I didn't read all 136 comments as of this moment.

Don’t forget halftime at…

Don’t forget halftime at Mickey D’s!

To be fair, Nebraska made a…

To be fair, Nebraska made a lot more sense at the time.

I would consider ennui to be…

I would consider ennui to be a good example of viparinama-dukkha: frustration when the pleasant turns to unpleasant because causes and conditions change. In other words, suffering directly related to anicca--that things change. The desire (tanha--clinging) to avoid change does, indeed, lead to poor decision making and more suffering. I would say that "impermanence" is an attempt to translate a word with no clear parallel in English other than, I would argue, "entropy". And yes, the 5 skandhas and all things (other than nibbana) do deteriorate (i.e., are subject to entropy).

I think of psychedelics as like a kid being kidnapped, thrown in a trunk, and taken to Disney for the day, then thrown back in a trunk and taken home. He had a trip, and it was wild, but he has no way of knowing how he got there or how to return. Meditation and other practices, however, permit one to see the path and how to connect with those experiences without clinging to them.

I take that as a personal…

ChatGPT double-post.

I take that as a personal…

I take that as a personal insult. ChatGPT would have inserted a cite to a sutta that doesn't exist.

Newark is god-awful…

Newark is god-awful. Milwaukee has a surprisingly nice airport. Even have a used bookstore in it. Also, I think O'Hare is better than people think, once you get used to it. Yes, it's big, but good restaurants.

Has anyone else noted the…

Has anyone else noted the parallels between entropy, as documented by Rudolf Clausius in 1850, and the idea of "anicca," as documented by Gautama Buddha more than 2000 years previously? If one were to replace the term "anicca" wherever found in the Pali Canon with the term "entropy," there would be no loss of consistency or meaning within the text.

This obviously raises the issue of information entropy and how that is accounted for in the Pali Canon, if at all. I propose that the inter-relation of avijja (delusion or ignorance) and anicca (particularly as described as part of the nidanas within paticcasamuppada (interdependence)), on the one hand, is the same as the relationship between information entropy and entropy more broadly on the other hand. That is, in each case the two are inter-related and ultimately interdependent, like two sheaves holding each other up (to use the Buddha's metaphor). As such, information entropy would be nothing other than a calculation of avijja.

I hardly need mention the impact that this would have in interpreting both information entropy and the idea that avijja (i.e., that avijja is anicca as reflected within the sankharas including consciousness and contact with phenomenon).

Thank you, Mean Joe, for providing a platform for me to raise this critical issue for the MGoBodhisattvas.

I've always had the…

I've always had the impression that SP+, particularly early in the year, wasn't very reliable. Am I imagining that, or does anyone have a sense of how accurate it has proven to be retrospectively (e.g., comparing SP+ preseason rankings vs. game outcomes or final rankings)?

I'm impressed with Syracuse…

I'm impressed with Syracuse's consistency.

Offensive to Hindus.

Offensive to Hindus.

Accountants and marketing…

Accountants and marketing execs run the world. No one is spending money just because someone else is. 
This is marketing, i.e., an attempt to get your name out there and to promote the concept of your product. Marketing gambling has been hugely successful. We’ve gone from a world where gambling was seen in popular media as problematic at best, and rarely discussed, to one where we see gambling as a normal part of the sport and bookies are part of the broadcast team. 

Big corporations don't spend…

Big corporations don't spend money on anything, including $9M on marketing, unless they believe there's a return on investment.

I coach my granddaughter's…

I coach my granddaughter's softball team (8U), and generally we have no problems. I noticed, however, that when we go to some neighboring teams, the parents are a lot more vocal and critical. Totally beyond me why a parent would yell at a coach about an 8U team, but they do.

I think it's a cultural thing--not necessarily based on socio-economics, but just a culture within the specific league or team where parents and coaches take it way too seriously. Some leagues or coaches may promote a hyper-competitive attitude at even young ages. OTOH, our league, right next door, is pretty laid back, and we're all just enjoying being out and watching kids have fun.

Just takes one or two over-zealous league directors, coaches or parents to turn learning about sport into learning about lunacy. Nice reminder for me to not take it too seriously--we all impact each other more than we realize.

Can we fund it with jersey…

Can we fund it with jersey sales in Ohio?

Oh yeah. Deep fakes. At some…

Oh yeah. Deep fakes. At some point provide a picture and your fav kink and it will do the rest. 

I think about this a lot,…

I think about this a lot, and am often paid to do that thinking and to speak to others about it. Technology is growing exponentially. Few of us stop to think what that looks like, but leave it to say that Generative AI will develop much faster than you can wrap your head around. Are there risks relating to it? Yes. What worries me, however, is not so much the technology itself, but how we respond to it as a species.  There are a few things that are clear with all new technologies:

1) It will be used for porn.

2) We cannot predict clearly how else it will be used or what functionality may develop. If you want some nightmare fuel, study some of the emergent qualities that AI is already showing, e.g., the ability to program, translate and do math, none of which were intended.

3) The biggest issue is not with the tech but with the humans using it. We, as a society, can avoid the worst potential aspects, but that will require, among other things, (i) making wise, society-wide decisions about how it will develop, (ii) making sure that all enjoy the benefits of the technology more-or-less equally, and (iii) limiting the ability of rogue individuals and groups (e.g., nations) from using the technology to cause harm to others.

4) Humans have shown a complete inability to do any of the things in 3), and most of the decisions about AI are being made by people who are developing and pushing the technologies.

With some luck, AI could be an amazing tool for personal growth, enlightenment and correcting many of our ills. Luck tends to follow the wise and those with self-control. I leave it to you to decide how much of those qualities our society possesses. 

I'm no fan, but the downside…

I'm no fan, but the downside is that as those who were there and committed these heinous crimes are dying, it becomes more difficult to get the entire story and admissions. Of course, bringing them all to true justice didn't happen, and would have required a very different South at the time.

Also, be careful celebrating death for anyone. Not because they don't deserve your contempt, but because perhaps it lessens the celebrator.