Michigan Vs. UCLA, Duke, and Ohio State

Before I want to get into my real post, just wanted to say that I just got my new Sennheiser 280 Pro headphones in, and they are freakin sweet. Got them for only $89. And they sound awesome. You can hear pieces of the songs that I have never heard before. Of course the one down side is that its super obvious which songs are CD quality and which are some cheap recording of a song. They are a bit big and a little attention-catchy (I dont knw if that is a word), and have a long, spirally cable, but the sound is well worth it. Haha, but yeah, they are sweet. Oh, and rediculously cold here! Ahhh! Now to the real stuff, like, this week!


Wow, this week and weekend was nuts! I was so busy and it was so exciting! Since we won our section of the 2K tournament here in Ann Arbor last week, we were set to play at the Madison Square Garden in New York City this week. We were set to play UCLA on thrusday and if we won or lost, we would be in either the championship game or the consolation game on friday. I was not set to go, since I am only a sophomore, and they take only a few managers. Weds was cool because we had practice at 11am. I was able to go and still make it to my spanish presentation at time. This gave me the whole afternoon off to get catch up on lifting and school work and hanging out with UCO dudes. I was also busy at work making charts for Coach Meyer and working on banners for Coach Mahoney. Check out these banners I made for the upcomming game:




We had our game Thrusday night at 9pm Eastern on ESPN2. I think I told just about everyone. Us managers meet at Cristler Arena to watch the game together in the locker room with the nics HD flat screen and sit on them sweet laz-y-boys. I met up with a few of the managers, one of the players that stayed here because of a sprained ancle, and one of the football players, Stonum. We started off in that glorious arena against UCLA looking so scared! I mean, I figured it would happen, but it was annoying! 1-9 in just a matter of minutes! And then we came back 7-9. And then they rolled 7-14. But at least we were staying with them. I think we were only down by 4 at the half. We came back in the second half working hard, creating opportunities, creating tips and turnovers with our 1-3-1 defense, and finishing with fast break points and some key shooting. Towards the end, we wee only up by 1. We kept missing shots. Then Anthony Wright gets the ball at the 3point line free through line extended, dribbles, does a dump off to true freshman Stu Douglass who jacks up a 3pointer with his feet completely off-centered....and he makes the huge shot! It was nuts! Then later we were up by 1 again with a minute to go. We ran the ball using the shot clock like we had all game...running out of time, and at that instant, DeShawn Sims cuts back door down the center of the key for a huge two-handed dunk! It was nuts! But then they hit a 3 pointer! And then Manny Fresh made 2 easy free throws and even semi-blocked a buzzer-beater shot to finish the game! Oh my gosh! We won! We beat UCLA! WE BEAT UCLA! It was bonkers in the locker room! Us managers and others were jumping up and down like nuts! I got back to the dorm and was yelling all outside that we had won and down in the lobby and through 4 different floors that we had beaten UCLA. They were the number 4 team in the country! We had not beaten a top 5 ranked team in like 12 years! We havent gone to the NCAA tournament in 10 years! We havent had an All-American in 14 years! And UCLA had 2 of them! They had made it to the final four the last 3 years and were predicted to go again! And we took them down! We who had a record 22 losses last year! We who are full of underclassmen and flat talent! We who are just unrecognized in a school that expects the best but is getting no love from the football team. And we won! And I was excited...
Make sure to check the highlights on ESPN.





Again, I told everyone I knew about the Duke game. I was so busy that day that I didnt get to work out till late. It was so full at the IM building that I went to work out at Cristler, came back to shower and eat, and then back to Cristler for the game. This time it was just 3 of us managers at the game. We were all tired. And the game stunk. We were creating open looks but nothing was falling. Our defense wasnt nearly as effective. And number 5 Duke was playing extraordinary. Shortly speaking, I was so tired and that laz-y-boy was so comfortable, that yes, I fell asleep and missed the entire second half and some of the first. I was awakened only to be told that we had lost by 15 and that we just did not play well at all. Dang it. This is what I did not want. I did not want to lay an egg. But whatever. That was just the first part of the disappointment. ESPN.




The second was saterday. Yes, the biggest sports rivalry of all time was today. Michigan Vs. Ohio State. But there were loads of problems. First off, we suck. Our team really is not doing good this year. Filled with new plays and terrible mistakes, we just have been cruising to the record 8 losses, which was about to become 9 with OSU. It was at Columbus, Ohio. Our quarterback was injured. Our running back was injured. Our offensive line was injured. All we had was our defense, and they werent even that good. But we still ahd hope. And that died off fast. Within a few seconds of the game, we intercepted Tyrell Pryor`s pass and ran it to the red zone before being pushed out. Then we couldn`t convert. Then we missed the filed goal. That was the story of the game. The defense actually did a decent job, making huge hits. There was a lot of scrambles and a few short-lived fighting, but with all this empty talk, we just did terrible and lost again. Want another record for the books? Why not, this blog post has been full of them...we have never lost to OSU 5 times in a row until now...Great Scott. ESPN. BigTenNewtork

Anyhow, I am sick of this. Terrible weekend. Great win over UCLA. I hope that our basketball quickly becomes our bright side and that our campus not only realizes that, but also embraces and supports our Wolverines. And next year!....well, next year we will see where I am with the team! Who knows, perhaps I will be traveling with them next year to our tournament in Orlando, Florida!

Last week in March: 3 weeks to go

Ladies and Gentleman...this was one packed week. From the 24th up through the weekend was intense chaos. So much happened. Hopefully I can relate all the big news to you guys.


MICHIGAN NEWS:

Not much here. One of the football players left from the football team. He was a starting OL player. It was very unexpected. He commented that the team did not have the same family feel to it under Rodriguez like it did under Carr. That makes me worried. Of course Rodriguez had to speak up and deny anything of the such. But the fact that a scholarship all American starting line man left the team for that reason makes me have my doubts.


MICHIGAN WEATHER:
Well, it snowed out of the blue during the weekend. Lets just say that people were not happy about that. The snow stayed for most of the week. Then it began to get warm. I felt like it was getting warm enough, so I ditched the jacked at 33 degrees. We had some pretty days.


HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK:



On Tuesday I went to basketball practice (I am a manager for the varsity basketball team). I had to skip the manager meeting with Belien (dang it!) cause I had another meeting to go to. Ron Shaprio, one of the top and most successful sports agent in the sports world came to speak for the Business School and the Sports Business Administration (which I am apart of) that afternoon. I was really excited about it. You can see his bio here: http://www.shapirosher.com/rms/ . I walked in, and saw this very simple looking man in his later years chatting around. This was the man. I was very stuck by his appearance. He had some worn dress pants, a simple white long sleeve shirt with a modest tie. He had no flashy watch or snazzy shoes or gangsta jewelry. He seemed very simple. And if you ran into him in the airport, you would never know he was a multi million dollar agent with athletes with Ken Griffy Junior caliber players. He was a very good speaker. You could tell he was a teacher at some point (taugh law school for a few years). He had large blue eyes that were very soft and inviting with his strong yet friendly tone. He moved around naturally and was amazing with names. He asked me specifically why I came here. I must have been the only freshman. I told him I was considering the sport agent world, but was still unsure and wanted to learn about it. So what better than to go hear from the best! His talk was amazing. Very good guy. He really stressed preparation. I could go on and on about his stories and what he learned, but that would take too long. If you want to know, just tell me, cause I wrote 4 pages of notes in his short, 30 minute talk. Afterwards I went up to talk to him later. I told him I have always been big on preparing. I told him I overtrained in sports in high school, so that really killed me. So I learned that not only do I have to work hard, but I have to work smart. He totally agreed with me and warned me of burining out, cause that will kill me in any area he said. He recommended getting his new book, which he had ther on sale for $25 dollars. It is entitled DARE to PREPARE: How to win before you begin! Catchy, isnt it? You can check out his New York Times Best Seller here: http://www.amazon.com/Dare-Prepare-How-Before-Begin/dp/0307383261 . So I told him I would love to get it but I only had $8:50 in my bank account. He was like, "No worries, I will just give you a book. Read it, it has everything you need to know" And he did! He gave me a book for free! And he even signed it! So I am really excited about it. I cant wait to have no work to do to read it. Maybe in these next couple of weeks.


SCHOOL
School sucks. As usual. Super hard. All the time. Never ending. Baaa. Am I exited to get out? Heck yeah! 3 more weeks to go, baby! Then no more econ, no more north campus, and no more piles of never ending homework! I am excited! But its not here yet...which means I got to put for th effort, and not only effort, but my very best. So wish me luck.


MARCH MADNESS
I have been watching a little. I will tell you what, that game with West Virginia and Xavier was tight! It went into over time, WV pulled out in front with some lucky calls, and then played defensively. Xavier played to win and really fought hard. They made 3 3pointers in a row that were amazingly difficult and pulled out in front. I did make a braket, for the first time in fact. Ha, I made 2. I didnt remembr my first one when asked to make my bracket, so I have to winners. Hopefully 1 of the 2 actually makes it. I am rooting for Texas, I know, its amazing that I am rooting for them. infact, I am rooting for them but I want them to loose in the sweat 16, because they will mess up my braket for one, and second, I just dont like the Longhorns (Right Mr. Arce?). So yeah, excited to see what ends up happening in San Antonio.

So there you go, folks. Have a good time reading this. Leave me some comments. Cheers! -DP