Dear Diary Throws Mallows
META: HTTV Stuff
You should have books now. Some of you got more books than you paid for. Many of you waiting on signed copies emailed me asking when that and the t-shirt are coming. Many more have asked how to buy it. I've updated the FAQ.
MADE OF HONOR
Erik_in_Dayton wins Diarist of the Week for nailing the state of Michigan basketball recruiting:
“When you look at what they’ve done with guys like Trey Burke, Darius Morris, and Tim Hardaway, you know this is the place you want to very nearly go to school,” said point guard Trevon Duval of Newark, New Jersey. “I mean, in theory, they could take a guy like me and make me a top five pick.”
Never the bride.
IN A TIME BEFORE TIME HARBAUGH RECRUITED…
Taysom Hill, now BYU Heisman candidate. Alum96 previews the Cougars as a bellwether for the 2015 season.
A TIME WHEN MICHIGAN RAN, AND WE THREW.
Okay, I'm now old enough that people old enough to be classified as adults ask questions about history that I was a part of. This one wanted to know why we threw white goods.
These things were separate, non-overlapping traditions. I was too young to throw a toilet paper roll before they banned that, but was old enough to see it happen and want to try it SOOO BAD. The TP was because touchdowns were rare and worthy of an ad-hoc ticker-tape celebration; the ban was probably wise since cleaning it up, especially on wetter days, led to long, boring delays.
The marshmallows were nicked from other stadiums c.1989, and were still a big thing when I was a student in 98-'01. We mostly threw them at each other, but there were mini-games like trying to get one in opponent bands' sousaphones or the TV crews' parabolic microphones, or lobbing one right in front of their cameras.
There's your act of rebellion if you're looking for one. Remember, even into the 1980s a lot of games weren't televised. Michigan was proud to be on TV way more than most, but every concession made to commercials was resented in the stadium.
But really there was no good reason for the mallows except they're soft and throwable and students like to act goofy. When they installed the field turf in 2003 Lloyd personally asked the students to stop and that was their end. Traditions give college football its all-important flavor, but these traditions were probably not worth the pain they caused for the stadium crews.
CAPTION THIS:
I told you: I don't take vacations. Now show me where you keep these fullbacks they say can also play a 4-4 defense?
Beat that. There's also a photoshop thread for Harbaugh a Paris.
Etc. What would you do with a very large bowl? Art Vuolo: y'all should know, though. GR360. A guy who does strength coaching on Drake Johnson's ACL. David Brandon was (gasp) wrong about what students want at a football game (hint: it's not better cell coverage).
Your Moment of Zen:
Keep watching and the Glee Club of '84 sings an interesting rendition of Ohio State's alma mater.
Almost brings some tears to my eyes. The Glee Club video made me a little nostalgic for the 80s.
Needs to learn a little bit about personal space. Geez, let him breathe a little!
I got kicked out of the Iowa game for throwing marshmellows in the student section. I was in middle school but was up visiting my sister who was a freshman. We barely made it back to her dorm in time for the end.
...throwing was an art as well, since you had to try to ensure that the roll unfurled properly as it descended... you never wanted to have a 2' tail and a roll that just flew threw the air without trailing down. when lots of people in the endzones got their throws just right, it was truly a sight to behold
i really do miss those days in the stadium. TD celebrations, especially in big games against big opponents (OSU et al) felt momentous in a way that marshmallows (and certainly pompoms) never really could.
Back in the DAY fans used to stomp their feets and in the steel rim part of the stadium this created one hell of a lot of thunder--you could hear it all the way downtown--i heard it whilst standing in front of the State Theatre! Not sure why this tradition stopped. It was very cool and didn't clot up the field or cause an environmental catastrophe.
Like i said, i don't know why it stopped.
oh well.
Marshmallows were definitely a thing when I was in the student section for the '85-'88 seasons.
Can't remember when it started but it would be the '87 season at the latest.
(Guy in the blackshirt in the background:)
"What's his deal? My name's Paul, and this shit's between y'all."
Great Glee Club song was only improved by the first words of the next segment; "Michigan coming from behind to win it!"
Best
A few years ago, when I took a friend from NY to a game, I felt obliged to explain how things were in the late 80's. (His wife is from Wisconsin, and they go to a game almost every year at Camp Randall.) I told him about dancing to the theme from Rocky and Bullwinkle with your hands above your head to look like antlers, about "popcorn", about passing a student overhead from the front row all the way to the top, and about the marshmallows.
Marshmallows were not part of any celebration, but part of the fun and games in the stands. (You had to entertain yourself when Minnesota was on offense back then.) People brought in bags of them, dipped in flour. Huge fights would break out at random times between sections of students within shooting range. You could have a few marks, or a lot.
So long as we had a warm thermos of hot toddies or hot chocolate with peppermint scnhapps, we had a good time.
Haven't gotten my book yet
'91-'96
The marsh mallows were flyin. The worst of it was the guy who brought in the frozen ones so he could attempt to hit the field from 2/3rds the way up the bowl. They always ended up pelting us lower seaters.
72 to 75 the thing was to pass your cheap wine bottles up to the top rim of the stadium. This would be all at once like late third, early fourth quarter. Talking Ripple and Boone's Farm cheap. I can remember the sparkle of all those wine bottles in the fall sunshine as they were being passed up being a pretty cool thing. But that could have been just the pot talking.
Cheerleaders, Army cadets, band members, coeds, all those got passed up too. I imagine a bad head bump or two ended that somewhere along the line.
I was a student during the same time. Great times! Too bad we didn't have camera phones, or maybe not.
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Yes, it recall it clearly. I started in 73 and was in section 31-33 in those days. Seating was basically general admission. If you were in the general vicinity ( i.e. not into jr/sr seating areas) it was OK. I believe the mannequin went over the top in 74 I believe because the passing up of coeds was prettty much over by 75 or so because it was icky and a couple of girls were dropped and injured. Bottles to the top of the stadium was a late 3d quarter ritual. In that era, most of the Big 10 games were long over by then and we had to find ways to amuse ourselves in the stands while the 2d and 3d team mopped up. It was a good thing that cell phones with cameras were not around!
The Glee Club version of OSU's alma mater is The Best! It is a shame that they would all be disciplined by the University scolds if anything like this occured today. I will play that version of the OSU song the morning of the Game until I'm gone.
Best version of OSU's alma mater ever
Man, thanks for this informaiton!
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That Rose Bowl against Arizona St. John Cooper's audition for OSU. The only time Bo lost that worked out for us.
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But let me tell you, when you needed to take a dump on Sunday morning and there was literally no toilet paper in th entire dorm, that was not great.
I have a theory of when marshmallows ended. I remember sitting in the end zone when Desmond Howard was interfered with against MSU. Word in the stands was that not only was he interfered with, but he may have also tripped on a marshmallow. After that game, I don't remember ever seeing marshmallows being thrown again...
I was a freshman in 96 and clearly remember marshmallows being thrown around during the first few games. I spent a good hour walking around with marshmallow stuck to my shoes since they had melted in the blazing sun.
'87-'01
There was some overlap of mallow and TP...one game I left at halftime and returned with a grocery bag full of marshmallows and TP. The guys at the gate just laughed and waved me in.
I'll second the comment about throwing TP being an art. A dozen arcing rolls of TP/30-ft streamers were glorious. I understand why we had to quit and regret it at the same time.
Occasionally we'd create TP balls and toss them around like the blow-up beachballs. The big dorm TP rolls were ideal for that.
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