Wine Country Wolverine

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2 years 46 weeks

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Recent Comments

Date	Title	Body
37 weeks 4 days ago	Volunteering at the crush pad at . . .	. . . Wine Country Weekend.   Come if you can.
1 year 1 week ago	Velcro on socks!	Twas not such when I was a wee one.
1 year 5 weeks ago	Dammit!	I don't like sharing the perks of life in Sonoma County with Chicagoans! First you take our beer. What's next? Wine? You cannot have our wine!
1 year 10 weeks ago	Michigan's doctoral robe . . .	. . . also features highlighter yellow, not to mention a very un-Michigan-ish pale blue. UCLA, it makes me think.
1 year 15 weeks ago	Have you tried Pliny the Younger?	Russian River released the 2012 vintage earlier this week, amid considerable crowds. Kegs only, so you may have to roadtrip it. Pliny lacks the New Yorker imprimatur that Dogfish got a few years ago, but it has inspired many a local, Sonoma vintner.  Good wine, they say, is made with lots of beer.
1 year 22 weeks ago	This college prof doesn't	This college prof doesn't believe any university--MSU, UM, or otherwise--should be in the business of teaching students how to read. So Plaxico may have a point. In prison, reading is taught (and there's ample time to do it). In university, reading--or more precisely, the ability to do so--is assumed.
1 year 24 weeks ago	Cousins has a point . . .	. . . but residual MSU anger might better be directed against OSU.  If Tressel had confessed his sins at the first opportunity last season, MSU likely would have ended the season in Pasadena, as it had the head-to-head tie-breaker with Wisky in a scenario where OSU vacated all wins.  That makes Dantonio's stubborn loyalty to Tressel all the more perplexing.  His so-called friend and mentor screwed him.
1 year 24 weeks ago	That's not Carlin . . .	. . . It's the guy who ran Shaman Drum bookstore back in the 80s. Strange . . . . he hasn't aged at all.  Stranger . . . he didn't strike me as a football type.
1 year 30 weeks ago	Iowa City = Pyongyang	Or did Kim Jong-il go into emigration?
1 year 31 weeks ago	A plea for the friendship of the peoples	Jerel Worthy's comments about respect resonate among the MSU family because they play upon longstanding resentments that go far beyond the football field. MSU students want the world to know that they are intelligent too (hence the curious fact that there appear to be more persons "admitted" to Michigan in East Lansing than in Ann Arbor). MSU donors and alumni begrudge the fact Michigan is the favored child in Lansing, Washington, and other places that matter. And the MSU football team, as we became painfully aware today, is angry about playing in the shadow of the winningest program in the country. If nothing else, Mark Dantonio deserves credit for stoking that anger, because it has proven deadly effective on a certain Saturday every October. Frankly, if we could somehow quantify anger, it's hard to see how Michigan matches that anytime in the near future. To whom would Michigan direct its all-consuming derision? Berkeley? The private (snobby) Ivies? Ohio State? So, Jerel Worthy and Mark Dantonio, please believe me when I say that I do not disrespect you. Your Spartans kicked my beloved alma mater's ass today.  I am duly chastened. Your football team is better than mine.  Trust me too when I say that I do not joke at your university's expense. It is a fine institution, filled with beautiful women, buildings, and many excellent academic programs. Nor have I ever called you "little brother." I use that exotic, unusual phrase only to refer to . . . well . . . my daughter's younger brother . . . er,  my son. So I ask you to please be gracious in victory. Do not denigrate your vanquished opponent. Do not celebrate the thuggishness of one of your own who momentarily lost his cool. Most of all, remember that one day you and yours will undoubtedly feel as miserable as the Michigan family feels today. Such is the logic and beauty of sport.
1 year 34 weeks ago	A corollary to your first question	Was there anything your editor removed from the book to protect the press from the  possibility of libel litigation? If yes, did that section concern Lloyd Carr's relationship with Les Miles?
1 year 35 weeks ago	Chopin's Piano Sonata no. 2	3rd Movement.
1 year 43 weeks ago	Berenson still has moves	I didn't attend any of the games last week (Michigan alumni fielded teams in two age brackets), but I've seen Berenson play a few times in past years at Snoopy's Home Ice.  He's one of the highlights of the tournament, both on the ice and at the tourney's social events.  He's still got plenty of NHL moves. He's also been known to protest--humorously--any game schedule that interferes with his dinner plans. By the way, last year at least, the University of Michigan 65+ team was, in truth, a team of alumni and friends.  There was even a former Spartan that skated with an M on his chest. Nevertheless, the crowd sang the "Victors" after every Michigan goal, and there were a lot of goals in the drubbing I witnessed. It's all great fun.  If you ever find yourself wine tasting in Sonoma County in early July, be sure to stay sober enough for Michigan hockey.
1 year 51 weeks ago	I, for one, appreciate . . .	. . . the fact that Mikhail Suslov has reincarnated himself in Brian, so as to tell us what sorts of comments are appropriate, and what are not, lest we hurt Ryan Van Bergen's feelings. Clearly, I lack the wisdom, moral fortitude, and love-of-Michigan to do this myself.
2 years 4 weeks ago	To paraphrase Julius Caesar . . .	. . . all of Michigania is divided into three parts: Those who complain about Rodriguez. Those who complain about those who complain about Rodriguez. Those who complain about all the complaining.
2 years 6 weeks ago	2008 V Madrone Petite Syrah	I sip Napa's forgotten varietal as I watch the sun slip behind Mayacamas and Michigan's hockey season. I toast the fact that, even in the depth of my grief, I have the wiener races at Golden Gate Fields to look forward to.
2 years 18 weeks ago	Clearly Michigan should hire . . .	. . . whomever LSU wants to hire to replace Miles. That'll teach them not to try to confuse us with reverse psychology.
2 years 19 weeks ago	I do think we tend to underestimate . . .	. . . the extent to which quality of life plays a role in coaches' decisions to move.  In my mind, Ann Arbor would be a much, much more attractive place to live than Starkville, Mississippi. It has Zingerman's, afterall.  Not to mention hockey. But Palo Alto?  Only the most obstinate of Michigan patriots could insist that the idea of life on a big salary in the San Francisco area isn't seductive.
2 years 19 weeks ago	I thought the road of least resistance . . .	. . .  was to follow the University of Chicago.  Abolish division 1 football.  Gentlemen should not sully themselves on the gridiron, or at least, only do so against Carnegie-Mellon and MIT. (In truth, I have no idea who Chicago's opponents are.)
2 years 24 weeks ago	Faculty.	Faculty.
2 years 24 weeks ago	The important question is this:	How many of those freshly signed organ-donation forms have been executed since Saturday because of a rash of grief-induced suicides?
2 years 25 weeks ago	Can several horses . . .	. . . have one ass? Does the ass in question refer to a horse of ill repute?  A slutty horse? A donkey owned by the aforementioned horses?
2 years 26 weeks ago	I'm pretty confident Bill Martin . . .	. . . does not know Zizek from Chex Mix. And in the mind of this empiricist, that's a compliment to Bill Martin.
2 years 27 weeks ago	This Is a Red Herring . . .	. . . that diverts attention from the fact that Michigan, because of relatively high fees, a large out-of-state contingent, and a rich endowment is less dependent on state funds than comparable public institutions like Berkeley and UCLA, or in-state counterparts like MSU. In that sense, it reflects the political calculus in Michigan that students should pay a comparably larger proportion on what it costs to educate them than in states like California, where tuition has historically been low.  As Yooper indicates,  public generosity in California regarding higher ed (codified in what is called the Master Plan) has been scaled back in recent years with a series of draconian fee increases. There's even been talk of introducing a clear funding hierarchy to the UC system, where Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD would be identified as "flagships," and thus given the ability to set their own fees.
2 years 28 weeks ago	Earthquake in Ann Arbor!	Rare Tremor, Caused by Spartans' Dominating Defense, Leads to Missed Illini Conversion, Even Rarer Michigan Win.
2 years 28 weeks ago	"The Big Chill" or the Big Chill?	Doh!  I thought some film director named Adrian had improved on Lawrence Kasdan's classic about Michigan alumni.
2 years 28 weeks ago	Neutrality	Right on!  Not to be snarky, but nearly every thread--whatever the ostensible topic--begins with a profession of abiding loyalty or deep disdain for Rodriguez.  So let me be the first to declare my Switzerland-like neutrality on that and all other coaching issues!
2 years 29 weeks ago	Severance?	Is that his contractual severance?  The NCAA judgment gives cause to fire without severance, in my humble opinion?
2 years 34 weeks ago	California perspective	In California, JC transfers--for both athletes and non-athletes--are common.  Curricula at the UC, CSU, and the community college system are designed to work in tandem, so core classes taken at a JC fulfill requirements at San Diego State or Berkeley, for that matter. Although I'm two decades removed from Ann Arbor, I have no recollection of ever meeting anyone who tranferred in from a JC. (I ran into a lot of prep school kids, but they were from the snooty, blue-blood schools back east.) It might be the case that the Michigan baccalaureate is  not designed to accomodate transfers.  That's not to say that it's impossible, I just don't think it's very common.
2 years 35 weeks ago	Check your Webster's	From Michigan? Yes. But clearly I've been gone long enough to have lost those Midwestern vowel pronunciations. Deracination is a sad thing.

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