Victory continued to elude the Michigan women's basketball team, as they lost to Wisconsin 75-65. The margin of defeat was only ten points this time and Michigan kept it close until the end, so I suppose that is progress over other recent games. Nonetheless, a loss is a loss and Michigan now has nine of them to el zippo wins in the Big Ten. Their overall record is now 6-15, so even if they somehow managed (miracle of miracles) to win their last seven regular season games they would still be two under the break even mark.

Cheryl's Crew has been working very hard and giving it all they have, and it is tough to see them get nothing for their efforts as far as wins. These difficult experiences will definitely pay off in future seasons, still it would be nice to see them get at least some satisfaction this season. All of the seven remaining games will be tough as will whatever draw they get in the Big Ten tournament. If they keep working hard (which I know they will do) and can improve enough as this season progresses (this is the harder part) then anything is possible.

Yesterday's game also featured pregame and halftime activities centered around the general theme of Women and Girls in Sports. Although women and girls have long played sports, it is only in recent decades that opportunites have existed that are anything like what men and boys have long had access to. Such things as varsity level teams in high schools and colleges, and women's professional leagues have only recently become common and still do not always get the support that they deserve. Events like the one yesterday serve to both celebrate how far female athletes have come and also to remind us of how much needs to still be done to achieve full gender equality in the world of sports.

Michigan women's basketball reached new lows for the 2005-06 season, getting blown out on their home court (77-57) by Northwestern who came into the game with an identical 0-7 Big Ten record and a slightly worse overall mark. Now Michigan is alone in the basement with el zippo conference wins. Next up is Wisconsin who is 1-7 in the Big Ten. This may be Michigan's last best hope for a conference victory.

Purdue, on the other hand, is all by their lonesome at the top of the Big Ten at 8-0. Ohio State is not far behind at 7-1 and Minnesota is a half game behind the Bucks at 6-1. I pretty much expected these three to be among the top four. The current fourth place team, Indiana, is a complete surprise to me so far, as I had them pegged at number 10 or 11. Iowa is currently in fifth, exactly where I thought they would be. Michigan State and Illinois are tied for sixth at 4-4. I expected Illinois to be about where they are or maybe lower, Michigan State I expected to be in the top four. And maybe they will be when all is said and done.

Penn State just knocked off Iowa to improve to 3-5 in the conference. Once again I have to give the Devil her due. Rene Portland is a whiney, annoying, anti-gay bigot but somehow she finds ways to win games.

Next we have Wisconsin and Northwestern at 1-7, about what I thought. Finally we have my beloved Wolverines, who I foolishly thought would finish in the middle of the pack this season. How's that working out so far? Not bloody good at all, but thanks for asking.

In the January 2006 Z Magazine:

An article (by Norman Solomon) about Ronald Dumbsfeld's (oops, I mean Donald Rumsfeld's!!!) chummy 1982 visit with none other than Saddam Hussein. Yes, folks, he was an ally of the United States at one time. He was just as bad then as ever, but as is so often the case he was useful to the US ruling class at least for a while. Bravo to Solomon for keeping this in the news.

Morgan Cohen reports on the latest fascist fun and games being perpetrated by one time left winger-turned-Republifascist David Horowitz. More ridiculous gibberish about how American higher education is overrun by far leftists, yadda yadda blah blah. He has started a group with a typically right wing Orwellian name...Students for Academic Freedom. They are promoting a piece of legislation whose name also is the opposite of what it really stands for, the Academic Bill of Rights. Horowitz and his gang are actually against academic freedom and rights.

A very good article by Peter Bohmer titled "Cuba: the Revolution Lives On." While there may be legitimate criticisms of the Cuban government, the picture we get here in the USA is distorted beyond belief by the right wing US government and the even more right wing "Cuban" (read, white Amerikan) community in Miami (among the reasons I dislike that city). Cuba has done more for its people with far less than what the US government has, and in many ways puts the US government to shame.

Mark Harris writes about the coming out of WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes, and the hope that this may lead to greater acceptance of gay athletes.

Evo Morales, an Indian and socialist, was sworn in yesterday as the president of Bolivia. He is the first indigenous person to hold the office, and he promises to alleviate poverty and resist capitalist "free market" policies which only end up hurting the poor and benefiting the rich and corporate.

This is a great thing, and the Sports Desk wishes President Morales Good Luck as he deals with the various Greedheads and Jackasses that he and his government will likely have to contend with. Which will most likely include the corrupt Ruling Regime of Amerika headed by Gee Dumbya Bush and the rest of the Republicrats and Demublicans (the two factions of the Amerikan Corporate Party).

Speaking of Corporate Corruption and Wrongdoing, Ford Motors is announcing yet more plant closings. At the same time that it is reporting a profit for 2005! And of course, the pathetic corporate puppet governments of the states where the plants are located are scrambling to offer tax breaks and other incentives (read, bribes) in a vain attempt to keep Ford from doing whatever the hell it wants to do anyway. This bullshit never works out well, and what the government should be doing is getting tough with these corporate crooks and greedheads instead of bending over backwards for them.

The Sports Desk was right on both NFL conference championship games, as Seattle croaked Carolina and Pittsburgh croaked (overrated) Denver.

Seattle will beat da Stillers in Super Bowl XL, but it will be a closely contested game between two good teams.

Michigan women's basketball took another one on the chin, as the surprisingly good Indiana Hoosiers routed Cheryl's Crew 69-44. As has all too often been the case for the Wolverine women, a lack of scoring was a major problem. You will not win many games in this business when you score in the 40s. Stephany Skrba, Michigan's rookie center from Canada, was the exception to the paucity of Maize and Blue points as she had 14.

Purdue remains atop the Big Ten women's b-ball heap at 7-0 in the league. THE Ohio State and Minnesota are both 6-1. Iowa at 5-3 in the league is a half game ahead of three teams at 4-3, those being Michigan State, Illinois, and Indiana. So there are seven of 11 teams in the league at better than .500 in conference games. An impressive testament to the strength of this league, and reason why it has been so difficult for Michigan's youthful squad to have success.

After this, there is Penn State at 2-5, Wisconsin at 1-6, and Michigan and Northwestern at el zippo and seven. Northwestern is Michigan's next opponent, this Thursday night at Ann Arbor. This would be a fine time for the Wolverines to get a win and some momentum.

The Michigan women's basketball team solved their shooting woes, but were plagued by turnovers and weak defense in a loss at home to Minnesota. Also not helping matters was the fact that Minnesota boasts a roster with no fewer than six seniors, while the Wolverines have only sophs and frosh on this year's team.

Katie Dierdorf had another good game, as did Janelle Cooper, Ta'Shia Walker, Krista Clement, and Ashley Jones.

Coach Burnett's crew is working hard and giving a fine effort, but their relative lack of experience makes it tough to win in the Big Ten. The next four games look to be their best opportunities to get some conference victories, so they need to keep their focus and do that. With the confidence that comes from winning, perhaps they can pull off some upsets over the better Big Ten teams down the stretch.

Michigan women's basketball had another difficult outing on Sunday, as they lost at Ohio State 62-34. Michigan hung tough in the early going and actually led 14-9 at one point. They were unable to consistently score points (25 percent field goal shooting) and this allowed the Buckeyes to pull away as the game progressed.

The Wolverine women are, if I have not mentioned it already, a very young and inexperienced group. There were no seniors to begin with, the only junior is out for the season with an injury, and so they are left with four sophomores and five rookies. They do have a lot of talent and potential, so if they can grow up quickly there may still be hope for this season.

Katie Dierdorf was the top scorer against tOSU with 10 points, and she is playing as well as anyone for Cheryl's Crew lately.

Looks like I was three for four with my NFL playoff picks:

Seattle did indeed beat Washington.

Carolina beat the Bears, who STILL SUCK!

Peyton Manning did his usual thing and choked in a big game! Pittsburgh ended the Super Bowl hopes of the overrated, overhyped Indy Colts. Who should really give the nickname back to Baltimore, since it belongs there.

Finally, the only game I got wrong...Michigan grad Tom Brady finally saw his playoff luck run out, as Denver knocked off the defending champion Patriots.

In the championship games, I like Seattle and Blitzburgh. Then Seattle in the Super Bowl in Motown.

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and once again I must post this quote from the Reverend, which is as true today as it was when he said it many decades ago:

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."

The United States of America is that nation that Reverend King is referring to. The Corporate Puppet Government of the USA, led by brain dead Boy George, his Republican buddies, and the cowardly sell out Democrats, waste our tax dollars on countless ridiculous wars (on "drugs," on Iraq, on Afghanistan, etc, etc, ad nauseam) while truly worthwhile programs such as healthcare and education have to beg for funding. This is a tragedy of the highest order, and the people of the United States need to demand better, and vote for Green Party candidates since neither the Democrats or the Republicans seem able to change their ways.

Let us honor Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. by getting serious about transforming this country and the world into a place that more closely resembles that which he dreamed of so long ago.

The Green Bay Packers ended a difficult, injury riddled season with a win over Seattle to finish 4-12, by far the worst record in the Brett Favre era. It is unknown at this point whether Ol' Number Four will return for another season, but the Packers will definitely have a new head coach next season as Mike Sherman was fired. Current defensive coordinator Jim Bates is among the leading candidates to replace Sherman.

Michigan Wolverine women's basketball is down to nine healthy players (all sophomores and frosh) following a season ending injury to junior Kelly Helvey and the loss of sophomore Jessica Starling who either quit or was dismissed from the team. Cheryl Burnett's young crew is playing hard but has lost their first four games against the always challenging Big Ten field. We will see what happens the rest of the way.

Speaking of college women's basketball, there have been some really good games on TV lately including Oklahoma vs. Ohio State, Rutgers vs. Michigan State, and of course Connecticut vs. Tennessee.

Texas beat the Southern Cal Hollywood Pretty Boys in a thrilling Rose Bowl. Now comes the exodus of U$C's key offensive players to the NFL and hopefully this will bring about a decline in the program's fortunes.

Michigan football blew a fourth quarter lead (what else is new?) and lost the Rinky Dink Master Card Alamo Bowl to Nebraska. Lloyd Carr is a good guy, but it is way beyond obvious that he has lost his coaching touch and needs to be replaced. 7 wins and 5 losses with the talent Michigan has is just not acceptable.

Ohio State vs. Notre Dame and Penn State vs. Florida State were also pretty good Bowl matchups.

In this weekend's NFL playoffs, I like Seattle (led by former Packer coach Mike Holmgren) to beat Washington. Washington was laughably inept on offense in their Wild Card Round win over Tampa Bay (a paucity of 120 total yards!) and so they will get croaked by the Seahawks.

New England will beat Denver, despite the Broncos' better record and home field advantage.

The Blitzburgh Stillers will croak the overrated, overhyped Indianapolis Colts. Or maybe I am out of my mind.

And finally, Carolina will send the Chicago Bears (who still, by the way, SUCK!) on a One Way Trip Out Of The Playoffs.

It has been quite a while between postings, due to the fact that this reporter was away in the Caribbean and did not have easy access to a computer and the net. We have some catching up to do.

First, some sad news from the Sports Desk about a colleague of mine at the University of Michigan-Flint. I was greatly saddened to learn that Grant Burns passed away on Thursday, January 5, 2006...just a day before my return from St. Kitts and Nevis to Michigan. Grant was a great librarian and an even greater human being. He was my immediate supervisor, but I also considered him a friend and a mentor. He helped me to become a better librarian and a better person, and for that I will always be thankful. I will miss talking with Grant about such things as sports (and how badly the Detroit Lions stunk!), politics (those darned Republicans!), and music (the eternal greatness and relevance of such musicians as Bob Dylan).

More postings to come soon.