Michigan State 24 - Michigan 14

This is my third football posting in as many weeks.  I must be a frustrated sportswriter...

October 14:  I left Illinois this afternoon at 3 pm and headed east on 1-94.  I was going to Detroit.  I am visiting my parents and attending the Michigan - Michigan State Game which will take place in E. Lansing tomorrow at noon.  I am going with my good friend Jack Hachigian, his family, and friends.  He gives me a ticket when the game is at Spartan Stadium.  I reciprocate when the game is in Ann Arbor.

It should be a good game tomorrow.  Michigan, somehow, is rated in the top ten and Michigan State is in the high teens.  I am not sure how Michigan is rated above Michigan State especially given that the Spartans are favored by three over the Wolverines!?  But such is the dichotomies of college football subjective rankings. 

This will be the best game in the past few years.  The Spartans have won the last three games.  If they win tomorrow, it will be the first time MSU won four in a row over Michigan since the 1950s.  I sure hope that doesn't happen. 

There are lots of such instate rivalries:  Iowa - Iowa State, USC - UCLA, Auburn - Alabama, Florida - Florida State, and Washington - Washington State to name a few.  Around here, where I grew up in Detroit, there is no other in state rivalry that matches Michigan vs. Michigan State.  But, I bet they say the same thing in Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma, and Iowa.  The announcers will always say it is for in state bragging rights not only of the players but for the fans as well. 

I am a different kind of fan.  I fully understand that you cannot have a rivalry without the rival.  I also understand that for a rivalry has to be close to 50-50 in victories.  If one team dominates the other year after year, the passion dissipates.  The rivalry becomes lame.  It has to be evenly matched to maintain the intensity.  Not everyone sees it like me.  Most want to pound the other team into a pulp every year winning 63-0.  These folks do not understand the dynamics of a good rivalry. 

When it comes to Michigan State, I generally like the Spartans.  I tell anyone and everyone that the Spartans are my second favorite team in any college sport.  I want them only to lose to Michigan, but I want them to beat everyone else.  It is that simple.  If they beat Michigan in football or basketball, I want them to win the Big Ten and a National Championship.  I enjoyed the basketball success of the school since Magic Johnson was there.  I am glad that their football program is reborn and competitive under the tutelage of Coach Dantonio.  He has done a great job.

There is an exception, actually two exceptions:  Ohio State and Southern Cal.  I like seeing these teams lose as many games as possible.  I am not sure why?  It may be their obnoxious attitudes.  I do believe Ohio State and their fans are actually poor winners (you heard that term coined here first).  Something is wrong when collectively the team and fans are poor winners.  If you ask me who my favorite team is, I am likely to answer Michigan and then Michigan State.  I am equally likely to answer, Michigan and whoever is playing Ohio State.  When Ohio State and Southern Cal play, I wonder if it is possible for both teams to lose.

Having said this, and had my little hissy fit, I cannot really hate Ohio State.  As I said, there is no rivalry without the rival.  Furthermore, the series has to kind of be 50-50.  It was great fun, but not a great rivalry when we beat them 10 out of 12 times in the late 1980s and 1990s.  It has been out right dismal and also not a great rivalry in this century when Ohio State has turned the tables on us and won like 8-9 games in a row.  The Ohio State and Michigan rivalry has not been that great in the past 20 years.  It has been lopsided.  Now, in the famed ten year war between Woody and Bo, the record was 5-4-1 in favor of Bo.  It was crazy intense and really took the game to another level.

That is what I want for Michigan State and Michigan.  I want Hoke and Dantonio to commence a ten year war tomorrow.  It would be a blessing to both schools and their fans.  I am totally OK with us winning the first round.

October 15:  Well for all the hype and all the excitement, Michigan is not yet ready to resume this rivalry.  We lost today, 28-14.

The Spartan defense was just too good for the Michigan offense.  We were held to just 250 yards which is the lowest production of the year for our high powered offense.  Michigan relies on the running game, specifically the running game of quarterback Denard Robinson.  The MSU defense was aggressive, tough, and quite skilled.  They held the Wolverines to a mere 82 yards rushing.  Coming into this game, Denard Robinson was the leading rusher in the Big Ten.  Today, I am sure he is nursing his banged and bruised body from the punishment doled out by the Spartans.  The Spartan defense put pressure on the Michigan quarterbacks the entire game.  In the second half, they seemed to sack our QB with increasing frequency.  Their defensive front are monsters... very fast and agile monsters.

The Spartans came out of the tunnel on fire.  They were pretty jacked up.  That intensity and excitement was not contained.  They were penalized 13 times for 124 yards.  Something like six of these penalties were for late hits, roughing the passer, and unnecessary roughness.  Late in the 4th Quarter they knocked Denard out of the game by slamming him to the turf after he had already passed the ball.  That resulted in a roughing the passer penalty.  I have to believe beating our guys up was part of their strategy.

Before the game I thought we would score some points and the game would be settled by our defense versus their offense.  Their offense scored 21 points on our defense.  I had assumed our potent offense would finally rack up some points on MSU.  I was wrong.  Our first down productivity was not very good.  We seemed to be facing 2nd and 10 or 8 on every series.  Our second down productivity was not much better.

I knew we were mis-matched most of the game.  We were clearly a better team than the last few years, but still not ready for the prime time.  We were clearly not deserving of our high ranking in the poll.  We will no doubt move down and the Spartans should definitely move up. 

While I knew we were mis-matched as the game progressed into the 2nd Quarter.  I began to get upset and angry.  I did not realize how much or why until about twenty minutes after the game ended.  Now, there is no reason to get upset at a football game simply because they represent a school I graduated from in 1974 and 1978.  I should not really be upset because of the main fact that I had no control or influence on the outcome of the game... no matter how much I yelled or cheered.  I probably have very little in common with most of the so called students playing for either team.  Most of them could not have gotten into either school if they had to rely on their academics alone.  Yet, I am not alone in this living and dying with our teams. 

I knew my being upset and angry was due, simply, to the fact that I had drunk the Kool-Aid that my team was back and competitive.  I was mostly upset and angry with myself for not being more rational and objective about our status.  The State fans were proud and happy as well they should be.    The Sparty fans did not lord their victory over us either.  They were gracious.  Most of them thought that the game was in question until Denard was intercepted in the 4th Quarter that was run back for the final score of the game.  I realized that my being upset and angry was exactly how the Spartan fans felt for many years between the Duffy Dougherty glory years of the 1950s-1960s until Mark Dantanio won the first of this current run of four in a row.

People in the same row were I was sitting unfurled a banner that read "Who is arrogant now??? 4-0."  They were referring to a term, Arrogant Asses, that a former MSU coach used when referencing the University of Michigan and their fans.  It was said in frustration with the lopsided record and, truly, our arrogant attitude in that regard.  We had a superiority complex and they had a serious inferiority complex.  I looked at the sign and did not like it.  But, the truth is the truth.  I had to rely on the philosophical belief that we are improving and the last haven of the recently beaten... wait until next year.

I have seen the look of how I was feeling and no doubt was easily discerned from my visage.  I have seen that feeling in the eyes and body language of my good friend and host for the day, Jack Hachigian, several times when Michigan beat MSU.  I remember when he stood next to me at the famous triple overtime game when Michigan, who was pushed around most of the game, came back to tie the game and then win it in dynamic fashion in three overtimes.  It was one of the great victories for Michigan in the series.  It was one of the most bitter defeats for MSU and their fans.  This loss for us was nowhere near as bitter.  In fact, if we had taken the game to multiple OTs, I would have felt we were on equal footing again with our in-state rivals.

We shall see what next year brings...

Wall Street Protests

There are protests on Wall Street.  Hundreds of these protesters were arrested a few Sundays on the Brooklyn Bridge and more recently in Boston.  What is going on?  Who are these people?  What are they protesting about?

I am not sure if I am an average Joe or not.  But, I suspect neither Joe, Mrs. Joe, nor anyone of the little Joe’s understand what this protest is all about.  I for sure do not have a clue what this whole thing is about.  But, that is one of the beauties of blogging.  I can decide to write a piece about something that I do not know enough about and thus am forced to research it.  The research is quite easy in this internet age.  Twenty years ago?  I would have probably just dropped this whole thing as simply being too much trouble.

My cousin Lindsay had just texted me in Google Chat.  So, I decided to begin my ad hoc, unscientific poll, beginning with her.  To read more on Lindsay, check out my blog posting of how we met Cousin Lindsay Blog

me:  do you have any idea what these wall street protests are about

Lindsay:  i was just reading another article now.  i agree with many of their claims and its a peaceful protest.  i think what's been going on with the arab spring/summer finally came full circle and [my generation] is fed up and stepping up

me:  so you have some clue?  can you send an article with a list

Lindsay:  though the thing is, corporate america only gets away with it for one reason.  our government.  washington is as corrupt (if not more)

me:  so it is a generational thing?

Lindsay:  just emailed you the "declaration."  i think most protesters are younger....considering boomers have more at stake to rise against the status quo (we don't even have jobs to be fired from!!!)

me:  is there a website where the declaration came from
(sorry for all these questions.  I am totally fascinated)

Lindsay:  i got it from this article: Article from The Raw Story

She clearly is in tune and sympathetic with this movement.  I soon will be in tune with it... sympathy may or may not follow.

I followed the link to the article which in turn had a link to the

#OCCUPYWALLSTREET is a people powered movement for democracy that began in America on September 17 with an encampment in the financial district of New York City. Inspired by the Egyptian Tahrir Square uprising and the Spanish acampadas, we vow to end the monied corruption of our democracy … join us! We're now in DAY 19. http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/occupywallstreet

The New York Times calls this “a noble but fractured and airy movement of rightly frustrated young people.”  NYT Bellafonte 9-23-11.  This simply was not  on my radar screen.  I really did not know about this until that weekend of 9-23.  We were in New York for a wedding.  We were staying near LaGuardia Airport as the church and catering hall were in Queens.  I awoke Sunday to news that protesters were arrested in mass crossing the Brooklyn Bridge.  I was totally unaware.  

I do not blame this movement of mostly young people.  The American Dream has been taken from them, hijacked, by the loss of our manufacturing base.  They see that multinationals just do not think very much in our National interest, so they blame Wall Street.  Are they not getting the coverage they deserve because they do not deserve any coverage or is it because what we used to call “the man” is not covering it on purpose.

Nicolas Kristof, the esteemed New York Times Op-Ed columnist, has likened this movement to those in the Arab Spring.  He specifically channeled Tahrir Square.  This raised a lot of eyebrows.  But, I can see it.  A generation not only seems but are disenfranchised from the American Dream.   They are raring to go... but there are no jobs.  Corporations are doing better and making money again but it is a jobless recovery.  Efficiencies and globalization include the American consumer as part of the recovery but not the American workforce.  I believe this is at the heart of this nascent movement.  

People in my generation are not relating to the frustration of the generation that relates to and is driving this protest.  Kristof took heat for likening this to the Egyptian Tahrir Square protests.  

There is plenty of frustration to go around.  We are in a state of flux in this country.  We are experienced the global economic equilibrium being reset.  The reset is not necessarily in our favor.  Our being on the losing end of things makes the reset painful for us.  The pain is felt by my generation that cannot retire as early as we had hoped.  For a great number of us the idea of any kind of retirement at all seems to have evaporated.  While this is tough sledding for us, we grin and bear it.  Well, maybe we scowl and bear it.  The bottom line is we bear it.  There is not much we can do.  We know we way closer to the end of our careers, the end of our working and producing days, so we endure and make the best of things.  We try to make ends meet and hold on to whatever employment we have.

For the generation of my cousin Lindsay, it is a whole different matter.  They are at the very beginning of their work life.  They are freshly minted adults.  They are ready to get going.  They want to get going.  They have gone to school, selected fields of studies, and worked hard to graduate.  They are raring to go.  For way too many of them, there is just no place to go.  There are not nearly enough entry level career type jobs for them to go into.

This does not stop that generation.  They go and get a part time job, maybe two, perhaps three.  They do what they have to do to be as independent as they can be. They nanny, work at Starbucks, work in retail, whatever it takes.  They return to school for advanced degrees.  The return to school for a more marketable bachelors degree or certifications.  What I like about the young people I have seen is that they do not give up and they realize the new normal better than any of their elders.  Perhaps it is because this is the only normal they have ever known.

I can see their frustration with the Wall Street.  I can see where they are fed up and want to do something, anything, about it.  They see it is time for a new paradigm.  Perhaps it is.

If anyone is to buck the status-quo it is young people.  My generation did so in the late 1960s and early 1970s for civil rights and against the war in Vietnam.  We were full of hope that we would change the world.  That is not quite right.  We believed we would change the world.  Until this recent protest, the youth of this country has not been too awfully rebellious since the days of Woodstock.

The big twist in all of this is that the protestors against Wall Street are kind of blaming us.  To them we are now “the man.”

The Detroit Lions

Who are these guys?

There is 7:30 left in the game and the Lions are leading the Chicago Bears 21-10.  They look dominant.

Dominant?  The Detroit Lions?  Are you kidding me?  They have had the worst record in the NFL for the past ten years.

I am watching Monday Night Football.  The Detroit Lions are playing the Chicago Bears.  The Lions are 4-0 and there has been a lot of buzz around and about this team.  This is their best start since the early 1980s.  If they win tonight, 5-0 will be their best start since 1956. 1956!  They are on the cover of magazines.  This is the first time they are on Monday Night Football since 2001.

I am not fully sold on the buzz and hype.  Why not?

Why not indeed?  I am very leery of buying in too deeply.  The Detroit Lions and I have a dismal and agonizing history of me buying in, wanting them to do well, and them letting me down... horribly.   Every year, hope sprung eternal in August as the NFL season was about to start only to be crushed and ground into the dirt almost as soon as the season began. 

It is like Honolulu Blue and Silver were cursed colors.  To me they were.  I got all my football joy from the Michigan Wolverines.  They were winners; the Lions were losers... every year after agonizing year. 

There were moments of hope.  They had recruited Nick Eddy, a Heisman Trophy Winner from Notre Dame in the 1960's.  There was a lot of hype about Nick joining the Lions.  I do believe that Nick Eddy twisted his knee getting off the bus in Detroit.  Maybe it happened in the preseason of his rookie year.  He was never what they had recruited him to be after the injury.  Nick Eddy never panned out.  He was the first in a long line of Lion personnel disappointments.  In his first game on his first play as a Lion quarterback, Chuck Long, the famed Iowa star, threw a bomb for a touchdown.  Yes!  We finally have a quarterback (go ahead name a famous Lion quarterback since Bobby Layne?  I dare you).   That was the highlight of Long's career with the Lions.

They recruited the famous Barry Sanders in 1989.  He was one of the most explosive, artistic, and entertaining runners in NFL history.  I bought in, again.  Who wouldn't have?.  Barry Sanders did not let me or anyone else down.  He was brilliant.  He was electrifying.  I was so sure the Lions would build a team around him and go to a Super Bowl just like the Chicago Bears did around Walter Payton.  They sadly, painfully, agonizingly (why do I keep using this word to describe my relationship with this team) did not.  It was the curse of the Honolulu Blue and Silver. 

When I moved to New York in 1990, the New York Giants had a great season.  The won the Super Bowl.  For me, it was like... cool beans.  I had no problem becoming a Giant fan.  I did not leave the Lions behind, well maybe a little;  I just added the Giants.  Then in 2006 when I moved to Chicago, the Bears went to the Super Bowl.  Double cool. I added the Bears to my favorites.  Heck, I thought I had some kind of special mojo that by simply moving to a town, their football team would go to the Super Bowl.  I even thought about moving back to Detroit just to help out the hapless Lions.

Lions:  what a great name for a team.  Lions are powerful, majestic, and if I am not mistaken often referred to as the King of the Beasts.  The Detroit Lions?  Not so much.

I grew up following the Lions, Pistons, and Red Wings.  The Tigers won few World Series for me, they were more than OK with me.  The Pistons finally won a few championships in the 1990s.  The Red Wings followed suit and have taken a few Stanley Cups in the 1990s and 2000s.  Only the Lions continued to disappoint. 

The game just ended and the Lions won 24-13.  The headline on an ESPN website was "Roaring Lions."  Finally.  I hope it lasts.

There are only two undefeated teams in the NFL:  The Detroit Lions and The Green Bay Packers.  Wow.  Five games into the season and the Detroit Lions are one of two undefeated teams.  Go figure.  I sure hope it continues.  The D could sure use it.

I am in Michigan this coming weekend to go to the Michigan vs. Michigan State game on Saturday.  I just may have to invest in a Lions t-shirt and hat.

I might look good in Honolulu Blue and Silver.

September 2011: Michigan vs. Notre Dame and 9-11

It is the 23^rd of September.  It is the first day of autumn which is my favorite season.  It is the 23^rd of September and it is a cool Chicago day, breezy, with billowy clouds.  When the sun did pour through, it was the glorious gold color that makes this many people’s favorite season. 

We are in week four of the college football season.  Michigan is again 3-0.  The Wolverines beat Notre Dame two weeks ago for the third year in a row.  It was a spectacular game and an amazing spectacle.  It was the first night game at Michigan Stadium.  They had installed lights last year.

Michigan was lucky to win the game.  Notre Dame had jumped out to an early lead.  Their offense was, for the second year in a row, cutting through the Michigan offense like that veritable knife through butter.  This was the second year in which Notre Dame did this in the first quarter.  Notre Dame looked invincible on offense and defense.  Michigan’s statistics were dismal.  They had only one first down in the entire first quarter.

Not only that, Michigan was behind the entire game.  They underperformed Notre Dame in every statistic, at least through the first three quarters.  Notre Dame was leading 24-7 and it appeared like they would cruise on to their first win of the season.  It looked like they would hand Michigan their first loss under their new head coach Brady Hoke.

But, as I said, Michigan was lucky and won the game.  For Michigan, luck had long dreadlocked hair, wore number 16, and played quarterback.  Luck had a name:  Denard Robinson.  For the second year in a row, he was the difference in this classic rivalry.

In the fourth quarter, Denard ran and passed.  He evaded tackles making the Notre Dame Defenders look hoodwinked and slow.   They were hoodwinked by the most artful dodger playing the college game today.  They were all slower than Demard but then everyone is slower than Denard. 

Michigan scored 28 points in the fourth quarter to win this game.  That is four touchdowns.  Wow.  They did not take their first lead until there was only 1:12 left in the game:  28-24.  The crowd was insane.  We looked like we were going to three peat against Notre Dame.  Unbelievable.  Un-called for.  Crazy.  Lucky.

All the Wolverines had to do was hold the Fighting Irish for the remaining one minute and change left in the game.  They could do this. The defense really looked better than the past few years.  Even though they started slow in each game.  The difference between this year and last year is that the defense stayed lackluster throughout each and every game last year.  This year in the three games thus far, under the tutelage of Coach Greg Mattison the biggest difference is that the defense adjusts.  They get run over early in the game and then they adapt and get better.

So, the entire Michigan part of the record breaking crowd had some confidence that our beloved team could hold Notre Dame and win the game.

We were all wrong.

They got the ball on their own 39 yard line.  Tommy Reese, their own talented sophomore QB, had a little magic of his own to display.  The Lake Forest High School grad drove the Irish to a touchdown on four passes.  Bam!  Notre Dame regained the lead 31-24. 

There was only 30 seconds left on the clock.  Things pretty much looked over for like the second or third time in this game.  Michigan fans began to trudge out of the stadium.  The few Notre Dame fans were feeling pretty good about things.  There were, after all, only thirty seconds left.

Denard Robinson, however, was still our quarterback.

Notre Dame kicked off and Michigan began on their own 20 yard line.  On the first play, Jeremy Gilliam, a Michigan receiver found himself all alone in the right flat and Denard completed a pass to him.  Gilliam scampered for a net gain of 64 yards.  Wow… again!  Michigan now found themselves on the Notre Dame 16 yard line with like 10 seconds left.  On the next play, Denard hit Roy Roundtree for a touchdown.  Thank you.  Easy work.  Well, amazing work that looked easy.  Voila.  In two plays, Michigan had the lead again 35-31. 

There was only 2 seconds left in the game.

At this point, it really seemed like this one was in the bag.  Yet, in this game, who knows?  They could run back the kick-off and win.  They did not.  On the kick-off, Notre Dame fumbled, the ball went out of the Notre Dame end zone, and the game ended.  The Michigan fans were ecstatic and the Notre Dame fans were stunned. 

Here is a YouTube of the last 1:41 of the game captures the last 21 points of the game.  Scoring 21 points in the last two minutes of the game is completely wild.  You see the jubliant Wolverines when they scored with 1:12 left in the game to take a 28-24 lead.  Then watch Notre Dame turn the tables and retake the lead 31-28 with just 30 seconds left in the game.  It seemed over, but oh no.  Michigan scored again. No matter how, or anyone, writes it up, you get the full magnitude of what these two teams did that night.   It is the final 1:41 of the game, but it is 13:33 minutes long.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?y=ZsHbCfgPA1c&feature=related

Win or lose, it was a great game.  Someone had to win though both teams played valiantly.  It is easier for the winning side to say that for sure but I saw it in the Notre Dame fans I talked to as they left the stadium.  We all felt the same.  We were lucky to win.  It is a win nonetheless. 

I have been on the other side of games like that where my team has beat the other team on almost every statistic except the score.  No matter what, it is the final score that counts.  So, I had empathy for the Notre Dame fans.

Just upon entering the stadium, we got maize colored pom-poms (sticks with streamers on them).  I almost did not take one, thinking that I would never use it.  But I did take one and was amazed, or perhaps amaized, that I was waving it around every time something exciting happened and every time they played the Michigan Fight Song.   Here is a YouTube of the student section with everyone waving their pom-poms.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j2UNqVSKjo

When the game ended we sat in the stands just letting everyone else clear out and to give the traffic a head start.  It was midnight and the band did their post game show.  My cousin’s son, hence my second cousin Avo, and his buddy James were sitting in the section next to ours.  I texted him and he was still in the stadium, so they walked over and we debriefed the game.  It was a very special night. 

The team wore throw back jerseys to the early days when Michigan and Notre Dame played.  We bought them, I wore the Michigan jersey and Judy wore the Notre Dame one.  People called us a house divided.  Some of the inebriated students were not so kind to Judy, but she would give them the “that is unacceptable young man” look and most apologized.

It was a great evening of football.  This is longest streak of wins for Michigan since they won the first eight games they played against Notre Dame from 1887-1908.  Notre Dame had a streak of four wins from 1987-1990.

This is certainly a classic rivalry.

9-11-11:  Michigan and Notre Dame squared off on Saturday evening of September 10.  When we left the stadium it was Sunday, September 11^th.  There were commemorations during the game for the 10^th Anniversary of 9-11.  While playing and singing God Bless America, the  names of the eighteen University of Michigan graduates who lost their lives that day scrolled down the huge video scoreboard.  It was a nice tribute. 

During half-time, two Rangers parachuted into the stadium.  That was something.  They both had video cameras attached to their harnesses.  The video showed on the jumbotron.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j2UNqVSKjo

I enjoyed the game.  I was happy with the win.  Looking at the videos, I am just getting the full measure of how exciting the end of the game was.  But, I was kind of reserved at the game.  Why was I not ecstatic?  It was partially due to fact that Michigan had a lot of luck going to get that win.  But, I believe it was also partially due to the 9-11 anniversary. 

When driving from Lake Forest to Ann Arbor, I could not help but wonder and fear that this game would be a perfect stage for a terrorist attack.  Thankfully, there was none.  Thankfully, there were none anywhere in the US.  There was a threat in NYC but nothing happened with the arrest of a couple of suspects.  I am sure my fears of terrorism at football games comes from the 1977 Black Sunday movie and Tom Clancy’s The Sum of All Fears. 

On September 9^th, I got an email from Luis Solana a friend and colleague from Colgate.  He wrote, “Ten years ago on Sunday, we were in Brazil.  How to forget!”  How to forget indeed?

It has been ten years since the 9-11-01 attacks that brought down the World Trade Center towers in New York City, damaged the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and the crash of fourth plane in Pennsylvania when the passengers fought and kept that plane from ever reaching its target in DC.  It seems like ten years and it seems like just a minute.  These kinds of events when you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when it happened are like that.

In my lifetime, this was the biggest.  It overshadowed the murders of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy.  It overshadows the death of Princess Diana, and our landing of a man on the moon.  I did not live through the Pearl Harbor attack by the Japanese that triggered our involvement in WWII.  That may have been equivalent.  I will have to ask my parents, who experienced both. 

Ten years ago, I was living in Connecticut and working in Manhattan.  On that fateful Tuesday, I could have easily been in the city at the Colgate-Palmolive offices on Park Avenue.  I wasn't.  I was in Sao Paulo, Brazil.  I was part of a task force that was there to review the customer service and logistics operations of our subsidiary there.  Stan Brothers, Jim Davis, Alberto Cardona, and I left on Sunday evening.  Luis Solana joined us but he travelled from Miami where he was living at the time. 

We spent Monday preparing for the activity with the Brazilian team.  We reviewed and revised the agenda and our roles and responsibilities.  We asked for and analyzed more data.  Stan was the supply chain finance person on the team.  The rest of us were supply chain professionals.  I had responsibility for Latin America, so I was very interested in the results of this task force.

We kicked off the meeting with the Brazil Team at 8:30 am on Tuesday morning.  We had the VPs of Finance, Operations, and Customer Service and Logistics in the meeting along their key directors and managers.   We were going through the overview presentation, basically their standard business review slide deck, by the Brazilian team when Luciano Sieber came into the conference room and blurted out that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center.  We were taken aback.  We asked many questions but Luciano had no more information.  We just assumed that it was an accident due to poor air traffic control or a bad private pilot.  We resumed the meeting.

What seemed like just a few minutes later, Luciano burst into the room again.  He was more agitated and shouted that another plane had crashed into the other tower of the World Trade Center.  This was clearly no accident.  While we sat there trying to make sense of things with limited information, Charlie Catlett, the VP of Operations, got a call on his cell phone from his wife.  She told Charlie that New York and Washington, DC were under attack and that planes had crashed into the White House, the Capital Dome, and the Pentagon.  Under attack??  It sounded dire and wide scale.  Our meeting fell apart.  We were done for that day.

We immediately hit the internet looking for information only to realize that the attacks were nearly not broad as Charlie's wife had reported.  We also realized the attacks were so unexpected, brazen, and shocking that the news machine was stunned and on its collective heels.  There was almost no information the CNN, The New York Times, USA Today, and other websites.  The whole country and whole world was stunned.  The lack of immediate information in the immediate information age was amazing.

The media did catch up.  Once it got revved up, it was relentless, 24/7, and our eyes were glued to the TV.  We went back to our hotel and just watched CNN International.  We called each other while watching the coverage.  "Did you see that?"  "Have you heard from your family?"  There was a lot of "wows" and "OMGs!"  One of us, got tired of watching, the news and calling home, and suggested that we go grab a quick dinner.  We all agreed.  And what did we talk about at dinner?  What had happened in New York, there was no other subject. 

Then we went back to our rooms and watched more.  We looked at the same footage over and over again.  The towers were forever engulfed in flame and smoke; people were jumping to their deaths; there were talking heads of every imaginable leader and analyst.  There was nothing new and yet we watched.  We could not help but watch.

The next day we tried to get back to business.  We actually worked and accomplished our mission there.  We worked to take our minds off the multitude of thought and worries that were on all our minds.  We worried about the same things everyone else worried about.  Would there be other attacks?  How had these events changed our lives, our business, and our families?  Did we know anyone that had perished in the attacks?

We also worried about something else.  How and when were we going to head home?  All travel was suspended.  Indefinitely.   I called our head of corporate security to get his take on things.  There is something in such a crisis that became quite clear.  No one knew what was going on.  People were giving advice and opinion with imperfect information.  They were setting policy because they had to.  Then the policy and advice would change as events unfolded or in this case didn't.

We were told not to fly US carriers home.  OK, that kind of made sense.  Then we heard, while watching CNN so much at night, that if and when air travel resumed, it would resume internationally only for US airlines.  We sought clarification and realized that we were basically on our own.  It was no problem, we were in good hands with our colleagues in Brazil.  But, Wednesday and Thursday, we had no clue how long we would be in Brazil.

On Friday, we heard the first flights to the US would be leaving.  As fate would have it, we ended up on our scheduled return flight which was the first plane to leave Brazil for the US.

It is hard to believe it has been ten years.  I replied to Luis and copied Stan, Jim, and Alberto.  We have a 9-11bond and email each other every year.

Watching Paint Dry

There was a segment in the Beatles Yellow Submarine movie.  It is the only segment that I remember.  It was only a minute long but it seemed so much longer.  It was watching a clock , animated in that psychedelic manner, tick off the seconds to one minute.  There were trying to illustrate the line "Sixty-four years is 33661440 minutes, and one minute is a long time.”  They were also trying to provide an enhanced experience to those watching the movie in an enhanced state of mind.

Basically, time is relative.  A minutes can fly by if one is engaged and engrossed in work or an interesting task.  I am amazed by how quickly time flies when I am surfing YouTube for new  Armenian, Greek, and Turkish music videos.   Waiting in line at a check-out can be an eternity.

When you are doing something you enjoy doing or are very interested in, time can fly by.  When you are bored waiting and would rather be doing something else, one minute seems like a long time.  It is like watching paint dry.

I first heard that phrase, watching paint dry, when my children were on the Wilton Wahoo Swim Team back in the early 1990s.  Swim meets were day long events where it is hot and humid with chlorine scented atmosphere.  Parents are there for the long haul, sitting, and waiting for the one minute out of every two hours that their kid is actually participating.  No matter what you bring to read or do, boredom is inevitable.  It is like watching paint dry.
 
To say that golf is popular in the US is an understatement.  More men my age express their passion for the game than for any other pastime.  Not only do people play it whenever they can, they watch it on TV in numbers that boggle my mind.  Guys that I know will watch it, discuss it, and marvel over it like I would do for college football.  I do not play golf much, but I do enjoy it when I do.  It is good to be out with buddies.  Plus, I get to smoke a cigar or two which is always a good thing.  One thing I will not do, however, is watch golf on TV.  It really is like watching paint dry.

Why write a little bloggy bit about watching paint dry?  There is certainly a potential for cuteness as long as I keep it short and sweet.  (I may have already exceeded that limit!)  

I am writing this because of my buddy, my pal, Ara Topouzian.  In either an email or text exchange, he got on about some of my recent blog topics.  Tongue in cheek, he said “you’ll write about anything that comes to your mind won’t you, even if it is like watching paint dry.  Hey there is a topic for you, Watching Paint Dry.  Why don’t you write about that?”

So I have.  Ara this one is for you. 

Postal Woes

The news has been abuzz with reports of the dire economic condition of the United States Postal Service.  With the advent of e-mail practically eliminating the mailing of letters and the rise of first UPS and then FedEx for parcels and overnight documents, the USPS has lost volumes of business.  Their business is the litany of junk mail we all get, magazines, the parcels people still send with the them, and whatever vestige of personal notes, cards, and letters people still send.  The mass mail that they deliver to each address in the United States on a daily basis is mostly less than the First Class or Premium rates.  Even at that the USPS rates seem more competitive than their for profit competitors.

While their volumes are down, they have until quite recently maintained the infrastructure of Post Offices in every Zip Code along with the mail carriers and the vehicles used to have the mail carriers make their rounds six days a week.  There is a lot of overhead to carry and a lot of real estate and capital equipment to maintain.  So, the USPS is saddled with a costly infrastructure, pricing that generates less revenue than their competitors, and a charter that does not allow them to operate as efficiently if they were a for profit business.

This past week, I need to mail two Michigan vs. Western Michigan Football tickets to my sister Ani in Michigan.  I had Ani if she could use the tickets with ample time to simply put them in an envelope, put a stamp on it, and mail them.  That would have cost 44¢.  They were not sure if they could use the tickets until the last minute.  When they gave me the thumbs up, I had to use an expedited service.  I chose to go to a UPS store across from my client’s office rather than drive another 15 minutes to the closest Post Office.  If I had gone to the Post Office, I would have filled out a form and maybe would have had to wait in line to send it Express Mail for overnight to second day for $18.30.  At the UPS store, it was painless.  I did not have to wait in line.  I did not have to fill out any forms; the sales associate typed as I dictated.  He put my envelope with the tickets into the mailer and affixed the label.  Did I say painless?  Well it was up until he took my charge card to collect $26.50 for this service.  Ouch.

I could have paid 44¢ but I paid more than $26 more!

It made me think about the incredible value of the 44¢ option.  I can hand-write a letter, note, or card to a friend or loved one.  For this amazingly low price, a USPS carrier will pick it up from the mailbox at the end of my driveway and, in a few day, another carrier will place intended mailbox anywhere in the United States I wanted it to go.   Let’s assume that the process once it gets to the Post Office is highly automated, there is still the personal pick-up and delivery for just 44¢.  The break-even point on that has to be a lot more letters and cards than are currently being mailed.

The Postal Service has a long, storied, and important role in this county.  On July 26, 1775, the Continental Congress established the United States Post Office.  They appointed Benjamin Franklin the first Postmaster General of the United States for the salary of $1,000 per year.  The US Post Office is the second oldest Department in the US Government (I am presuming either Continental Congress or the Militia being the first).  In those days, the Postal Service was crucial to the communication among the loosely federated states.  We easily forget in this age of instant communication by text, phone, or email that the post was the only way to communicate over any distance.

When I moved to Connecticut and travelled during our time there from Washington, DC to Maine, we often were on Route 1.  It was always Route 1 but in different parts of that geography it was called The Post Road, Boston Post Road, or Washington Post Road.  It was the artery, back then, that linked the country.  It was the information superhighway of it’s time.  Instead of bits and bytes being streaming all over in packets, it was letters, newspapers, and books.  

An efficient and effective Post Office certainly has served this country very well until very recently in our history.  Until the most recent military actions, it was the US Post Office that kept soldiers serving anywhere in the globe tethered to their families.  I remember the volume of Christmas cards and packages was so great in the 1960s that they ran two deliveries per day for the ten days leading up to Christmas.  

OK... email is free and even better it is instantaneous.  I know and get this but it is not the same as sending or, even better, receiving a hand-written and heartfelt sentiment from someone.  Email is great but there is a bit of magic in a letter, card, or even the lowly postcard.  There is something special about opening the envelope and taking out the card or letter.  Saving a letter is somehow different than archiving an email.  

Change is inevitable and what I have just described may well fall by the wayside.  No matter what, I think the days 44¢ door-to-door delivery will definitely go away.  If it is all privatised or run by publicly traded companies, I am sure the trues cost per volume of mail for daily delivery to every address in the country will be reflected in substantially higher prices.  

My love and fascination for the handwritten letter or note will probably start to fade as well when it costs $5 or $10 to get it from my door to yours.

It is what it is...

People are always saying "It is what it is."  This phrase is used often in resolution or mild exasperation when one is expressing acceptance of something that simply cannot be changed.  "It is what it is..."

The popularity of this phrase may be waning.  It was used and overused during The Great Recession.  Business went into the dumpster: "it is what it is."  People were losing their jobs; "it is what it is."  Houses were going into foreclosure; "it is what it is."  Horrible economic news festered an environment where this phrase became a mantra; "it is what it is."

But, I believe that we have been saying it wrong all of this time.  "It is what it is."  Most certainly the first half of the statement is correct:  "It is."  No question about that.  We utter this phrase because we are not happy about "what is."  We would rather have "what should be" or "what isn't."  So, I have decided to use the phrase "it is what it isn't."  I think that would much better convey my sense of being accepting of "what is" but actually really wishing it were not;  "it is what it isn't."

Another alternative could be "it isn't what it oughta be."  This however might be too subtle to become widely used.  I like it however.

Back in the 1970s, a phrase emerged from the Afro-Americian community (if not from the Afro-American community directly, it certainly came from  the TV sitcom idea of how they thought people talked in that community).  It was a kind of greeting;  "what it is." "What it is" indeed.  I was always fascinated by this and the number of white kids who used it trying to be a bit more inner-city or trying to adopt a bit of ghetto cool.  I never used it, but loved to use variations of when responding to such a greeting.    

My friends would say, "What it is?"  I would respond, "What it was."  When I got tired of that, I branched out to various tenses, "what it will be."  I used, "what it might have been" or "what it should be."  My favorite was the past perfect "what it should have been."  Maybe, it is the past future perfect or conditional perfect past, I never fully got the labels thought I could sling the tenses around in a conversation with the best of them.  I like these variations, it is like the verbal equivalent of English or back-spin on tennis shot.

"It is what it is" reminds me of "what it is."  Maybe instead of the simple "it is what it isn't," I think I will mix it up in terms of tense and potential... a lot.

Hey, it is not what it might have been. 

Neither is it what anyone ever promised it would be.