Halloween (Cheat) Week

I think I will wait another week or two before getting on the scales.  I was a bit surprised a few days before Halloween that I had kept the weight off, though of course I hadn't lost as much as I wanted.  But we had pumpkin pie in the office as well as candy corn (a lot of people don't like this, as it is pure sugar, but it is hard for me to resist, so I can't buy it on my own).  We had a reasonable number of trick or treators come by (and I gave most of them two pieces of candy), but there was still a bit too much left over in the house.  (I'm not sure it would have mattered, but the trick or treating stopped completely at 7:45, as all the parents went home to watch the game!)

I don't know what happened of the photos I took of our block, as people usually go all out, but I have a few good photos of the streets just west of us, where there is perhaps even more Halloween spirit.  That's certainly where I would have gone trick or treating had I grown up in Toronto.

On a more positive note, I got in a few extra laps in the pool on Sat., I did a pretty full workout on Sun., even squeezing in 20 minutes of cardio.  I biked to work on Monday, despite it threatening to rain, and I got in 23 or 24 laps on Monday, even though the Jimmie Simpson pool was more crowded than I expected.  That said, I am sure I have gained a few pounds, so I want to get back on track before I see what the damage is.  I actually came across the loose fit jeans I was wondering about (that are one size smaller than what I normally wear).  I couldn't quite get into them (and it wouldn't have looked right even if I could have squeezed in).  I probably need to lose another 10-15 pounds.  So not an impossible task, but one that will be challenging given winter is coming up and I won't be biking nearly as much soon.  I clearly need to get more serious about not snacking at work if I want to keep making any progress.

I also biked today, though I probably will not bike tomorrow, as it is likely to rain.  I came very close to going off to see St. Elmo's Fire right after work, but decided it was just a bit too much of a melodrama for my current mood.  Also, I didn't get quite enough work done during the day, and I wanted to help my daughter with some math problems.  Also, I still have 100 pages to go in Mrs. Dalloway, and the TPL event is tomorrow!  So maybe another time, as Carlton seems to cycle through these 80s and early 90s movies with some regularity.  I actually expect to watch quite a few in the second half of Nov., so there's no point in getting too upset over skipping over this one (for now at any rate).

Woolf Interlude

I was able to get through Orlando in time.  (I'm seeing a version of Orlando, dramatized by Sarah Ruhl, next Sat.  I have seen the film, but not in ages.  I might see if I can watch it some time this winter, assuming it doesn't show up at the Paradise.  It was one of the early screenings of the Queer Cinema Club at the Paradise when people were just emerging from the COVID shutdown.  I'm not entirely sure why I didn't go, and there may have been a conflict at the time.)

I am halfway finished with Mrs. Dalloway, and I should be able to read it by the TPL event on the 5th, as it is a fairly quick read, despite the stream-of-consciousness bits.  I hadn't remembered that the point of view skips around so much, over to Peter Walsh, one of Clarissa's former beaus, and even to Septimus Smith, a WWI veteran who was still suffering greatly from a form of shell-shock.  I also hadn't recalled just how morbid parts of it are, with Septimus saying repeatedly that he (and his wife) should kill themselves, particularly knowing that Woolf eventually ended her own life, so the death-drive (as Freud might put it) was strong in her.

Anyway, I will likely reread To the Lighthouse, which for me is her greatest achievement, at some point in 2026 or 2027.  I might eventually get back through all her novels and other major works.  I was looking over the list, and while I thought I had read everything in my 20s, I'm having some doubts now.  I am sure I never read her diaries or her letters, and I am still quite unlikely/unwilling to tackle that.

I guess I will put an x in front for anything I read as part of this cycle of reading Woolf as a middle-aged man, which is a very different thing from reading her in my 20s...

    The Voyage Out (1915)
    Night and Day (1919)
    Monday or Tuesday (1921) - stories
    Jacob's Room (1922)
x   Mrs Dalloway (1925)
    To the Lighthouse (1927)
x   Orlando: A Biography (1928)
    A Room of One's Own (1929) - essay
    On Being Ill (1930) - essay
    The Waves (1931)
    Flush: A Biography (1933) (being the biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's dog!)
    The Years (1937)
    Three Guineas (1938) - essay
    Between the Acts (1941)
    A Haunted House and Other Short Stories (1944) - stories
    Mrs. Dalloway's Party (1973) - stories

I'm sure I never read Flush, as I am just not a dog person.  I am somewhat inclined to listen to Prunella Scales read a somewhat abridged version when that comes off the hold list.  I don't believe I read On Being Ill, and while I think I read Three Guineas, I am not 100% sure.  Similarly, I'm reasonably but not entirely sure that I read The Waves.  I'm less certain that I read The Years, though I probably did.  I'm actually not nearly as sure that I read Between the Acts, as the plot doesn't sound that familiar (and, intriguingly, sounds a bit like something Barbara Pym would come up with).

My overall reading list is already absurd, but I will probably try to get back through Woolf, alternating with Pym, who I am also rereading (though I am far more sure that I did read all of Pym's novels once upon a time...)

Disappointments

As will be very evident as I move through the day here, the whole city is basically in mourning that the Jays couldn't get it across the line.  The baseball gods were particularly cruel in Game 6 where the ground ball double rule probably prevented them from tying up the game, and they hit into a double play.  Then in Game 7 where the pitching just wasn't good enough (and frankly the manager was an idiot for not bringing the rookie pitcher back in) and the Jays just couldn't convert on some prime scoring opportunities in both inning 9 and 11.  So heart breaking.  I am certainly disappointed, but not being a die-hard fan, I just don't take it to heart the same way  I'm already back, thinking about how to squeeze in even more culture -- and whether I will pay the inflated price of the ticket for Theatre francais de Toronto next week.

Another disappointment that hits closer to home is that the kittens found (and killed) a baby mouse.  Honestly, it's not at all clear what these mice are eating, as there really isn't any food on the 2nd floor, and we believe the adult mice have been caught.  Anyway, the kittens are doing their part at least, and we probably need to bring the exterminator back around again.

I'm going to head over to the gym now and see how hard people are taking it there.  Either there will be lots of people there working out their frustrations or maybe the gym will be more or less empty.  I'll know soon enough. 

 

Edit: Well, they just caught a second baby mouse, so maybe the hunger is driving them out.  Anyway, we are trying to get the exterminators to come back round today...

Edit 2: I guess I need to apologize (slightly) for calling the manager an idiot.  He did put in the rookie pitcher, but he just wasn't sharp enough and gave up run 3.  Who knows if he would have settled down (and not given up run 4 in the next inning!), but he didn't get the chance.  This definitely was a game of inches, and the Jays just came up short.  Several commentators are saying this was the best World Series ever, but that is cold consolation to Jays' fans.  The gym was pretty light today, very likely because people were having trouble getting motivated...  Frankly, I would have put up big signs at the gym and the bars that this would be a sports news-free zone for the next 24 hours!

What I really hope doesn't happen is this serves as a portent that, despite being plucky and trying to forge new trade partnerships, the Orange One keeps up the pressure and industry in Canada just crumbles, sending the country into a recession.  The signs are not great, frankly.

Nov. book news

I guess I am jumping the gun just slightly, but I am already looking ahead.

One of the annoying things about getting busy (and now having to deal with kittens and their needs on a daily basis) is that I do let some things get away from me.  I never did make it over to the Trinity book sale, though honestly I just don't need more books at the moment!  I guess Art Toronto was last weekend, and I didn't do that either.  Maybe I would have if I hadn't been off in Stratford on Saturday.

I finally managed to make it through Woolf's Orlando.  It was fine, but I don't think it is as strong a novel as Mrs. Dalloway or To the Lighthouse.  I don't really expect to read it for a third time, so I did put it out front.  (No takers so far...)  I decided to try to get through Henry James's The Turn of the Screw by Halloween.  It will be a close thing, but I think I'll make it.  Now whether I will make it through Mrs. Dalloway by Nov. 5 (when I am attending this TPL celebration of Mrs. Dalloway) is definitely in question.  It certainly means that Empire Falls keeps getting pushed off.

Also for Nov., I should try to get to Miéville's The City and the City, as this is being read in a book club at work.  It turns out that all the TPL copies are on hold already, so I may need to get it through Robarts.  But since I can only keep it for two weeks, I might as well wait until I am actually ready to read the book straight through, so probably the second week of Nov.  After this, I need to try to wrap up Empire Falls and Canetti's Auto da Fe and then I'll see about reading Austen's Persuasion before the Austen anniversary celebrations in Dec.  If I get through this, then really the only Austen left to read will be Emma, and I might see about putting that on the list for 2027.  (Interestingly, Prunella Scales narrated an abridged and unabridged version of Emma that was very well received, though you have to buy the unabridged version on cassette(!) or CD.  I am toying with the idea of ordering a copy and putting it aside until I have actually read Emma first.)  

I decided just to buy Shteyngart's Vera and have him sign it (at his Dec. TPL event) rather than trying to read it in advance, particularly as this is a case where one really ought to read Nabokov's Ada, or Ardor first!  That was never going to happen.  I had thought I owned a copy of Ada, but it turns out that I don't, so I started hunting a copy down.  I went to the BWV near the Eaton Centre, but they didn't have it.  On my last outing to Tafelmusik, I had time to duck into Seekers Books.  They didn't have it either, unfortunately.  The BWV on Bloor did have one copy, so I snatched that up, then went off to hear a terrific concert, mostly of Vivaldi and some of his contemporaries.  I don't have a specific time-line, but I would like to try to get to Ada in early 2026 (and maybe my next trip up to Ottawa on Jan. 20 is a good opportunity to at least start the novel), and then read Vera at some point after that.  If I am successful in following through with this, maybe I should put Atwood's MaddAdam trilogy in the 2nd half of 2026, and slot War and Peace and Lessing's Children of Violence cycle (and Emma) into 2027.

One very long novel (700 pages) that I think I will just skip is Kiran Desai's The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny.  I just saw her at a TIFA event, and they were talking about her novel and the long, long journey to get it finished (20 years in the writing!).  I think partly I was stressed over my tight schedule, and the fact they had a meltdown and couldn't actually sell any copies of her new book, and they started late (with a somewhat insulting explanation that they were having sardines on toast and lost track of time), but there really isn't anything that she said that makes me want to read this novel.  I mean never say never, but I have literally 500+ books I want to read ahead of this, including rereading The Inheritance of Loss, which is a terrific novel.  I had pretty much given up on getting any books signed (since I had a concert to go to that started at 7), but even though they started late, they ended at 6:31, and I somehow managed to get in line towards the front (probably in the first 10 people).  She signed my copy of Inheritance, and I scampered off and made it to the concert after all.*  (I suspect that had I paid the hefty sum for Loneliness and thus had more skin in the game, I would have been halfway back in the (very long) line and would have bailed in the end.)

The last thing I wanted to touch on before I run off, is that I just wasn't paying enough attention, and a bunch of holds I had at TPL simply expired, as I usually put them on inactive status for long periods of time.  I guess this means I should just use the save function rather than trying to put them on suspended hold.  This is pretty annoying, and I am trying to recall just what was on there.  Over the past few months, I had whittled the list down a fair bit.  I DNR Ghosted after I found out what a morally bankrupt book it was.  I ditched holds for Vera and Pick a Colour, as I will end up buying those books.  I ended up getting a copy of Do You Remember Being Born? which is about a older poet (based on Marianne Moore) interfacing with an AI agent that needs to be trained in understanding language.  So this is one I need to try to finish up between Mrs. Dalloway and The City and the City, but at least I have it in hand and won't just forget about it.  There were a few still on hold where the expiration date was far enough away.  This includes Aliens on the Moon by Thomas King and You've Changed by Ian Williams** and Murakami's latest.  I remember I had one book about architecture on hold, but I am not as interested in that at the moment.  I was able to reconstruct most of the list that evaporated:
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Chakraborty
The Pleasures of Exile by George Lamming
What We See in the Smoke by Ben Ghan
The Tale of the Missing Man by Manzoor Ahtesham

(The last one was particularly hard to find as it is a south Asian novel, not an Arabic one!  And I kept thinking it was called Lost Man or something like that.  I wasn't terribly far off, but it took a while to turn it up again.)

I think in general, I will try to get through this list in 2026, as most of the books are not all that long, and not risk this happening again.  I am sure there are a few books that I am not remembering, but these were the ones that came to mind right away and thus am apparently the most interested in actually reading (one day).

Edit (8/31): I did finish The Turn of the Screw and thought the ending was poor. 😞    I'm not a huge fan of unreliable narrators in general, though these sorts of books can be amusing, depending on how the author tips off the reader.  What I don't care for, and The Turn of the Screw has in spades, is stories that are full of radical ambiguity.  James apparently wants the reader to vacillate between thinking there is a realistic and a supernatural ending to the story.  I just don't like that at all.  Period.

 

* It certainly helped that the TIFA event was at Victoria College and the ARC Ensemble concert was practically around the corner at Mazolleni Hall, but it was still pretty stressful, worrying if I would be late.  The ARC Ensemble concert was very good, though of the 3 composers they featured, Frederick Block's pieces were clearly the strongest of the bunch.

** I keep getting blocked from seeing Ian Williams.  Last year when he was giving the Massey Lecture in Toronto, I had a ticket but had to travel for work so sent a friend in my place (and did get a couple of books signed at least).  Right after Kiran Desai (and at the same time as the ARC Ensemble!), Ian Williams was at TIFA talking about his new novel, so I missed that.  There was another recent event in Toronto where he was featuring his new novel, but I was off to see Bremen Town that evening and just didn't feel up to trying to switch the ticket.  

Late Stratford Trip

Before I get too deep into this post, I will first mention that the Jays have outperformed expectations, and clearly there is a decent chance they will win it all.  That would be pretty exciting, and, while I don't really care in my heart of hearts, I would prefer that they win (and give the Orange One something else to sulk over).

There have been a lot of celebrity deaths lately, and certainly quite a few major losses among jazz musicians, including John DeJohnette.  I saw him play at least three times (including once with Herbie Hancock!) and possibly another time or two.  And a few months back, Hermeto Pascoal passed away, though I am less familiar with his work and never saw him play.  I was saddened that Prunella Scales also just passed away, though she had been suffering from dementia for some time.  I had seriously planned on doing a mini-marathon of Fawlty Towers, but I forgot how wound-up and high-strung they make me, and I just couldn't do it.  Maybe if I have a longer break over the weekend I'll try to watch a few.

Anyway, there are a number of other things I can discuss, but I would like to briefly write up the Stratford trip last Sat.  I biked down to the office and parked my bike, then changed my t-shirt (at the office actually) and walked over to the bus stop.  I wanted to travel as light as possible, so I basically only had my tickets, a book (Auto da Fe), my phone, glasses, an apple and some chips.  The bus was pretty well packed, and I ended up next to an older man who had a long phone conversation before finally hanging up and then texting the rest of the trip!  I made some progress on the book, though not as much as I would have if there hadn't been so much chatter on the bus.

The truth is I don't really like this novel very much, and I probably should just drop it.  I wasn't all that interested in the main plot about an eccentric book collector and his housekeeper, who after marrying him, takes an outsize interest in his bank account and whether she is in his will, and ultimately drives him from his flat.  This was unpleasant enough, but then he ends up in the hands of petty criminals, and the point of view shifts over to these shiftless crooks.  It just really drags in this section for some reason.  I'm sure it's just my mind making weird connections, but somehow this portion of the book reminds me of The Seven Madmen by Roberto Arlt, though not handled quite as well.  I'll try to finish it up, but this is just not really my cup of tea...

We made pretty decent time to Stratford, unlike the last time I went late in the season and was completely snarled up by the marathon or some other race that closed down a bunch of streets.  I debated between the Thai place I usually go to or a burrito place, which was a lot faster (and cheaper).  I decided to get the burrito (a sweet potato and black bean burrito) and eat it while wandering around town.  The leaves had really started turning red and orange in this part of town.

I starting thinking whether I would ever write up my script for "Stratford" where I would focus on the issues of being a bedroom community for Toronto artists (with still substantial numbers of American tourists) and being a small Ontario town.  Not quite town and gown conflict but along the same lines, with some of the high school students really falling in love with all aspects of the theatre but most others thinking it is lame and not that thrilled about living in such a tourist trap.  (One of them could have to dress up all in ruffles, almost as ridiculous as Judge Reinhold in that pirate get-up in Fast Times, and this would naturally cause lots of resentment, and endless mockery from his peers.)  I think it is somewhat unlikely I will do much with it.  Anyway, I did wonder if it might be better off as a comedy set in a Stratford bed and breakfast (the Bard's B & B), though that would be limiting in some ways and would set up inevitable comparisons with Fawlty Towers (where I would fail miserably).  This actually was a couple of days before the news hit about Ms. Scales's passing.  I think probably the first idea is better (though itself would suffer when compared to Slings and Arrows), though maybe there is just one episode where one of the main actors has to spend a couple of nights in a bed and breakfast -- and hears all about how much the company was hamming it up.

Unfortunately the "mall" where I bought the burrito didn't have any public restrooms, so I decided to walk over to Tom Patterson Theatre, as there is a place nearby with public washrooms.  Those were locked for the season(!), but I was able to go into the arena and finally found a washroom that was open.  If I ever do work more on this series, I would probably swap the hockey arena for a curling rink, as I remember from the exurban fringes of Saskatoon.

I found out that Art in the Park was no longer running due to it being so late in the season, so I just started walking back to the Studio Theatre.  It was sprinkling a bit but it wasn't too bad, so I didn't sprint back.  I had thought I might drop in at the other bookstore right next to the Studio Theatre, but apparently that has been shuttered for many years (before 2019 at least).  I think I did go in once or twice but never bought anything there.

It wasn't too long before the Goblins arrived.

This time around they were recruiting people to serve as the chorus.  These people got quite the workout. I'm really not that big into audience participation, so it is just as well they didn't ask me to do it.  

 

I enjoyed this a lot, though it wasn't such a radically new thing as Goblins Macbeth was.  One of the most amusing running gags was that one of the Goblins wanted to put on some version of the Christmas story and he often managed to include Christmas carols or sneak in lines from A Christmas Carol or even The Grinch!

There are four more chances to see it between now and Friday, but you clearly don't have a lot of time.  I still have some hopes that this will land at Tarragon, and I would go see it again.

Since the whole show, including a post-play dance party takes just about 90 minutes, I had a lot of time to kill before the bus back to Toronto.  I wandered back over to Shoppers but they didn't have any single-serve ice cream!  So I went to another place and just got over-priced ice cream, then hit the dollar store, and then went over to the Avon to wait for the bus.  It was much, much less crowded on the way back, and I had a seat to myself.  Unfortunately, the traffic was pretty bad, and the bus driver ended up taking the 401 (rather than the 427 to the Gardiner) and dropped most of us off at the Lawrence West station where we could just get on the subway.  So all in all a good outing, even if I (yet again) didn't get as much reading in as I had hoped.

Kittens Pulling Their Weight

The kittens continue to get more comfortable in the house.  I'm more often able to pet Rho, the skittish, silver kitten, though it still really doesn't like to be picked up.

Toby is definitely the mellow, friendly kitten who eventually follows me to various rooms of the house, and he really loves being petted and tolerates being picked up.  Here is my son bonding a bit with Toby.

However, the second mouse was also making itself at home, driving my wife a bit crazy.  She gave me an ultimatum that the cats would have to spend the entire night in the master bedroom, meaning that I had to move a litter box in and camp out all night, as she went somewhere else to get some undisturbed sleep.  I was worried that they wouldn't be able to perform on command and, indeed, that the mouse would not venture out after getting wind of the cats.

Around 6 in the morning, Rho got very intense, staring at the closet, as it heard the mouse was moving around (finally).  Anyway, in the end the mouse was stuck to a glue trap but Toby's paw was as well.  It certainly possible that the cat drove the mouse onto the trap, which it had been avoiding up until then... Anyway, the mouse was still alive, making the removal process that much harder.  I actually got bit (by the mouse I assume).  I went to get some vegetable oil to try to get Toby free.  By the time I got back, Toby had pulled his paw off the trap.  I tossed the glue trap outside to deal with later and rubbed a bit of vegetable oil into his paw to help loosen any glue still on his fur.  I really hope this is the last of the mice, and the house will just be a no-go zone for future mice.

Where things get a little weird is in the morning, I looked at the glue trap in the front yard -- and the mouse wasn't there.  It's almost like the end of one of those Friday the 13th movies where Jason is supposed to be in a trap or buried in a grave or what have you, but it is empty.  Dun dun duuun!  The most likely outcome is that a squirrel or neighbourhood cat came by and took care of the mouse.  But I suppose it is at least possible the mouse pulled a Houdini and got free from the trap.  I don't really care unless it tries to get back in.  If so, it is the most hard-headed mouse in the world.  I like to think it will be one of those grizzled mice from a Gary Larson cartoon, warning all other mice away from the house.

If for some unfathomable reason, we end up with mice back in the house right away, particularly a mouse missing half its fur, I am going to make absolutely sure it is dead when disposing of it.  No more Mr. Nice Guy!

After this, the kittens played around a bit on the stairs before taking a well-earned nap.  Sadly, I still had to go off to work and put a full day of work in...

So all in all, my wife has come around to the idea that the cats are a necessary evil and have definitely been a net positive pick-up for the household.

 

Sports Interlude

That's odd.  I had started a short post but it didn't get saved as a draft.  Fortunately, I hadn't written very much.

I'm definitely not much of a sports fan, though I usually know the outcomes of major events, though I don't retain that information much longer than a few months, as it just doesn't fundamentally interest me very much.  What I mostly object to is the outsized role sports plays in the media and in urban politics where millions of dollars in public spending goes towards sweetheart stadium deals, which actually have a quite poor return on investment (for the public, not the team franchises!).  And don't get me started on the abominations that FIFA and IOC have become...

That said, I was impressed by the Jays' come-from-behind victory to head to the World Series.  Wow!  They certainly did it the hard way, and they probably should have won the first game with only a bit more run support.  And better managerial decisions about relief pitching would likely have led to a victory in Game 5.  I'm pulling for them in a very low-key way, though the Dodgers are certainly the favoured team.  My wife has split allegiance, since her father was a big Dodgers fan.  I'm not going to be devastated if they don't win, but it would be nice to be here and soak in the celebrations if they do win.  

I've been fortunate enough to be around when the local team pulled it off.  In fact, I was very preoccupied with my courses, but I was in Toronto in 1993 when they won it all the last time around.  I was also here when the Raptors won, and I got a bit swept up in that, following the games a little bit while at the gym for example.  The parade went past Union Station where I was working, and we had a pretty good view from our windows and didn't need to go down to street level where the crowds were massive.

Thinking back, I was in Chicago for the Bulls second three-peat, and I certainly watched bits and pieces of some of the key games.  I happened to be back in Chicago when they won one of the World Series games at Wrigley.  I even was passing through the area (or rather up on the El) on my way to a play in Edgewater, though I don't believe this was the game where they won the series but the penultimate victory.

I'm pretty sure I was in Chicago when the Blackhawks started winning the Stanley Cup.  I remember the Red Wings got close a few times while I was in Ann Arbor, but I had moved away (to Chicago in fact) when Yzerman finally starting getting his name etched on the Cup.  I still was very glad that he had that success.  I suppose I still pull a bit for the Red Wings, but I'm not a massive fan, and indeed I warmed up slightly to their arch-rivals, the Blackhawks, but really only during the Toews years.

I definitely don't have the bandwidth to follow college sports, though I was glad Michigan were national (football) champs a few years back.  I believe they went to the Rose Bowl twice while I was in Ann Arbor, winning once (though I don't have major memories of this, which is odd).  What I clearly remember is the Wolverines winning the basketball national championship in 1989, as we watched most of the final games in the dorm (South Quad), but the TV went out and we all ran over to West Quad for the final minutes!  What is strange is that I had thought that due to Steve Fisher's recruiting violations, they had vacated this championship and his subsequent NCAA successes, but it appears that the 1989 title is safe after all.*  Whew!

The last memorable occurrence (and more or less the last time I paid college sports a lot of attention) was when Northwestern ran the table in the Big 10 and went to the Rose Bowl.  It was the most incredible underdog story, even though they lost the Rose Bowl.  (This was my first year at Northwestern, and no one could believe they pulled it off!)  I believe it was only a few years before this that Penn joined the Big 10.  I wasn't thrilled about this but could live with it.  However, then they added Nebraska, and I felt it was just a slap in the face.  And now, Rutgers and a couple of California teams (UCLA and USC) are in the Big 10, which is just an abomination.  I won't even deign to call it the Big 10 anymore, as it doesn't have any real Midwest roots.  And when they delinked the Rose Bowl from the Big 10 and Pac-12 conference champions, I just completely lost interest.  But I was there when it still made sense, and my college teams had decent success back when the traditions still mattered.

 

* I really didn't follow the sign-stealing controversy over on the football side of things, but it appears that UM and perhaps the coaching staff will pay massive fines, but the team will not have any wins stricken from the record or have the national championship taken away.  I'm not really sure what would have happened had they attempted that, but probably the alumni would have just ignored the NCAA.