A Work In Progress

Sometimes the parallels are too easy. This Argentina thing is a major change for me. I'm approaching life in an entirely different way. How can I not? I struggle to speak the language and have only a handful of friends here. It goes without saying, they're not college football fans. But I was still pumped up for the start of the season. I didn't have Monday off of work, but I still knew it was time to watch the greatest sport on the planet.

So I began my quest to track down a broadcast. My hotel TV has 80 channels, with seven of them devoted full-time to sports, three flying the ESPN banner. Yet no mention of the season's kickoff could be found; and later, no scores reported. Coworkers and hotel staff provided no promising leads, but my Buenos Aires guidebook did have one that seemed promising. Surely the World Sports Cafe & Restaurant would be my salvation. I mean, of all the Saturday sports out there in the world, NCAA football must make the cut, right?

Well, I'll never know if I could have found the Michigan game - or any others - because when I arrived at the World Sports Cafe & Restaurant, here is what the site had to offer:Apparently World Sports haven't been bringing in the business. Much like my team, I'm starting over. Brian referred to the situation as being under construction. Just like the World Sports Cafe & Restaurant and my viewing plan of attack. The Slingbox is hooked up in Chicago now. Unfortunately, it's not playing nice with my laptop yet. Breath is held and fingers are crossed for this weekend.

But the games were still played without me. Since I've seen none of them, it's like I'm telling second-hand stories. As bad as Michigan's day reportedly was, at least we didn't have any problems with our weekly conference call. And at least we're not Texas A+M. But there seems to be a strange acceptance of mediocrity after the first game. We all knew this was coming. And we're stung after the '05 and '07 seasons, so we know it can get worse. WLA seems to have a "the outcomes don't really matter, so let's reminisce about the bad-old times" mentality, while Johnny feels calmly disconnected from this year's team. I'm like them, but one step farther removed. I knew there would be various challenges with this move, but after such an incredible ride last year, and really the last fifteen, I'm not about to step aside. Like the Wolverines, I think I can find a way to figure this stuff out.