MAC Daddy?

TONIGHT: the Mid-American Conference football championship
WHO: East Division Champion Ohio Bobcats vs. West Division Central Michigan Chippewas
WHERE: Ford Field, Detroit, MI
WHEN: 7:30pm ESPN

IT WILL BE MAC-TASTIC!!!!




tomorrow: stay tuned for the long-awaited reappearance of the MAC Tracker after a season long absence

good (unsettling) article

Sometimes (or often) it's good to get your head out of the sand and deal head on with ugly, uncomfortable things about society and about ourselves (as long as we're completely honest with ourselves). This is a good article to start that process. Thanks to my pal Rob for emailing it to me...



From Michael Richards to the NYPD
Racism Kills
By MOLLY SECOURS

Last week comedian Michael Richards fired a round of angry racial epithets at several young black men heckling him in a comedy club in Los Angeles. Just one week later, Sean Bell, a 23 year old groom-to-be and his two friends (all black) were gunned down by five plain-clothed New York City police officers who felt compelled to fire over 50 shots total at the three unarmed men who were celebrating Bell's impending marriage.

Although some have characterized the slaughter as 'mistaken identity', the three were unmistakably young, black and deemed menacing--even without possessing weapons. Apparently these young men didn't need to be armed to be considered dangerous.

When replaying the video of Richards' relentless round of expletives aimed at pranksters in the audience, one cannot help but draw parallels to one of the police officers who fired his weapon 31 times, emptying two full magazines at three unarmed black men. He too must have felt very threatened.

It appears racism has no coastal bias and the indignation and public outcry that erupted on the heels of Richards' 'slip o the tongue' was deafening and certainly warranted. And yet, after all the criticism and numerous video replays plastered on network television, Richards, in an interview with talk show host David Letterman, earnestly insists "I'm not racist"-as if this is the only question of concern.

Pundits, entertainers, activists and journalists spend hours posing the question "is he racist?" and carefully pointing their forefinger in the direction of the culprit, and speculation abounds as to whether or not Richard's career is over.

Why? Because in America we don't tolerate overt racism. No siree, no 'n' words here. Never mind that our prisons are disproportionately filled with black men and women, that schools serving predominately black and brown communities remain understaffed and underfunded and that in study after study, it is revealed that people of color receive inferior health care, employment opportunities and many are destined to live in poverty their entire lives.

So just what did we learn from the past weeks debacles? We learned that after a white, wealthy, quick witted and beloved comedian felt threatened by several young black hecklers, he reached in his comedic tool bag and pulled the pin out of a racially charged verbal grenade and hurled it into the balcony.

Richards apologetic protestations on Letterman are indicative of the mass denial infecting this entire country-especially white America. We shake our heads in consternation as if what lies in Richards does not live inside all of us. As if somehow, the problem is 'over there' and thank god it does not live in me. If that were true, Sean Bell (and thousands like him) would most likely be enjoying his honeymoon rather than buried six feet under.

After viewing the Richards'video several times, it appeared the vitriol was lurking just under the surface-which of course it was. Because that's where racism lies for most of us-just under the surface.

Just under the surface in the ways we instinctively clutch our purses on the street when approached by a black man, when we are alone on an elevator or when we read the latest headline about what is commonly known as 'black- on-black crime'.

If only we were less concerned with being labeled "a racist" and more concerned about the systemic and institutional damage inflicted on people of color on a daily basis. Maybe then we could transform our outrage and indignation of overt bigotry and violence into something meaningful. Perhaps even something that would prevent innocent young men from dying at the hands of those sworn to protect us-ALL of us.

When will we understand that these outbursts--like the one Richards displayed last week--are symptomatic rather than a-typical of something much deeper? That the words he vomited at his audience are very much connected to the fatal 50 shots fired at Sean Bell and his friends.

If only we could start from the premise that yes, of course Michael Richards is racist-and so are most white people. It is impossible to be raised in a society where white supremacy is one of the founding principles and not entertain racist notions. It's too deeply engrained for any of us to boast of immunity. Simply impossible.

If we could somehow grasp the notion that it is only to the degree that we acknowledge and unearth the racist notions that lie hidden in all of us-often just beneath the surface-- that we will become 'less racist'.

If so, perhaps we might one day be capable of making the correlation between words that wound and bullets that kill.

Molly Secours is a writer/filmmaker/speaker and frequent co-host on
"Behind The Headlines" and "FreeStyle on 88.1 WFSK in Nashville
She can be reached through her website: www.mollysecours.com

too lazy for new blogs, you get a quiz

1. Where were you when it turned 2006?
At Club Sin on the Docks in Toledo with Rex, Cheryl and JK...pretending to be in my early 20s again...and failing miserably

2. How did you get the idea for MySpace name?
well....it's my first name. so not the most original of names I'll grant you, you'd have to ask my parents where they got the idea

3. What song are you listening to right now?
Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 8 in G Major...yeah I know, could I get more pretentious? yes I can actually...I'm sipping Earl Grey tea and eating imported Swiss cookies as I listen

4. Has the death of a celebrity ever made you cry?
hmm....I don't recall doing that. but I'm a bit of a pansy so I wouldn't be surprised. I know I will when some of my 49ers heroes start buying it

7. What was the first thing you thought this morning?
what should I be doing today....oh and who the hell is this guy lying next to me? and why is he dressed like Madonna?

8. What does your mom do for a living?
wow....I'm going to actually lay off this one surprisingly

9. What will you do tonight?
go to work, come back and drink from the pain, collapse into a drunken, fetal position

10. Whats your favorite memory from last weekend?
what does it say about me that I can't remember anything like that from this weekend?

11. What are the last four digits of your phone number?
9541....wow, riveting stuff this quiz

12. What was the last thing you ate?
the aforementioned tea and cookies

13. What was the last thing you drank?
again, the Earl Grey tea.....now having second thoughts about finishing this one

14. What was the last movie you watched?
Casino Royale....very good flick....oh wait, no I watched parts of Titanic last night. (as an aside, I know everyone likes to make fun of the movie and the Celion Dion inspired nightmares it has caused....but its a better movie than I remember it being. atleast the historical parts, not so much the Leo pretending to be straight parts)

15. What do you dislike at the moment?
well my current job, but that's at any given moment. and my lack of a real job. oh and most people on the planet Earth

16. What food do you crave right now?
Boudin sourdough bread from San Francisco....but only if I can be eating it in San Francisco and not here in the town that God forgot

17. What did you dream last night?
that I snuck aboard a doomed luxury liner and fell in love with a rich girl who I drew naked hours before I would freeze to death and slip into the icy waters of the North Atlantic.....oh wait, that suddenly doesn't sound right

18. What was the last TV show you watched?
Scrubs, becoming a new nightly tradition for me

19. What is your favorite piece of jewelry?
I don't own any. used to have a cool silver ring Jill gave me but I lost it and my Snoopy watch broke long ago.....oh the humanity! (bonus points for anyone who can give me the source of that line)

20. Name someone on your Top Friends who is just like you?
Brandon used to be a clone of me until he strayed and got mixed up in drinking bad St. Louis beer, rooting for evil baseball teams, and voting for fascists

22. Who last text messaged you?
Amy

23. Who's your best friend?
Jenny K

24. What side of the bed do you sleep on?
whichever side has less lumps and springs sticking up than the other side

25. What color shirt are you wearing?
who says I'm wearing clothes?

26. What is your favorite frozen treat?
a nerds blizzard from DQ!!! too bad I have to drive to BG to get one

27. How many piercings do you have?
0

28. What's your favorite store?
tie between Express, Banana Republic, and Crate & Barrel...none of which I can actually afford to shop at

29. Are you thirsty right now?
nah, after last Wed. night I may never be thirsty again

30. Who's someone you haven't seen in a while and miss?
my MI buddies and Stiga, and my older brother I suppose

31. What did you do last night?
canceled out the testosterone rush of an awesome new Bond flick with the estrogen-drowned Titanic (see how I made that drowned b/c it was Titanic and lots of people drowned....that's called being clever!)

32. Do you care what people think about you?
of course I do, may too much obviously

33. Have you ever done something to instigate trouble?
who me? ( I was going to include an angel smiley face but apparently the Robert Murdoch funded myspace boys can't swing that)

34. When was the last time you worked out?
about an hour ago....ran 2 miles and did 60 crunches and 30 pushups...all of which does nothing to counter my awesome 2 liter stomach)

35. What are your font colors on AIM?
black on white....and there is a joke there somewhere but for the life of me it's not coming to me

36. Where do you live?
the 4th Circle of Hell....known to the locals as Perrysburg, Ohio

37. Are you aggressive?
as much as a walking teddy bear can be

39. Do you like the person who posted this last?
sure, haven't seen him since high school however

40. What happened to 40?
I'll let you know in a year when I turn that

41. What would you most like to change about yourself?
wow....this could take awhile, so I'll just narrow it down to being less lazy, more driven, and to finding a friggin career already!

42. What size are your feet?
9- 9 1/2

43. What do you smell like right now?
sex and candy.....please someone explain that lyric to me

44. What is your favorite color?
Cubs blue....the color of heartbreak

45. Do you like mustard?
hell yes! that's why I always cheer for it at the Mud Hens Hot Dog Derby

46. What do you tell yourself when times get hard?
"Adam, just remember, it can always get worse."

47. Would you ever sky-dive?
god no....I don't even like being in airplanes, why the bloody hell would I want to jump out of one

48. Do you sleep on your side, tummy or back?
my sides.....or on someone else's stomach

49. Have you ever bid for something on eBay?
sure but right now I've beaten that particular addiction

50. What do you think of Angelina Jolie being pregnant?
unless it was me making the attempt then I could care less

51. Do you enjoy giving hugs?
yeah, guess so

52. Would you consider yourself to be fashionable?
as fashionable as someone who makes $8.50/hr with credit card debt can be


53. Do you own a digital camera?
yep, though I rarely remember to bring it places....though it comes in handy when I want to take pics of Cheryl and annoy her by leaving them as comments

54. What celebrities have you been compared to?
a dorkier David Schwimmer (if that's possible)

55. Who is your favorite Star Wars character?
hmm...Darth Vader b/c he's a badass who has the voice of James Earl Jones and is living proof that one can overcome their asthma....or Yoda

56. Does it annoy you when someone says they'll call but don't?
yes, but I probably do it too so I won't call anyone out on this one

57. What are you allergic to?
fresh-cut grass and the Puritan work ethic

58. Are you a jealous person?
sometimes...but only when people have cooler stuff than me

59. Do you ever feel guilty after eating meat?
why the hell would I feel guilty? it's instinct baby. I only feel guilty after eating a salad

60. If you were the opposite sex, what would your name be?
according to my mom Ashlie.....but then I might be attracted to J and look like Rachel Leigh Cook with big boobs

finally, impartial (kinda) thoughts on The Game

Ok, its that time of the year...time for The Game between the University of Michigan and THE Ohio State University (just for you JM!) Seeing as this year's game pits #1 vs. #2 this game is being hyped as the biggest game in the history of the Universe. Problem is...I don't really care, and there are millions of college football fans that could care less as well. Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to the game (I even asked off at the hellhole...bookstore for it) and I do recognize it as the single greatest rivalry in college football (followed by Army/Navy for coolness factor) and perhaps the best rivalry in all of sports. But being a fan of neither school, and often being quite annoyed with both something is lost on me.

That being said, I do usually root for Ohio State this week as my distaste for UM knows no bounds. Perhaps this stems from an inferiority complex about going to an often-mediocre commuter school just up the road from Ann Arbor. Or perhaps it has to do with my irrational hatred of the UM Marching Band learned through 4 years of service in the Eastern MB (the Pride of the Peninsula!) Anyway, I've never really thought in-depth about the rivalry and what I think of the two schools compared to each other. That's what I will now do....with the hidden wish that I say enough to have Ohio State AND Michigan fans hate me!! Ok here goes: (please limit hate mail to blog comments)

Campus:

Ohio State: located in pretty cool Columbus, Ohio. Decent enough campus with a nice central mall area and some nice architecture. I'll admit to not seeing as much of OSU's campus and others.

Michigan: located in very cool Ann Arbor, Michigan. Sprawling campus that is often tough to separate from the city around it. But very excellent buildings and some very beautiful areas around campus (especially near the law school if I remember).

Advantage: Michigan (slight edge that would be more if I knew exactly where the hell campus stopped and Ann Arbor begins)



College town: cause everyone knows how much I love a good college town!

Ohio State: not sure they really have one. I like Columbus very much but in my visits to Ohio State I have never seen a cool bar area where students can hang out. And frankly, the area around campus is kinda scary and ghetto.

Michigan: the very textbook example of what a college town should look like. I have seen few that are cooler. Though the yuppie/pretentious factor is pretty high in that town.

Advantage: Michigan (huge)



Academics:

Ohio State: from what I understand they have some very good programs, including a very strong History Grad school (hey its my analysis!) that I could not get into. But the rest of the school is easier to get into than some MAC schools (go ahead with hate comment #1 , Jenny M!) And only marginally better than some MAC schools and maybe not as good as some.

Michigan: only one of the best schools in the country (and the world apparently, since you can't swing a dead cat without hitting an Asian math student). Now I want to hit those idiots that claim Harvard is the UM of the East. UM will never be Harvard...but I'll admit its pretty damn close. Not only could I not get into the grad school, I couldn't even get accepted as an undergrad! (though apparently no white male can)

Advantage: another huge UM win (don't stop reading, Buckeye fans...I'll be trashing your enemy soon enough)

ok, ok...lets get to what people really care about..

Football stadiums:

Ohio State: been to one game at the Horseshoe with Jill. I was VERY impressed with the stadium and the grandeur of the place (its no Rynearson Stadium but its nice). Its a very impressive place and very cool looking all the way around. Was kinda cramped in my seat but with 100,000 people I guess thats expected.

Michigan: been to a few games at the Big House....hated every single experience! I hate Michigan Stadium. Its a old, cramped nightmare that takes you 2 quarters to get down into your seats, b/c the whole place is underground (fitting for hell) The seats aren't actually designed for people. The only time I had a decent seat is when I sat on the field with the EMU MB. For all its hype, I found it a very unimpressive, underwhelming place to watch football. And just for the record, when UM is not doing well, the place sounds like Eastern's library on a Sat night.

Advantage: Ohio State (not even close)



Marching Bands:

Ohio State: simple...they're not called The Best Damn Band In The Land for nothing. I've seen alot of marching bands and been in a very good one (it was dammit!) and I have seen none that are even close to Ohio State's MB. And Script Ohio....simply the best college football tradition around, nothing compares. And bonus points for the beautiful and haunting alma mater "Carmen Ohio" which is my second favorite alma mater, after Eastern's own "Our Pledge". They have a decent enough fight song, catchy and all....though points taken away for having two fightsongs and playing them interchangeably. Not even sure which is actually the fightsong!

Michigan: this one was over as soon as it started. UM has maybe the most overrated college band in the nation. They're not particularly good, they are not known for anything at all...except that insipid "Go Blue" which is now played by every high school band in America. No tradition except for playing as the team comes out of a tunnel under that banner....every other team in football does something like that. And the most annoying fight song around, the dreaded "Hail to the Victors" or whatever name is used for it. Dreadful, even though most people love that noise. As my old Eastern director would say over and over, "It doesn't even have a countermelody! everyone plays the same thing"..boring.

Advantage: TBDBITL in a landslide

Fans:

Ohio State: umm...frightening. I'll go ahead and admire their fierce and absolute loyalty to the Buckeyes. But...they take this whole fan thing to near scary obsession levels. They do pack the Horseshoe and are always into the game...but I wouldn't want to meet a few of them in a Columbus alley after a game. I once saw an effigy of John Navarre hanging outside a Columbus house...for John Navarre...really?! And the car flipping, fire-starting, rioting thing? OSU fans take this rivalry much farther than UM fans and someone should explain to me why that is. Inferiority complex, perhaps?

Michigan: pretty good fans...even though they are sometimes rather uppity and pretentious. And as I stated before, the Big House gets rather quiet much of the time, nowhere near the enthusiasm as Buckeye games. But umm...they don't scare the living hell out of me.

Advantage: Michigan (stop flipping cars, Columbus)

Misc. useless stuff I'm throwing together to end this:

Ohio State: named after a....nut. Gray and scarlet uniforms. Those annoying pride sticker things on their helmets.

Michigan: named after..umm..some kind of beaver or cat or something? Maize (is this actually a color?) and blue uniforms. Those silly stripes things on their helmets.

Advantage: Michigan....blue and yellow are better colors, and they're not named after a nut or a peanut butter candy.

ok....so there we go. I have now successfully alienated everyone I know. Sweet! And as I figured before I started this lovefest I tend to favor UM as a university over Ohio State and favor the Buckeyes (really their band) over Michigan. Please feel free to leave categories I may have left off. And please, no threatening my family (ahem, JM), just leave your hatred for me....an impartial observer of The Game...who now has fewer friends!