Deja vu one week later: Wolverines and Tigers

My 3 year old woke me up at 4:00 a.m. Paris time needing to go to the bathroom. This worked out well, as I was able to listen to the last few minutes of the Michigan game at Penn State.

As of last week, Michigan and its swarming defense won again. The final score was 17-10 and brought the Wolverines to a 7-0 record. Since Penn State joined the Big Ten (making it an eleven team conference), Michigan has pretty much dominated the series against legendary coach Joe Paterno. This win was the Wolverines' 8th straight win against the Nittany Lions.

There was an interesting article on Michigan safety Ryan Mundy in the Detroit News. Mundy came in as a highly recruited player from Pennsylvania and played a lot his first 2 seasons. Last year the wear and tear of the contact on his left shoulder nerve and arm appeared to end his football career.

He apparently is a person of faith, as I caught these words in the story.

He couldn't lift a 10-pound weight with his left arm. He couldn't sustain a firm grip on anything tangible or his new reality and, after Michigan lost to Ohio State, ending a miserable regular season, he didn't even have his teammates' football games to hold onto anymore.

So he opened his Bible, prayed for direction and started to find it. (bold mine)

Always a talker, Mundy began investigating a career as an attorney. Majoring in general studies, he could go many directions and took a practice LSAT with no preparation. He said he did pretty well and now had a career path.

Then, in the spring and summer, his arm strength started coming back.

While listening to the Michigan game, I went on line and discovered that the Detroit Tigers had swept the Oakland A's in 4 straight games. They are now headed for the World Series, which they last played in and won in 1984 against the San Diego Padres. Last Saturday, the Tigers finished off the NY Yankees.

Today last season's free agent pickup Magglio Ordonez hit a 3-run homer with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th to break a 3-3 tie and finish it 6-3. 2nd baseman Placido Polanco was injured during the regular season and risked to miss all of the playoffs. Instead he fought back, had a couple of fantastic series, and was just named MVP of the American League Championship Series.

With the problems with the Big 3 automakers having their problems, the State of Michigan really needs these encouraging sporting events. Hats off to the Wolverines and Tigers! Keep it coming!