A Patriot's Day Tragedy

Warning, this is a long blog post.

I wanted to start this blog because it would give me a forum to say what I thought about the sports teams I love, and sometimes hate. I honestly didn't care if we had any readers because I just enjoy writing about sports. Today I'm going to write about something more important than sports.

For those of you who don't know much about me, or where I grew up, I'll try to explain why Patriot's Day is so important for me and the people from Eastern Massachusetts. I grew up in Hopkinton, where the Marathon starts. In fact, I grew up about 100 yards from the starting line. For me, spring didn't begin in mid-March. Spring began on Patriot's Day. It was Spring Break in school, when our little, insignificant town would be flooded with people from around the world. I remember getting woken up by helicopters in the early morning. I remember walking with my friends to the common to buy food. I remember Conor's marathon day parties. I remember standing along Main Street to watch the start.

Some of my greatest memories are from that day. I remember watching Mark Loretta hit a walk off dinger over the Monster with Christian. I also remember when I was in first grade getting in trouble that day and blaming it on one of my friends. Patriot's day is when I learned the importance of loyalty to your friends. I'm sorry if you're reading this, and it seems like a long-winded piece about me. It is just about how much the Marathon has meant to me for the past 21 years, and why yesterday hit so hard.

The bombing of innocent civilians in Boston certainly had an effect on me. I cannot even begin to imagine the effect it had, and is having, on those who lost loved ones, or who were themselves injured. I thank God that no one I know or love was hurt. I had friends who had just finished, and some who were about 50 yards away.

Whoever did this, and as of writing this, there has been no information on who it was, didn't hurt my friends or family. They did hurt a city that I love. Did they think that the city would be torn by chaos? That Boston would cease to function? That the people of Boston and Massachusetts wouldn't rally around each other? If that's what they thought then they don't know that city.

People from the area around Boston are not the friendliest people around. There are no fake smiles, and we will not hesitate to drive aggressively, but the people I grew up around are not the kind to take this act of terror and cower in fear. Yesterday we saw tons of people, police, fire and regular people, rush to help those hurt. They knew that there might have been more bombs. The terrorist had already shown that they had two, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that Boylston was stained with innocent blood.

I hope that this gives you some insight into why the attack yesterday wasn't just a bomb that killed a few people, and injured a few hundred. Yesterday was an attack on a sacred day in Eastern Massachusetts. I hear people like Juan Cole say that we should pay more attention to things like the bombings in Baghdad because more people died. Yes, 50 people were killed in Baghdad and we don't talk about that. It is horrible. I believe that killing innocent civilians is always reprehensible no matter who does it, and who they are. However, it is impossible for the attack in Boston to hit us harder. I love that city. I walk down those streets. Patriot's day is a special day for everyone from Massachusetts.

I know I rambled on a bit here, but what's the point of having a blog if you can't write about something important. So remember and honor the people who ran towards the carnage. God has blessed Boston with some amazing people, and I count myself blessed to have grown up in that exceptional part of America. I left for a little while for school, but can't wait to get back to being grumpy with my people. I know when I get home in 3 weeks I'll appreciate that city just a bit more.

"Gram Takes Shots Probability Factor" explained.

I've come up with a new way to measure the excitability of games: the "Gram Takes Shots Probability Factor."

Given a Michigan win (any sport), the factor will hypothetically consider the game happened on a Friday night, with nothing for him to do on Saturday (and no PT test the following Monday.) The scale will range from .0 to 2.0.

Explained:
0.0 = no way in hell.
1.0 = he'll take shots.
1.5 = he's going out to party.
2.0= he's going out to party, but not just party, he's also going to have subs. It's going to be crazy.
(Subs, explained.)

Gram and I may read mgoblog too much. We bought shirts.


I will predict the probability of a game, and also give a probability recap after the game.

E.G.
Syracuse G.T.S.P. prediction: 0.8

Kansas G.T.S.P. recap: 1.0 (he pulled out the Woodford Reserve.)

2012 MSU Football game G.T.S.P. recap: 1.5 (he partied 'til 11:30. That crazy bastard. But not crazy enough to have subs.)

Michigan wins national championship G.T.S.P. prediction: 2.0. FIREEEHOUSEEEEE! SMOKEHOUSE BEEF & CHEDDAR BRISKET!!! Not that pussy little 8" shit either, I'm talking footlongs. We'll go all the way past the county line to get those subs if we have to.

UM Elite 8

STAUSKAS!!!! 6/6 from the three point arc. Dome effect is irrelevant.

Spike Albrecht goes HAM. Sick nasty steal and helicopter-levitating layup. Its always nice to see him play well.

Vogrich hits a sick three. McLimans plays!!!

Syracuse prediction after the break

Bruins Thoughts 3/19

 Bruins Thoughts

The only word I can find to describe how I feel about the Bruins at this time is eh. They lack scoring depth, D has been porous more than in the past, and Rask lets in some soft goals. They aren't as physical, or as structured as the past. In spite of this, they are still only 1 point behind Montreal. There are some promising, and not so promising things about this team.

UM vs. Indiana BBALL

FINAL: Indiana 72, Michigan 71

Two things:
Rebound and hit free throws.

Jordan Morgan, man am I glad he's on this team.

U-M vs. Indiana BBALL

Indiana 81, Michigan 73.

There's no need for panic here. The tough Indiana squad, led by Zeller and Oladipo, was playing at home, with a chance to beat the number one team in the country. Take away two runs (one at the start of the game and one in the later part of the seconde half) and its a whole new ball game.

However, a couple of things about this game made me a bit nervous. In big games like this, our freshmen cannot disappear. Stauskas did finish with 10 points, but shot 1-5 from three. If he connects on two more of those, this would've been a whole new ball game. Also, GRIII needs to score more than two points. That's simply unacceptable.

Morgan appeared in the game, but only played two minutes. His defensive presence would've helped contained Zeller. Hopefully his injury doesn't keep him out for much longer, since we got Ohio State coming up on Tuesday.

But enough of the negatives. Burke's and Hardaway's play was outstanding. To see the leaders of this squad step up and score 25 and 18 points respectively shows signs of hope for the numerous big games left on the schedule.

McGary played well, especially considering he was matched up with Zeller for most of the game. He finished with seven boards and ten points.

When Indiana comes to Michigan, I think the game will be a little different. Morgan will most likely be healthy, thus preventing Zeller from having as dominating of a performance. I feel as though Stauskas and GRIII learned from this game, and will not be so nerved next time. If Burke, Hardaway, and McGary have similar games, then Michigan will not suffer the same fate as its reverse fixture.

UM vs. Illinois (BBALL)

Jordan Morgan left the game early with an ankle injury, leaving McGary as the only big man to have seen significant action this year.

But the other big fellas stepped up.

Horford stepped up and put up a respectable 7 points, along with grabbing 4 boards. Bielfeldt got to play! He had a nice basket underneath and did a fine job of getting to the foul line.

Horford and Bielfeldt revealed something I haven't yet noticed this year: depth. Note that this Illinois team is not a bad team. They won their first 12 games, and beat Ohio State by 19 points. Bielfeldt and Horford performed well against a solid Big Ten squad.

Besides depth, the most important thing to take away from this game is #1 RANKING!

Michigan is #1 for the first time since 1992. Whether or not they deserve it does not detract from its significance. The utter disappointment I've experienced with this program is over. Michigan will maintain its status as a contender for (at least) the immediate upcoming years. Hardaway and Burke are likely to leave for the draft next year, but they leave behind a solid freshman class led by GRIII and Stauskas.

Speaking of Stauskas...

STAUSKAS OVERRATED AND ONE-DIMENSIONAL PLAYER WATCH FOR SAM:
14 points (2nd on the team)
6/10 shooting (That's 60%, Sam) (Also: note only 2 of those makes came beyond the arc)
2 assists and...
1 solid block
One Dimensional Player right?
Fuck you, Sam.