Walmart Wolverines - a Bump

Yeah, I think it's elitist.  I'm not a U of M alum.  But besides being a life-long fan and Ann Arbor resident, I worked for the university for a few years.  Do I get to say I have a deeper relationship with U of M than alumni because while they were paying to be a part of the school, the school was paying me to be a part of it?

What it comes down is that alumni are trully more apt to have a stronger bond with the school because of a tie that will never be broken.  Michigan will always be a part of you.  But just as there can be apathetic alumni anywhere, U of M is the type of school that can build such a great , undying passion in those who have no formal association with it.  When it comes to Wolerines and  fanhood specifically, never once assume your Michigan degree has created a stronger (or even equivalent) bond to Michigan than the so-called Wal-Mart Wolverine sitting next you in the stands who has made a conscious and unsolicited effort to dedicate his unassociated time, money and emotions towards this school. 

Wolverines since a young age more of a fan than myself and this is despite the fact that I now bleed maize and blue and have a diploma from the school.  I was not a fan of all sports related to the University of Michigan at the age of 26 but by 27 (meh, more like 28) I was.  

I only became a fan because I attended.  I didn't intend to become one.   

However, I doubt my fervor is any greater or my connnection any deeper because I have a degree or spent some time stumbling around Rick's than a person like WD (I'm just going to ignore the foia faux pas).  Additionally, I've only been a fan for six-ish years.  That's not a long period of time.  

Moreover, I know a ton of people that have UM degrees that I wouldn't consider Wolverines.  I'm not being judgmental here (well, negatively judgmental) by saying that because they wouldn't consider themselves Wolverines either.  

I guess people that grew up Wolverines and then attended Michigan might be able to claim some sort of deeper connection, but I'm fairly confident it wouldn't be much more than a claim.

In closing, I disagree.   I'm not disagreeing because I think you're being elitist, but because I think you're wrong.  Having attended the school and experienced the campus does create a deeper connection than not having done that. 

However, that does not mean that it trumps all experiences with the Wolverines or is in any way deeper than say (making something up here) watching the 1998 Rosebowl with your father a few days before he passes away.*

*It's an extreme example and meant to be but it's not meant to be an example of a situation that is comparable to attending Michigan, so it shouldn't be taken as such.  

Can't disagree with that. It just about has to be a different relationship. otoh, I've been Maize  and Blue since about 7 years old. Somewhere I have the Rick Leach SI cover still, stolen from my elem school library. I literally cried in a hotel room in Atlanta when we beat Wash State b/c I knew I'd eventually see that day and then, after all the near misses, Charles White's phantom TD and all that, it had come. I don't think the fandom of someone from, say, New Jersey, who never thought about UM until their freshman year, is really any more important than mine.

Obviously alumni are going to have a different relationship with the University, but there is no inherent reason why they should have a different relationship with the football team. Attending Michigan doesn't give you a stronger relationship to a bunch of anonymous kids from around the country throwing a ball than anyone else.  In my view, particularly with the recent commercialization of the Michigan brand, the University and the Athletic Department are basically two seperate entities.

 Sparties defend the Walmart mantra by saying that the fans who didn't attend U of M also make fun of their education (whether they went to a better school or not).. I can't imagine that actually happens very often.   Untimlately it's an experssion of their own insecruity:  they can't respond to the assertion that U of M is unquestionably  a better school than MSU in just about every aspect, so they attack our non-alum fans.      I have run into some non-alum fans at games etc. that I was embarassed to be around because they were soooo over the top with their fandom and also not very classy.                                                                                                                                                                     I can see why this would deeply annoy Sparties and why they needed something to make them feel better about their degree.  It only bothers me when they use it to call out people (eg online) when they have no idea whether they went to U of M or not.