Appalachian who?

We are a little behind here in Iraq. Actually, we're ahead but the world back home is roughly 9 hours behind us, which means that news travels to us a little late. This also means that college football scores arrive in the middle of the night instead of in the middle of Saturday afternoon. Congratulations need to go out to U of M for their victory over Appalachian State. Go Wolverines! Oh sure, the score board said that the Mountaineers won the game, by points, but don’t overlook who the real winner is here (and that would be Michigan). The Michigan coach successfully executed his plan to psyche out the other teams in the Big 10 by feigning losing to the Mountaineers, a team not even in their division. When teams like the Buckeyes or Northwestern stroll into Ann Arbor and think that they are going to chalk up an easy win, that’s when the Wolverines will suit up their REAL team instead of the 3rd string they had playing against Appalachian State. It’s pure genius by coach Carr and his psychological warfare campaign will pay big dividends later in the season.

I didn’t get to watch the game because I didn’t venture over to the embassy to see it on the big screen. Plus, it was very late here by the time the game was televised and I was probably talking to my girlfriend or my parents. More than likely, I was sleeping. I know that if I was a die hard Wolverine fan I would have set my alarm to wake up and watch it, but I, like most U of M fans, figured this would just be a slaughter to get the boys ready for the season. Now, as I read the news today, I’m very glad to have slept in to miss the beating for I’m sure that today is a sad day for the residents of Ann Arbor. As much as I don’t want to see it, I hope they’ll replay the game on the TVs at the mess hall or at the MWR building some time today. My reason for witnessing the loss is to hope that it’s just a big mistake and someone is trying to pull a late April Fool's day joke on all of us deployed Wolverine fans. Hey, I can dream, can't I?

In other news, Army got beat by Akron. How can anyone lose to team called the Zips? I would be upset, but I’ve become callus to Army football losing games. I miss the days of the Black Knights actually winning. I don’t ever expect the Army team to win a bowl game, but it would be nice to at least have a winning season. Let’s hope they beat Navy.