TEDxUofM Talk: The Past, the Future, and Why We Need to Be Together
Hello Dear Loyal Readers, This week I am finally finishing the final draft of the next book, “Fourth and Long: The Fight for the Soul of College Football.” Due Tuesday. Not even kidding. So, alas, no Bacon Blog this week. But I can offer a link to my recent TEDxUofM talk on “The Past, the Future, and Why Human Nature Doesn’t Change.” In it, I explain why we too often fail to understand history (because we see it as inevitable, when the people living it didn’t); why we too often fail to predict the...
read moreBlaming the Customer
[For the audio version, click here: Student_Football_Seats_2nd_edit_5-3-2013] For decades, students at Michigan games were assigned seats, with the seniors getting the best ones. But last year, according to the Michigan athletic department, roughly a quarter of the 22,000 people in the student section were no-shows. So, athletic director Dave Brandon decided to switch the student section from assigned seating to general admission – first come, first seated — to get them to show up on time. Or, at all. In fairness, growing student...
read moreThe Worst Job in the World – And Why I Love It
[To listen to the audio version, click here: bacon_0426_web] This week, a company called “CareerCast.com” ranked more than 1,000 American jobs, and determined that the worst job in America isn’t garbage collector, dog cage cleaner or Lindsey Lohan sobriety tester – but journalist. Yes! Score! Booyah! They based their rankings on four criteria: the workplace environment, the industry’s future, average income, and stress. Okay, it’s true: newsrooms usually aren’t pretty places, and the future isn’t any prettier for...
read moreThe Man Behind Jackie Robinson
Hello Loyal Readers and Listeners, When I’ve not been able to produce a Bacon Blog, I’ve done a poor job of letting you know, instead just going AWOL. Well, last night, I finished the fourth draft of the upcoming book, “Fourth and Long: The Fight for the Soul of College Football” — which, of course, comes in at twice the desired length. So, we still have some work to do. But, given this, and fresh from a train out of Chicago, I was not able to get to the Bacon Blog this week — and naturally there was...
read moreRedemption
[Click here for audio version: Bacon_final_Beilein_for_web_with_open_4-12-2013] It wasn’t that long ago that Michigan’s basketball program was not merely unsuccessful, but the shame of the athletic department, if not the university. Bo Schembechler, then Michigan’s athletic director, fired basketball coach Bill Frieder after he found out Frieder had flown out to accept the coaching job at Arizona State just a few days before the NCAA tournament was to begin. Schembechler famously barked, “A Michigan Man will coach Michigan!”...
read moreMay I substitute a speech for a column?
Dear Loyal Readers and Listeners, This is fund drive week at Michigan Radio, and the fourth draft of my book — gasp! — is due Monday, which is also why I wrote only one column in March — sorry! Should have let you know. In the meantime, I’m speaking at the TEDxUofM conference today at the Power Center. I’ll be getting up there sometime between about 11:25-45 or so. My talk only goes ten minutes, but the timing depends on other speakers. It’s sold out, but it will be live streamed (and taped for...
read moreA Streak to Remember
[To listen to the audio version, click here: Bacon_3.28_web] Sports columnist Rick Reilly once wrote that weekend golfers invariably claim, “I’m a good golfer. I’m just not consistent.” Well, he said, if you’re not consistent, you’re not a good golfer. Americans are great at building things, and rotten at maintaining them. We admire winners and celebrities, but we overlook the loyal spouse and the honest accountant and the people who maintain our bridges – and that’s why they’re falling apart. So, let this be a...
read moreRenaissance Resident
[To listen to the shorter audio version, please click here: Eddie Kahn 2-21-13] In the Michigan hockey program’s 90-year history, some 600 players have scored more than 10,000 total goals. But the man who scored the team’s very first goal, 90 years ago, might still be the most impressive one of the bunch. He was the son of legendary American architect Albert Kahn, who built the most recognizable buildings in Detroit and Ann Arbor, almost all of which still stand. He pioneered the new discipline of neurosurgery, serving 22 years as...
read morePaper Viper
[To listen to the audio version, just click here: Vipers 2-28-13] A few years ago – okay, a bunch of years ago – I bit on a bet I never should have touched. I was writing for the Detroit News, and a top minor league hockey team called the Detroit Vipers played at the Palace. So, I got to thinking: just how big is the gap, really, between the pros, and a beer league players like me? Good question. And even better if I didn’t try to answer it. But, being the hard-hitting investigative journalist that I am, I had to go down to the...
read moreSuper Sunday: Thrills, Spills and Record Electric Bills
[To listen to the audio version, click here: Bacon Superbowl_2013_WEB_-2-8-2013] Congratulations! You not only survived that annual orgy of conspicuous consumption called the Super Bowl, you also survived the two weeks of endless stories without news that lead up to the big day. And when the big game arrived, what was our reward? On the one day we actually look forward to watching TV ads, they were so bland and boring and just plain bad, we had no choice but to turn our attention to the actual football game. Has it come to this? But back...
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