November Madness

While the professional outdoor seasons have come to an end this year in the US, the college game has just started tournament season. On Saturday Bucks owner Dan Duggan, GM Kyle Karns, along with myself and our friends from Cleveland and Chicago crowded around a laptop at the Hyatt in Tampa to watch our boys from Oakland take on Ohio State in the NCAA tournament in Rochester. Five former or current Bucks helped OU dominate the Buckeyes but the Grizzlies couldn't put one in the back of the net and ended up falling to the team from Ohio on penalties. At least they faired better than Michigan did in football (the games were played at the same time). I'd like to congratulate coaches Gary Parsons and Eric Pogue on another great Grizzlies season as well as OU and Bucks seniors Steve Clark, Ian Daniel and Piotr Nowak on great collegiate careers!

That same day longtime Bucks midfielder Nate Jafta helped Lindsey Wilson to a 6-0 victory over King College (TN) and into the 2nd round of the NAIA tournament. They will next take on Mount Vernon Nazareth in the 2nd round on December 1.

That brings me to...

Today in the cold and snow of our great state, the Spartans and Wolverines will open up NCAA tournament play at home. #4 seeded Michigan State, led by Big Ten Player of the Year Doug DeMartin will host UIC this afternoon at 1PM. The winner will take on the winner of North Carolina-Jacksonville. An hour after the Spartans kick off, Michigan will host UC-Davis in Ann Arbor. If the Wolverines win, we could see a rematch of the Big Ten semifinal if Indiana also beats St. Louis today. Michigan fell to the Hoosiers 1-0 in a scrappy match played in Madison, WI about 10 days ago.

And the pitch...

Although its freezing and snowing (again) as I look outside my window, I assure you their is nothing better than tournament soccer. If you can take the afternoon off or have already taken an early vacation, get out to one of these matches and support your Bucks! Their are a ton of senior Bucks players on both squads and many will soon be moving on to bigger things.

If anyone is going to Ann Arbor this afternoon, come say hi.

Until next time,

Jeff Crandall
Director of Communications