William's Blog

Final Post, Final Rant

2005-12-15T06:52:00.000-08:00

So, I really enjoy playing cards. Last year, I played in the poker and euchre clubs' weekly tournaments on a regular basis and really enjoyed meeting new people, getting better at the games, and competing with cards. This year, well, school happened, and I didn't go to a single euchre tournament or poker tournament this semester except for one. I went to play poker last Mon hoping to have a good time and play for a while. 21 people showed up and I sat at a table of 6.

The first hand I folded, and second hand I decided to play. A/4 hearts was good enough to post double big blind and see the flop. Head to head with one other guy at the table, 6/8 diamonds, Qhearts flopped. My opponent checked and I did as well. The turn showed King of hearts, one heart away from the nut flush. My opponent again checked and I bet 4 chips (out of 40 starting). My opponent called and we went to the river. 8 of hearts paired the board and gave me the ace-high flush. I could feel the pot coming my way. My opponent first bet 6 chips, to which I reraised to 14 chips. My opponent considered the raise and decided to go all in. I figured he was on two pair, possibly kings/queens and thinking that I only had two pair, kings/8s so I went all in as well figuring my flush couldn't lose. Well, of course, poker is a game of luck to some degree, and on the second hand of the game, my ace-high flush lost to a full house, my opponent had pocket queens. Well, I can say I played in 5 minutes of poker tournaments this semester. That sucks.

Learn more about the Poker and Euchre club

Michigan Basketball, finally here?

2005-12-13T18:34:00.000-08:00

Well, the Michigan Men's Basketball team has been long forgotten by many of the students and alumni due to its recent NCAA probation and failure to make the NCAA tournament the past two years. Last year was supposed to be THE year, predictions of a relatively high seed in the tournament of 64 were hyped for a basketball team coming off a season that ended in winning the NIT. Everyone was ready, the students, the fans, and, most importantly, the players. But, as fate would have it, all that happened was a disappointing season marred by injuries. No playoff berth, no NIT berth, no nothing. Once again, the Wolverines fell into the void of the fans' minds as the seemingly now classic line "Maybe next year" ran around campus.

Well next year is here, and the Wolverines are off to an outstanding 7-0 start. Yet, they are unranked and still unproven. Everyone wants to believe they're here, but no one will say it out loud without a little doubt in their voice. And rightfully so, the only impressive win so far has been at Notre Dame, another school known way better for football than basketball. The Fighting Irish are 4-2 on the season and rely heavily on the three. While beating Notre Dame is a quality win, it should be expected of a team that wants to challenge for the Big Ten title this year.

The true proving grounds are set for this Saturday against #14 UCLA at home. It is Michigan's first game against a ranked opponent and it gives them the chance to prove they're for real this year. Beating UCLA would finally land Michigan in the Top 25 and would be the perfect way to start the season 8-0. The importance of this game even calls for the patented "Maize Out."

So, who wants to sell me their ticket to the game?

A deterioration of the Clash at the Palace

2005-12-09T07:31:00.000-08:00

So, MSU basketball. They've been decent over the past few years I suppose. They do this thing every year called the Spartan Clash at the Palace where they play potentially their most exciting game of the year at the Palace of Auburn Hills. It started in 2003 when MSU faced Oklahoma, which they lost in a thrilling OT game by 3. In the same year they played and lost against Kentucky in the next game at Ford Field. Two amazing Detroit games, two unfortunate losses for the Spartans.

But after the amazing preseason competition of 2003, 2004's Spartan Clash at the Palace was against ... Stanford. Now, Stanford is not a bad basketball team by any means, and nearly went undefeated in the 2002-2003 regular season, but for the 2004 season, and at the time of the Spartan Clash, Stanford was not even ranked. MSU won 78-53. Not an impressive game at all. When you move a game to the Palace, the matchup should be against a high caliber team to attract as many fans as possible, not against an unranked team that MSU should clobber.

This brings us to 2005, and even though MSU is coming off a Final Four season, they once again face an unranked opponent. This year, MSU plays Wichita State in the Spartan Clash. This is just another step towards playing wimpy opponents in the Palace. MSU needs to face some real competition to reward their fans and to be able to play a Nationally Televised Preseason game.

2005's Spartan Clash info

Video Game Tournament

2005-12-01T07:49:00.000-08:00

Beginning this semester, the University Unions Office of Arts and Programs, a Division of Student Affairs, began hosting free Video Game Tournaments for students on campus. They kicked the year off with a Halo 2 tournament, with the winner getting any game of their choice. They have also hosted a NCAA Football, Super Smash Brothers Melee, and, most recently, a Mario Power Tennis tournament.

The Mario Power Tennis tournament was last night, November 30th with first place receiving a $75 Best Buy gift card, and second play receiving a $50 gift card. I'm by no means a Halo 2 player, as evident by my last place finish in that tournament, but I love Mario Tennis and my friend and I went to the tournament. After winning the first three rounds, I found myself in the finals playing against my friend.

We opened the match trading serves until he broke me to go up 3-1. Down 2-4, I broke back to put the match back on serve, 3-4. Serving for the tie, I was broke yet again, and ended up losing 6-3. A little disappointed that my friend has bragging rights for now, I was still overjoyed to leave with a gift card to my favorite store.

I encourage anyone who enjoys video games to come out to these tournaments. With free entry and nice prizes, a night of friendly game competition and discussion can be a great thing.

WolverineSoft

2005-11-16T13:08:00.000-08:00

So while this post isn't about a traditional sport, I did participate in a form of competition a few weekends ago. I am the treasurer of WolverineSoft, a student organized club that focuses on the video game industry and helps students refine their game developing skills as well as get into the industry. November 4th-6th we held our third annual 48-hour game development contest. The contest kicked off at 7pm Friday evening with the announcement of the theme. In groups of 3, we had until Sunday at 7pm to develop a game based around the theme. I was randomly paired with 2 other students participating for their first time, and since it was my first time as well, we didn't exactly steal the show. While we finished in last place, it was still a blast and we finished with a playable game. Check out the games here.

Test

2005-11-03T19:52:00.000-08:00

William Bauman

I am a student at the University of Michigan

William Bauman, bjba@umich.edu

The OC

First post

2005-11-03T07:36:00.000-08:00

So, the Pistons started off the season with an impressive win over the 76ers. The Pistons had 30 assists to Philadelphia's 11 pretty much summed up the game. The Pistons played unselfishly distributing the ball to get easy shots while the 76ers pretty much relied on AI to run everything. Detroit also outrebounded the 76ers showing just how weak Phi. is in the post compared to the dominant Wallaces inside for Detroit. For a story on the game click here.