Michigan vs Michigan State

Here I am writing about college football again.  This means I am writing about Michigan again.  It is 6:25 pm here in Chicagoland, 7:25 pm in Ann Arbor.  The kick-off between the Michigan Wolverines and Michigan State Spartans is less than twenty minutes from now.  Two weeks ago, the powers that make such decisions decided to make this a night, prime time, game.

I was supposed to be there.  The plan was to go to the game with my son and my grandson.  It would have been the first time that all three of us went to a Michigan game together.  It was to have been my grandson’s first time in Michigan Stadium.  Though my grandson has been to Michigan games at Maryland, he was looking forward to his first Michigan game in Michigan and his first game with me.

Alas, it was not to be.  Circumstances forced them to cancel their trip to Detroit.  Plan B was for my wife and I to attend the game.  That was not to be either as a different set of circumstances forced us to have to stay home.  Plan C?  I sold my tickets on stub and with the kickoff imminent, I am planted in front of the TV in my family room.

Mel Tucker is the Michigan State coach.  In his third season, he has beat Michigan twice.  The Spartans this year are 3-4.  They have struggled offensively but have had injuries.  This may be the healthiest they have been all season.  Both teams had a bye last week and I am sure both teams are rested and took advantage of the time to meticulously prepare for this great in-state rivalry.

We are at the 2:20 mark of the 1^st quarter and Michigan just kicked a field goal to make it 3-0.  Michigan got to the 4-yard line on a 28 yard pass play to Donavan Edwards out of the backfield.  As the announcers mentioned, Michigan has had trouble scoring touchdowns in the red zone and have had to settle for field goals. 

Michigan State took the kick-off after the Michigan field goal and drove down the field in six plays to score a touchdown.  The used a hurry-up offense to put Michigan’s defense on their heels and had two big pass plays.  This drive is exactly why this game has me on edge.

The armchair quarterback in me thinks Michigan probably should unleash our quarterback J.J. McCarthy and let him run and throw more to put the Spartan defense on their heels.

Michigan had a great drive, 80 yards in 8 plays, and just scored a touchdown to take a 10-7 with 12:20 left in the 2^nd Quarter.

Let’s see if our defense has made any adjustments. 

I would say no.  We four plays and Michigan State is in the red zone.  They are hitting pass plays for over twenty yards a pop too easily.  They are exposing the Michigan defense.  But… State went for it on 4^th down at the Michigan 5 because the field goal kicking is unpredictable.  Michigan stopped them and took over.  State had Michigan stopped with 4^th and 3 to go at the Michigan State 38.  Michigan went for it and McCarthy kept it and got the 22 for a first down.  With 1:08 left in the half, Michigan settled for a field goal from the line of scrimmage at the 5 yard line:  Michigan 13 – Michigan State 7.

Michigan State mounted a spirited two-minute drive.  Michigan forced Michigan State to punt but an offsides penalty by Michigan brought Michigan States offense back onto the field.  The half ended with the score 13-7.  Michigan gets the kick-off in the 3^rd quarter.

Michigan took the 2^nd half kickoff and drove into Michigan State territory to the 21 yard line.  With 3^rd and 10 at the 21, Michigan had to settle for a field goal making the score 16-7.  It was good to get a score, but dang Michigan has to work improve on converting more touchdowns than field goals.  They need that in this game and certainly will need it against Ohio State.

Michigan State went three and out on their first possession of the 2^nd half.  Michigan defended their two pass attempts very well.  State got five yards on 2^nd down. 

Michigan took the punt and in two plays drove to the Michigan State 28.  They then had three runs for a total of 3 yards and had to settle for another field goal making the score 19-7 with just under 4 minutes left in the 3^rd quarter.  Corum has 135 yards rushing on 22 carries.

The Michigan defense forced another 3 and out.  A high snap almost went over the punter’s reach and as a result of a shorter punt, Michigan took over on their own 37.  Michigan drove into Michigan State territory again as the 3^rd quarter ended.  Michigan State only had the ball for 8 plays for 8 yards of total offense vs 138 yards for Michigan.  Michigan State held Michigan and forced another field goal.  This was a long one, the longest attempt in Jake Moody’s career.  He nailed the 54 yarder and made the score 22-7.

Michigan held Michigan State to another 3 and out.  The hike was again very high.  The punter really had to reach to catch it and was tackled on his own 7 yard line.  On two running plays from Corum, Michigan finally scored their second touchdown.  With the conversion, Michigan took a 29-7 lead. 

There is 8:56 left in the game.  Michigan has the ball on their own 28.  At this point of the half, Michigan State has -1 yards in offense.  Michigan has over 160.   There is now 6:05 left in the game and Michigan is punting for the first time in the game.

Michigan State was driving and looked like they might score.  Rod Moore intercepted Payton Thorne pass at the 5 yard line that he returned 41 yards to seal the game.  Rather than put in the second string, Michigan kept their first string in.  Rather than run the ball to kill the clock, they tried a few long passes to perhaps add an insult touchdown.  I am not for that.  We are better than that.

But it was a satisfying and another dominant win.  It is time to have the beer I have been chilling in the fridge since start of the game.

Go Blue!

 

MEME: Beginning the 2022-23 Season

 

The Reva and David Logan
Center for the Performing Arts

The Middle Eastern Music Ensemble of the University of Chicago is practicing for our first concert.  We are delighted to be face-to-face again.  While we were face-to face for two thirds of last year, we were masked and there was an aura pandemic cautiousness over our gatherings.  We had planned to have three concerts as is our norm.  We only had two, though, in November and May.  The practices for March Persian Concert were suspended because of the omicron surge and the concert was postponed and combined with the Arab Concert in May. 

This year, things seem much more normal.  A few of us still wear masks, so it is kind of post-pandemic normal.  It is wonderful to attend practices and learn new songs, brush the dust off old arrangements, and renew friendships and make new ones. 

I have been a part of this orchestra since I began teaching at North Park full time in September of 2014.  This is the start of my 8^th year.  It is one of the best things I have ever done hobby or avocation wise.  I have played classical, popular, and folk Turkish, Persian, and Arab music.  I have learned to read music again.  The part that attracted me to the ensemble was to experience playing classical Turkish music with a large ensemble.  It has been that and so much more.

The Ensemble has grown during my time.  I want to say we were in the high twenties or low thirties

Jim, Furkan, and Erkan discussing
the nuances of the Mahur maqam

when I started.  We are now in the high thirties and probably in the low forties.  We have added a brass section in the past year.  Not only have we grown, but I feel the musicianship of the Ensembe has gotten better every year.  The Ensemble is comprised of University of Chicago students and, what we call community members, like myself.  Both the student and community members all seem to have improved in all aspects of musicianship.  On top of this, Our Director, Maestro Wanees Zarour, has improved upon his already impressive abilities to make interesting and intricate arrangements that challenges and engages the Ensemble.

Part of the norm of pre, during, and post pandemic is the ever-evolving membership of the ensemble.  Certainly, the student members come and go.  Undergraduates come from all over the world and are with us for two to four years depending on when they join the ensemble.  We have some the graduate students for longer if they are PhD students.  The community members have a bit more tenure.  But even community members come and go depending on what is going on with their careers, families, and interest.  For many the weekly trek to Hyde Park during rush hour can take folks from an hour to two hours to get to practice.   Covid, the commute time, changing priorities, our jobs that has community members moving from Chicago all contribute to community members leaving the ensemble.  As many as leave, we are fortunate that new players seem to find us and that is a very good thing.

Our newly minted kanun player
Dr. Lama Alghanem Kabir working on Garip

We practice and perform in the Reva and David Logan Center for the Performing Arts.  This center that opened in 2012 is an amazing place.  We practice in the 9^th Floor Practice room with an amazing view of the University of Chicago Campus.  We perform in the 474-seat concert hall that we usually sell out.  After a long drive to get there, the Logan Center is a wonderful oasis of a destination. 

Our first concert this year, the Turkish Concert, will be January 8.  This is late for us.  Usually, that concert is around Thanksgiving.  With more and more concerts on campus, securing our concert dates has become more and more challenging.  If the pandemic times taught us anything, it is to go with the flow.  And, we do just that. 

We go with the flow and the long drives to get to Logan, because we love the music.  We love playing in a large ensemble with membership that changes from concert to concert.  We love the mix of music.  We love the spirit of friendship and comradery that is a direct reflection of culture created in no small part by the leadership style of Maestro Wanees.

 

Clarifying a musical point
with Maestro Wanees

 

Me then practicing what was clarified...

A Graduation - Indian Summer Weekend

 

Jacob with his parents and
aunt and uncle

What a great weekend.  My favorite football team had a bye week.  Their next game, against Michigan State, is next weekend under the lights at Michigan Stadium.  This could make for a great next weekend as well.

What made this weekend so great?  Two things:  a nephews college graduation and amazing Indian Summer weather. 

On Saturday, my nephew Jacob graduated with a bachelor’s in supply chain management from Purdue Global.  As Purdue Global is an online university in the Purdue system, it was Jacob’s first time on the Purdue campus in West Lafayette, Indiana.  For the six of us that attended his graduation, it was all our first time on the Purdue campus. 

It was a great experience.  The weather was fantastic.  It was a clear, dry, beautiful fall day with temperatures in the 70s.  Being only 150 miles away, it was a day trip for us.  The campus was beautiful, the festivities were very well planned and orchestrated.  Everyone we met on campus was friendly and helpful.

Being online and military friendly by design, the graduates were all adult learners.  It was a celebration of dedication and commitment to self-improvement while working full-time with many also raising families.  Entire families made the trip from all over the US to celebrate their Purdue Global graduate’s achievement. 

I was not sure what to expect but I was blown away.  The ceremony was held in the auditorium of the Elliot Hall of Music which seat 6,000 and it was packed.  The Chancellor of Purdue Online, Dr. Frank Dooley, was an awesome and engaging emcee with a most down to earth demeanor.  The commencement speaker was a retired Navy officer and Purdue Global Alum, Kelvin Gumbs, who delivered an inspirational speech emphasizing the pride all the graduates should take in their achievement as adult learners.  Both Kelvin and Chancellor did a great job making the graduates feel part of the larger Purdue family.

Per the Purdue Global website, the number of students enrolled is approximately 32,500. In the 2021-22 academic year, they graduated 10,400 students.  This is not a small enterprise.

I was quite impressed with it all and very proud of my nephew for finishing his undergraduate degree his way. 

Afterwards, we took photos around the Purdue Campus, had a wonderful celebration dinner, and headed home.  It was a great day trip.

On Sunday, the weather was a carbon copy of Saturday.  We experienced the

Lake Michigan from
the bluff

Indian summer at home.  Being a few hours north of Purdue, the colors here were even more vibrant.  I spent the morning doing schoolwork and getting ready for what was to be a busy Monday of teaching, advising, and a Faculty Senate Meeting.  I was motivated to get things done because we planning to use our new Chicago Botanic Gardens membership in the afternoon to enjoy glories of fall.  The world class Botanic Gardens are a few miles from our house and a great place to spend a few hours or a full day.  We were not alone.  The place was packed with like-minded folks enjoying the exceptional weather and incredible views. 

Later in the evening, I had the chance to drive around town with the top down
and ended the day by gazing out on Lake Michigan at Lake Forest beach.  It was a pretty nice weekend all in all.

I had my camera in hand both days and happy to share some a few of the photos from the day.

 

 

Jacob with John Purdue

Here are some photos from the Botanical Gardens
 

 

 

Michigan 41 - Penn State 17

 

Blake Corum - WolverineWire

Today my favorite football team, the 5^th ranked Michigan Wolverines, faced the 10^th ranked Nittany Lions of Penn State.  Both teams were undefeated and with identical 6-0 records.  Michigan, playing at home, was favored by 7 points.

It is the 7^th game of the 2022 season.  Not only have I not attended a single home game, but I have not even watched a full game on TV.  Every week, I have had a conflict.  This circumstance would have made me insane when I was more of, well, an insane fan.  Now, I am more philosophical and OK about it.  The more rational mindset might certainly be due to the normal aging process.  It might also be due to having the humbling experience of enduring the less than elite performance of my favorite team from 2008 – 2020.  We won the Big Ten Championship in 2021 after a 17 drought. 

Today, while I was not able to make it to Ann Arbor, I was able to watch the game on TV.  I was excited to be able to watch an entire game.  The Athletic Department called from a Maize out meaning that everyone should be dressed in maize-colored tops to give the stadium a very yellowish look.  While I was in my own family room, I donned my maize Michigan pull-over.

I thought it would be a close and hard-fought game between two undefeated, ranked, teams and that could go either way.  Penn State came into the game ranked as the 5^th defense against the rush.   Michigan has relied heavily on the run and was ranked as the 19^th best rushing offense in the country.  This would also be a test of Michigan’s defense as Penn State would be the best offense we have faced so far this year. 

Well, Michigan ran all over Penn State.  Michigan racked up 418 rushing yards.  Donovan Edwards had 173 yards and Blake Corum had 166.  In the third quarter, on two successive offense plays, both Edwards and Corum scored touchdowns on runs over 60 yards.  The offensive line was blowing open some huge holes.  I texted my cousin David that even I could have run through those holes for positive yardage. 

The game started with Michigan taking the opening kick-off and driving into the red zone.  Penn State stopped us and we were forced to kick a field goal.  The Michigan defense quickly established their dominance and held Penn State to a three and out.  Michigan drove to the red zone again but ended up settling for another field goal.  The first quarter ended with Michigan leading 6-0. 

In the second quarter, Michigan scored a TD to take a 13-0 lead.  On the next drive for Penn State, QB Sean Clifford but a run for 62 to the Michigan 4 yard line.  A few plays later they punched it in for a touchdown.  On the next drive, a tipped pass was intercepted by Penn State and run 42 yards for a touchdown.  Penn State lead for the first time 14-13.  Michigan kicked another field goal at the end of the second quarter to go into the locker room with a 16-14 halftime lead.

Penn State took the kick-off in the second half and drove into the red zone and came away with a field goal to take the lead again 17-16.  This would be their last lead.  Michigan scored the next 25 points and shut down Penn State and looked very dominant.

It was a complete win on both sides of the ball.  As the announcers said, and I paraphrase, this win was reminiscent of the tough defense and reliance on the superb running game win over Ohio State last year.  Both the offensive and defensive lines played well.  It was an excellent game on both sides of the ball.

We have a bye week and face our in-state rivals, Michigan State, in two weeks at home.  I am planning to attend that game.

Go Blue.

Sunflowers and Tomato Soup

 

nyt.com

Where do my bloggy topics come from? 

Sometimes, like today, they are just handed to me on a silver platter, or in this case a Facebook post for a New York Times article.

The article?  “Climate Protesters Throw Soup Over van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’”

What?  Van Gogh? Where? Soup?  Sunflowers? Why?

Wasn’t there another art incident at the Vatican Museum a few weeks ago?  What’s going on?

Two young people approached Van Gogh’s famous Sunflowers painting at the National Gallery in London.  They threw tomato soup onto the painting and then glued themselves to the wall. Here is a video from Twitter of the incident.  The two were immediately arrested and charged with criminal damage.

The perpetrators were wearing Just Stop Oil t-shirts which is an organization that per Wikipedia, “is an environmental activist group in the UK using civil resistance with the aim of ensuring the UK Government commits to halting new fossil fuel licensing and production.”  It was founded in February of this year.  This is their ninth public protest event since their founding and their third in a row in an art museum.  I tried to access their website: juststoppoil.org.  At first, there was a message that the bandwidth was exceeded which meant a large number of people were trying to access their website.  If awareness is part of their objective, dousing Sunflowers with tomato soup was certainly working.

A bit later I did get to their website.  It is very professional and very engaging.  They seem well organized, and I am guessing well-funded (wonder what conspiracy theory I might be able to conjure up in this regard).  They have Zoom calls every Tuesday and Sunday evenings, which I will probably never join.  While I might agree with their goal of raising awareness fossil fuels contribution to climate change, I do not agree that we can stop immediately.  Nothing so complicated and so integrated into society is so simple, so black and white, to solve.  Any transition would take years of effort including a transition to electric cars and perhaps a serious revival of nuclear power generation. 

But this is the nature of activism.  The playbook seems to be to be big and bold, make demands well beyond what is considered possible, and then claim victory if and when reasonable actions are taken.

Why art?  Why Van Gogh?  Well, why not.  Their stunt made headlines today.  They have not seriously damaged any works of art.  The Van Gogh painting had a protective glaze over it.  The Just Stop Oil people said they knew that and knew the tomato soup would not damage the painting.  Their civil disobedience worked.  It drove me and many others to their website.  Raising awareness to drive action seems to be the plan.  It is certainly working on the awareness front. 

I would love to see Stop Oil Now take their protests to Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries.  Why just Oil?  Take similar tactics to Russia to protest their heinous war against Ukraine.  No, such activism will stay in Europe and perhaps the US where there is the criminal consequences are less severe.

Yes, there was an attack at the Vatican Museum on October 5^th.  A crazed American man threw two Roman busts to the ground.  Apparently, his rage was due to his not being able to get an audience with the Pope.  It was not related to the other climate protests.

I don’t think we have seen the end of these kinds of protests.  I am sure art museums around the world are beefing up security and working on plans to make art works less accessible to such protests.

 

A similar protest in July 2022 at the Royal Academy
Da Vinci's The Last Supper mirror.co.uk

 

The Glory of Fall – The Rainy Edition

 

I am writing about the Glory of Falls again making it two posts in a row.

The day after I posted The Glory of Fall – Revisited, I kept thinking about the last paragraph:

I did not take photos of anything in the rain.  The rain muted all the colors.  Instead, I was quite productive this afternoon and evening.  I would stop short, however, of calling the rest of the day glorious.

After writing that last line, I kept wondering why I was not appreciating the rainy side of fall.  Maybe it is simply the fact that the rain takes away from the golden sunshine so amazingly illuminates the colors.  But really, if I truly claim to like the seasons and the changing weather, shouldn’t I also embrace and appreciate all the parts?  Shouldn’t I?

The next morning, I drove to school.  It was nearing dawn and it was raining.  It was the kind of rain where it was a light drizzle for fifteen minutes and then would pour furiously for five or six minutes.  I was thinking about what I had written.  I expressed the truth as I saw, and it bothered me a bit at the same time.  I arrived at school, went to my office, checked my emails, and had an espresso with my friend and colleague Professor Farrugia.  At 7:40, I walked to class it was pouring again.  It was a short walk, maybe a hundred yards or two and I had my head down.  Halfway to class, the pouring transitioned to drizzle so light, it seemed like the rain had stopped.  I was still walking with my head down.  The walkway was blacktopped and wet.  There were yellow leaves, maybe elm and birch, randomly scattered, strewn, about.  I realized that it was beautiful.  I had to take a photo. 

I was changing my view.

Later that afternoon, the sky was still cloudy but clearing.  Everything was still wet, glisteningly wet.  I was in the board room on the third floor of our classroom and student center, the Johnson Center.  There was a tree on the green below.  It too had a rainy beauty about it.  I captured that image as well.

In less than twenty-four hours, I was appreciating the glories of a rainy autumn day.

It is all perspective, questioning the perspective, considering an alternative or two, and maybe adjusting how we see things. 

I am not talking big, huge, life changing axiomatic beliefs but little things maybe we have taken for granted or perhaps never thought about.  Our lives and our perspectives evolve like the seasons.  That is glory of life.

I noticed a lot more people, friends on Facebook, were posting photos of their favorite fall trees and sites.  They were all impressive.  I couldn’t help but wonder if my random tree posts and bloggy bits on the glory of fall just maybe caused this surge of photos.  Maybe, I was one of those whatyacallits, you know, an influencer. 

Now that’s funny.  There is also something glorious about humor.

The Glory of Fall – Revisited

I wrote a piece fourteen years ago, November 2007: The Glory of Fall.  It truly covers my love of the most special season and some of the memories of the glorious falls of the past.  When I looked up that post to review what I wrote, I was surprised that there were no photos of trees or landscapes with vibrant colors.  When I wrote that piece back then, I was not, as yet, using photos in every post.   But, dang, how could I write about the Glory of Fall and not have any photos of changing leaves?

I took a few photos today that could have been posted with that piece. 

I had some errands to run all in our town.  In between errands, I took a little drive to Lake Michigan to enjoy the fall views.  I saw two beautiful trees, one in orange and the other red.  I stopped to take photos of both.  It was a perfect diversion on a perfect fall morning.

A perfect fall morning indeed.  There is something about perfect weather in the Midwest.  Perfection may last a day or two or maybe only an hour or two. 

My next stop was to get a car wash.  On the way there, the radio informed me that in the early afternoon clouds would roll in and then it would rain the rest of today and tomorrow.  Well, there was no reason to get a car wash.  As I headed home, I thought about the old adage about weather:  If you don’t like the weather in [wherever you are], just wait a few minutes.  I think this might have originated with Mark Twain and he used New England for wherever he was at the time. 

There is another saying that I recently saw a few times on social media:

 

 

This change in weather, made my morning drive all the more memorable.  When I think of fall, it is moments just like in photos I captured, clear skies, golden sunshine illuminating the colors for everything, and the crisp cool fall scented air.  Fall is also about change.  It is a transitional season from summer to winter, from the bounty of harvest to the barren dormant landscape.  So, the transition of beautiful golden sunshine to a dank fall rain is consistent with the season and consistent with the place.

The moments I call glorious are all the more glorious because the moments are fleeting, they are not the norm.  That is the value of living in places where the seasons changes and the weather can change during the day.  I see the value of living someplace where the weather is always nice, but would I get complacent about it?  I would certainly miss the fall.  I am certain I would miss the winters as well.

I did not take photos of anything in the rain.  The rain muted all the colors.  Instead, I was quite productive this afternoon and evening.  I would stop short, however, of calling the rest of the day glorious.

 

 

Riding the Rails

 

There is something about taking the train.  It is part romantic and nostalgic.  I imagine that riding the rails takes us back to the years when trains freed us to travel overland between cities comfortably and efficiently.  There is the rumble, the vibration, of the rails.  It is calming and relaxing to the point where dozing off is very easy to do, almost irresistible.  You can gaze out the windows at the countryside or city scapes passing by.  You can visit with family or, if traveling alone, meet new people.  Of course, one can get lost reading a book or listening to music.  With trains having Wifi these days, we can open our laptops or pads and work or use our phones. 

It is not just me, Agatha Christie, whose most famous book takes place on a train, said:  

Trains are wonderful.... To travel by train is to see nature and human beings, towns and churches, and rivers, in fact, to see life.

A few weeks ago, I drove to Detroit for a musical engagement.  My daughter and family from California were visiting my mother and the rest of our Detroit family.  It was the first time any of them met her son Sasoun.  The plan was for them to drive to Chicago and visit with all of us here.  So, I was going to leave my car for them and venture back home by plane.  The problem was that the airfare was a bit pricey, so I investigated Amtrak.  They were much more reasonable, so I bought a ticket. 

“The simplicity of a train's success strategy is admirable: Move forward and reach your destination!” ― Mehmet Murat ildan.

This was the first time I was taking a train, other than commuter trains, since the earlier this century when I took a train from Manhattan to DC.  That was probably twenty years ago now that I think of it.  

The train left Ann Arbor at 10:26 on a fall Sunday morning.  My daughter dropped me off around 10 and there was already 30-40 people waiting.  There was an announcement that due to the train only having one conductor we had to queue up and board the train through one door.  Clearly Amtrak was struggling for workers like many other companies.  Shortly, there were 30-40 people behind me in the line.  A fellow behind me said, “I take this train all of the time and I never seen so many people on the platform.”  The man in front of me explained, “I was booked on the later train but got a call from Amtrak yesterday saying they were cancelling that train and booked me on this.”  So, we were dealing with a labor shortage and a fully booked, potentially standing room only, train.

A. A. Milne quipped, “Nowhere can I think so happily as in a train.”

I was worried about nothing.  The train boarding was surprisingly quick, and I easily found a seat.  Being a train from Ann Arbor to Chicago, there were a lot of students from Chicago visiting friends in Ann Arbor and a lot of young Michigan alums back in Ann Arbor for the football game.  I ended up sitting next to a junior from the University of Chicago who was visiting her freshman sister at Michigan.  She was from New Jersey and remarkably, as she was not Armenian, was taking a class in Armenian Art… because “it sounded interesting.”  I went through and answered my emails, I read, I slept, and I just enjoyed the ride, the views, and the ambiance.    

I might have been the oldest person on the train.  This thought amused me for some reason.  I didn’t feel like the oldest person on the train, but I am sure I looked it.  Perhaps not as much as the author of Winnie-the-Pooh, but I was thinking happily on the train.

I shall have to do this again.