Punani Football

Punani Football was the talk of Ann Arbor from 1997-2000. Never winning a championship but coming very close, as self-appointed Punani co-captain I feel I need to share some fun thoughts about those magical seasons.

Lev Mandel, Matt Epstein, Brad Brown, Dave Shannon, Andrew Milam, Dikran Ornekian, Chris Chirgwin, Chris Duprey, Mike Daniel, Nick Simon, and course a one-year wonder Brandon Sylwester rounded out the roster for 3 years. Easily the MVP was Lev Mandel staring as our mobile QB. Nick Simon was our star defensive tackle with his extraordinary pass rush style and mittens (how can you pull flags with mittens?)

People always come up to me on the street and ask, "what happened to you guys senior year?" The truth has never been public until now, 9 years later. You will notice above the Punani legend ended in 2000, but we graduated in 2001. The reason is because this fool Nick Simon forgot to sign us up. We entrusted him with the roster, money, and he blew it. Because he was late and missed the deadline, SENIOR YEAR, we never got to play one down. It was an honest mistake, but took months to overcome.

The reason I write about the 'nanis today is becuase I recently came across some great content online - check it out here!

Walmart is Way Cheaper than Kroger

In an effort to save a couple of bucks, I went to Walmart last week instead of Kroger. Unfortunately, our local Walmart is not a SUPERCENTER, so they don't have all the normal groceries. But they do have a lot, and most items are at least 10% less, some items much less. Here is a sampling of price differences:

Pampers
Walmart $19
Kroger $22

Tropicana
Walmart 2.99
Kroger 3.39

Deoderant
Walmart 2.23
Kroger 3.39

12 Pack Pepsi
Walmart 2.50
Kroger 5.59

Matt Millen is not good

Were you as surprised as me to see Matt Millen back on the air as a commentator on NBC? They were actually consulting with him as an expert on football.

Do they know he has the worst record as any General Manager of any team in any sport?

He may have been a good commentator before he became the GM of the Lions, but I just don't see how anything he says can carry any credibiliy these days. If he wants to come back to TV, he should wait at least 5 years, not 5 weeks.

In fact, if Millen were the GM of the infamous Punani football team (1997-2000), the 'nanis wouldn't have been nearly as successful.

Cardinals In Superbowl?

In August if you would've asked me who was most likely to represent the NFC in the Superbowl, Detroit Lions or Arizona Cardinals, I would have told you the Lions. Instead, the Lions are a perfect 0-16 and the Cards are in the 'ship. I truly can't believe it.

You see, the Lions and the Cardinals could always be counted on to be the two worst teams in the league. I remember when John Navarre was leading the Cards out onto Ford Field. I love Jack Navarre, but I knew the Lions had a shot no matter what b/c they were the Cardinals. They are the team that you automatically count on as a win on your schedule when you're trying to bet on bubbascasino.com - will the lions win 6.5 games this year?

Furthermore, the Cardinals QB is Kurt Warner, who left St Louis a few years ago and the Lions passed on him in favor of Jon Kitna (who the subsequently forced onto the IR).

Furthermore, the Cardinals running back is Edgerin James who the Lions passed on in favor of Kevin Jones....or Kevin Smith?

Furthermore, and this doesn't matter, but the Cardinals backup QB is Matt Leinart, who the Lions passed on in the draft in favor of.....Drew Stanton?

Pilots and babies don't mix

Today we flew home from Tampa FL to Detroit MI on Spirit Airlines. We were visiting my aunt and uncle for a long weekend.

Our flight today left at 3pm, and the boy's nap time is usually from 1-3pm. Our plan was to keep him up and let him nap from 3 to 5. However, on the way to the airport he managed to get a 15 minute cat-nap. This was a grave mistake.

15 mins was all he needed to get recharged. The flight was a nightmare. Even the pilot referenced the baby crying when he addressed the cabin to let us know we would be landing in 25 minutes "Take it easy back there" he said.....

I strongly recommend the benadryl treatment after my experience today.

1208

This is a picture from Spring 1999 - all members of the original 1208 Prospect cast. There were a few cast changes over the years, including the ousting of Sylwester in Spring 2000. Sylwester dropped a bomb on the summer of Nick and Joe with a subletter named Foucher. Foucher filled vending machines for a living, and wouldn't give me any free snickers.

Sleep Aid

When I was in college during finals week I was broken, beat, and scared. The only thing that kept me going was the thought of driving back to Haslett and sleeping for a whole weekend....with the help of my good friend, Kroger-brand Sleep Aid.

This weekend we are in Tampa, FL visiting my aunt and uncle and of course, we brought Huter on the flight. I went to the store to pick up some Tylenol; while I was in the pharma section I spotted the Kroger-brand sleep aid and was very tempted....

The good news is that the boy was very good on the plane and slept most of the way!

Charles Shaw - best $3 ever spent

I am a huge fan of Three-buck-Chuck. Not only is it cheaper than Welch's Grape Juice but it is more fun to drink. They both have anti-oxidants. Chuck is available at Trader Joe's, which has other great stuff including peanut-butter filled pretzels, my new favorite snack.

Kroger cashiers are ugly

The other night we were at Kroger and our cashier may have been the ugliest person I've ever seen in my life. I don't even know how to descibe her other than "harsh" and "rough" looking.

The funny thing was the lady in front of us had a fruit the casher could not identify. The cashier asked the customer what kind of fruit it was. The customer said it was "ugli fruit."


I had no idea ugli fruit existed and for a moment I thought she was talking about the cashier.

I love hummus

The best hummus is at Palm Palace (formerly La Shish) at the SE corner of Washtenaw and Carpenter. I know, the intersection is the worst, but in my opinion it is worth it. In fact, I get carry out from there and all I order is the hummus.

I love it so much that I order it minimum once per week. My favorite is the spicy hummus.

Clean for the Cleaning Lady

Today the cleaning lady is coming. This means I have to spend the morning cleaning to prepare for her arrival. 'nuf said.

Red Roof Inn is Not Good

Last night I stayed at the Red Roof Inn Akron O-H-I-O. I was in Akron for work for 2 days and one night.

As you know, last night was the BCS Championship game Fla v Oklahoma. I got to the hotel mid-way through the 2nd quarter and was very eager to check-in and watch the rest of the game. When I got in my room I immediately turned on the TV and began searching for Fox, who has the rights to the game. I flipped and flipped and flipped. No game. Finally, I found a little tent on the desk which listed channel numbers. Fox was channel 8, so I immediately tuned to 8. It was CNN. This is not funny.

I called the front desk to ask what channel Fox was; she said channel 16. I tune to 16 and it is NOT FOX. Now I'm very frustrated and she says she is in the lobby on channel 16 watching the game. So I tell her I want a new room. I come back down to the lobby, get a new room, and guess what? No Fox in that room either.

Here is my dilemma:

1. Do I demand my $45 back and try to find a new hotel?
2. Do I go to the bar?
3. Do I watch the game in the lobby?

I decided to watch the whole game in the lobby. Was that the right choice?

Rocky-a-Thon on AMC

Last week Rocky was on non-stop on AMC and I thoroughly enjoyed watching some Rocky classics. As a special bonus, AMC showed "First Blood" and "Rambo: First Blood Part II".

This got me to thinking, who would win in a fight between Rocky and Rambo? Both are tough as nails and would dispose of me very quickly. But against each other? Rocky never quits. He takes blow after blow and never goes down. He has a killer southpaw hook. But Rambo was tortured back in 'nam and is equally as tough. They both beat the Russians. They both have taken beatings.

Even with all that, for me, it is quite simple. Rambo would win because he can hide in a wall of mud and slit your throat before you even knew he was there!

Always Buy TV Insurance

Recently if you have been over to the house you may have noticed our TV had a green tint to it. It was slowly getting worse and worse, so I called the Geek Squad from Best Buy to come take a look at it. We bought the TV in May 06 and (at the time) reluctantly bought the insurance for $350. That was one of the best decisions of my life!

Not only did our bulb go dead last year and they came out and relaced that $250 part for free, but now our light engine is dead and we are getting a free TV out of it! The geek squad guy told us to go to Best Buy customer service and give them a code and they would take care of it. He said to fix our TV would be a $1400 part and they wanted to just "total" it instead.

Yesterday we went to Best Buy customer service. I have a history of being a bit of a jerk in situations like these. I was worried that they were going to screw us because we had a 50 inch 1080P (projection) and you can't get a TV like that for under $1400. I was expecting the worst, but I knew I had to pull out my charm. Fortunately, the girl behind the desk appreciated that, and HOOKED IT UP!

She pretty much allowed me to choose the TV we wanted and this is the one we are getting

This is a $2200 52 inch TV with no projection. Of course, we bought insurance on the new TV too! In the end, essentially we are paying $350 for an upgraded TV with a guarantee nothing will go wrong over the next 4 years. I could have opted out of buying more insurance, but if you read the title of this post you know how I feel about TV insurance.....

GIG

The infamous GIG article may be lost forever. However, I was able to track down this interesting reference to GIG

If only I would have posted it!

For those of you who don't know what GIG is, sorry. You will have to ask me at nicholas.hopwood@gmail.com

I Eat Pizza Every Day

Last night was Chuck-E-Cheese. Thursday night was Jet's. Wednesday night was Whole Foods. Tuesday night was Kashi frozen. Monday night was Lean Cuisine. Sunday night was Hungry Howies. This is getting ridiculous.

I was wrong....

....and I admit it. Utah took care of Alabama last night. If the transitive property holds, this means Umich could have beaten the team which was ranked #1 in the nation for 5 weeks this year.

Chuck-E-Cheese

Today I took the whole family out for a big Friday night treat - Chuck-E-Cheeses! When I was a kid we used to go to C-E-C all the time. They had all kinds of games to play - they even had a robot band who would play "Beat-It" on request. God I loved Beat It!

I probably haven't been there in 20 years and this was Hunter's first trip of his lifetime. I made many interesting observations tonight. I will attempt to illustrate:

When we were walking in we looked through the windows and saw millions of little kids running around. Jennifer gets nervous with lots of kids because they can play rough and hurt or knock Hunter over since he is just a toddler.

Once inside, we went straight for the toddler section. Thre were a few things for him to play with and everything requires tokens which you buy for a quarter each. While he was playing with a few things, I noticed one of the employees (a young goon highschooler) feeding the basketball game and firing away about 100 shots per minute. This might not seem funny, but I imagine he was getting paid to play hoops. Later in the night I saw the same goon delivering pizzas to tables.

Next we decided to order some pizza. One pizza is $20. I can get a Jet's pizza for $8 and it is twice as good, so immediately I could tell this place makes all of their money on food. The games are just a way to get the kids in the door, and the poor parents have no choice at that point. So I ordered a pizza for $20 and the cashier looked at me like I was retarded. "that's all your gonna order?" she says. Yes. "really, that's it?" So I said "what would you like me to order." She tried to talk me into buying a package with tokens, which was a "way better deal" It was a deal for $24 with a pop and $3 worth of tokens. I told her I have a 1-year old and I already bought some tokens and don't need anymore. At this point all I can think about is Officer Farva at Dippis Burger. Would you like to Dippis-Size your meal? It's just a quarter, and look how much more you get! I needed a friend behind me to tell her, "hey, he doesn't want it!"

A buddy told me their pizza tasted like cardboard, so at first I was angry they were charging $20 for cardboard. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the pizza. The pepperoni was like Pizza Hut's, you know, the really crispy kind. Hunter even liked the pizza....

When you order the food, they give you a number to put on your table. We were #19. Then when your food is ready, some goon walks around the joint looking for your number. You know the drill. However, this place is huge. And with all the games everywhere, you can't easily see other tables even if they are close-by. The result is several goons trying to deliver pizza's and never being able to find the right table. Fortunately for us we were close to the kitchen but I observed this time after time. Why don't they just give you a buzzer like at Applebees?

Finally, Jen and I played Skee-ball. This game is sweet. I set the all-time record and Jen did well also. We won 60 tickets in no time. We used the tickets to buy Hunter the spider-ring he was pointing at. But then we realized it was a choke hazard, so we switched to a plastic comb instead. You should see all the ridiculous prizes they have. All junk. If I were in charge, I would figure out a way to have good prizes, to lure in the kids more often and get my hooks into the parents for Chuck-E-Cheese food combos which include tokens......

Wal-Mart Wolverines?

What exactly is a Wal-Mart Wolverine? This has spawned from "Starter-Jacket Michigan Fan," which refers to people who wear Umich gear who didn't go to Michigan. It all started circa 1992 with the Fab Five - you know, Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, etc. The fab five took whole country by storm and everyone had to have Michigan Gear, especially people who live in trailer parks.

MSU fans love to talk smack to people wearing Michigan Gear. "You didn't even go there" is the most common comment heard. The bottom line is the MSU people are upset b/c they just lost to UM, and if this D-bag didn't even go to UM, he shouldn't be able to celebrate the win. Come on, like someone in Lansing who went to LCC (Lansing Community College) isn't allowed to wear a Sparty hat and burn couches?

Now apparently Starter Jacket UM Fan is called a Wal-Mart Wolverine. This is a great site, and spent at least 20 minutes laughing at the pics. What do you think is better, Wal-Mart Wolverine, or Starter Jacket Michigan Fan?

Bud Light Superbowl Ad

This is a sweet ad. Do you cut the cheese in front of your girlfriend? My favorite part is "pull my finger" and "drop the kids off at the pool."

Ridiculous Bowl Matchups

I like USC/Penn State. I like Texas/Ohio State. But who really wants to see Utah/Alabama? I mean Alabama was ranked #1 until the last game of the season headed for a matchup with Okahoma or Texas. Now they're playing Utah? Utah is undefeated, but I am guessing it will not be a game worth watching. I think Alabama should have a better opponent. They are going to have a Sugar Bowl BCS win, but it is a joke.

There are 5 BCS bowl games - Rose, Orange, Sugar, Fiesta, and the Championship game. Unfortunately, the way the rules are written, teams like Utah, Va Tech, and Cinci are playing in what are supposed to be the best games of the year. This system is not good.

Also, please change the dates of the International Bowl, the GMAC bowl, and any other joke game scheduled after the new year. Games after Jan 1 should be BCS games only. Move the others so they're played before Christmas.

Disapointment

Michigan's 34 year bowl streak has ended this year. Today this is finally sinking in for me. I am forced to watch Iowa, Michigan State, and Penn State play today and not umich. Even last year when we lost to App State and got blown out by Oregon, we managed to save the season and get a Citrus Bowl birth and upset Florida.

It just doesn't feel right......

My 2009 mantra applies to Michigan Football too:

"Everything will be fine in '09"

(photo above from the 2004 game vs. MSU at the big house. I was sitting in this endzone (row 10) and had a very close view of Braylon Edward's 3 touchdowns to force overtime and the win. This is a GREAT pic!)

At least Ryan Shea has USC.