Fantastic account of joining the cult of Michigan Football (paywalled)
LA journalist spent year on UM fellowship and then by buying season football tickets found new purpose and joy in life. Great account of how Michigan Football helped her overcome depression and believe in the magic of life. She says it might be a cult but maybe exactly what she needed.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/31/opinion/michigan-football-rose-bowl.html?smid=tw-share
December 31st, 2023 at 10:38 AM ^
Cults are great, they give purpose and meaning to those that are lost. I hope to lead one someday (with my 12 wives of course).
December 31st, 2023 at 12:35 PM ^
12 wives… are you ever right?
December 31st, 2023 at 2:32 PM ^
That’s a crap ton of naggin’!!
December 31st, 2023 at 6:08 PM ^
Totally Comrade. 1 wife is more than enough!
December 31st, 2023 at 1:03 PM ^
Your vision of bliss and mine vary a bit.
December 31st, 2023 at 2:39 PM ^
Remember what Creed Bratton taught us; "it's more fun to be a cult member but as the leader you get more money".
January 1st, 2024 at 11:48 AM ^
The Big Love guy had three pretty smokin' wives and he had to "satisfy" each one of them on their night because of the competition. Looks great on paper but after a few months a dude is going to want to get some rest.
December 31st, 2023 at 10:39 AM ^
OMG! The tailgate mentioned is my friend's! The Michigan shortbread is what my wife makes every week! This is fantastic
December 31st, 2023 at 11:01 AM ^
That was awesome! Thx.
December 31st, 2023 at 11:26 AM ^
Cultbread you mean? 😆
December 31st, 2023 at 12:38 PM ^
I bet there's some kool-aid mixed in.
December 31st, 2023 at 11:44 AM ^
Thanks for sharing link! A wonderful read and touches on some of the facets of my Michigan fandom experience. Go Blue!!
December 31st, 2023 at 11:57 AM ^
Thanks for the link!!
I paid you back with an up-vote, but points aren’t working. Consider it an IOU
December 31st, 2023 at 12:05 PM ^
Am shocked and disappointed this hasn't been posbanged to the moon yet.
December 31st, 2023 at 12:18 PM ^
Thanks DLup06!
December 31st, 2023 at 1:50 PM ^
That was a good read, a well written article. Brings a tear to the eye. Thanks for the free hook up!
December 31st, 2023 at 6:47 PM ^
Great read. Thanks for sharing. Happy New Year and Go Blue!!
December 31st, 2023 at 8:41 PM ^
Thank You for that link. It was a nice read.
I wonder how she, even though she has bought season tickets in her first season, was capable of securing a ticket to the Rose Bowl game.
WARDE!!!?
January 1st, 2024 at 9:54 AM ^
Thank you!
December 31st, 2023 at 10:40 AM ^
Fuck the Kool aid though. At least this week
December 31st, 2023 at 10:40 AM ^
Not sure becoming a Michigan sports fan would be my choice to improve mental health.
December 31st, 2023 at 1:01 PM ^
Let's hope she doesn't like basketball.
December 31st, 2023 at 1:33 PM ^
Though does make a good cult, most especially this year with the M vs. Everybody dynamic.
December 31st, 2023 at 1:51 PM ^
Good thing this is 2023 and not, say, 2009.
December 31st, 2023 at 10:41 AM ^
Here's a non-paywalled version.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/31/opinion/michigan-football-rose-bowl.html?mwgrp=c-mbar&smid=url-share
edit: oops, didn't see someone else did this already. Oh well, it's a good article, you can read it twice!
December 31st, 2023 at 10:58 AM ^
She’s coming out of her cage and she’s been doing just fine.
December 31st, 2023 at 11:06 AM ^
I've been involved in a number of cults, both as a leader and a follower. You have more fun as a follower, but you make more money as a leader.
Creed Bratton
December 31st, 2023 at 11:22 AM ^
bold statement
December 31st, 2023 at 11:07 AM ^
Free nyt access for AADL library cardholders
December 31st, 2023 at 11:48 AM ^
Great read. And welcome to the “family”
December 31st, 2023 at 11:56 AM ^
One surprising reality of the Big House magic is that there are so many people in one place that cellphones don’t work — the infrastructure can’t handle the density of users. There is no way to experience the two to three hours together except by paying attention and participating. There is no way to get lost in a horrifying social media feed or internet rabbit hole.
Soooo many people are lost in their phones when out in public. It’s just crazy to see - wonderful that this writer now understands how much of life can be missed if you don’t look up.
December 31st, 2023 at 12:24 PM ^
But I’m doing this right now. I don’t feel lost or missing life. I’m reading this woman’s beautiful experience and relating my own to it. Then sharing all that with you all.
December 31st, 2023 at 2:33 PM ^
Agree - this is where I spend a lot of my screen time!
December 31st, 2023 at 6:03 PM ^
Meh, much of life is better missed. Phones are a very welcome distraction when I'm waiting in line for my morning coffee or sitting on the toilet lol.
December 31st, 2023 at 12:05 PM ^
favorite line: Coach Harbaugh gloriously has resting wolverine face.
December 31st, 2023 at 5:10 PM ^
They're so cute and cuddly looking! You just wanna snuggle them right up!!!
December 31st, 2023 at 4:57 PM ^
Mine too. I was about to quote it.
December 31st, 2023 at 12:11 PM ^
Harbaugh has “resting wolverine face.” That was awesome. She’ll be at the RB Alumni tailgate, can’t wait to say hi!
December 31st, 2023 at 12:15 PM ^
That was an excellent read.
December 31st, 2023 at 12:25 PM ^
What a great read. Thank you for posting it and for the gift link.
December 31st, 2023 at 12:25 PM ^
Excellent read! Pete Thamel could learn from her.
December 31st, 2023 at 12:45 PM ^
He could he just chooses not to.
December 31st, 2023 at 12:42 PM ^
I woke up with a sprained toe, four bruises, no ability to talk, a sunburn and a spiritual awakening.
Walking out into the Big House does have a religious feel, like a Mecca Pilgrimage or a Papal Mass.
What further galvanizes this beautiful 'cult' is the pervasive animus directed at us. There is an almost universal hatred for Michigan faithful by all other college football fan bases. Add the blatant NCAA and Big Ten hypocrisy. Harbaugh buys a cheeseburger and it's a Level 1 violation, yet kids get Lamboughinis with no consequence. Connor Stalions breaks an antiquated rule to leverage a legal practice and, without investigation, the Big Ten suspends Harbaugh for the 3 most important games of the year, yet OSU may have feloniously hacked the Catapult system and an eyebrow doesn't get raised.
Yet here we are, despite all the attacks and allegations, within palatable grasp of the NCAA's highest prize. Michigan vs Everybody!
She says too, she reads this blog! Welcome sister to this blissful congregation. You joined the cult at a beautiful time.
You put into words so eloquently sensibilities I didn't realizes I had.
HNY to my fellow devotees! In a little more than a week, lets all be speaking in tongues.
December 31st, 2023 at 12:55 PM ^
Coach Harbaugh gloriously has resting wolverine face.
Nice. That should be on a t-shirt.
My parents met as students at Michigan, so I was a fan the moment I was born. I'll never forget my first time at Michigan Stadium. I grew up in Okemos and had gone to a few Spartan games with friends the year before we started getting season tickets (I was already firmly into the M/MSU rivalry, back when it was more fun) and I remember seeing Michigan Stadium as we approached and thinking it was so much smaller than Spartan stadium with its big upper decks, and for a few minutes feeling kind of disappointed. Not for long though. My Dad had timed it so that we hung out right outside our section for a few minutes until the players took the field and we entered just as the crowd roared as the players touched the banner. What a sight it was! As I stepped in and saw the entire bowl and the crowd going crazy, I was awestruck and will never forget that moment. The whole experience really, it was an all day thing, every trip to Ann Arbor involved Blimpy Burgers, pre-game tailgating or a stop at my Dad's and his friend's fraternities, often a post game stop as well where I would play football on the lawn with other boys. Everything about Ann Arbor, the game, the environment, the stadium, was just a paradise to me growing up.
Fast forward a few years and I got to start going to some games with my older sister who was a student. Being 16 in the student section offered an entirely new facet to the whole experience that I took full advantage of, so now game day was also a party that went late into the night and ended with me crashing on someone's couch in South Quad. Sublime.
A few years later I got to go to my first game as a freshman at M and that was possibly the best one of all. I lived in Alice Lloyd and had tons of friends from out of state that had never been to a Michigan game before and I got to be a little bit of a guide (convinced a few that might not have gotten season tickets to do so) and watch them all go through a process similar to the one the writer describes in the article. Most of them were hooked after the first game. Now, something like ~37 years later, meeting a bunch of them in Pasadena to see the Rose Bowl. I also had the good fortune to have my younger brother visit me and to provide him and a few of his friends the student section treatment and late night party experience before he became an M student a few years later.
There really is nothing like it anywhere. There is a Difference.
December 31st, 2023 at 1:46 PM ^
Very eloquently stated. You captured my feelings completely.
December 31st, 2023 at 1:03 PM ^
Somehow, I have evolved from a person with no relationship to football to a devoted fan who now spends her free time watching Jim Harbaugh news conferences and reading GoBlue blogs.
Reading blogs? Show yourself, Jaime.
December 31st, 2023 at 1:10 PM ^
"Somehow, I have evolved from a person with no relationship to football to a devoted fan who now spends her free time watching Jim Harbaugh news conferences and reading GoBlue blogs."
Jaime, if you are reading this, thank you very much!!!
And has others have commented, this is wonderful:
"Coach Harbaugh gloriously has resting wolverine face."
December 31st, 2023 at 1:12 PM ^
That was an amazing article. I remember my first time in the big house being a similar experience. It was like I was home. 100,000 plus people all screaming for the same thing. It was a spiritual experience.
December 31st, 2023 at 1:23 PM ^
Thanks for sharing!