and today is rivalry day in the college football world as the season winds down and many of the traditional rivalry games are played and in Rasputin's (his brother is actually at the game each year) world, which is heavily inundated with Ohio State Buckeye paraphernalia, rivalry day means getting food and parking in front of the TV and cheering on Ohio State University as they take on their rivals from the north, Michigan University... yes, this space is an Ohio State zone on rivalry day (with apologies to Dandy and Chief and my other Michigan Wolverine loving friends)...

for stat lovers like me, here are some Michigan - Ohio State numbers:

traditionally (and not just in Rasputin's world) the Michigan - Ohio State rivalry is one of the oldest and most celebrated in college football... the day is nearly over and it's been full of celebrations around here as Ohio State lived up to it's consistent consensus #1 ranking by soundly defeating an excellent Michigan team (the score would not have been as close if Ohio State didn't make several major mistakes that gave Michigan some easy points)... the stats say it all...

this was a Michigan team who gave up an average of 30 rushing yards per game in their first eleven games (including one team ranked #2 at the time they played) and Ohio State rushed for 202 yards... this was a Michigan team that gave up an average of 231 yards total per game for their first eleven games and Ohio State had 330 yards in the first half and 503 yards for the game...

for their part, Michigan's stats were almost as impressively higher than the Ohio State averages, giving up 396 total yards to a great Michigan offense, but the Ohio State defense stood firm when they had to (better than expected, especially when put in very challenging positions by their own team's mistakes on offense)... as one reporter wrote, " Only the Buckeyes could stop the Buckeyes on this day."... more news stories

I have much respect for that Michigan team (though their running back, Hart, pissed on the party with poor sportsmanship and could have shown a lot more class when they interviewed him... his comments reflected very poorly on an otherwise very respectful Michigan team, especially on a day dedicated to a revered former Michigan coach and Ohio State alumni who died the day before the game) and after watching several of their games, firmly believe that they are the second best college football team in the country...

after watching most Ohio State games and seeing the fact that, in playing Michigan, the #2 ranked team (#1 ranked by the computers), Ohio State did not play nearly their best game (they literally gave the ball away three times and made other mistakes to defeat themselves that can not be attributed to the Michigan defense) and remained in the lead from the first quarter on and still came away with a victory tells me that Ohio State is the best team in the country this year... they remain undefeated and beat two #2 teams (including last year's national champions) and other ranked teams along the way...

of course there is always a great debate as the college football season comes to it's final weeks as to which team is the best team in the country because not every team plays every other team, but Ohio State has been virtually unanimously ranked #1 by all the ranking polls (except the computer) from before the season started and they beat every team they played rather easily except for the Michigan game and though it was closer, it were never really in much doubt...

obviously I am influenced by my Ohio State loving roommates, but for my Michigan loving friends, it should be known that when Michigan is playing most anyone else, I'll be rooting for Michigan... of course my whims change with the wind as I have little consistent historic rooting loyalty to any team in any sport (except some residual spiritual connections to some New York teams that many love to love or love to hate because, after all, and in case you didn't know, I was once a New Yorker and as they told me over and over in my formative years in that concrete jungle, once a New Yorker, always a New Yorker... it is, as Billy Joel said, a state of mind)...

there have been years in this life when I followed sports, recorded and calculated statistics, played with the numbers and probabilities and studied historic records, and had much fun doing it because I love number games... the violence of sport is not as appealing to me as the statistical play... there was a time I could remember so many statistics, but not just sports... there was a time when I studied and could remember musical charts (Billboard) and movie awards (Academy) and Broadway awards (Tony) and more... I used to love to study and remember stuff like that...

there have been years when I paid no attention to sports or music or movies and would not have known the World Series or Superbowl or Olympics even happened or what music or movies or shows came out... sometimes I think I have a lot of catching up to do... sometimes I wonder why... there's that nagging sharing clause in me, that desire to share and the apathy that sometimes takes over when I am not sharing... but then, sometimes I remember how much I enjoy knowing and studying and remembering and enjoying the statistics and music and movies and shows and I experience it all by myself...

but the social hunger is strong, so I get into Rasputin's the college football interests these days because I can share them and I get into some current music because I can share some of that with Precious... the good news is I've started going to concerts by myself (music always was a stronger draw for me than sports) which means the apathy is weakening which means I am enjoying myself more...

all that from rivalry day, huh?...

well, it is fun to pick the winning team before they actually win and root for them and watch them win... hopefully I'll do it again when Ohio State plays in the championship game in seven weeks... until then, I may mention sports again here or there (and I may not), but if anyone is interested, here is another of my games (interests, activities, fun)... the irony is, if Michigan won, I'd be bummed a bit and then Monday celebrate with Chief at work cuz he's a big time Michigan fan...

it's not so much that I always want to be on the side that's winning (there's a song lyric in that) because I want to win, it's that I want to be on the side that's winning because it's more socially fun to share winning than lose... people don't enjoy loss the way I do and I don't enjoy loss the way others seem to... and it's been so long since I shared the deeper feeling, I do not even have the words to express how it feels right now...

that feels weird...

and that amuses me, so maybe I do have a gentle madness running through me that detaches me from the social mainstream and gives me such an alien (or deviant, as in deviating from the norm and not as in dangerous or harmful as the word is sometimes assumed) perspective and way about me that the sharing I seek is truly not possible in this world with any species at this time... she said that to me in Toronto when she finally admitted she was just using me as if my being different was some way of rationalizing the failure in the bonding I sought and it wasn't that she faked it just to bleed me dry that caused the failure...

come to think of it, I didn't even know there was college football or any USA sports or new music or movies or shows when I was living in Toronto... though I did see Sarah Maclaghlin and some others before being buried in the suburbs (and I loved her music dearly)... a brief friend I hung out with when I was living downtown told me I was heading for some sort of death by moving out to the suburbs... maybe he was right... but I was so in love with the idea of being in love and believing someone else was going to share it that everything else, sports, music, movies, arts, even life was secondary... for me, when love might be real and shared, as the song says, nothing else matters...

so much for statistical analysis and trivial pursuits in college football, aye?... yes, I do tend to get sidetracked and while sometimes it seems like a waste of time, most of the time it teaches me a lot and sometimes I come to profound revelations that change, enrich, and enhance this life experience... and that's fun too...

maybe it's time for part two of the special college football edition...

. o O ( NOTES ARE THE NEW HAPPY PILL ) O o .
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