Below are the 6 most recent journal entries recorded in bobjeter's LiveJournal:

Friday, August 18th, 2006
12:04 pm	1975 team: Led by a Freshman Sensation After three consecutive Big Ten co-Championships but no bowl trips, the 1975 team was primed to qualify for a post-season bowl game. The Big Ten Conference changed the antiquated Rose Bowl-only rule prior to the 1975 season meaning the Wolverines were eligible to play in a post-season bowl game other than the Rose Bowl. Nevertheless, U of M only had the Big Ten Championship and Pasadena on its mind when the season started. This despite the fact that Bo was starting a true freshman (Rick Leach) at quarterback. U of M was able to maintain its lofty goals despite having an inexperienced signal caller because Leach was that talented of a player. Bo's faith in his new quarterback proved to be well founded as Leach guided U of M to an 8-0-2 record heading into the final regular season game with the 10-0 OSU Buckeyes in a game that would once again decide the Big 10 title and the Rose Bowl berth. U of M led OSU 14-7 but two fourth quarter touchdowns by the Buckeyes gave OSU the 21-14 win, the Big Ten title and the Rose Bowl berth. For the first time since the 1972 Rose Bowl game, however, U of M would be playing on New Year's Day rather than ringing in the new year at home. Unfortunately, it was in the Orange Bowl rather than the Rose Bowl but, Michigan was nevertheless glad to be back in a bowl game. Their opponent was the Oklahoma Sooners (10-1) and the game turned out to be a classic. It was a hard hitting contest and Leach sat out the 3rd quarter with a concussion and the Sooners ultimately pulled out a 14-6 victory over U of M. Oklahoma's Orange Bowl win coupled with Ohio State's Rose Bowl loss to UCLA earlier that New Year's Day gave Oklahoma the 1975 National Championship. Although U of M finished 8-2-2, the Wolverines still had a final poll ranking of #8 in the AP poll and they knew they had laid the foundation for success in the coming seasons. Go Blue! (Comment on this)
Friday, August 11th, 2006
11:26 am	Finale whoa´-ohhhhh “You are for Germany, yes?” the crazy Deutschland fan asked us as the game against Argentina went into penalty kicks. We told him that we were, and he responded, “good, then we link our arms together.” So there we stood, three Americans, arms around passionate German Fussball fans, jumping for joy as Argentina missed kicks and Germany made theirs. When the clinching goal was made, the nearly one-million fans at the fan mile went crazy as they screamed, hugged, threw their pilsners in the air, and rejoiced at advancing to the semi-finals. Luckily at UCLA I’m used to waiting a long time for sporting events – hours at the Rose Bowl, and full days at Pauley Pavillion – so the fan mile experience wasn’t quite as tiring for me, as we left at 1:30 for a 5:00 start. After another thorough pat down, we were in the fan mile, which even 3 hours before the game was already full. After stopping for beer and the biggest sandwich I’ve ever seen – gyros stuffed in Turkish bread – and a stop at the porta-potties that cost us 50 Euro cents to use (although it did include use of a gemutlich makeshift washbasin and towels). As I was standing waiting for my friends to finish, a woman came up to me trying to give me her coins in order to use the bathroom. “Nicht fur mich” I told her, as she laughed embarrassedly for mistaking me for the bathroom attendant. We grabbed pretty good seats that were only maybe 200 meters from the Brandenberg Gate (trust me, compared to the length of the fan mile, this is really close up). We ended up sitting behind an African drumming circle which was really cool for the first few minutes, but became a bit much after a couple of hours of incessant beats. Finally the game was underway, and we had a pretty good view that included all of the Germans with their flags of various sizes waving in the air underneath the big screen. In the course of the afternoon we learned the German chants – my favorite of which are “Finale…whoa-ohh…Finale…Whoa---ohh-ohhh,” and “Schiess ein Tor…schiess ein tooo-oooo-ooor…Schiess ein Tor,” which means “score a goal,” but sounds much cooler auf Deutsch. Following the game we eschewed the great public transportation system in Berlin and decided to walk back. Still light out, and quite warm despite overcast skies, we walked the length of the famous Unter den Linden boulevard, while a cacophony of honks from cars driving by – with both Germans and their flags hanging out of windows – filled the air and cheers of “Deutschland!” and “Finale!” were the greeting of choice for anyone dressed in “Schwarz” “Rot” or “Gelb.” I’ve included some photos from the day, and also uploaded a video from Germany’s game tying goal. It’s shaky at the beginning since I’m jumping up and down, but after that you can see the celebrations going on at fan mile. The washing center that almost made up for a 50 cent pee break. Look at the size of my friends’ sandwiches The view’s pretty good when the flags aren’t waving More flags Crowded celebration The celebration continues on Unter den Linden. German fans celebrate Click above for a video of German fans celebrating the game tying goal against Argentina (Comment on this)
Thursday, August 3rd, 2006
6:20 pm	counting 5-4-3-2-1 BarBri ends tomorrow, so you know I'm in the homestretch. Meaning that there's no reason I should be blogging at this point. But hey, it keeps the "NCAA 2007" shakes at bay. Anyways, a few quick notes... - Your favorite critic's favorite critic puts that work in here and here. - As I've said before, I wouldn't blog unless there's something way serious going on. Well, trust me- I've got big news. Music criticism has officially ended. Hands down the funniest thing you'll read this year, next year or any year after that. To quote one very appropriate reaction, this makes me wish Lester Bangs dug ditches instead of reviewing records. - Over the years, I've lived in places like Lafayette Hill, Charlottesville, Athens, Decatur and Ann Arbor and I mostly keep them in order by remembering the ethnicity of the people who worked at the Subway (for the record, it's Korean, Iranian, African-American, Indian and unkown, because I always ate at Cosi instead during that particular summer). I might need to change that up to "music you hear at the Hair Cuttery." Even in Athens, the people are nice enough to distract you from the fact that you're at a Hair Cuttery as opposed to the inspiration for Ghostface's "Barbershop" by playing the local hip-hop station. Unfortunately, the one in Lafayette Hill reminds you that it's right next to a Manhattan Bagel and a Baja Fresh. I'm just a little confused, though; if you're gonna claim that you're the radio station that people can listen to while they work, why in God's name would you play "Tears In Heaven" and "Baby Come Back" consecutively? That's a fucking sick sense of humor. - Part of the reason that Texas' Rose Bowl win was so satisfying was that it gave us an opportunity to laugh at ESPN's entire staff in one fell swoop. Ditto for LeBron re-upping, and go to the always-excellent Cavalier Attitude for further insight. The problem I've had with the whole thing is that people who say LeBron needs to go to LA, NY or Chicago to maximize his commercial potential are negating the last four decades of fiber optic technology. Really, who isn't aware of LeBron James' existence? And I just love folks who think that he's going to be some sort of rap mogul because he likes to hang out with Jay-Z. Yeah, NBA players getting involved with hip-hop; that always works out. Moreover, those three cities are probably the least attractive for any free agent with a decent head on his shoulders. The less said about the Knicks, the better. They'll be lucky to get their shit together in time to sign LeBron's first-born. And as I've said about Jay-Z before, he considers Rick Ross to be a franchise guy for Def Jam This dude can run a basketball team all of a sudden? And how does Nelly feel being left out of this discussion? You know, Nelly...if you didn't blow your wardrobe budget on jewelry, you could buy your shirts at somewhere other than Banana Republic Playing for the Clippers is too far-fetched to even take seriously, and as far as the Lakers go, as long as Kobe's around, it's too many MC's, not enough mics. I can't even believe that Chicago is being thrown in there. Yeah, direct comparisons to Michael Jordan always work out for the best. Five blog bucks if you know who this is by face alone Just look at the Bulls right now. Can you imagine a team that would be less fun to play for? It's understandable why Scott Skiles would want to recreate the early-to-mid '90s in its most accurate terms; to that dude, it's all 30-assist games and Tribe Called Quest shouts. But for the rest of us, it was John Starks, Nick Anderson and Alonzo Mourning. Although the Starter jackets and The Game hats were nice touches... And to think, you could've lost your life over this (Comment on this)
Monday, July 31st, 2006
10:19 pm	Game Four UCLA If there has been one team that has been a thorn in the side to the UW over the past few years it has been the UCLA Bruins. UCLA always finds a way to pull out an improbable victory against Washington exactly the moment the Huskies feel they have the game in hand. Despite the disparity in talent Washington has been able to give the Bruins everything they could handle the last few years too. This year should be different. Coach Dorrell cleaned house with his staff last season despite having a 10-2 record, and flirting with a BCS bid. He wants to upgrade the defense which was one of the worst in the conference last year despite the glittery record. The Bruins have talent as always, being located in Los Angeles, but this years team is definitely a rebuilding effort. Drew Olsen, Mercedes Lewis, and Maurice Drew have all moved on. The Offense will be led by Ben Olsen the transfer from BYU who hasn't played in a game for five years. The Bruins will be doing a casting call for RB's and should be able to assemble a credible stable to run the ball led by Jr. Chris Markey. On the offensive line, the Bruins will be solid bolstered by excellent recruiting classes over the past three years. Defensively the Bruins go into 2006 a little shaky on the DL hoping that a couple of key players can return from injury and stay healthy. At the LB spot they are going to be very young led by Eric Mc Neal who has moved up from Safety. The defensive backfield will be similar in talent to last year and a work in progress as the season starts. Fixing the UCLA defense will take a few more years despite the coaching changes. Talking about coaching changes the notoriously cheap Bruins just upped the ante by almost doubling their assistant coaches salaries, and also gave Dorrell a five year extension with a bump that puts him at the same level as Willingham at aroung 1.4 million a year. I liked Dorrell when he was the OC at Washington, and you could see a significant falloff when he moved to Denver and Gilby was elevated. Bottom line is Dorrell is a solid young coach who will keep improving. His new contract will allow him to do that. Why Washington should win? Washington has a much better defense on paper going into 2006. Washington should be able to score on the Bruin defense. Washington has confidence they can play with these guys. The UCLA staff went through a major off season shuffle. The game is in Husky Stadium Washington has more experience at the skill positions. UCLA lacks a deep threat. Why UCLA should win UCLA always finds a way to snatch victory from defeat against Washington. The Bruins have a superior OL on paper compared to the UW OL which will allow them to control the ball more. If they can control the line of scrimmage UCLA will score points. UCLA will be able to run the ball on Washington. The Bruins have more overall depth and talent. What do I think? I think Washington wins because they are overdue against these guys. The team knows we should have beaten them last year, and they know they can play with these guys. I think Ben Olsen is going to be a pretty good QB, and he is going to have time behind his offensive line this year, I just don't think his team will do enough to win against an improved Husky defense. I think offensively we will be able to move the ball like we did last year on these guys. You can bet there will be some fireworks out there as both teams try to stretch the field. UCLA found a way to win last year almost every week just like Washington's last Rose Bowl team. Somehow the wheels came off against Arizona, and USC last year, but they rebounded against Northwestern with a point orgy in the Sun Bowl. The game will end up being a higher scoring affair, but Washington will score more points, and end the curse. UW 34 - UCLA 27 (3-1) (Comment on this)
Saturday, July 29th, 2006
5:10 pm	5-8 New Mexico Bowl By JAY MILLER Syndicated Columnist SANTA FE -- What a good idea. A college bowl game for New Mexico. Who would have thought of our little state hosting a bowl game? Apparently no one thought much about it until Gov. Bill Richardson got things rolling in January. A consultant said he might be able to help get a game next year for $40,000. Instead, Richardson turned it over to Dennis Latta and the New Mexico Sports Authority and we have a game for this year. Latta says it cost only $40. Sending a delegation to Orlando, Fla. to make a presentation to the NCAA Bowl Licensing Committee definitely would cost more than $40. Government employees aren't accustomed to covering their own expenses while on official business. But Latta likely means we'd have had those expenses even with a $40,000 consultant. This column took on the governor for trying to attract a National Football League franchise, but we applaud him for this effort. It was achievable and many community groups quickly climbed on board. The bowl became almost a sure score when ESPN joined the effort with the $2 million letter of credit required for bowl applicants. ESPN even led the presentation team. What made a bowl game in New Mexico such a good idea? Mainly because it had all the right players enthusiastically behind it. Besides ESPN, which also brought along the assurance of television coverage, the athletic conferences in which New Mexico's two biggest colleges play will provide the teams for the game. ESPN says it would like to see either the University of New Mexico or New Mexico State in the game every three years. At least a 6-6 record is required to be bowl eligible. Rocky Long usually has his UNM team a little above that. NMSU is sure to improve on its 0-12 record this past season. UNM's support also was important. It sometimes isn't too excited about professional teams coming into the area and creating competition for the sports spectator dollar. But this is a once-a-year event that will be held at University Stadium. The lack of competition from big time pro sports that is faced by many other bowls also makes Albuquerque attractive. The New Mexico Bowl will be the only game in town. But it will take much work. To remain sanctioned, bowls must bring in an average of 25,000 paying customers a year over a three-year period. Several bowls have failed. UNM's stadium holds just under 39,000 fans. With the momentum that has been built, the chances of filling it are good. To help out, the NCAA has placed an upper limit of $30 on a ticket. With the top bowl games running up to 10 times that amount, this is quite a bargain. And with the popularity of those bowls, many tickets are resold for well over $1,000. And that brings up a sore point. Last December the state Tourism Department was eligible to purchase some $175 end-zone seats for the Rose Bowl because New Mexico entered a float in the Rose Parade. Those tickets were then sold at-cost to "selected" people. That was the term used by some political writers in the state who assumed that the select few were friends of Gov. Richardson. A few tickets were used for promotional purposes, the remainder were sold to New Mexicans who volunteered to travel to Pasadena at their own expense and put in at least two eight-hour shifts decorating New Mexico's entry in the Rose Parade. Role was taken at each shift. There were more people than tickets available so those who had put in their request first got to purchase the tickets, but only if they had put in their two shifts. Since I happened to have over 25 years of float building experience, I was asked to help recruit workers willing to spend a week in Pasadena at their own expense. I can testify that the great majority of those workers are Republicans, who have never given a cent to Bill Richardson. They went because they have pride in New Mexico. MON, 5-8-06 JAY MILLER, 3 La Tusa, Santa Fe, NM 87505 (ph) 982-2723, (fax) 984-0982, (e-mail) insidethecapitol@hotmail.com   (Comment on this)
Thursday, July 27th, 2006
11:13 am	Rate the Stadium.... Today's topic on the Pac-10 Today is The Best Pac-10 Stadium. There are a lot of different ways to look at this, but in my mind, you have to include all of the essentials: 1) Sight Lines/view of the action. 2) Atmosphere 3) Tailgating/Pre-functioning With all of those things in mind, here is my list of the top Pac-10 Stadiums. 9) Arizona-it could be better, but this is the only Pac-10 Stadium I have not been to, so I have to put it here. 8) Stanford-may be improved with the renovations, but in the past, there was zero atmosphere inside the stadium. Outside, good tailgating areas, solid in that regard, although there is such a lack of a college football feel, it just feels like you are hanging out in the neighborhood before a high school game. 7) UCLA-For UCLA games, the Rose Bowl is a too big stadium in a nice setting, with nice weather. Obviously, this ranking changes for a certain bowl game. 6) Husky Stadium-Easily the most overrated of all the stadiums in the country. The people who rank it so high are media members who don't have to- 1) Park 2)sit in the West end zone wich is about 75 yards from the end of the actual end zone. 3) sit in the first 15 rows of seats anywhere in the stadium. Husky Stadium looks great on t.v., and back in the day, there really wasn't a louder open air, non-bowl shaped stadium in the country. But the crappy weather, poor sight lines, and horrific parking and traffic plus almost always a 12:30 kickoff time make this a great stadium on t.v., but not great for visiting fans. 5) Cal-While it has been 15 years since I was last there, the good thing about Berekley is that it never changes. Fantastic bars all around campus, and while parking sucks, the setting and atmosphere more than makes up for it. 4) OSU-Makes a huge leap now that at least half Reser looks like a real college stadium. The parking lots surrounding the stadium are filled with some of the best tailgating in the world, but what would you expect when your stadium was built with proceeds from salsa and potato salad? Underrated by many, outside of the fact my team has lost a heartbreaker and had it's ass kicked there the last two trips, I have had a great time as a fan there because most Beaver fans are cool-they know what college football is all about: sharing a beer, hating the Huskies, and having a good time. 3) Arizona State-weird place. I have been there for the worst atmosphere in the NFL while covering the Seahawks, and one of the best atmospheres in college football when it was full for an ASU game. It isn't always full-but the weather, coeds, pre-functioning, and the fact it is Tempe, Arizona put this place near the top of the list. Plus, the added bonus of knowing your team always has a chance to kick the crap out of yet another underachieving ASU team helps make the case for Sun Devil Stadium. 2) USC-Should have taken a huge step back with the new alcohol policy (which isn't a policy, just banning beer sales in the stadium) but it is hard to beat the atmosphere, tradition, and history of this place. The downside is your team is likely to get whacked, you may get killed if you wander too far away from the stadium and into Watts, and USC fan is an idito-largely because he/she is like Husky/Duck fan: they probably never actually attended the school but are fans of SC because they win. As they say, never trust a Trojan, but if you get a chance to go there, do it. 1) Oregon-Pains me to rank the quack quack's stadium number one, but it is the best in the conference. Always full, loud as hell, and weather permitting the best tailgating in the conference. When you have people arriving at the Masonic Temple at 6:00 AM to get it going, you know it is a good time. My last time there as a fan, I was handed a margarita at 9:00 AM despite wearing WSU gear head to toe! YOU WIN! Plus, "the mustache" will always blow one or two winnable games a year at home so your team has a chance to win there. Most Duck fans are cool, and although many didn't go there, those "fans" don't usually go to the home games (they are smoking, drinking and playing video poker in sports bars back in Portland). (Comment on this)