Thank U [2020], Next

There was a global pandemic, wildfires, murder hornets, lockdowns, protests to open businesses, protests to close businesses, kidnapping plots, a presidential election, and more. We stayed at home, masked up, and social distanced. People baked bread, started gardens, ordered takeout, dined outdoors, distance learned, worked from home, had virtual celebrations, threw drive-through parties, and (finally or suddenly) found themselves in December.

Life for me has continued much as it has for the past nine months, except with colder temperatures, less sun, and Christmas lights. My local NBC channel, however, started the month off by airing the wrong Jeopardy! episode on Tuesday, December 1. I completed my mini-quest to photograph all the canoe sculptures the next day, Wednesday, December 2, and worked on finalizing simulation results and writing my next manuscript throughout the week. Here we go again. The Revolution’s pursuit of their first MLS cup continues, as they suffered a 0-1 defeat at the hands feet of the Columbus Crew on Sunday, December 6, ending their 2020 playoff run and season.

Hiking at sunset

The week of Monday, December 7 was another normal week of research. It got pretty warm for December (mid 40s) at the end of the week so I went out for a couple walks/hikes and discovered that some individual or individuals had put up ornaments on one of the trails that I visit occasionally, which was a fun surprise. Saturday, December 12 was grocery day, and on Sunday, December 13 I made a batch of brownies.

It was back to work on Monday, December 14, and I also watched a virtual performance of Handel’s Messiah put together by UMS (University Musical Society). The video combined recordings from past years, a virtual chorus (plus organ) from this year, and commentary from the music director. I might have tried to go to the live performance this year – I missed it last year for Tuba Christmas – but obviously that didn’t happen. On Tuesday, December 15, I got out for a quick walk around North Campus, which was indeed quiet with only a few days of finals left in the semester. I finished season 4 of Star Trek: The Next Generation on Wednesday, December 16, as well as turned the last of a bag of slightly wrinkly apples into applesauce, and then made a pot of curry on Thursday, December 17. After going over proofs of my paper, it was published online on Friday, December 18. Four years of work turned into eleven pages plus citations.

Snow at Traver Creek

On Monday, December 21, my lab had our last (virtual) group meeting of 2020. I took a couple pre-Christmas hikes on Tuesday, December 22 and Wednesday, December 23. I went out right after lunch on Wednesday to try and beat the rain, and I was almost successful. Christmas Day, Friday, December 25, was uneventful for me. Ann Arbor did end up with a white Christmas, but the temperatures haven’t consistently remained below freezing so since then it’s been grey, gross, and muddy outside. I’ve been hiding out in my apartment watching Netflix, intermittently doing research, and working on cross stitch, my latest old-person hobby (joining solving crossword puzzles, eating soft foods, and watching Jeopardy!). Because it’s been so gross outside (it would actually be better if the ground went ahead and completely froze already; it’s not good for the trails to be constantly wet and muddy), I gave in and ordered cross stitch supplies to entertain myself this winter. Although I didn’t need them by a deadline, USPS delivered within a week across the country, saving my things from package purgatory in Allen Park outside of Detroit. Today, on Thursday, December 31, the last day of 2020, I took one last hike and will bake a final batch of cookies for the year, then it’s onward to 2021.

Canoe Art

My latest discovery in Ann Arbor was a giant fan made out of canoes. I was in the middle of a 7 mile walk along the Huron River (because why not) when I came upon this work of art, part of Ann Arbor’s Canoe Imagine Art project. Canoe Art was a public art initiative consisting of four sculptures constructed of recycled canoes from the city’s canoe liveries. The sculptures were installed in parks along the Huron River in 2015. Each chosen artist was given the canoes for their sculpture and an honorarium.

Tulip (Ray Katz), Bandemer Park

Starting furthest up the river at Bandemer Park, we have a canoe tulip. I didn’t remember this canoe sculpture, but when I went to deliberately hunt it down to photograph it, I realized I had seen it before in my quest to find a way to Barton Nature Area. It’s on the north side of Bandemer Park, in the area marked as Huron Bridge Park on Google maps, and I guess it does bear some resemblance to a tulip?

Turbine (Missouri State Western University artists J. Neil Lawley, Heather Andrews, Jake Proffit, Dustin Lafromboise and Hausman Metal Works), Broadway Park

Continuing down the Huron, we reach Broadway Park, which is actually a dog park next to Kerrytown. Out of all the canoe sculptures, this one has the most potential to be an accidental health hazard, because it’s located inside one of the fenced areas of the dog park. The canoes are at a perfect height to give someone a concussion and/or head laceration either from walking straight into the edge of a boat or ducking beneath the sculpture to deal with a dog then standing up without paying attention.

Canoe-vue (Jeff Zischke), Island Park

This was the first canoe sculpture I was aware of. I’ve been to Island Park for ChemE barbecues a couple times, and I think I did a summer game badge at the park as well. Island Park is along the stretch of the Huron between Gallup and Bandemer, just off the Fuller Road portion of the Border to Border (B2B) Trail, so it’s not too far from campus. I believe the idea behind Canoe-vue is that the canoes are now also benches, but I’ve never seen anyone sitting there.

Canoe Fan (Victoria Fuller), Gallup Park

Finally, we reach Gallup Park. Unlike the other three sculptures, there’s more of a story behind how the city ended up owning Canoe Fan. In return for materials and the honorarium, the city was supposed to retain ownership of the sculptures, but the Canoe Fan artist didn’t realize this and ended up using canoes she had previously purchased (just your average starter art kit: markers, glue, construction paper, googly eyes, canoes, etc.). As a result, she loaned her sculpture to the city, and the city ended up buying it for roughly the cost of materials and time. I’ve been to/biked through Gallup Park plenty of times, but the B2B runs along the other side of the river. This time, I approached Gallup from Furstenberg instead of the B2B and was exploring the opposite side of the Huron when I found Canoe Fan. You can get from one side of Gallup to the other in multiple places in the park, I just usually don’t because I’m on the B2B.

So there you have it. Four sculptures made of canoes. A celebration of the Huron River, recycling, and public art.

December Soccer

Sunday, November 29 at Orlando City SC – 3-1 W – After facing old friends in the first two rounds, the Revolution encountered Orlando for the first time in 2020. While it was freezing back in New England, it was a steamy 80 in Florida, as evidenced by the shirtless fans in attendance. If you’re going to have fans in the middle of a pandemic while thousands are getting sick, hospitalizations are rising, the medical system is being strained, and people are dying, at the very least keep them spread out and masked. But no, every time the broadcast cut to fans there was at least one fully unmasked person and one or two more with noses sticking out, plus people crowding together, and lots of yelling. Not cool, Orlando. Also not a good look – the amount of whining that Orlando did, which will come into play later. Similarly to the Union game, the Revolution scored two early goals, the first a 17th minute penalty kick that Tajon Buchanan earned and Carles Gil converted. The second goal came in minute 25 and started with Buchanan winning the ball off Orlando DP Nani. Gil took the ball down the field, slowed down outside the box just enough to give Buchanan time to make a run on the right, and handed the ball off to Buchanan, who put the ball into the box. Adam Buksa’s sliding shot came off the post (again), and Gustavo Bou picked up the rebound to put New England up two goals. Orlando got a goal back off an awful miscommunication between Henry Kessler and Matt Turner. Then, fifteen minutes into the second half, an Orlando player made a flying, studs-up tackle into Matt Polster’s calf. One hundred percent a red card, but the Orlando players lose their minds and swarm the ref, earning Nani a yellow card for dissent (which should probably have been given, like, yesterday for the amount of screaming at and touching of the ref he’d already done) and Orlando their third mass confrontation fine of the season. Now the Revolution just have to see the game out, which is easier said than done when you’re the Revolution. In the 74th minute, they give up a penalty, and none other than Nani steps up to the spot . . . but Turner saves his shot. To close out the night, Buksa, Gil, and Bou combine to get Bou his second goal of the night in the 86th minute, which is enough to end Orlando’s hopes of a comeback.

Sunday, December 6 at Columbus Crew – 0-1 L – The Revolution made it far enough into the playoffs to be playing in December. [Side note – fans were present, but the spacing looked much better than at the Orlando game. No camera closeups of the stands, maybe to avoid showing things they wouldn’t want to reveal to those watching, but the general atmosphere at least felt like they were acknowledging that the pandemic exists.] Unfortunately, this was not their day. They couldn’t maintain possession in the middle of the field and their counterattack wasn’t sharp enough to get much going. Bruce Arena had been playing Matt Polster and Scott Caldwell in the middle of the midfield, and they’d been good, but they had too much to do in Columbus with the amount of possession the team was conceding. The Crew got their goal in the middle of the second half from a nicely placed cross, layoff, and shot into the bottom corner of Turner’s goal. Around that time, there was a missed pass between Gil and Bou that felt like a decent representation of the game. Following three solid games, it felt like players were half a step off from each other. They pushed for an equalizer that would get them to extra time, but there would be no goal for them this day. Thus ended their very weird 2020 season.

Final thoughts on the season: Matt Turner was the most consistent player all season. I’m not going to argue he should be the USMNT’s starting goalkeeper, but he deserves a callup and probably a cap.

Henry Kessler was robbed of the Rookie of the Year award. Okay, there was another player who probably would have won, but he had a legitimate case. However, with three games left in the season, MLS changed it to the Young Player of the Year award so they could give it to someone else. As a defender, he’s not going to get as much attention as a forward scoring goals, but he had a really good rookie season.

Tajon Buchanan is the most improved/breakout player of the year for the team. He didn’t suddenly start putting up crazy numbers of goals and assists, but he did get his first professional goal(s), and looks dangerous on the right side of the field.

Having Carles Gil on the field for the Revolution makes the entire team play better. That’s it. That’s the thought.

Turns out paying for designated players works. In their playoff run, Gil had two goals and three assists, Bou had three goals and an assist, and Buksa only had one goal, but had shots go off the post in (I think) every game and he looks much better with Gil controlling the ball in the midfield and providing service into the box.

And finally, honestly, even just the Philadelphia win would have been a decent end to the season, but they made it a game farther to the Eastern Conference Final. With the unpredictability of the playoffs, a conference final isn’t a bad way to go out. There’s a little bit of wondering what if – what if they made it to MLS cup? what if this was their year? – but ultimately, in a year of stops and starts, empty stadiums, bizarre schedules, bubbles, travel restrictions, and unprecedented times, they delivered some special moments. Long live the crayon flag.

Sixth Time’s the Charm

Following the end of the regular season and a two-week break, MLS playoffs shenanigans commenced.

Friday, November 20 vs. Montreal Impact – 2-1 W – With one win in their final five games, the Revolution fell in the standings and played themselves into a play-in game against the Impact. At an empty Gillette Stadium, the teams met for the fifth time in 2020. The Impact won the season opener in Montreal all the way back on Leap Day, but New England followed that up with victories at MLS is back in Orlando, at home in Foxborough, and away at Red Bull Arena. Would the Revolution be able to take a fourth win from the Impact? As it turned out, yes. They were the better team through most of the first half, and were moving the ball pretty well with Carles Gil, Gustavo Bou, and Adam Buksa all starting. As halftime closed in, Bou put in a cross to Gil, who volleyed the ball into the back of the net to put the Revolution ahead. It was his first goal of the season, and a very nice one at that. Montreal evened the score on an unmarked header off a free kick (never seen that before, Revolution /s). That left New England most of the second half to push for a go-ahead goal. They tried, had some shots, but it wasn’t until the last minute of stoppage time that Bou was given too much time and space outside the top of the box, shot, and scored. And though he didn’t score, Buksa had a good game – he had a couple headers saved off the posts; Tajon Buchanan had a decent shot and looked okay at right back for about half the game (he was subbed off and Matt Polster took over there); and Teal Bunbury had a chance to put the Revolution ahead in the middle of the second half, took time to aim, and shot over the crossbar. Would it be a Revolution game otherwise?

Tuesday, November 24 at Philadelphia Union – 2-0 W – “Hello Philly our old friend/We’ve come to face you once again/Because the Impact we have beaten/Now the seeds say ‘play the Union’/In the playoffs where strange things can happen/All the time/Within the game of soccer” (thanks and apologies to Simon and Garfunkel and “The Sound of Silence”). In their sixth meeting of 2020, the Revolution finally came away from Pennsylvania with a victory, upsetting the top seed in the eastern conference and ruining a lot of brackets. Nashville, the other play-in game victor, also upset their opponent, number two seed Toronto, leading people to wonder if giving the top seeds a two-week break while the play-in teams were coming in with momentum was actually a good idea. Over in Pennsylvania, after the teams settled in, the Revolution struck twice in quick succession in the 26th and 30th minutes. After a good game against Montreal, Adam Buksa got his goal, a header off a Carles Gil free kick. That was followed minutes later by Tajon Buchanan receiving the ball, again from Gil, on the right side of the field, getting around his defender, and putting the ball in the back of the net. With a two-goal lead, New England proceeded to mostly (minus one ridiculous shot by Gil that almost curled straight into the top right corner of the goal but hit the crossbar) play bunkerball for the remaining hour plus of soccer. It wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done, to the relief of Revolution fans everywhere. Two funny things about this game – 1) limited numbers of fans were present, but the broadcast covered them up with the fake tarps/ads they’ve been superimposing over the stands all season, and 2) the broadcast team placed a microphone really close to Bruce Arena, providing us with such great quotes as “we’re killing the game off, Kelyn,” “get up, Henry,” and “clear the ball.”

With that, the Revolution moved on into the bracket, to face Orlando City SC in Orlando. After throwing everyone’s predictions into disarray, the feeling around the team was “why not?”

Lost and Found

When you travel a lot on foot, it gives you time to really see some things. It can be good, in a “take time to smell the roses” or “the journey matters more than the destination“ way. It can be bad, like when you get caught in a downpour and your socks get wet or the heat and humidity combine to do their best impression of a sauna and the things you’re seeing are raindrops and mirages. And sometimes it’s just weird. Exhibit A: Baby in a Shoe.

Baby in a Shoe

Baby in a Shoe is a mixed media work composed of rubber and plastic, artist unknown, seen on display on the Cayuga Trail in Ithaca, NY. How did someone lose a shoe? Where did the baby come from? How did the shoe and baby meet? These are the questions we must ask ourselves.

Next, we have Chair. Made of wood and metal, Chair is a reworking of its surroundings. Imagine you’ve been walking through the forest for hours. You’re tired, and hungry, and you’re looking for a convenient rock or log to sit down, rest your feet, and snack on some trail mix. You round the corner, and there’s Chair. You sit down on Chair. You feel a tickle on your arms and legs. It’s a trap. Chair’s bereft tree friends are reaching out for you with their branches and pulling you into the forest. The last thing you see before the trees swallow you is Chair.

Chair

Moving on, to Baby Toddler Kids UPF 50+ Adjustable Chin Strap Wide Brim Breathable Summer Play Beach Pool Swim Sun Hat. This cotton and/or polyester work evokes the child inside each of us while also conjuring a sense of loss. Now lost: baby hat, once worn.

Baby Toddler Kids UPF 50+ Adjustable Chin Strap Wide Brim Breathable Summer Play Beach Pool Swim Sun Hat

Finally, Door 2 is an interactive outdoor art installation constructed from wood and glass. As it lies on the ground, the rainwater pools on its panes. The leaves cover its planks. Even as nature reclaims Door 2, we recognize its human form and function. Is it [a] Door 2 a subterranean civilization? Door 2 an alternate dimension? Door 2 a mud puddle? We may never know.

Door 2

Thank you for visiting the Lost and Found art gallery, where admission is always free and the exhibits are ever changing. Please enjoy the rest of your day and come back again soon.

Coronavirus Chronicles – November

The month started off on Sunday, November 1 with a slightly crazy Revolution 4-3 victory over D.C. United and cooking the first pound of my buy-1-get-1-free beef roasts (I’ve got four more pounds hanging out in the freezer). The following week, like a lot of the northeast, Ann Arbor experienced much warmer weather than usual for November, so I went out for walks/hikes multiple times during the week in between dealing with email, my manuscript, and other assorted research. Election Day was Tuesday, November 4, and I followed along with the results throughout the night though the media did not announce their projected overall winner until the weekend, as people were forewarned might happen.

On Saturday, November 7 I baked a batch of molasses cookies that turned out well and Sunday, November 8 after internet church, I picked up my library summer game rewards¹, did a load of laundry, and watched the Revolution finish their regular season by losing 0-2 to the Philadelphia Union. I attended my first Zoom thesis defense on Monday, November 9, which went impressively smoothly. For the first time in a while, I crossed North Campus on Tuesday, November 10 to get to a park and enjoy perhaps the last mild weather day of the year. There were a good number of people out, but at least almost everybody was correctly wearing a mask and distancing, as required by the Wolverine Culture of Care^TM. The week’s #2020 moment is brought to you by the power outage in my apartment right when I was supposed to be meeting virtually with my advisor, leading to me using my phone as a phone for the third time this year (the other two times were getting my appointment reminder call from the dentist and calling my advisor because the internet kept dropping out during our meeting).

Sunset on the river

Throughout the week, I also continued working my way through Star Trek: The Next Generation. According to the internet, seasons 3-5 are peak Star Trek, and midway through season 4 that seems to be proving true. Another square to check off in Coronavirus Bingo – I “attended” a livestreamed wedding on Saturday, November 14. Directly afterwards, I baked a batch of cranberry orange scones. I doubled the amount² of cranberries the recipe called for and used whole milk instead of heavy cream. The dough was initially pretty wet, but it smelled really good. After baking, I can say that the scones also tasted really good. I maybe overbaked them slightly, and I’d reduce the sugar next time, but for what might be the first time ever, I don’t think I overworked the dough when I cut the butter in. This was also the first pants day of the season, as it was only in the 30s when I went grocery shopping in the morning.

Scones

I worked on my manuscript throughout the week of Monday, November 16, and went out a couple times during the week for a quick hike and bike ride. Even though the sun sets about an hour later than it does in New England, it’s still starting to set pretty early, so I may need to reorganize my schedule if I don’t want to invest in night vision goggles. The Revolution had their play-in game against the Montreal Impact on Friday, November 20, and it took a last-minute-of-second-half-stoppage-time goal, but they got the win and moved into the actual bracket.

Four days later, on Tuesday, November 24, the Revolution were back at it with their new BFFs (Best Foes Forever), the Philadelphia Union, also the number 1 seed in the eastern conference. To the surprise of basically everyone, they won. The next day, Wednesday, November 25, I got a late birthday/early Christmas/Thanksgiving present in the form of my paper, at long last, being accepted. In an act of rebellion against a tyrannical government, I refused to live in fear of a silly little virus and celebrated Thanksgiving (Thursday, November 26) in the exact same way as I did last year . . . alone in my apartment. I found a mini ham at the grocery store, made cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes, and heated up some frozen vegetables for single grad student Thanksgiving dinner 2020. I had Thanksgiving leftovers on Friday, November 27 and finished some pretzels and chocolate hummus that I got on sale at the grocery store – would recommend.

Thanksgiving dinner

Over the weekend (Saturday, November 28 and Sunday, November 29), the temperature got up into the high 40s (hello, shorts weather), so I went out for what may be my last bike ride and hike of the year without wearing sixteen layers of clothing. The Revolution took on Orlando on Sunday for their next playoff game . . . and won again, so they’re heading to the Eastern Conference Final. I finished out the month on Monday, November 30 with breakfast for dinner – fried(/steamed) apples, scrambled eggs, and a freezer pancake.

So, it looks like the country survived the election, minus the people who died unnecessarily from the coronavirus. News of vaccine efficacy has been interesting and cause for cautious optimism. Hopefully hospitals can hang in there and Thanksgiving doesn’t push them over the top even before Christmas happens. In-person classes at the university are done for the year, so I’m guessing campus has quieted down, though I haven’t been by to check. I’ll be sticking around in Ann Arbor through the New Year. Still waiting for the first big snowfall. No real plans for Christmas, but maybe I’ll look for a Chinese turkey for the occasion.

¹A t-shirt to wear to all the places I’m not going, a lunchbox for all the lunches I’m not packing, and a travel mug for all the drinks I don’t need to keep hot/cold.

²Microsoft Word wants this to be number, which is technically correct, because cranberries are countable, but I refuse to say it’s really correct, because recipes ask for a quarter or half cup of cranberries, not one hundred and twenty-seven cranberries.

Winter is Coming

Before winter arrives, whether on the calendar or with snow and freezing temperatures, I’ve been enjoying the outdoors. I’ll still enjoy the outdoors when it’s covered in a foot of snow and everything’s grey, but the fall colors are nice while they last. I closed out October with a couple last bike rides/walks to some of the parks I’ve been frequenting. As it turned out, on the very first day of November, Ann Arbor got its first snowflakes of the season. The ground and air temperature were too warm for anything that could even be called a coating to stick, but winter is coming.

As we headed into the second half of October, I biked over to the Barton Nature Area to check on the colors by the river. The Border to Border was still well-trafficked by exercisers, but the number of people just hanging around at the parks along it was on its way down. I was hoping for blue skies and bright colors over the Huron, but got a grey sky and a scattering of yellow and brown trees instead. Oh, well. It was still nice in person.

Kayakers on the Huron River

By the end of the month the temperatures started dropping from pleasantly cool to uncomfortably cool without a jacket. So I put on a jacket, but held off on pants. I made the rounds through some of the parks that I’ve been circling through for the past nine months, for which I have coronavirus to thank, in more ways than one. Firstly, for being the reason that I’ve been wandering through the woods unaccompanied instead of going to band rehearsals, church events, and seminars. Secondly, for being the reason I discovered the parks in the first place and ended up exploring large portions of Ann Arbor.

Fall colors

There was a good mix of color when I was out at the end of the month. Some of the trees were past peak and turning brown or dropping their leaves, but enough of them still had leaves on their branches to make it feel fall-ish and not dead and winter-ish. From the pond, I made my way to some beech woods, which were very yellow. On the way back to my apartment, I encountered a mushroom growing out of a tree. I’m pretty sure it was real, but this is Ann Arbor so it could be an open-air art installation contemplating the decay of civilization juxtaposed with the endurance of humanity. Or something like that. I also met what looked like a really fat, round bird that was actually a hawk. The picture below is blurry because it’s extremely zoomed up. Guess who still doesn’t have a telephoto lens?

Beech forest

Mushroom growing out of a tree

It’s either a Cooper’s hawk or a sharp-shinned hawk, which even birdwatching sites will admit look very, very similar (see what I mean?). The Cooper’s hawk is bigger, but a male Cooper’s hawk can be about the same size as a female sharp-shinned hawk. Plus, you try figuring out what “bigger” is when you’re hiding in the bushes thirty feet away. The tails of the two species differ in shape; the Cooper’s hawk has a rounded tail while the sharp-shinned hawk has a squarer or notched tail. The Cooper’s hawk also has a bigger head that can look a bit block-like, and the sharp-shinned hawk has thin, “stick-like” legs. Both have reddish barring on their bellies and black and white striped tails, and can be found in Michigan. My bird has a rounded tail, but I can’t say it looks particularly block-headed, and I don’t know if I would or wouldn’t call those legs stick-like either. If I had to say, I’d go with Cooper’s hawk, but I wouldn’t bet any money on that. So far during coronavirus I’ve identified (okay, attempted to identify) wildflowers, wildlife, fungus, and now birds. Why not trees, you ask? Already did that in seventh grade science. (And we did rocks in eighth grade science.)

Either a Cooper's hawk or sharp-shinned hawk

Bound for the Playoffs Land

Well, MLS made it to the end of the regular season. Kind of. All fourteen teams in the eastern conference played their planned twenty-three games, in contrast to the western conference where only four of twelve teams did. Most western conference teams did only miss one or two games, but Colorado played a league-low eighteen games. As people suspected, when it became impossible for Colorado to fit in all their coronavirus-cancelled games before the last day of the season without playing, like, every day, MLS announced that playoff seeding would be based on points per game. Nothing changed in the eastern conference, but some western conference fans were (probably rightfully) annoyed that a team that missed close to a quarter of the season ended up with a pretty high playoff seed.

Wednesday, October 28 at New York Red Bulls – 0-1 L – In this classic Revolution performance, they played reasonably well, and outplayed New York by certain metrics, but failed to put quality shots on goal and gave up an 89th minute goal off a corner kick. Again. With the season winding down, it feels like Bruce Arena is trying to manage minutes while figuring out who he wants to play during the playoffs but also getting the team to score consistently without giving up stupid goals. It’s something I don’t think he’s quite worked out yet. Through most of the season, they weren’t scoring, but they also weren’t letting opposing teams score, so there were a lot of 1-0/0-1 wins and losses and 0-0/1-1 ties. Then when the scoring picked up a bit, they also started letting in more goals – see Montreal on October 14th and the next game against D.C. But even with the loss, because of other results in the league, the Revolution clinched their playoff spot.

Sunday, November 1 vs. D.C. United – 4-3 W – To close out the home slate at Gillette, the Revolution and D.C. met on a very wet and rainy afternoon in Foxborough. The defense did not have a great game, as the scoreline suggests. They looked to be struggling with the slipperiness of the ball and didn’t want to commit too hard to plays, allowing D.C. two early goals. Adam Buksa got one back for New England after Carles Gil’s penalty attempt hit the post and rebounded into the penalty box. (Second time Gil’s been rescued by a teammate after an unconverted penalty kick, the first being in the insane 4-4 Kansas City draw last season that led into the losses that culminated in Brad Friedel’s dismissal.) After the halftime break, Tajon Buchanan, who was looking pretty good on the right wing, put in a cross that a United player kicked into his own goal very unnecessarily. We’ll take it. The Revolution went ahead on a Teal Bunbury goal thanks to another Buchanan cross, but D.C. leveled the score with a third goal of their own because apparently the game wasn’t enough of a mess yet. New England almost scored after Gustavo Bou, on a breakaway, got the ball to Buksa, but the United goalkeeper made the save. He, however, gave up a rebound, and who else but Bunbury was there to get his second goal of the night and earn the Revolution the win. For about fifteen minutes in the second half of this game, New England had all three of their DPs (designated players) on the field for the first time since July and MLS is back.

Sunday, November 8 at Philadelphia Union – 0-2 L – Same song, second fourth/fifth verse. For the fourth time in the regular season (fifth overall including MLS is back), the Revolution and the Union faced each other. For the third time (fourth overall), the Revolution lost. Arena’s still messing with the lineup. He started all three DPs, but people were not on the same page. There were way too many passes behind players, out of bounds passes, confusion about who was going to take the ball, and nobody would shoot. It’s a little hard to score if you never shoot. No offence combined with questionable defense led to the loss. The defense has not had a good end to the season. They’re not closing down players outside the box to stop crosses, not closing down players inside the box to stop shots, and not marking second balls after set pieces. Let’s hope they get it together for the playoffs.

Now it’s on to the playoffs, though the Revolution managed to play themselves into a play-in game against the Montreal Impact. Hopefully they’ll at least win that, but this is the Revolution, so even if they do, they’ll probably lose the next actual playoff game, get sent home for postseason, and come back next year for another season of futility. But for now, we have at least one more night of Revolution-induced high blood pressure.

In the Home Stretch

As we approached the end of the season, the Revolution remained in good playoff position. There were some highlights, some lowlights, and some things that are best blamed on 2020.

Wednesday, October 14 at Montreal Impact – 3-2 W – File this under “2020 things” – the Revolution travelled to New Jersey to play the Montreal Impact at Red Bull Arena while the Red Bulls were in Connecticut playing Toronto FC. I believe the Revolution had never won at Red Bull Arena before, and now they have, so the statistic is now that they haven’t won at Red Bull Arena against the Red Bulls. It’s like how I haven’t seen American football in the Big House (the Michigan stadium). Good news is that they came away with the three points even with a heavily rotated squad, Adam Buksa got a goal and an assist, Kekuta Manneh got his first Revolution goal, and Teal Bunbury picked up his team-leading sixth goal. Bad news is that Antonio Delamea and Michael Mancienne got the start as the center backs and did not look good, and the team gave up a late second half stoppage time goal. Delamea is a decent center back who would be good if he didn’t often make one really bad decision per game that leads to a goal or red card. He also looks better when he’s the weaker center back, which is not the case when his partner is Mancienne. However well Mancienne played in England, he has not been good for New England.

Monday, October 19 vs. Philadelphia Union – 1-2 L – Continuing the apparent curse of Gillette Stadium this year, the Revolution racked up another loss to the Union at home. With the Revolution likely to make the playoffs, I suspect Bruce Arena opted to rest a lot of his starters against Montreal and push for a win against Philadelphia in preparation for having to play a top team in the eastern conference during the playoffs. They tried. They failed. The Revolution actually managed to put the ball in the net more times than the Union. Unfortunately, one of those times ended with the ball in their own net. After sustained pressure from the Union, a cross hit Andrew Farrell’s foot and rolled into the corner of a confused Matt Turner’s goal. They’re not completely to blame because the Union possession started after Scott Caldwell got caught standing on the ball too long, which is usually how he gets into trouble. The Union doubled their lead midway through the second half before Tajon Buchanan scored a really nice late goal from the corner of the box. Lee Nguyen had a great free kick on goal minutes later, but the Union’s Andre Blake spared his team from dropping points.

Friday, October 23 at Nashville SC – 1-1 T – On the Revolution’s first trip to Nashville, it started pouring minutes before kickoff. After an eighty-minute weather delay, the thunderstorm moved on and the teams took the field. Say what you will about Gillette Stadium and its turf, the grounds crew has been good the past few seasons about scrubbing the football lines off for the Revolution and the field doesn’t turn into a soggy mess. Which is to say the football lines, Tennessee Titans logo, etc., were well visible on the broadcast and the ball did not play right for the first 20-25 minutes. This was also the Revolution’s first game since the restart with fans. They were pretty well spaced out, and I would probably have been okay with attending a game like that – if the coronavirus numbers looked like they did in the MA/CT/NY area in the summer – but not in Tennessee, and not with cases rising in almost every state. The crowd sounded really strange at least on the broadcast, if not also in real life. Either the broadcast mike was not working right or the stadium was haunted, but not in a cool way. Haunted by like, knockoff dollar store ghosts. Or a hoard of pheasant coucals. Anyway, weird game even without it going until midnight in the eastern time zone. The Revolution conceded a 74th minute goal off a corner, which is starting to become a problem (again), but equalized thanks to a 77th minute goal from Adam Buksa, who made space for himself to score from the top of the box with four Nashville defenders around him. The other big news was that Carles Gil, back from injury and Spain, travelled with the team, and made a substitute appearance. Maybe not the best night for him to return to the field, but it was something else the Revolution could take away from the game along with their point.

With three games to go, the Revolution very likely were going to get a playoff spot. Thus began the scheming to bring about the convergence of good form, players coming back from injury, and strategic seeding that would position them for their best shot at a playoff run.

Birthday Weekend Wanderings

Over six months after coronavirus became a matter of global concern and social distancing and not showing your face anywhere became cool, the virus is still going strong, so a coronavirus birthday it was for me. I wanted to maybe see a couple friends outdoors, but apparently even that was too much to ask of 2020, because everyone was either busy or dealing with emergency situations. But the weather was too nice to stay inside, so I spent my birthday weekend wandering across Ann Arbor all by myself as usual. At least I had actual physical human contact for the first time in over half a year a few days before my birthday. One of us was wearing gloves the whole time, but at this point, I’ll take it. If you guessed I went to the dentist, you’d be right.

My so-called birthday weekend celebrations began on Friday after another enthralling day of research when I made my way to the Thurston Nature Center. The land, located behind Thurston Elementary School, is open to the public but co-owned by the Ann Arbor Public Schools and the neighborhood’s community pool association. There’s one main trail that circles the pond, and I often extend the walk/hike into the neighborhood behind the school to get to an Ann Arbor park. It’s another option for me to pick from when I’m deciding on the adventure of the day.

Thurston Nature Center

The previous month’s discovery of the shared-use trail through Parker Mill opened up the interesting possibility of an alternate route to the Matthaei Botanical Gardens. As it turns out, you can bike the Border to Border (B2B) Trail to the end of Gallup Park, then bike through Parker Mill, cut under the road, and connect to the Matthaei Botanical Gardens Trail (MBGT) which leads to (surprise) the Matthaei Botanical Gardens. This route is almost twice as long as Google’s suggested route, but it also doesn’t involve weirdly cutting through neighborhoods, making left turns across traffic, and getting over the highway, and it’s much nicer looking. I no longer have any weekend commitments, not that I’ve ever had many while at Michigan, so I have time to take the scenic routes. This was my plan for Saturday.

Fall on the Huron River

It was a lovely warm and grey afternoon for a bike ride, made even lovelier by the Huron River and the fall colors. The stretch of the B2B between the two playgrounds at Gallup was a pain in the neck, but the rest of the ride was smooth enough. The MBGT was nice, well paved, not too heavily trafficked, and set off from the main road. When I got to the botanical gardens, I was only planning to take a few pictures by the pond because the bike ride was a little longer than usual, but since I came all that way I gave in and walked some of the trails. The conservatory and gardens are closed (thanks, corona), but all the other trails are open. The trail right by the (unnamed) creek (which flows into Fleming Creek, which flows into the Huron River) was somewhat crowded, but further along the trail and away from the creek it was much quieter (except for, of course, the traffic noises). No rattlesnake sightings, but I did see some fall colors. This trip was my first to the botanical gardens this year and first in fall.

Matthaei Botanical Gardens

A very orange tree

By Sunday, I figured my legs would be pretty done; however, I was still entertaining the thought of going to the Barton Nature Area for lunch on the dam after church. I did go to church, which ended up feeling crowded, with varying levels of distancing and proper mask wearing, but wound up at the arboretum afterwards instead. It was not my first visit to the arboretum of the year – I went a couple times in February – but I had avoided it all spring and summer thanks to the roving bands of sunburnt, drunk, music-blasting tubers. By this point, things had calmed down considerably, and I got to enjoy the very tall grass mostly in peace. When I made it to my apartment after one last bike ride back to campus, me and my bike were glad to get a rest.

North Campus from the Arboretum

So that was my birthday weekend. Including my bike ride to campus to get to the dentist (still avoiding the buses at the expense of my legs, heart, and lungs; soon the uncovered portion of my face and hands will join the list), I covered close to forty miles in four days. I saw lots of trees, spent some time in nature, but did not get any cake.

Falling through Fall

Fall has come to Michigan and winter is just around the corner, but for a month we enjoyed cool temperatures and fall colors. The big news for the month was that the university’s safe and public health informed semester was derailed by a 2-week Stay in Place order for the undergrads issued by the county. After three straight weeks of increasing case numbers (144, 226, and 401 cases), Washtenaw County instructed all undergrads to remain in their dorm rooms/apartments/houses with no gatherings for two weeks to get things under control. However, they’re still allowed to attend class (though more classes are supposed to switch to remote instruction), get food, vote, go to religious activities, and participate in physical activity outdoors with no more than one other person, so we’ll see how much this order does.

Again, the numbers are not so horrible that people should be planning their wills and locking themselves in bunkers, but hundreds of confirmed cases every week when you’re undertesting means that you’re running the risk of 1) spreading cases off campus (Washtenaw County hasn’t really seen this yet, but the city is already not happy with how U-M reopened this fall) and 2) having something seriously bad happen to someone (still not likely given the hospitalization and mortality rates for college-aged people, but even rare events occur given enough attempts). Other fun stories from the university: With over half of quarantine and isolation housing full, they ran out of space in unoccupied buildings and started putting people in apartments in the same buildings that students had signed normal contracts for this school year. An entire dorm was supposed to be “enhanced social distancing” (semi-quarantine, where they could get food but weren’t going to class or otherwise leaving their rooms) even before the Stay in Place order because of the number of cases there. The news of the Stay in Place order first broke on Twitter, and was picked up by the U of M subreddit before the official university email.

So that’s what’s been going on at the university. I’m avoiding central campus and otherwise carrying on as I have been. I’ve been doing variations on the same things for the past seven months, so I’m arranging this post by activity instead of date, which also helps to obfuscate the exact date of my birthday, because it was my birthday month. Here’s what I did:

Birthday cupcake

Tuned into Zoom University to watch a department seminar given by a Cornell ChemE professor. My years at Cornell overlapped almost exactly with a period of time he wasn’t teaching, so I never had him as a professor, but I knew who he was.

Watched the Revolution play Nashville to a scoreless draw in their first meeting, lose to Toronto in a moderately controversial game, take points from NYCFC at Yankee Stadium, gamble a bit by putting out their B team against an admittedly struggling Montreal and come away with all three points, lose to Philadelphia (again) for the same old reasons, tie Nashville (again) after a weather delay in Tennessee, and lose to the Red Bulls to close out the month.

Baked pumpkin cranberry bread, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins (currently hanging out in the freezer for a future date), and chocolate cupcakes for my birthday. The recipe said no mixer necessary, but the last step was also to beat the batter on high for a minute, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Because I didn’t get enough air into the batter, I substituted applesauce for oil, or my baking soda is extremely expired (I don’t think it’s this – I’ve baked plenty of other things with it that have risen fine), I didn’t get a great rise and the crumb structure was tight. But it’s 2020, so weird dense spongy cake it is. Still tasted good.

Finally made it to the dentist. I was supposed to go in March or April but close contact activities where one person has their mouth open the whole time weren’t encouraged under coronavirus restrictions, for whatever reason. They’re avoiding aerosolized procedures so they didn’t do everything that typically gets done but I got the plaque scraped off my teeth at least.

The Huron River, Barton Nature Area

Celebrated my birthday weekend by biking/hiking across Ann Arbor. I went to a nature center, the arboretum, and the botanical gardens; biked on the Border to Border; and explored some new trails.

Watched old 90s TV, including Star Trek: The Next Generation and some episodes of The Magic School Bus for my amusement. I also saw The Addams Family (the 1991 movie) just in time for Halloween.

We’re heading into a stretch of holidays and events that will include Halloween, election day, Thanksgiving, colleges sending students home for the year, Christmas, and New Years as coronavirus cases rise to record levels across the country and hospitalizations range from increasing to reaching critical levels. And for some added fun, throw flu season into the mix. I have no plans to travel or gather with anyone for the foreseeable future. I will be starting to put my various socks, mittens, hats, and jackets to work as temperatures drop and I trade mosquito bites and poison ivy for frostbite and black ice. And if it’s really too bad to go outside, I’ve got lots of unread textbooks to enjoy.

Parker Mill County Park

After visiting over a hundred parks in Ann Arbor this spring and summer, I found out about a new park from a friend. I knew of its existence, and its exact location, and I’d biked right up to it, but never actually gone into it. It wasn’t on my park list because it’s a county, not a city, park, but I was told it was worth visiting, so I biked over to check it out one weekend. Like many other destinations in Ann Arbor, the optimal driving route is not the optimal biking route. The main parking lot is at the corner of two busy roads right by entrance/exit ramps to US 23, but there’s access to the other side of the park from the Border to Border (B2B) Trail. The B2B makes a funny turn at the end of Gallup Park before going into Ypsi, so I usually use that as my turnaround point when I ride the B2B in that direction. The other option is to keep going straight into Parker Mill Park, which I was mildly curious about, but never curious enough to actually investigate, until now.

The weather was starting to cool off and I was also hoping that people would be busy with school/work/other activities now that things were (rightly or not) opening up again, so I ventured onto the Gallup Park side of the B2B for the first time in 2020 on a Saturday afternoon. Similarly to my ride the previous week on the Bandemer Park half of the B2B, it was less horrible than I was prepared for. I’d describe it as busy, but not crowded, except for a couple areas in Gallup Park. Coming in from the Gallup Park side, I walked about three-quarters of a mile on a paved shared-use trail to the park’s namesake, the Parker family’s former grist and cider mills, built in 1873 and 1887 respectively. The grist mill is still operational and contains the original equipment while the cider mill was converted to a museum; because of coronavirus, both were closed when I was there.

Parker Mill grist and cider mills

Besides the cider and grist mills (plus a log cabin), there are a few nature trails, two small loops and a longer boardwalk out-and-back. The trails follow Fleming Creek, which flows into the Huron River, and at one point cut under the railroad tracks and lead into Forest Nature Area, which is listed on Ann Arbor’s parks and recreation department. My guess is that the city of Ann Arbor owns the Forest Nature Area land but it’s managed by the county together with Parker Mill. Whatever the explanation, I got a bonus park out of my trip to Parker Mill.

Fleming Creek

Overall, the trails were decent. Besides the paved shared-use trail through the park, they’re only open to foot traffic. The hiking trails go through wooded areas, explore riparian¹ and wetland ecosystems, and as an added bonus, have informative interpretive signs. I can appreciate a good interpretive sign. Like most of the Midwest, there was no discernable change in elevation throughout the park. Traffic noise was prevalent especially by the grist and cider mills, though partially drowned out by the creek. The southern portion of the park is across the train tracks from the Ann Arbor Wastewater Treatment plant, so that’s a definite minus if the wind’s blowing the wrong way. But in the greater context of Ann Arbor and my car-less existence, Parker Mill is reasonably accessible, has unpaved trails in nature, and isn’t a zoo filled with screaming children, people blasting music, and/or drunk people, so it checks off enough boxes that I would go back.

Boardwalk trail

¹New word from the park brochure, meaning “relating to or living or located on the bank of a natural watercourse (such as a river) . . .” [Taken from my friends Merriam and Webster.]

. . . must come down?

If you’ve been following the Revolution for any length of time, you know not to get your hopes up. You keep your optimism in the closet and only allow it to peek out after the final whistle’s been blown. If there’s a way they can screw something up, they’ll find it, and then some, just to make absolutely sure potential wins turn into ties and ties become losses. So I wasn’t entirely surprised that after a good end to September, October started less good.

Saturday, October 3 vs. Nashville SC – 0-0 T – In the first ever meeting between New England and Nashville, nobody scored. It was a game that the Revolution could have won, but like so often happens with them, they didn’t step up to get things done. Nashville’s defense has been solid, especially for an expansion team, so not the worst result. It earned Matt Turner his season-best sixth shutout, at least.

Wednesday, October 7 vs. Toronto FC – 0-1 L – Toronto have been establishing themselves as possibly the best team in MLS right now, so I would have been happy with a tie. Alas, it was not to be. The Revolution were not great, but I won’t say they were terrible either. Toronto’s goal came on a breakaway that Andrew Farrell seemed to be handling until he was pushed. Former Revolution player and now color commentator Charlie Davies insists the Toronto player was just using his strength, but I still lean towards offensive foul. 1) Farrell had decent position on the Toronto player. There’s no reason he would fall unless he was fouled. (Maybe the one thing he should have done was just kick the ball out and concede the corner. I think he had enough time to do that instead of try to make the play and keep the ball in, but then again he wasn’t planning to get fouled.) 2) If the Toronto player had gone down like that, Farrell would almost positively have been booted off the field for DOGSO (denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity). 3) He gets pushed into the ball and trips over it, which makes it more foul-ish for me than just getting shouldered off the ball. Midway through the second half, Lee Nguyen was pretty obviously fouled in the box and earned a penalty kick. However, after the Toronto goal it felt like one of those games where the Revolution shoot themselves in the foot. And indeed, instead of Nguyen taking the penalty (and it would have been a birthday penalty), Adam Buksa stepped up to the spot . . . and missed the goal. I feel bad that Buksa hasn’t had a great season, but he absolutely has to put his penalty on frame. Just one of those nights.

Sunday, October 11 at NYCFC – 2-1 W – Somehow NYCFC got themselves back into Yankee Stadium and onto their *allegedly* regulation size soccer field (it’s basically the smallest size allowable by FIFA but feels even tinier than it should). The players appreciate the grass, but this must have been the slipperiest grass the Yankees could grow, because people were falling all over the place. Though the game had its shaky moments, the Revolution came away with another road win. After two games without scoring, who better to get things going again than Teal Bunbury? In the third minute of the game, New England gained possession in the middle of the field. Bunbury passed to Nguyen, who weighted his pass perfectly back to Bunbury to get him behind the defense. With two defenders behind him and the goalkeeper in front, he got the ball off his foot and into the back of the net. MLSsoccer.com analyst Matt Doyle insinuates his shot wasn’t entirely intentional, but Revolution fans know that Teal Bunbury never does anything accidentally. Ever. New England managed the game pretty well through the first half, then NYCFC started coming into the game early in the second half, but Arena used his substitutes to both regain control and manage minutes. Matt Polster made his first appearance since getting kicked in the head and seemed okay. He got himself fouled in the box, setting Nguyen up for a makeup penalty, which he made in the 80th minute. Turns out they needed the insurance goal, as NYCFC got a goal of their own in stoppage time, spoiling what could have been Matt Turner’s seventh shutout of the season. It felt like a solidly Revolution performance, with 10 of the 11 starters having played college soccer, 2 homegrown players getting minutes, no designated players starting (Gustavo Bou and Carles Gil were out with injuries and Buksa, well, Wednesday happened) and the entire backline + goalkeeper coming from the Superdraft. And as an added bonus, Nguyen’s assist makes him the first Revolution player to 50 goals and 50 assists.

Six games to go, and things are getting/remaining interesting. In the eastern conference, Toronto has already clinched their playoff spot. New England is five points back from the top four, who get to host, two points ahead of the seventh-tenth places, who have an additional play-in game, and seven points clear of the playoff line. They remain in decent playoff position, but can’t afford too many mistakes and still don’t look great against the top teams. The western conference has a bit of a coronavirus problem, with Colorado having players and staff members testing positive during multiple rounds of testing. They’ve only played 13 games to the 16 or 17 they should be at and are out of dates for matches to be rescheduled. Other games have been postponed in both conferences, but Colorado’s going to be the biggest problem. Hopefully teams stay on top of things and this doesn’t get any worse. If it does, the playoff seeds are going to have to be determined by points per game or something, and MLS cup 2020* is going to turn into MLS cup 2020*^*.

What goes up . . .

MLS keeps trucking on to the end of the season, as temperatures drop and become more bearable in the south and flirt with frost and freezes in the north. The league released the final twelve-game schedule, keeping matches between teams within a 1-2 hour flight radius. The Canadian teams will play their “home” games in the US, Vancouver using Providence Park (Portland’s stadium), Toronto at UConn’s stadium, and Montreal borrowing Red Bull Arena (which is also hosting NYCFC, whose usual home “field” is Yankee Stadium). The remainder of the Revolution’s schedule involves playing Toronto and the Red Bulls once, and NYCFC, Montreal, D.C. United, Nashville, and the Philadelphia Union twice. It’s a pretty fair schedule. Toronto and Philadelphia are contenders for the top of the east, while United and Montreal have been struggling as of late, and Nashville is an expansion team. By the end of the season, they’ll have played no western conference teams, and only eight of the other thirteen eastern conference teams (no games against Miami, Orlando, Atlanta, Columbus, or Cincinnati). They’ll have faced Nashville, Toronto, the Red Bulls, and the Chicago Fire twice, NYCFC three times, and Montreal, D.C., and the Union four times, giving off strong 1996 inaugural MLS season vibes, when the ten teams played the other teams three or four times each.

Saturday, September 19 vs. NYCFC – 0-0 T – Following their last-minute loss in Philadelphia, the team returned to Foxborough for a rematch with NYCFC. Compared to whatever they were doing a couple weeks prior, they looked much better, but their scoring woes continued (though they did coax six yellow cards for NYCFC out of the ref while earning none of their own). Lee Nguyen made his first start for the Revolution in almost three years, and I’m still trying to figure out if he’s been the team’s missing piece or it’s a coincidence that things are suddenly clicking for New England.¹ The forwards had a few decent looks at goal, and two or three offside goals, and the defense kept NYCFC from too many quality chances, with Matt Turner bailing them out when necessary.

Wednesday, September 23 vs. Montreal Impact – 3-1 W – In a reversal of their usual fortunes, the Revolution had been keeping themselves in playoff contention by tying and winning games on the road, but they had yet to win at home, until this game. Thanks to all the coronavirus weirdness, it had been almost a full year since their last home victory. They started strong, but were unable to get on the scoreboard until a first-half stoppage time corner kick. Nguyen provided the service, and the ball came off of someone’s head before falling to Henry Kessler, who fired a shot into the corner of the net for his first MLS goal. Besides making everyone on the team and Revolution fans really happy, he has the distinction of recording New England’s first goal of 2020 not scored by a player whose last name doesn’t start with B (Gustavo Bou, Adam Buksa, Teal Bunbury, and Tajon Buchanan). Coming out of the half, the Revolution continued to look good, and made something of it when Bou picked up his fourth goal of the season after his blocked pass/shot rebounded back to him, he made some space for himself near the corner of the penalty area, and slotted the ball into the goal. It was his first goal in close to a month, which is non-ideal if you’re one of the team’s leading goal scorers. Substitute Diego Fagundez capped off the scoring for New England with his first goal in over a year (and Buchanan got his first assist), so all around it felt like a game the Revolution needed. Substitutes Cristian Penilla and Buska also looked dangerous, though they didn’t find their way onto the scoresheet. Montreal collected a late consolation goal after both right-sided defenders were caught too far up the field, spoiling the shutout but not the overall result.

Sunday, September 27 at D.C. United – 2-0 W – Similarly to Montreal, D.C. have been struggling to get results (Montreal has lost their last four games, been outscored 14-4, and has something like four red cards in five games; D.C. is winless in five games, four of which they were shut out in). Still, the Revolution themselves haven’t exactly been the paragon of scoring prowess, and they have a unique ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. They arrived in the nation’s capital and unusually had the majority of possession, atypical for the visiting team (thanks Nguyen?). The first half was spoiled when Matt Polster got kicked in the head after going in for a slide tackle. Consensus: 1,000% percent concussed, but he walked off the field with the medical staff and by the end of the game was doing better, per Bruce Arena. It was completely accidental, and players from both teams were visibly concerned. They played out the first-half stoppage time and headed into the locker room to regroup. The second half was playing out similar to the first, until Bou scored on a pass from Penilla in the 86th minute. Penilla got the second assist as well, on a Revolution counter after getting the ball to an open Adam Buksa on a Revolution counterattack. Faced with only D.C.’s goalkeeper, Buksa chipped him for his first goal in two and a half months. After surviving stoppage time, the Revolution came away with consecutive multi-goal games, their fifth shutout, and their first back to back wins in 2020.

So a strong eight days from the Revolution puts them in a good position re: playoffs, and several players picked up much-needed goals. Things are looking up, but the season’s far from over. Heading down the final stretch, they have nine games in 36 days, so player rotation and roster depth may become vital, as well as keeping players healthy. Here’s hoping for a good October.

¹Seriously, Lee Nguyen gets back and all of a sudden Bou, Buksa, and Fagundez score again. Kessler and Buchanan get their first goals, and second-year player Buchanan looks like he may have this MLS thing figured out. Penilla isn’t scoring, but he’s picking up assists, and is playing like he could be scoring. The defense is reliable, if occasionally caught napping, and a far cry from the porous mess they were under Brad Friedel. Turner is solid, and has kept the Revolution in games when they weren’t scoring. Scott Caldwell has strung together his best games in literal years, and Kelyn Rowe, Matt Polster, and Tommy McNamara have also looked good in central midfield. And Bunbury continues to do Bunbury things. In the D.C. game, deadlocked at 0-0, Bou dummies a pass to Bunbury at the top of the penalty area. Bunbury does all the hard work to control the ball, shake off pressure from one defender, avoid another, and get the shot off with only the goalkeeper to beat, and goes wide. In the words of the announcer, “oh, no!”

Life in the Time of Corona

In the span of about two weeks, the temperature in my apartment went from “so you like to sweat all the time?” degrees to “put on more layers; we’re not paying for heat yet” degrees. It’s since warmed back up to what the average temperature in September is supposed to be (~highs in the 70s, lows in the 50s), so no heat here yet. The undergrads and new students semi-successfully moved into Ann Arbor and began classes. I say semi-successfully because we’re not seeing hundreds and thousands of coronavirus cases like some other universities, but we’re also not testing, which I just can’t agree is a good idea when you’ve brought back twenty(?) thousand partying, interacting, public-transportation taking students from all over the place at once. The lack of preparedness for move in and minimal testing also didn’t sit well with multiple groups, leading to the graduate students’ union (GEO) striking, the RAs striking, the dining hall workers wanting to strike, and a no confidence vote in the university president from the faculty senate.

The president has since committed to “more” testing, though it’s still random opt-in testing of up to 3,000 (6,000?) people a week, which is 1) not very many people percentagewise and 2) not really random. The university’s COVID-19 dashboard also continues to improve, but we’ve passed the hundred cases per week threshold. Again, this isn’t horrible, but on the other hand, Cornell went for the test everyone every week strategy and in their most recent (as of writing) 7 days of data (9/18-9/24), they processed 33,400 tests and had 6 positive results. Their percent positive rate is 0.02%. They actually have a reason to be cautiously optimistic that they’ll make it through the semester. The University of Michigan needs to hang on to their hats and send up thoughts and prayers that things don’t go seriously wrong in the next couple weeks. And after that long introduction, let’s get into what I did in September.

I started off the month (still) working from my apartment reading some utterly fascinating literature that a whole three people, at least, care about. The Revolution played one of their worst games of the year on Wednesday, September 2, losing 0-2 to NYCFC at home at Gillette. On Thursday, September 3, I went for a hike after work through my loop of nearby parks. Around this time, I also discovered I had a little over 25 days to watch about 55 episodes of Parks and Recreation before it left Netflix. Between streaming services turning into the new cable and editing/removing “problematic” episodes of shows, they’re going to push people back to DVDs. I picked up my clarinet for the first time in six months on Friday, September 4, just long enough so I can say I remember my scales. I would have practiced longer but I had to find a new use for duct tape – removing corroded batteries from my tuner.

California said hi to Michigan, but it was with smoke :(

I spent the weekend in my apartment and baked peanut butter swirl brownies on Saturday, September 5 and watched the Revolution secure a 2-1 W over the Chicago Fire courtesy of everyone’s favorite not blue, not green guy, Teal Bunbury, on Sunday, September 6. It was back to work the next week; Tau Beta Pi had our first virtual meeting of the semester on Tuesday, September 8. Saturday, September 12, I met a friend in person for the first time since coronavirus shut down the university in March. We went to the Furstenberg Nature Area for a walk/hike and that night the Revolution went to Philadelphia to lose from a last minute corner kick. The next day, Sunday, September 13, I met a different friend on the other side of Ann Arbor to hike Bird Hills/Barton Nature Area. I biked there via the Border to Border trail, which is more miles than my other route but is more pleasant so that may become my default way to get there.

The next week (Monday, September 14) started with a new batch of my micelle simulations, as well as season 37 of Jeopardy!. Armed with sunscreen and insect repellant, I passed through North Campus for the first time since classes started on Wednesday, September 16 to get to Cedar Bend Nature Area and see the Huron River at sunset. Campus was noticeably occupied, but not swarming with people. I ended the workweek with a trip out to the Thurston Nature Center on Friday, September 18 to see the goats they had there to eat poison ivy and other invasive plants. On Saturday, September 19 I did groceries in the morning, rode the Border to Border to a new park after lunch, got back to my apartment in time to watch the Revolution tie NYCFC in a frustrating but not horrible scoreless game, and made pancakes for breakfast for dinner.

Thurston Nature Center

In another first since March, I returned to in person church back indoors in Ann Arbor on Sunday, September 20 to see how I felt about it. It was okay, fully masked though not super distanced, and I got to catch up with some people. I had leftover pancakes waiting for me when I biked back to my apartment (not touching the bus system until I have to) and it was laundry day. Wednesday, September 23 the Revolution were back in action at Gillette and put together one of their best games of the season, beating Montreal 3-1. I was back on my bike on Saturday, September 26 to check on the fall colors at Barton Nature Area (just starting to change; probably won’t be much even at the peak), and back at church on Sunday, September 27, after which a few friends and I walked through downtown. It was busy; mask compliance was pretty high, though there were also a lot of people dining in the streets and I wouldn’t want to hang around there too often. I also finished Parks and Rec on Saturday with days to spare.  The Revolution picked up their first back to back wins of 2020 on Sunday with a 2-0 result over D.C. United.

To close out the month, I’ve been running more simulations and keeping tabs on the coronavirus situation. Honestly, people would be much less frustrated if the university would at least commit to performing the alleged number of tests they claim to be able to process (10,000/week). Students have been back for 5-6 weeks and we’re still barely making it over 3,000 tests a week. On average, Cornell processes more tests than that in a single day and is still seeing fewer positive results. What’s worse, the U-M number includes testing athletes and support staff every single day, so it’s not even 3,000 people randomly scattered across campus. (Also, student-athletes, yeah right.) People are getting tired of emails about coronavirus clusters in the dorms, exposure in in-person classes, room and building closures, and our “safe and public-health informed semester” (there is no corona at the university/there is no war in Ba Sing Se, anyone?). But damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

A River Runs Through It

The city of Ann Arbor is shaped roughly like a heart, either anatomical or Valentines, depending on the creative license you take. It’s outlined by US 23 on the east, M-14 on the north, and I-94 on the south and west. The Huron River cuts diagonally through the city, more or less leaving the left atrium to the north of the river and the left ventricle, right atrium, and right ventricle to the south. I’ve biked the entire length of the Huron in Ann Arbor, as well as visited/hiked¹ the dozen or so parks along the river. Recently, I met up with a couple friends to share some park experiences by the river, plus catch up on the last six months or so of life.²

Both friends have been taking reasonable coronavirus precautions (i.e. not flying everywhere because cheap plane tickets #YOLO, don’t think masks are oppressive government propaganda, aren’t partying with their 500 closest friends in an unventilated basement where everyone drinks from the same cup, etc.), and we would be outdoors, moving, moderately distanced, and avoiding other people. Since things were pretty stable in Ann Arbor and hadn’t blown up with the arrival of the undergrads, I thought it was time for some real life human interaction.

I met the first friend at the Furstenberg Nature Area, between the Arboretum and Gallup Park but typically much less crowded than either of the two. It connects to Gallup Park and is opposite the river from the Border to Border trail. I’ve been there a few times now, and it’s a nice option for when I want something different from the parks right by my apartment but don’t want to haul myself all the way across Ann Arbor. It’s mostly wooded with views of the river, though it also has a boardwalk/prairie area and some marshy parts. By this time, the city-run canoe and kayak liveries had both stopped renting boats for the year because they had a positive coronavirus test early in September. They were originally going to close and reopen like they did in July, but I suspect part of the decision to straight up close for the season was because the city wasn’t happy with the university’s (lack of) reopening plans and didn’t want to deal with students. Even so, the river was surprisingly quiet, not that I missed the tube flotillas filled with drunk sunburnt (usually) young people blasting music.

The Huron from Furstenberg; the Border to Border trail is somewhere behind the trees across the river.

The next day, I met a different friend at the Bird Hills/Barton Nature Area(s). Two bike rides in two days; my calves have never looked better. I biked there on the Border to Border trail, which was less terrible than I was prepared for. It was well-trafficked, but most people were pretty good about sharing the shared-use path, minus a couple spots going through Bandemer Park. [There’s a disc golf course there and walking paths, so we shift from exercisers/commuters back towards families/sunbathers. Really. There are docks that I believe are intended for the crew team to launch their rowing shells but often get taken over by half-naked (usually) young people.]

Not from this year, but recently it's looked pretty much like this.  Earlier in the summer the rowing club or the city tried to caution-tape off the docks, but looks like that's not a thing anymore.

Anyhow, I made it to the Barton Nature Area without incident. We hiked a loop through Bird Hills, Kubler Langford Nature Area, Hilltop Nature Area, and Barton that took us through woods, by the river, and along the highway. Nothing like the roar of the M-14 to really hammer home the fact that you are in nature. Hilltop is interesting because it used to be a Girl Scout campsite, and there are still signs of it – stray picnic tables and clearings, faded informational signs, stairs to nowhere. Bird Hills is entirely wooded, but Barton is nestled between the railroad tracks and a bend in the Huron. It has, in my option, one of the best views of the river in Ann Arbor at one end and the Barton Dam and Barton Pond at the other. I do plan to publish a series of posts going into more detail about all the Ann Arbor parks I’ve visited (maybe eventually all of them), but that’ll be a bigger undertaking, so this is all for now, folks.

The Huron River

Barton Dam

Barton Pond

¹Or more accurately what I’ve termed Hiking Lite^TM. The trails are unpaved, but you never feel like you’re more than a few hundred feet from a road, there’s traffic noise unless you’re standing right next to a fast-flowing portion of the river, and the longest loop you can put together is ~5 miles, which will involve chaining multiple parks to each other.

²I’ve been following along with peoples’ lives via Facebook, and a decent percentage of my Facebook friends have announced engagements, weddings, pregnancies, graduations, moves, and new jobs since coronacation started. I’m still in school, have no job prospects lined up, and the only thing I could possibly get engaged with in the near future is my thesis.