Now that Ohio State has pulled ahead of USC in the official BCS standings by a whopping 0.19 points, it is more important than ever for Trojan fans to unite and rally around our new favorite team, Michigan. In that spirit, and with apologies to Andrew “I want USC to lose” Long and Chris “I secretly like Baylor better than USC” Fahrenthold :), I give you… the second daily BrendanLoy.com tribute to the great state of Michigan.

Today’s Michigan statistic: Michigan ranks 8th among the 50 states in population, with 9,938,444 residents, according to the 2000 Census.

Today’s Michigan symbol: The state flower of Michigan is the apple blossom.

Today’s fabulous fact about Michigan: Michigan has the only floating post office in the world. The J.W. Westcott II delivers mail to ships still underway.

Today’s famous Michiganian: 19th century politician Lewis Cass, a general in the War of 1812, was Michigan’s second territorial governor and steered the territory to statehood. Cass won the Democratic nomination for president in 1848, but lost to Zachary Taylor in the general election. He is also renowned in story and song (well, mostly song) by the quirky band They Might Be Giants in their James K. Polk song (”…Lewis Cass, a general and expansionist…”)

Today’s pretty Michigan picture:

Point Betsie Lighthouse near Frankfort, Michigan.

Today’s great moment in Michigan-Ohio State football history: In 1995, Michigan spoiled previously undefeated Ohio State’s Rose Bowl and national championship hopes with a 31-23 upset that handed Northwestern the Big Ten championship. (Northwestern eventually lost the Rose Bowl to — who else? — USC.) The Wolverines were led by a alphabet-soup running back named Tshimanga Biakabutuka, who had 313 yards and a touchdown.

Today’s Michigan joke of the day:
A man walks into a store and says, “I would like a red hat, red pants, gray sweater, and black shoes.”
The clerk says, “Are you a Buckeye fan?”
“Yes,” replies the man, “How did you guess–by the color combination?”
“No,” answers the clerk, “This is a hardware store.”

Har har. Hee hee. So yeah… once again… Gooooo Wolverines! Gooooo Trojans! F**k the Bucks and f**k the Bruins! :)

The company that hosts my website appears to be having some server issues today, so there may be brief periods during which you will be unable to access BrendanLoy.com. PLEASE DO NOT PANIC! Grief counselors are standing by. :)

The always bizarre and unpredictable New York Times computer ranking, which loved USC last season, apparently hates us now. We unexpectedly dropped from #3 to #5 in the Times ranking, behind two-loss Texas and three-loss Florida. (Howell Raines is behind this! He read my harsh Jaysongate criticism on this blog, and rigged his former newspaper’s computer to thwart the Trojans! HEADS MUST ROLL! :)

As a result of the Times and the other obviously East-Coast-biased :) computers, Rich Tellshow now projects that we will be just barely behind Ohio State — 7.55 to 7.52, a statistically insignificant difference of 0.03 — when the official BCS standings come out this evening at 6:00 PM Eastern.

But Tellshow adds this ray of hope:

It is still possible for USC to regain the #2 spot even if OSU beats Michigan. … LSU and WSU must continue to win out, and the added QWs from WSU can push USC back into the #2 spot. USC must remain #2 in Sagarin and 3rd in two other computer polls; or 3rd in 4 computer polls. It would be so close that strength of schedule could decide it. If WSU can get up to 6th (with losses by TCU and Texas or Tennessee), then USC could afford to drop in another computer poll. Each spot is worth .166667.

Well, that’s nice and all, but it’s way too close for my comfort. The treason of Andrew notwithstanding, I continue to say it loud and proud: GO MICHIGAN!

Speaking of which, stay tuned for BrendanLoy.com’s second daily “tribute to Michigan” later tonight, after I get home from work. (I’m on my lunch break now, by the way, in case anyone was wondering.)

Tomorrow morning, I start a weeklong contract working as a techie at a Phoenix-based staffing company that just started using the same software program that my previous employer in New York used. Whether this week leads to longer-term employment remains to be seen.

The only downside of this is that I have get up really, really early in order to catch the express bus from Mesa to downtown Phoenix. I mean really early. The last bus leaves at 6:41 AM, and the bus stop is about a 15-minute walk from here… and I’m not taking any chances on my first day, so I’ll be setting my alarm for around 5:15 AM.

5:15. Good grief! People won’t even be awake on the East Coast yet, and I’ll already be staggering to work. :) Anyway, needless to say, I’ll be going to bed very shortly after finishing this post.

Wish me luck!

New (and newish) posts from my blog-children: Jen says the mini-reunion was a blast, and thanks the Lord that she isn’t living in a dog’s bathroom anymore… Becky wonders about the impact of her conflicting ideological and moral influences… and I, at Becky’s behest, show off Herself’s newly pedicured feet.

Did I just refer to myself as one of my blog-children? Hmm… “I’m my own grandpa.” :)