I almost didn’t do this - I took Niels’ advice this past weekend and unplugged a bit. It hasn’t been a fun week in the world. It hasn’t been a fun month. But then this happened:
9/30/2023 – Michigan 45, Nebraska 7 – 5-0, 2-0 Big Ten This column is about being grateful but first a digression into obscure lexicography, as the readership demands. Despite an Atlantic article that accidentally implies that the noun "fantods" was a neologism sprouted from David Foster Wallace's mother, Merriam Webster asserts that Charles Fredrick Briggs deployed in 1839; indeed, it actually found its way in to Huckleberry Finn: "They was all nice pictures, I reckon, but I didn't somehow seem to take to them, because … they always give me the fantods." I think it is probable that DFW's mother is the originator of the phrase "howling fantods," which does feel like a temple erected on top of a previous religion's foundation. Fantods are one thing. When they howl, wow. Buddy. I mean. It's not good. I was put in this frame of mind in the midst of Michigan's comprehensive dismantling of Nebraska because whilst I was enjoyi
9/30/2023 – Michigan 45, Nebraska 7 – 5-0, 2-0 Big Ten This column is about being grateful but first a digression into obscure lexicography, as the readership demands. Despite an Atlantic article that accidentally implies that the noun "fantods" was a neologism sprouted from David Foster Wallace's mother, Merriam Webster asserts that Charles Fredrick Briggs deployed in 1839; indeed, it actually found its way in to Huckleberry Finn: "They was all nice pictures, I reckon, but I didn't somehow seem to take to them, because … they always give me the fantods." I think it is probable that DFW's mother is the originator of the phrase "howling fantods," which does feel like a temple erected on top of a previous religion's foundation. Fantods are one thing. When they howl, wow. Buddy. I mean. It's not good. I was put in this frame of mind in the midst of Michigan's comprehensive dismantling of Nebraska because whilst I was enjoyi
Last week, we got a question: Has a power conference program ever seen such a drastic difference in offense and defense as Iowa? I already had this data set ready to go (yes, I’m a nerd), so let’s answer the question from a full-season Points Per Drive perspective, shall we?
(Mods, if you think this should be a diary, please feel free to move it) For those of you who have seen my diary series Iowatch!, we’re tracking how Iowa’s offense performs under Old Frenemy Cade McNamara. I had to cut the following piece from my Week 3 Iowatch! Diary, but I really want to acknowledge how difficult the road ahead is going to be for Iowa. So we’ll start this forum post where the diary intro had to leave off: