Sorry for my absence these past few days. It’s been ridonkulous busy around here, mainly during the evenings, which is my blogging time. It’s election season, which is the Center’s busy time, so night before last I was at a “Ballot Bash,” as we’re calling it with our media partners. This was the third meet-and-greet-the-candidates event, and it invited two Democrats — Gary Peters, running for Sen. Carl Levin’s soon-to-be-vacated seat, and Mark Totten, running for attorney general.
(Lest you fret, the GOP was repped at a Ballot Bash in Grand Rapids, and there was another one in Lansing. We are nothing if not bipartisan. It just worked out this way.)
Anyhoo, it was 10 by the time I got home. I get up before 6 for my newly healthy lifestyle, so — well, you’ve heard all these excuses. Many times.
But I’m sort of looking forward to Election Day. Even though three weeks later, I will mark another birthday and be that much closer to death.
To death, I tell you.
Fortunately, I will leave you with a few things to read:
This is great, a look at something I find puzzling — the weird culture of “emotional support animals,” for people who cannot leave their doggies at home even for a minute:
One person’s emotional support can be another person’s emotional trauma. Last May, for instance, a woman brought her large service dog, Truffles, on a US Airways flight from Los Angeles to Philadelphia. At thirty-five thousand feet, the dog squatted in the aisle and, according to Chris Law, a passenger who tweeted about the incident, “did what dogs do.” After the second, ahem, installment, the crew ran out of detergent and paper towels. “Plane is emergency landing cuz ppl are getting sick,” Law tweeted. “Hazmat team needs to board.” The woman and Truffles disembarked, to applause, in Kansas City, and she offered her inconvenienced fellow-passengers Starbucks gift cards.
In June, a miniature Yorkie caused a smaller stir, at a fancy Manhattan restaurant. From a Google review of Altesi Ristorante: “Lunch was ruined because Ivana Trump sat next to us with her dog which she even let climb to the table. I told her no dogs allowed but she lied that hers was a service dog.” I called the owner of Altesi, Paolo Alavian, who defended Trump. “She walked into the restaurant and she showed the emotional-support card,” he said. “Basically, people with the card are allowed to bring their dogs into the restaurant. This is the law.”
A brief, but great read on Bubba Helms, the potbellied kid who became a symbol of the 1984 riots that followed the Detroit Tigers’ World Series victory. I’ve seen the picture many times, never heard the story behind it.
Finally, one by yours truly, which won’t be readable until after 6 a.m. Thursday, on the effort to sell Detroit — the city, not the metro area — on the GOP. It was fun to report. I hope you enjoy reading it.
Have a swell Thursday. I’m astounded the week has gone this fast, but, well, see above.
MichaelG said on October 15, 2014 at 11:31 pm
One birthday. Think you have it tough, I hit the big Seven Oh yesterday. Wow. 70.
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Sherri said on October 16, 2014 at 1:25 am
Happy birthday, MichaelG!
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MarkH said on October 16, 2014 at 1:29 am
Happy belated, MichaelG. Glad you’re here!
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Dexter said on October 16, 2014 at 2:10 am
In 1984 the Tigers started 35-5, lost three straight in Seattle and went on another tear and dominated baseball all through the year, culminating in the World Series trophy win as they slaughtered San Diego. It was the end of the old-school ways in the auto industry, with the “Japanization” of methods in the factories beginning to take hold. UAW grievance procedures were changing as workers became scared to file any complaints…”we’ll be out of business by next year if you don’t go along with these concessions…” became company mantra. Ask any Chrysler worker from that time…wage concessions, starting pay concessions, mandatory overtime (to reduce the workforce) implementations…the auto industry was changing rapidly. Along with this came the phenomenon of the UAW gypsies. Mostly and especially, this affected GM workers who moved from city to city , working as they could to inch closer to retirement pensions…it was brutal.
And so Bubba Helms , a product of this environment, became a symbol not so much of the Tigers win, but of Detroit and all it was in the minds of Americans and anybody interested in America.
I remember that photo in The News very well. I knew the mentality, as my army-days best friend Frank told me how he and his pals had been in Tiger Stadium is 1968 when the pennant had been clinched and the kids ripped up te field, stole home plate and the bases, and broke everything they could break.
No, Bubba Helms in that photo is a timepiece which , thirty years later, has become a symbol of the death of the old ways, the car kings, the very powerful UAW, and the last days of any stature the city had as an American giant.
I remember reading of the death of Bubba, but I could not have come close to the year he passed.
I personally did not live in Detroit, but we got both dailies here and of course always received WJR-AM radio, so along with my connection through my UAW office position in my local, I sort of kept my finger on the pulse.
It was 1985 when the Stroh’s brewery closed for good…about a few years earlier Tiger Stadium had had a fresh coat of paint applied, but by 1984 it was peeling everywhere and the old park looked horrible. The end, and Bubba Helms’ brush with fame, was near.
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Jolene said on October 16, 2014 at 3:17 am
From the comments on the Deadspin piece re Bubba Helms. Clearly, somebody who lives in Nancy’s intellectual zipcode.
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Deborah said on October 16, 2014 at 4:33 am
Happy Birthday MichaelG.
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Linda said on October 16, 2014 at 7:42 am
I see Bubba Helm’s sad life and death as being about the failure to deal with his mental health and addictions. Right now there is a young man in our family going in and out of the mental health system, while they deal with him piecemeal and put him in and put of hospitalization. It’s going nowhere fast.
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Snarkworth said on October 16, 2014 at 8:07 am
Happy birthday, MichaelG! 70 seems younger all the time.
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alex said on October 16, 2014 at 8:35 am
Raising my glass to you, MichaelG!
I’m not sure I understand the riot mentality. The same stuff happened in Chicago’s toniest retail district after the Bulls pulled off one of their six consecutive championship wins and it could hardly be argued that Chicago was on the verge of decline and ruin. I think there’s simply a human propensity for opportunism wherever there’s pandemonium and the Detroit journalists who waxed poetic in 1984 were just wankin’ it.
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Basset said on October 16, 2014 at 9:05 am
Happy birthday, MichaelG! 70 is the new… I dunno, something less than 70.
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brian stouder said on October 16, 2014 at 9:10 am
Happy birthday, Michael!
And, my nomination for thread-win is Dexter’s evocative #4.
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Judybusy said on October 16, 2014 at 9:35 am
Happy birthday, MichaelG!
I read the Bridge article. I noted that all the black Republicans profiled are men. I would be interested to learn about the gender gap among people of color and the support for Republicans. I would suspect far fewer women of color are Repbulicans. Kinda the same among the gay and lesbian communities. I don’t think too many lesbians are in the Log Cabin organization.
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brian stouder said on October 16, 2014 at 9:36 am
…and btw – don’t miss Nancy’s Bridge column; genuinely good stuff! (and gotta love all the references to my man Jack Kemp)
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LAMary said on October 16, 2014 at 10:04 am
Happy Birthday MichaelG.
Service dogs? I would love to bring my Lab to work. Who wouldn’t want someone wagging his tail approving of everything you do? But it’s stupid. I was at the front info desk at the hospital where I work an a woman with a baby stroller (not one of those pet strollers) stopped to ask for directions to the ICU.I noticed there was a dog, not a baby, in the stroller, and clearly effort was made to disguise this. Lots of blankets, stroller hood up. I pointed this out to a security guard who stopped the woman and he was told it was an emotional support service dog. He let her get into the elevator.
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Jeff Borden said on October 16, 2014 at 10:39 am
I recall that riot well, Alex, as the oafs managed to trash the Stuart Brent Bookstore on Michigan Avenue. Chicago is home to plenty of assholes, but when scanning the arrests after these Bulls related melees, the vast majority of arrestees were from the suburbs.
I’ll be glad when the election is over. I’m tired of the constant bombardment of political ads, particularly in the governor’s race. I think the billionaire Republican may have crested as more stories are coming out about his many business dealings, none of which show him in a good light. Our incumbent Dem is pretty worthless, but after seeing what the GOPers have done in Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan, I can’t support the Republican nominee. He’s offered virtually nothing beyond saying he will “shake up Springfield.” I’m open to new approaches, but how can I be sure this guy won’t emulate the knuckleheads in the aforementioned states and go after unions, teachers, environmentalists, etc.?\
Meanwhile, anyone see the meltdown Florida Gov. Rick Scott –memorably dubbed Gov. Bat Boy by Charles Pierce– freak out in his debate with Charlie Crist? Scott wouldn’t come out for six minutes because Crist had a fan under his podium.
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Dorothy said on October 16, 2014 at 10:59 am
Happy birthday, MichaelG! You share the date with my sister-in-law. Here is a funny story about her and birthdays:
Years and years ago she sent me a card in October. It was a “Happy Halloween Birthday” specialty card. I gave it a quick think and realized she got the dates mixed up. My birthday is 8/31, not 10/31. So to tease her I called her to say thanks for the card. And I said “You know, after all these years (I was maybe 35) that’s the FIRST TIME I ever got a Halloween birthday card!” And she responded “Let me tell you, they are really hard to find! I had to go to, like, four stores before I could find one!” And then I spilled the beans. “My birthday is August 31, not October 31, Dee!” And she died laughing. Turns out her friend/neighbor, who goes by Dot (and I do not) was born on Halloween.
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Little Bird said on October 16, 2014 at 12:06 pm
Happy Birthday Michael G!
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beb said on October 16, 2014 at 1:09 pm
Nancy, do I have a post in moderation since early last night?
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jcburns said on October 16, 2014 at 3:48 pm
Nope…
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Linda said on October 16, 2014 at 1:21 pm
…and happy birthday Michael G
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Julie Robinson said on October 16, 2014 at 1:36 pm
Happy Birthday, Michael G, and may you have many more! After what you’ve been through this year, it must be especially sweet.
I do understand how important animals are for many people, especially those who live alone, but some of us are allergic to them. If I’m confined with a cat I’m gonna be very UNcomfortable. What happened to your rights ending where mine begin?
And of course the ICU patient wanted to see his/her beloved doggy, but what if said dog jumps up on an incision, or pulls out a tube? Or goes bonkers from the atmosphere? This is a case for a trained therapy dog with a trained therapy volunteer, not your kids sneaking in with Fido.
I love animals and I’m very sad I can’t have one, but these are realities. Anyway, most of those people on the planes are just trying to avoid paying the huge pet fees.
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Julie Robinson said on October 16, 2014 at 1:48 pm
BTW, I’d be happy to get a Halloween birthday card, since mine is the 29th. Growing up, I always felt Halloween was my special holiday. Now it’s been co-opted by the plastic crap from China people.
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brian stouder said on October 16, 2014 at 4:15 pm
Julie – I’d give you candy from the special-reserved bowl!
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Scout said on October 16, 2014 at 4:43 pm
Happy Birthday, Michael G! Have a spectacular day celebrating YOU.
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Jolene said on October 16, 2014 at 5:27 pm
Happy 70th, MichaelG. Hope it’s been a great day.
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Wim said on October 16, 2014 at 6:50 pm
Happy Birthday, Michael G! That’s 490 in service dog years. Many happy returns.
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Dexter said on October 16, 2014 at 8:05 pm
70 is the new 50! Right, MichaelG? Seriously, hope you are feeling well and you had a great day.
Thanks for the thread-win consideration, brian. Might be my first. 🙂 Clark Street Cadillac Pant, Detroit http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/8d/a3/4f/8da34f996ea812c5da270644a198d2ad.jpg
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basset said on October 16, 2014 at 8:38 pm
Awhile back we mentioned Frito pie, which is what happens when you cut a little bag of Fritos open down one side and put in chili and cheese. Apparently there was a great big one in Texas (where else?) earlier this month:
http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/frito-pie-5000-anyone
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Jill said on October 16, 2014 at 10:19 pm
Happy birthday, MichaelG!
The service animal exceptions definitely get abused. And some of the stories are just crazy. A friend of mine works for one of the big airlines at O’Hare and had to deal with a passenger who brought a companion duck onto a jet.
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Deborah said on October 16, 2014 at 10:54 pm
Frito pie is big at the Five and Dime on the Plaza in Santa Fe, as Nancy has mentioned here before. I have never tried it but you see people gobbling it up all the time as they walk around the plaza. The give away is the cut open bag of Fritos that they’re scooping from. It looks both disgusting and appealing at the same time.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 16, 2014 at 10:56 pm
70 is young, MG.
Okay, it’s not young. But it ain’t as old as it used to be.
Nancy, if you’ve been in the Detroit area for almost ten years, then I’ve been in Granville . . . dang. Ten years this December 29 we’ve lived in this house. I hadn’t realized until I saw the close of your article. My wife put up with 10 addresses in our first 12 together, four more in the next 21, but to have lived in one place for ten years . . . other than where I grew up, that’s a milestone.
Which explains why I finally can again walk through the house without turning lights on.
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Jolene said on October 17, 2014 at 12:59 am
Jeff (tmmo), were you a child groom? You note having been with Joyce 12 years, plus 21 years, plus 10 years–43 years of marriage. Seems improbable for a man fifty-something years old. Or were the 10 years at your current address part of the 21?
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Suzanne said on October 17, 2014 at 8:19 am
70 gets younger every year. I look through the obits in the paper every morning and get excited when everyone is older than me! So, happy birthday, MG.
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ROGirl said on October 17, 2014 at 8:36 am
Mayor of Middlesex? OID? This struck me as beyond coincidence, or the place where truth and fiction met and mingled in new and unexpected ways. The trial of the Grosse Pointe man who was a BDSM master and had his wife killed several years ago, is going on now. He lives (lived) on Middlesex, which of course is also the title of the book by Jeffrey Eugenides, about the intersex character who lived on the street with that name.
Excerpt from the newspaper article:
As their relationship continued, Bashara repeatedly expressed his desire to start a life with Gillett, they looked at homes in Grosse Pointe together and planned to buy one.
It was the only place Bashara, who sometime referred to himself as the “Mayor of Middlesex,” the name of the street he lived on, would live, she testified.
Bashara told Gillett not to worry about assimilating into the community.
“I’m a huge figure here and have many friends,” he wrote in the e-mail. “But also we, you and I, will make new ones.”
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Julie Robinson said on October 17, 2014 at 9:45 am
Here’s an OIFW (only in Fort Wayne): the huge, ugly concrete building discussed here a few days back, One Summit Square, has been renamed. The new name is the Indiana Michigan Power Center. So of course the sign will say that, right? Nope. The sign carrys the initials of I&M’s parent company, AEP.
Let me recap that, for the confused. The I&M building says AEP. Yup, it does.
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brian stouder said on October 17, 2014 at 10:22 am
Julie – maybe they can make a deal wherein the iconic neon GE sign can be rescued from the doomed building it currently shines atop, to the summit of the former One Summit Square, now- I&M Power Center/AEP building?
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Julie Robinson said on October 17, 2014 at 12:13 pm
Why not, since it’s all electricity, right? Seriously, my mom is moving here in 10 days and I’m trying to figure out how to explain some of these things. The streets that change names three times, how is she gonna deal with those? Oy veh!
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brian stouder said on October 17, 2014 at 12:22 pm
Don’t forget to warn her about Fort Wayne’s ubiquitous race-lanes.
State Street at Wells (heading east) there is a right-hand lane which is not an “only” lane, and which ends about 100 yards past the intersection.
Ditto if you’re headed north on Ardmore where it crosses Jefferson and becomes Hillegas…a relatively NEW road with bridges over the rr tracks – and race lanes which end after the tracks!
For that matter, Ardmore headed south has a race lane that simply ends; and if you find yourself in that lane in the weekday after-work rush, the veterans of that road will NOT let you back over (in effect, you’re looked upon as a cheater)
and there are many more examples (Coliseum Blvd has this, as does Washington Ctr Rd, and so on)
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Deborah said on October 17, 2014 at 12:31 pm
Talk about streets changing names, come to Santa Fe. It has taken me two years to figure some of them out. It seems like at nearly every intersection when you look one way the street name is completely different from the same street going the other way.
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alex said on October 17, 2014 at 1:56 pm
Fort Wayne’s excuse for all of this is that it is forever joining old roads together that weren’t originally connected. The city was never laid out on a grid system in the first place, and to this day there isn’t much in the way of planning when development decides to sprawl in any one direction. When the roads through town were all numbered highways, that used to help clear up the confusion, but that has all fallen by the wayside, as it were — the routes mostly follow the interstate system now.
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Sherri said on October 17, 2014 at 2:28 pm
Seattle and its suburbs try to impose a huge multi-city grid number system over a terrain that isn’t really suited well for a grid numbering system, and into suburban developments full of cul de sacs that don’t match up well. But, they don’t let it stop them! So, ground zero of the grid is in Seattle, but the numbers go way out beyond where I live in Redmond, except for a few cities that refuse to cooperate just to make it all more confusing. As for the cul de sacs, since there are so many of them, rather than give them all their own street names, they just treat them as if they go through, and reuse them. So there are multiple cul de sacs named 177th Ct NE in my neighborhood, for example.
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MichaelG said on October 17, 2014 at 2:50 pm
70 May not be old but it’s the oldest I’ve ever been.
It was a nice day. Had a nice lunch with my (Ex?) wife with another the next day with several old work pals followed by yet another lunch with my neighbor. Daughter and grand kids are taking me out Sunday. Another old pal is coming over Sat to look at football and (he thinks) to fill me with wine. Lunch with yet another old work buddy coming on Monday. Dance card is pretty full right now.
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MichaelG said on October 17, 2014 at 2:54 pm
Sherri, I just took a look at your neighborhood on Google Maps. What a confusing maze! There are also several streets named 177th Circle NE. Good luck calling the fire dept.
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Sherri said on October 17, 2014 at 3:01 pm
Fortunately, the advent of direction-giving aids like Google maps has greatly reduced the number of confused people knocking on my door looking for a higher house number. There are still areas where there are mistakes in the data, though, and Google et al will be confused about streets going through that don’t.
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Jolene said on October 17, 2014 at 3:21 pm
Seattle also does the thing of using the same substantive name with different names for the kind of route, i.e., Ravenna Avenue, Ravenna Street, Ravenna Boulevard, Ravenna Place, Ravenna Court. (Not sure this is strictly accurate, but you get the idea.)
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Sherri said on October 17, 2014 at 3:46 pm
Yes, the only place I’ve lived that is comparable to Seattle in terms of difficulty in finding your way around is Pittsburgh, and for many of the same reasons: they’re both very three-dimensional cities with water playing a big role.
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Jolene said on October 17, 2014 at 5:04 pm
I found Boston more difficult than either Pittsburgh or Seattle. I only lived there a couple of years, but I could never get the lay of the land.
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Julie Robinson said on October 18, 2014 at 8:26 am
We even have an intersection of St. Joe and St. Joe Center roads. It’s a couple blocks after St. Joe changes from being called Hobson, and before St. Joe Center becomes Washington Center. Not to be mixed up with St. Joe River Drive, of course.
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Connie said on October 18, 2014 at 8:44 am
We have the intersection of (east) Commerce and (south) Commerce. Here in the Lakes District there are no straight roads. With 27 lakes in the township there is always one to go around.
I am back from a couple of days at a conference at the Amway Grand Hotel in Grand Rapids. The Amway incorporates the Pantlind Hotel, once GR’s grand downtown hotel. And the long ago site of my senior prom.
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Deborah said on October 18, 2014 at 9:02 am
Connie, I stayed at that hotel a few years back when the company I worked for was doing marketing to go after an exhibit project for Amway. I remember that the hotel was huge, and empty.
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brian stouder said on October 18, 2014 at 10:15 am
Connie, at first I read that as “Pantiland Hotel” – and I thought – wow
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Dexter said on October 18, 2014 at 2:26 pm
Jeezuss…I don’t even want to turn the TV on to watch the clod-stompin’ shit scrapin’ farm boys from East Lansing make scrapple and fatback outta the formerly vaunted Michigan Football Wolverines. Better wait until later for your Zingerman’s giant sammitches, die hard Blue folk…this will be ugly. Of this I have never been more sure.
The big “get behind the program” deal,last weekend, with all thiose old players coming back to support Hoke’s failures…well…lipstick won’t stay long on a pig, and the pig has moved from East Lansing’s filthy pens to The Quad and further down State Street and over on Hoover to M Stadium. 🙁
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Dexter said on October 18, 2014 at 3:14 pm
Oh geeeeez…I misread the schedule. It’s next week the Wolverines bus over to East Lansing. Never mind! 🙁 #missingeditbutton
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Julie Robinson said on October 18, 2014 at 7:17 pm
Nope, Dexter, it’s my IU Hoosiers that State is killing today. But I’m a basketball fan, and anyway my sister went to MSU, so I’m happy for her.
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Deborah said on October 18, 2014 at 7:24 pm
Had a lovely fall day here in Santa Fe, it started out rainy and cloudy but it got sunny as usual as the day progressed. We went to the farmers market in the morning expecting it to be less crowded because of the weather but it was far from that for some reason. I don’t usually drive to the farmers market but since Little Bird went with me and she’s still hobbling, I found a great parking spot (Doris Day parking). Later we did some errands and then went to a nursery and bought some ornamental cabbage that we planted in a large galvanized tub outside that previously had geraniums that I repotted and brought inside. Then we went to Trader Joe’s and bought a bunch of pumpkins and gourds and filled another galvanized tub with them, outside. It has autumn-ized the place very nicely.
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Dexter said on October 19, 2014 at 12:46 am
Oh boy…on You Tube I found the video of the time I jumped on Bobby Knight just after he shook M coach Johnny Orr’s hand in 1976 in Philadelphia. It at the very end of the video…I am the guy in the leather jacket , in the video about three seconds…but it took fifteen years back home to live it down.
Yes, I rooted for Indiana in those days, had flown out for the big game. It was the National Championship game…it had been on TV, and the whole state of Indiana had been watching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek_1vXAoej8
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Sherri said on October 19, 2014 at 2:29 am
Wow, Dexter, you’re lucky Knight didn’t throw a punch at you! You’d think Knight could manage a smile after winning the national championship and going undefeated for the whole season.
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Deborah said on October 19, 2014 at 3:30 am
Dexter, It was funny to see the players in your video wearing those little short shorts instead of the big blousy things they wear now. When did they stop wearing those?
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Kirk said on October 19, 2014 at 3:45 pm
Pretty funny, Dexter. Sherri’s right; you’re lucky the bastard didn’t cold-cock you. Instead, he merely shoved you away with a look of pained disdain.
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Sherri said on October 19, 2014 at 4:24 pm
The longer, baggier shorts came along in the late ’80s, early ’90s. Michael Jordan with the Bulls and the Fab Five with Michigan are usually given credit for popularizing the trend.
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Deborah said on October 19, 2014 at 5:29 pm
Isn’t this just the cutest thing you’ve ever seen https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pOTtP_2PGaY. I’d love to know what the guy is saying. Does anyone speak Italian?
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Deborah said on October 19, 2014 at 5:34 pm
Oops, it’s not Italian, it’s in Brazil, so must be Portuguese.
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Deborah said on October 19, 2014 at 7:09 pm
We’re baking bread and making cream of tomato soup with a couple of our qts of tomatoes that we canned, smells heavenly. It’s hailing outside while the sun is shining.
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MichaelG said on October 19, 2014 at 7:30 pm
He is speaking Portuguese. That’s the biggest hummingbird I’ve ever seen.
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Dexter said on October 19, 2014 at 7:33 pm
Michigan’s Fab Five shocked the world in the ’92-’93 season by appearing in those long shorts. Usually, Juwan Howard and Jalen Rose take credit for the idea, and Chris Webber liked the idea so they ran it past coach Frieder and he was all for it…the bad-ass look and all. I used to go to Crisler Arena and watch those guys on their weekend games and it was a real hoot.
So I was thinking of brian and Julie and all you other Fort Wayne denizens as I cruised in from the east, coming in on Maysville Road, past Georgetown, past North Side HS and onto Spy Run and north to the famous Red Lobster. I know…geez…Red fucking LOBSTER? Yeah…it happens to be my wife’s favorite chain. I had mahi-mahi and skewered broiled shrimp slathered in a sauce…and I must admit I was surprised in that it was actually edible. We were using a rewards card. So anyway it was also a little leaf-peeping jaunt, and this was the week to do that sort of thing…we went home the long way , past a lot of woodsy areas and a few lakes. Nice day for a drive and the old Windstar van is running like a new car.
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Deborah said on October 19, 2014 at 9:28 pm
MichaelG, do you speak Portuguese? Do you know what he’s saying? I agree about the size of the hummingbird, it’s huge.
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