A pandemic diary: Fear and loathing and more loathing

November 21, 2020 Thanksgiving my ass. Square one and ground zero is where we are, for the third bloody time. We've ridden the roller coaster of pain and poverty, death and despair for nine months, but there's no delivery, no blessed event in sight. As I've written before, my wife and I are among the…

A pandemic diary: Blue’s gone

August 13, 2020 One Saturday in 1972 I walked out of the dorm where I’d lived for a couple of weeks, joining some new friends and what seemed like the whole town on the way to my first college football game. It was a clear, bright September day, nippy enough for a jacket, but even…

This land is their land

The Saturday after the Paris attacks I watched football as usual, but also for a little normalcy, a break from apprehension and sorrow. The game I saw was ideal for that purpose: Michigan vs. Indiana, taking me back to my home turf and calling up memories of football Saturdays in Ann Arbor 40 years ago.…

Retired, but not from life

Yesterday I retired from the job I'd held for many years. I had a great sendoff, with lots of good wishes and some truly special gifts from the best bunch of colleagues anywhere, or at least in this corner of the Milky Way. I've got plans for the first day of the rest of my…

Gone Blue

Even if you're not a college football fan or a resident of Michigan, you've probably caught a whiff of the circus parade that began when a quarterback who'd been blasted by a defender and was obviously wobbly was allowed to stay on the field. I don't have the space or the stomach to recap the…

Fire irks and ireworks

Would it surprise you that the first controversy of this year's college football season is already here and it has nothing to do with football – at least not what happens on the field? Nope, this one is about what will or won't occur a few hundred feet above the turf, specifically Michigan Stadium (where…