A bittersweet weekend...Notre Dame pwned Penn State, then I finally got my schedule, my life, my sleeping adjusted enough so that I could actually watch another Formula One race this season. It turned out well, with Mr. Schumacher’s pretty red car on top of the podium, but in the press conference afterward, he announced his retirement at the end of this year. I have mixed feelings about it. I do sincerely believe it’s better to burn out than fade away and I’m realistic enough to understand that athletes have to retire eventually. I think I’d have been fine with it if Michael hadn’t seemed so very sad himself, if he’d been more matter-of-fact, just “hey, the time has come”. Instead I was left thinking that if it made him so sad, why do it? He’s young (heh - same age as me) and probably the fittest guy on the circuit so those aren’t compelling reasons. He has a good shot at winning world title #8 this year and I surely hope he does it - that would be a fitting coda to his career.

I am glad and forever grateful that I had not just one, but four chances to see Schumacher race live, up close and in person. I never got to see my idol, Ayrton Senna, except on television. My brother (who does double-duty as one of my best friends) and I went to the first four U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis and each time was fabulous. Schumacher won three of those four races; the one he didn’t win turned out to be the last victory for Mika Hakkinen, who retired that year, so even the non-Schumi win was special. Bo and I had some great times during those race weekends, not just at the track but doing things like eating at an Irish pub, drinking martinis at a great jazz club, mooching around a huge bookstore, buying CDs at a music store - so those trips will always be special and inexorably linked with Schumacher’s magic and Ferrari’s return to dominance.

Excerpted from an e-mail from Bo: “...I finally saw the man in person. I saw him win. I saw that, all hyperbole aside, he was really THAT. GOOD. I've seen Yo-Yo Ma play the cello. This was better...but what [his] detractors fail to realize is that the bar has been forever raised. There is a new standard for excellence. As challenging as Formula One is, where people can appreciate the beauty of hundredths of a second, and with all due respect to Fangio, Ascari, Hill(s), Senna, Lauda, Prost, Hawthorne, Moss, all those great legends, there is one man, who has been a part of the sport as long as I have followed it, who is, as my shirt says, quite simply the best. I think it will take years to fully realize what he did, how great he was...I will always watch Formula One. I will have other drivers I admire. I will see more glory, more triumph, more agony, more of what make this sport so amazing to see. But until I die, I will be able to say: I saw the best there ever was race. And believe me, he was the absolute best there will ever be. So, in this small corner of cyberspace, raise your glasses with me, and say thank you. Hail, and farewell, Michael Schumacher.”

Later on Sunday, it was time for NFL football and the start to our fantasy football season. While winning is great, don’t get me wrong, I’d love to win, mostly I was hoping that I didn’t do so badly that I was the laughingstock of the internet. The aforementioned sibling had a little bit to say about it, as we faced each other in the first week’s matchups. Including the French soccer player insult documented below, his smack talk also included “CRIMSON KINGS PWN!!! 13LL3T HAXXORS! FEER MY SKILLZ!!!” I beat him 64 - 37. Yes, 64 to 37 which is a HELL-THY margin of TWENTY-SEVEN points. BWAHAHAHAHA! I don’t think I’ll do so well in the upcoming weeks, as I can’t count on my defense to put up the kind of numbers they did yesterday, but in the meantime my brother is doing some very enjoyable groveling.

I want to close with a shout-out to Flippy, our league commish, who scored NINETY POINTS yesterday and if her 2 players do well in Monday Night Football, may well break 100 in week one. Go, Flippy!