10 - Tuesday, November 7, 2006

How to be an athlete without being athletic

aise your hand if you played sports
in high school.
I'm sure many ofyou did because
this school is full of
former high school
athletes.
You might have
been the BMOHSC
(Big Man on High
School Campus)
because you were the
only kid who could
competently throw a H. JOSE
football. Or you might
have been a star until BOSCH
you were sidelined by
an injury. Bosch Watch
But whoever you are, you still haven't
lost that competitive edge. And as a college
student, you can take out that frustration
on two of Michigan's great intramural
fields or at the bastion of higher athletic
competition (The IM Building).
Unfortunately, not all of us former
athletes are willing to go head-to-head
against a 250-pound brute with an anger
management problem. Yet there is still
a competitive fire that burns within us.
So, if you're like me and just too "busy"
(cough)lazy(cough), here are several ways
to keep that competitive flame burning
and make you feel like a true athlete with-
out having to lift up anything heavier than
your remote control.
1. Video games
This is the obvious solution to quench-
ing that competitive jones. Ran a 6.7 40-
yard dash in high school? No problem. Just
give yourself a 99 speed rating on NCAA
Football. You'll be the nation's best scram-
bling quarterback while you lead Hawaii
to three consecutive National Champion-
ships.
Were youjealous of your friend who was
always just a little bit better than you at
any sport you played? Get back at him by
playing a game of MLB 2K6 - and don't tell
him he has the messed up controller.

Don'tknowhowto skate? That won't stop
you from being the next "Rocket" Richard,
skating circles around Nick Lidstrom, all in
the comfort of your living room.
Whatever you decide to do, video games
are the perfect outlet to make you feel like
an athlete without having to go through
those early-morning workouts like Michi-
gan football players.
2. Sporting events
Sure, you're goingto watch the real ath-
letes take the field, but that doesn't mean
youscan't get geared up for the gamealike
they do.
Bust out those lucky shirts and socks
on gameday. Or always put your clothing
on from left to right. Or make the sign of
the cross 15 times before pointing to the
sky. If you had a pre-game ritual in high
school, don't let the fact that you no longer
play keep you from doing them before your
school's biggest games. You may not be a
Wolverine on the field, butyou can help the
Wolverines off the field. And don't be too
shy to wear eyeblack, especiallyif yo have
Maize and Blue colored paint.
Love watching the Wolverines storm
out of the tunnel and jump up to slap the
"Go Blue" banner? Just burn a copy of the
'M' Fanfare and The Victors and play both
as you run out of your room and slap the
top of your door frame before heading out
to pre-game. While you're at the tailgate a
simple game of cornhole will not only keep
your competitive juices flowing, it's about
the only thing you'll be able to do after you
challenge your friend to see who can drink
a can of beer the fastest.
3. Tests
Yes, even something as painful as studying
and taking an exam can turn into your own
personal Michigan-Ohio State week. How?
First, be like all the "experts" on televi-
sion and hype up the event weeks before it
happens. A simple, "Man, IShave a monster
test on Nov. 17" or "In three weeks, I will
be taking the hardest test of my life" will
suffice. Once you have that out of the way,

ZAcH MEiSNER/
tven if you're not playing in front sf a pocked Michigan Stadium crowd, ysu con always pretend.

get yourself pumped for the exam.
Find a friend who's obviously jealous of
your superior grades andthen challenge him
by saying, "I bet I get a better grade on this
exam." Now you have yourself a real battle.
Then, when it comes time to study,
make yourself a "Pump up mix" playlist on
your iTunes and include songs like "Hell's
Bells," "Final Countdown" and Brent Pet-
way's "No. 1" and start studying.
A test beard is a must for guys. Don't
shave for at least a week before the exam,
maybe even sooner if you want to look like
an NHL player late in a Stanley Cup Finals
run. If you can't grow facial hair, then let
your hair grow out until test day.
Finally, when you get your grade back
and it's better than your friend's, pull a T.O.
- run back to your friend's desk and spike

your testsdown on it. Just watch out for
another student who might try and tackle
you.
These are just a few examples of how
you can take little moments in life and turn
them into the grand spectacle that is the
sporting world. But they aren't the only
ones.
So remember, when you're leaving class
today, don't think of yourself as simply
walking down the stairs of Angel Hall. Just
imagine the beat of the Michigan March-
ing Band's entry cadence and over 100,000
fans cheering you on as you march out to
the middle of the field to form the block
'H'.
- Bosch can be reached at
hectobos@umich.edu.

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
ASSOCIAT ED PRESS POLL
TEAM FIRST GAME
1, Florida (63) Samford
2. North Carolina (9) Sacred Heart
3. Kansas NorthernArizona
4. ittshurgh Western Michigan
5. Louisiana State NichollsState
6. UCLA BYU
7. Ohio State VMI
8. Georgetown Hartford
9. Wisconsin Mercer
10. Arizona @ Virginia
11. Alabama Jackson Stale
12. Duke Columbia
13. Texas A&M PV A&M
14. Memphis Jackson State
15. Boston College New Hampshire
16. Marquette Hillsdale
17. Washington Pepperdine
2B. Connecticut Quinnipiac
19. Creighton MVSU
20. Syracuse St. Francis (NY)
21. Texas Alcrn St ae
22. Kentucky Miami (OH)
23. Georgia Tech Elon
24. Nevada
25. Tennessee
Men's gymnasts
improve GPAs
The Michigan men's gymnastics team
won the 2006 Larry and Diane Johnson
Award for most improved team G A. The
team will receive $2,500 and come up with
a proposal to spend it on something the bud-
get would not normally cover. Michigan
coach Rurt Golder attributes the rise in GPA
to a majority of the team's good students
improving their grades even further. He
hopes the entire team can boost their marks
in the coming year and win the award for
best overall team GPA, which for 2006 went
to the women's cross country team.
DEAR STUDENTS,
GO OUT AND VOTE.
UNLESS THE POLLS
ARE ALREADY CLOSED.
THEN WATCH THE
LOSERS WALLOW IN
THEIR SORROWS.
SIGNED,
DAILY SPORTS

Gators are back on top

(AP) - The same starting five
that left the court in Indianapo-
lis with Florida's first national
championship will start this
season with the No. 1 ranking.
The Gators were the runaway
choice yesterday in The Associ-
ated Press' preseason college
basketball poll - no surprise,
since they have everyone back
for a run at beingthe first repeat
national champion since Duke
in 1992.
Florida received 63 first-place
votes and 1,788 points from the
72-member national media
panel to easily outdistance
North Carolina, which got the
other nine No. 1 votes and 1,704
points.
"We appreciate and respect
that people think this highly
of our basketball team," Gators
coach Billy Donovan said Mon-

day. "That being said, this rank-
ing has everything to do with
what we were able to accomplish
last year and nothing to do with
this year. We're very honored to
be the preseason No.1, but at the
same time, we fully realize we
have a lot of work ahead of us."
Some of that work comes
early in the season with a game
against third-ranked Kansas in
Las Vegas on Nov. 25.
The last preseason No. 1 to
win the national championship
was Connecticut in 2004, and
before that it was Kentucky in
1996.
Pittsburgh was fourth,
matching its highest preseason
ranking ever in 1987-88.
LSU, a Final Four team last
season, and UCLA, which lost
to Florida in the champion-
ship game were fifth and sixth.

George Mason, the first mid-
major to reach the Final Four
and the team the Gators beat in
the national semifinals, received
just one point, a single 25th-
place vote.
Ohio State had what was con-
sidered the nation's best recruit-
ing class, though 7-foot-I center
Greg Oden won't be available
until January while he recovers
from offseason wrist surgery.
Still, the Buckeyes were sev-
enth, followed by Georgetown,
Wisconsin and Arizona.
The last team to return all the
starters from a national cham-
pion was Arizona in the 1997-98
season. The Wildcats, who also
won the title in Indianapolis
and were the preseason No. 1 the
next year, lost to Utah in the 1998
tournament, one win shy of the
Final Four.

I

Duke hopes that it will swarm opposing teams come tournament time.

II I I

So. You want
one good reason
to earn a pharmacy
degree from the
University of
Michigan?

Here are 12 good reasons, for starters:
1. Unparalleled career choices
2. Continuous growth potential
3. Job security in economically uncertain times
4. Unlimited opportunities to improve people's lives
5. Outstanding pay
6. Life and career mobility
7. The power to apply medical knowledge at
the forefront of technological innovation
8. Financial support unequalled by any
other U.S. pharmacy school
9. Membership in an influential alumni
network spanning the globe
10. The prestige of owning a degree from one
of US News & World Report's top-ranked
pharmacy schools
11. One-to-one learning with world-renowned
faculty
12. Respect
If you've had health-care patient experience,
and if you've taken Chemistry 130, 210, 215, or 260;
Biology 162, 305, 310, or 311; Physics 125, 126, 140,
or 240; or Calculus 115 or 116, you're already on
your way to a pharmacy degree at U-M. To learn
more about the PharmD Program at the University
of Michigan, visit the University of Michigan College
of Pharmacy Web site at www.umich.edu/-pharmacy.
Or contact Assistant Dean Valener Perry at
734-764-5550 or by e-mail at vlperry@umich.edu.
Your future never looked brighter.

Wolverine Access
(wolverineaccess.umich.edu)
Unavailable
November 10-13
Wolverine Access Information & services for
- Students
S"Parents & family
*Alumni
- General public
will be unavailable from
8:00 p.m., Friday, November 10
to
7:00 a.m., Monday, November 13
For details see
www.mais.umich.edu/waunavailable.html

4

International Policy Center
735 South State Street,
Suite 3310
Ann Arbor Ml 48109-3091
Tel: +1734 763 2599
Fax: +1 734 615 9673

Join the International
Policy Center for a
lecture on Growth and
Governance from 4:00 -
5:30 p.m. in the Betty
Ford Classroom of Weill
Hall.
Free and open to the
public, reception to follow
lecture

4

internationalpolicyumich.edu
wwwinternationalpolicyumichedu