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sgtwolvehttp://blog.burrillstrong.com/

I’ll be happy to sign autographs later

Last Wednesday, I traveled to Ypsilanti — not Yipsilanti — to watch a baseball game between Michigan and Eastern Michigan.  Through two rain delays, I watched Michigan nearly snatch defeat from the jaws of delight; after building a comfy-cozy 8-0 lead through the first five innings, the Wolverines managed to scrape out an 8-6 victory.  (Four of those six EMU runs came on a sixth-inning grand slam.)

Naturally, since it was a U-M event, I wore my Sgt. Wolverine helmet; since it was a rain-delayed college baseball game in Michigan, the crowd was fairly sparse, so it wasn’t hard to spot the helmet.  That is exactly what a photographer named Amir Gamzu did, just as he did several years ago at a Michigan football spring practice.  And, like last time, the picture ended up in a photo gallery on U-M’s official athletic site.  (It’s the seventh picture.)

And yes, I know I look all serious.  That’s primarily because I was very aware that he was taking my picture — I tend to notice photographers, particularly when they’re carrying equipment I can only dream of having right now — and perhaps a bit because the game was between innings, so there was no action to make me look excited.

Link it to me, baby

During a break from his never-ending quest to stop the world (melting with you: optional), official Mindreader anti-lock brake consultant Tobin passed along two pertinent links.

1: Color Me Redd … or Bluue … or Both?
When it comes to politics, much is made of red states and blue states; the colors indicate the party each state supports. (I tend to think one color is embarrassed and the other has been holding its breath too long, but I don’t think that’s the intent of the colors.) This view reveals party affiliation, but that’s about it.

Another view of the political landscape is available by examining individual politicians; this is what a website called Red, White or Blue seeks to do. But it doesn’t just present dry information; it presents it in the form of of a friendly bar graph that shows just how much a politician leans one way or another. And it shows (again) that for all the blue and red talk, there are plenty of purple politicians out there.

RWoB is a fairly new site, so its list is a bit short at the moment. Check back often; the list will be growing.

2: That Grande Caramel Macchiato is really a cry for help, you know

Starbucks has grown from a small Seattle coffeeshop to an international caffeine cult. But it turns out that a visit to Starbucks doesn’t just put a cup of expensive coffee in your hand; it also provides an easy personality test.

So tell me: what does your Starbucks order say about you?

Bonus link: 10k Maniacs

Buttafly.com, the site that furnishes the Starbucks personality test, also has a wonderfully snarky article questioning the practicality of many fundraising events:

It’s a nice thought to raise money for a charity by running in a 10K, but if you’re really dedicated to the cause why not just ask friends for money directly? If it’s a good cause most people will get out their checkbook and see what they can do. Who has ever said, “Well, I’d like to help find a cure for breast cancer, but could I see you run around the block first?”

If they must do something physical to earn my donation, why can’t it be something useful? Why isn’t anyone offering to clean my oven for AIDS or pick up my dry cleaning for cancer?

Go read the rest of the article. Seriously. It’s quality humor.

Photo of the Variable Time Period, vol. 95

Just doing my job (07 May 2007).

Derek Fairchild’s batting helmet brim shows the effects of its collision with a ball during Saline’s game at Chelsea. The Saline second baseman made contact with a pitch from Chelsea’s Chad Nielsen, but he hit the ball up into his own head, and a piece of the helmet brim shattered on impact. Fairchild immediately went to the ground clutching his head, but the helmet took enough of the impact that he was not seriously injured; he finished his at-bat and played the rest of the game.

Saline defeated Chelsea, 5-2.

(Full gallery.)

All your deeply personal moments are belong to us

From a recent issue of WORLD Magazine:

Two days after the Virginia Tech shootings that claimed 33 lives, three grieving students sat in a tight circle on the campus drill field, holding hands and praying for their bereaved community. A crowd of photographers and cameramen slowly formed around the young women, capturing the painful moment.

At least 14 photographers trained wide-angled lenses inches from the three tear-stained faces. When the girls moved their heads close together for privacy, a television reporter maneuvered a boom microphone into the circle to record the sound.

Maybe some stories are best told from afar. Not with a wide-angle lens.

(Related reading: a print reporter’s perspective on telling a story without intruding.)

Playing all the hits

If you’ve noticed the links along the right side of the page, you may have noticed the link to Uni Watch.  I’ve been reading Uni Watch for a while now; it’s a great place to find commentary and obscure observations pertaining to the details of sports uniforms.

Last summer, I managed to get myself mentioned in one of the posts, thanks to an Ohio town named Uniopolis; on Thursday, I managed to get a link to this very blog.  I sent Paul Lukas, the man behind Uni Watch, a link to my recent post concerning those pesky Esurance ads, and he saw fit to mention that “pretty amusing blog entry” in Thursday’s Uni Watch post.

What makes this particular linking notable is its effect on my site statistics:

The first two days of May were reasonably typical for my site (maybe a bit above-average), and April was a good month to this point in my site’s existence.  Until Uni Watch linked, anyway.  Then everything exploded, and I got more unique visitors in the first three days of May than I got in the entire month of April.