Baby You Can Drive My Car

Today was the last of the 4 economic forums we hosted statewide, this last one being in Grand Rapids. Grand Rapids is a very nice city with a lot going for it. It has become known for hosting all kinds of conferences because of the great facilities it offers. The room we had our forum in today was top notch. Downtown has great hotels and restaurants and there are more going up. Grand Rapids isn't really booming, but because it isn't directly tied to the auto industry as most of the other major Michigan cities are, the local economy is holding its own. At 9pm last night, there was country line dancing taking place in the middle of downtown, a very big group of people were participating. If I didn't have to get a workout in, I might've stayed.

It's been awhile since I've updated, I'm going to try and hit everything and I apologize if I don't:

• Andre Agassi has completed his career. I was happy to see him win a couple of great matches before losing in the 3rd round. During the latter half of his 2nd round match and throughout his 3rd round match, you could tell Agassi was in pain, unable to walk properly. His return game was nulified because he couldn't bend over and get into his normal crouch. But he fought until the end, still believing he could win the tournament. His farewell speech will go down as one of the most memorable, possibly greater than all of those except for Lou Gehrig's farewell. Agassi is what life is all about, continually finding yourself, getting better in every facet of life every day, enjoying your profession, bringing joy to others and giving back to the community.
• Ohio St./Texas will be the first regular season 1 vs. 2 matchup since 1996. The Buckeyes showed off some of their offensive weapons against Northern Illinois, ending the competitive phase of the game very early. OSU probably could've thrown deep every play and run up the score if they wanted to. There are still some question marks about the defense. The pass rush is there, but how good is the secondary? They didn't have to make many plays thanks to NIU's ineptitude at throwing the ball downfield, and when given the chance to tackle Garret Wolfe, they struggled. Wolfe is arguably one of the top 10 players in the nation, he'll get some Heisman voters. But when you know he's getting the ball, you should be able to contain him a little better than how OSU did last week. Texas didn't get tested at all. North Texas would get blown out by Northern Illinois. Watching some of Texas/North Texas, North Texas was slow, small and intimidated. If Colt McCoy didn't put up the numbers he did, I'd be really worried if I were a Texas fan. Now without their top cornerback, Texas must rely on secondary depth to contain the OSU receivers. I might give Texas the slight edge not solely on their home field advantage, but because OSU has no place kicker, and the kicking game will be key in what should be a close game.
• Tennessee was the most impressive team in Week 1. At every position (except QB and kicker hehe), they are fast! Is David Cutcliffe that good of an offensive coordinator? Erik Ainge could become a Heisman darkhorse at this rate. Is Tennessee that good or is Cal that overrated? I'm thinking the former. Tennessee has always had the talent, but they've lacked the focus and discipline needed to compete at a high level the last couple of years.
• If I'm a Notre Dame fan, I'm not worried about last Saturday. Georgia Tech will win at least 7-8 games with their fast defense. Tech needs to get Calvin Johnson the ball. If he has a 45 inch vertical leap, Reggie Ball should be able to loft the ball up for the big man because the only other athlete I know of ever having a 45 inch vertical was David Thompson from the 70s. We'll find out more about the Irish's secondary this week vs. Penn St.'s passing attack. Penn St. QB Anthony Morelli will have a great college career, he looked very good last week, in the rain nevertheless.
• What else is there to say about Tiger Woods? This will be one of the few times his game will be ready for the Ryder Cup. I don't think he'll have a losing record this year, especially since he's playing in the HSBC Match Play at Wentworth the week before, so he'll be in match play mode.
• After our forum in Gaylord, MI, we played the par 3 Threetops course, the one featured on the Par 3 shootout that is shown on ESPN every summer. Each hole is its own self portrait. The couple of holes that feature the 100 foot plus vertical drops are amazing. Driving the golf cart was like driving your own personal roller coaster thanks to the elevation changes. And the greens were the purest I've ever putted on. It was a time to not worry about score but hit different shots and enjoy a beautiful afternoon. The more time I spend in northern Michigan, the more I love it.

I think that's enough for tonight, there will be more forthcoming, have a good night.