The Muffin Man

You can listen to the full album online and/or download at:

http://riversoflight.bandcamp.com/

The album is entitled "Stargazing," and my artist name is "Rivers of Light."

You can reply here with any questions or comments - I'm always open to constructive criticism (and hey, compliments are nice too!)

Thanks everyone!

MM

Greetings to all my friends here on CBSSports,

I'm proud to announce that within the next few weeks I will be releasing an album of original electronic music I wrote. It will be available online for download. When I release the album, I will write another blog entry with the link and directions for downloading.

*Sample from the album here*: http://riversoflight.bandcamp.com/

Thanks for reading and supporting my musical endeavors! If you have any questions or comments, reply here or shoot me a PM on the Infinity thread. Have a great week!

MM

PS - If you remember my "Lifeline" group, that music is still available for free listening and downloading at lifeline.bandcamp.com. You can also hear all of the tracks on Youtube by visiting http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6AACCFE29A89BF2F. More Lifeline works are in progress as well.

For those of you who enjoyed "Pamplemousse," we have completed another single!  Click the link below to enjoy Lifeline's "Summit!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgSXx-Gi9So
As before, if you have any questions or comments, please share below!  Thanks for your support!
MM

OK, so I finally found a topic that I feel strongly enough about to rise out of my blog dormancy, at least for now:  The Final Four.

Michigan State.  Butler.  West Virginia.  Duke.

Get over it.

This year's Final Four is a lot of things, but one thing it ISN'T is a fluke.  Two 5 seeds, a 2, and a 1.  So?????  Rankings are based on decisions that a committee made.  Maybe the committee made a mistake.  Everyone makes mistakes.  All four of these teams were ranked in the top 25 to begin the season.  Is it really so surprising that they end up on top of the heap?  I don't need to read a hundred online news columns to know that few people picked that Final Four.

Now I'm not some sports columnist or news reporter pretending to be unbiased.  I'm human.  I have opinions, and they get in the way of everything I write, no matter how much I pretend they don't.  I'm a State fan.  I never thought my Spartans would get this far in the 2010 tournament, but they did, and I fully intend to root for them with vigor on Saturday against Butler.  Then, I'll root for West Virginia with equal vigor.  I don't like Duke.  I'm biased against them.  But anyone with a brain knows that they're a helluva basketball team with a helluva coach.  In fact, all four teams are good teams with good coaches.  You want proof?  Did your team get to the NCAA tournament and win four straight games in the last two weeks?  I didn't think so.  It might be tough for many people to accept, but these four teams are the best in college basketball right now.  As for who's THE best, we'll find out on Saturday and Monday.

So here's my point: It's time for everyone to stop analyzing the "unlikely" teams.  It's called March MADNESS for a reason.  The basketball might bounce in a different direction then you expect.  That's life.  My bracket's busted, and yours probably is too.  Let's forget the point spreads, stats, and predictions.  Instead, let's all step back, grab a beer and chips or whatever your preferred beverage and snackage is, and enjoy the games.  Root for whoever you want, because you can bet that I will be.

Go State!

MM

Last night, the biggest game of the year took place.  Biggest for my local high schools that is.  The infamous cross-town rivalry.  Picture Michigan versus Ohio State, only without the national following and publicity.  Always the last game of both team's regular seasons.  Always played at the same field, which both teams call home.

Flashback to last year.  My team (hereafter referred to as "Good guys") were playoff-bound.  The bad guys were not.  However, we were outplayed in the first half of the game.  I think we were maybe two or three touchdowns down at halftime.  In the second half, we played much better.  Eventually, the last two minutes of the game rolled around, and we were one touchdown down with the ball on our own 20, and no timeouts.  The good guys marched down the field, hitting precise passes and getting out of bounds as per the "two minute drill."  We looked like an NFL team.  With 2 seconds left, the ball was spiked on the opposing team's 5 yard line.  We line up in a spread formation, and I (along with most everyone else) was ready for another pass.  Instead, it was a QB sneak.  He was tackled at the 1.

Crap.


So this year, we wanted revenge.  Only this year, we weren't as good to begin with.  4-4 heading into the game.  And we had a slight problem.  A large percentage of our team was fighting the dreaded swine flu (H1N1).  While the strain that is sweeping my school is not really deadly, it still undoubtedly sucks to have.  Yesterday I think 25% of the 1500+ students called in sick with it.  See, the flu had not really spread to the bad guys side of town yet, it was mostly just here.

But here's what this blog entry is about.  About halfway through the school day yesterday, a meeting of the football players was called.  At the meeting, the coach offered to postpone the game until the following week due to the flu and weather (40ish and it had been raining since Wednesday).  By next week, the players would probably be over the flu and the weather might be better.  The players were then asked whether they liked this idea.  Sounds like an easy decision, right?  Nope.  See, the problem was that there was about a 1% chance of us making the playoffs.  I'm not sure of the exact necessary circumstances, but it was one of those "if we WIN by this many points and several other teams win or lose by exactly THIS score, then we win the tiebreaker" type things.  This in itself wouldn't seem like a problem, except that the playoffs start next week.  So if the game would have been postponed, we would have not been in the playoffs automatically.  For me, this is still an easy decision to make.  The only thing you are losing by postponing is a very small chance at a playoff spot (especially since half your team has the swine flu anyways and would not be on their game).  By postponing you get a better chance at revenge, and you aren't as likely to spread swine flu.  But apparently my views would be in the minority on the football team, because they voted unanimously to play the game yesterday.

The field was in terrible condition.  It was so muddy that it was hard to stand on, much less play football on.  The game started with a 3 and out for the bad guys.  Not bad, I thought.  Well, by halftime it was 18-0 bad guys, and that wasn't even the worst part.  We had a grand total of 8 offensive plays in the first half, plus a fumble and 2 kickoff return turnovers.  And that's not even counting the plethora of offsides, illegal procedure, and illegal motion penalties.  See, it's hard to concentrate when you have the swine flu.  In the second half, the domination continued.  Like the first half, it was characterized for us by no offense, stupid penalties, and miscues such as dropped passes.  About halfway through the 4th quarter, the bad guys, up 25-0, put in their third string guys.  You knew they were third string because the mud hadn't covered up the numbers on their uniforms.  Finally, with a minute left, we scored a touchdown against their third string.  Missed the extra point.  That ended up being the final score.  25-6.  Revenge will have to wait another year, at least on the football field.

Was it really worth spreading the swine flu for that?



Your thoughts, please.

Does anyone want to play NFL pickem with MM?  I could create one or if you could be so kind as to invite me...