brainsplotch

Here's something I wrote on a sports-related Facebook page, in response to the question "Will Tom Izzo leave to coach Cleveland?". These posts tend to ignite a little more passion in me than this blog (the irony of that is not lost on me. Isn't a blog where you're supposed to really blow off steam?), so here's what I wrote: "Maybe this is just the Spartan fan in me talking, but it would be a mistake for Izzo to leave MSU. He is already a legend in East Lansing, as well as the rest of the state, but if he stays at MSU he will be among the "Mt. Rushmore" of anyone ever associated with the school, that means the likes of John Hannah, Biggie Munn, and Duffy Daugherty. "If Izzo goes the NBA, he's just another pro coach dealing with temperamental pro players with overinflated egos. His personality is not cut out for the pro game and he will flame out quickly. I'm not saying he couldn't win in the NBA, but he will never develop the lo...

The big news around these parts is MSU basketball coach Tom Izzo, and whether or not he will take the Cleveland Cavaliers head coaching job. I've never seen or heard basketball fans more nervous about the possibility of Izzo leaving, me included. Depending on what news report you read, it appears that Izzo may be closer to taking the job, but who really knows until an official announcement is made? I have to think his decision is largely dependent on whether he has assurances that LeBron James will be re-signing with the Cavs--that is, unless all the money Cleveland is shoving in Izzo's direction is too hard for him to resist. I'll be pretty despondent if Izzo takes the job, but we MSU fans are lucky we've had him as long as we have. I just don't see any way that MSU basketball can continue to be as excellent as it has been under Izzo, regardless of who the new coach will be. It's hard to fault Izzo for taking this job, if he does--particularly if he has a chanc...

Like every Detroit Tiger fan, I was shocked, disappointed, and at least somewhat angered about how Armando Galarraga's bid for perfection ended last night. I must admit that I did not see any of the game. I was talking to my mom on the phone and, after our conversation ended, happened to be browsing on one of my favorite "news sources," Facebook. The Detroit Tigers posted an update stating that Galarraga had a perfect game through eight innings. I practically leaped from my computer chair, made a mad dash ten feet to the closest television (in our bedroom), and flicked it on--only to discover that the game had just ended. The postgame had started and Galarraga was being interviewed. The score appeared on the screen a few seconds later and I saw that Cleveland had gotten a hit. I soon discovered that his hit was made possible by umpire Jim Joyce's missed call at first base. Thus began a night that consisted of me investigating, reading, and chatting on every spor...

In the midst of enjoying a fairly relaxing, stay-at-home Memorial Day weekend. As usual, I'm feeling guilty that I have been so negligent with this blog that I'm trying to make amends by throwing something together at the end of the month. I continue to be depressed with the BP oil "spill" (which, let's face it, is more like an oil "geyser"). Is it just me, or the do the folks at BP come across as the most incompetent corporate boobs in history. I haven't decided if they're more reprehensible that the Enron people, but they definitely seem to have their head further up their a$$es. But that's just one man's opinion. I'm currently reading an excellent book called The Liberators: America's Witness to the Holocaust by Michael Hirsch. It never ceases to amaze me that, no matter how much I read about the Holocaust, I'm continually amazed at the sheer level of the atrocities committed by the Germans against their enemies, be they J...

The great Detroit Tiger radio broadcaster, Ernie Harwell, died yesterday at the age of 92. It was the news I knew was inevitable, since he had been diagnosed with inoperable bile duct cancer, but was dreading all the same. I knew it would be hard to take. If anyone seemed like he should live forever, it was Ernie. It doesn't seem fair that someone as gentlemanly and decent as Ernie Harwell should be taken away from us. Like generations of Michiganians, I grew up with Ernie's voice. He was one of the people that introduced me to baseball and the Detroit Tigers. He was part of my childhood and young adulthood. There are so many memories I have that are tied to that distinctive Southern accent: my dad outside working on the house or in the yard with his old paint-splattered transistor radio, and Ernie describing the action at Michigan and Trumbull; upstairs in my room on a warm summer night in the great year of 1984, the sound of crickets outside, a breeze pushing up the blind...

Let me get this out right now: I'm incredibly depressed about the ecological disaster occurring off the coast of Louisiana. Yes, I'm talking about the BP oil spill, which is currently still spilling as I write this. BP still can't "plug the hole," and the oil continues to gush. Which leads me to something else that has been in the news this week. Stephen Hawking, in a Discovery Channel documentary, warns against trying to make contact with extraterrestrials. He's concerned that extraterrestrials may not have the best interests of Earth in mind. It was such a big deal apparently (the world's preeminent mathematician/scientist weighing in on such cosmic matters) that NPR's "On Point" program devoted an entire hour to the subject. (Don't know if it was worth a whole hour). All I've got to say is that if we can't even get our shit together on Earth, why do we really need to contact E.T.s? Just a thought (from a mind not nearly as bril...

I'm back! Once again, sorry to my loyal (but I imagine, dwindling) fans for my neglect of this blog. What's going on in my life? I'm excited that the Knapp's building, the art deco/streamline moderne jewel in downtown Lansing, is slated to be restored and re-adapted. Knapp's was a Lansing department store, akin to Hudson's in Detroit and for over 40 years, its flagship store was in this beautiful building in Michigan's capital city. Unfortunately, like many other downtown department stores, it died--closing its doors in 1980. For several years, the State of Michigan used the building for offices, but that ceased in 2002 and the building has been empty ever since. I work only two blocks away from the Knapp's building and walk by it literally every day. It's depressing to see the way it has slowly deteriorated, but I'm now hopeful that the building will be rejuvenated and resuscitated. Recently my house has become overrun with plastic dragons, all ...