Those Who Left
I've never run so fast in my life.
The roar emanated from Stadium & Main and echoed down State Street, where I'd just emerged from the shortcut behind the field hockey, er, field. The year, 2004. I was a junior in high school; as a freshman, I'd run cross country, and specialized in sprinting the last 200 yards of a 5K because puking was absolutely worth not finishing behind the guy in front of me.
On this day, however, I wasn't in a pack of pimple-faced skinny dudes in uncomfortably short shorts. I had not planned on running; sullen trudging, eyes cast down to the sidewalk, was the plan as I, my brother, and my dad's old college roommate headed back to my parents house from a certain loss to Michigan State.
The roar changed those plans.
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It was just chilly enough to feel the wind in your bones. DeAndra Cobb broke his second long touchdown run of the evening to put Michigan State up 27-10 partway through the fourth quarter. Dusk settled over Ann Arbor.
They were my dad's roommate's seats. "I've had enough," he said, or something to that effect, and my brother and I tacitly agreed by standing and exiting with him. We were young and polite and stupid, in about equal parts.
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If I'd simply believed I was missing one of the greatest Michigan comebacks in history each time I ran a race, perhaps I wouldn't have quit cross country after one unremarkable season on JV. I'd certainly never started a "race" so fast after hearing a cheer that could've only followed a Michigan touchdown. A part of me had wondered if I'd regret leaving; now I knew I regretted it, and I don't remember having to say a thing before I took off. My brother followed. Sorry, dad's roommate, but this was your choice, after all.
Not that I didn't know better. In 2004, you didn't have to know much about football to know which Wolverine would be the one to spearhead a wildly improbable comeback. Braylon Edwards always seemed larger than his listed 6'3", and he always came down with the damn ball, somehow. Growing up as sports junkies, we used to call catching a jump ball over a defender "Mossing" when we played football at the park or in the backyard; beginning sometime in the Fall of 2003, we began calling it "Brayloning" instead.
I ran out of guilt. I ran out of excitement. I ran through the front door and between gasps asked my father, "What did Braylon do?"
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Oh.
We missed the first one, of course. The second one, as I recall, was replayed again and again just after we made it home. We finally got to share in the jubilation of the third, but it felt a little cheapened; we'd bailed, and "it was cold and we didn't think they'd do it" no longer felt like a sufficient excuse.
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This year's Michigan team, like the last several, doesn't instill the same confidence that 2004 squad did. There's no Mike Hart equivalent, nor a Jake Long or Jason Avant or Steve Breaston or LaMarr Woodley or Marlin Jackson. Devin Gardner compares far better to Half-Broken 2007 Chad Henne than Fully Operational 2004 Chad Henne.
Unfocus your eyes just a little, though, and you'll swear Braylon is still out there, and he's been spending time in the weight room.
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I'll be watching today's game from my couch; I had no interest in making the trip to East Lansing after last year's debacle, especially since a repeat performance appears disturbingly likely. But the television will stay on until all doubt is gone, and even after all that's happened since Braylonfest a decade ago, I'll let that doubt gnaw at me far more than it used to.
Go Blue. Throw it up to Braylon Funchess.
October 25th, 2014 at 11:13 AM ^
About as inspiring as any writing could be at this moment..
October 25th, 2014 at 11:14 AM ^
October 25th, 2014 at 11:14 AM ^
October 25th, 2014 at 11:16 AM ^
For the past half decade, michigan football has been little more than a disappointment. And I feel badly for the new generations of students passing through the school. They'll never get to experience games like Phillip Brabbs coming through in the clutch, or games like Braylonfest.
October 25th, 2014 at 11:45 AM ^
October 25th, 2014 at 11:55 AM ^
This year's seniors got to see 2011 ND, which was as dramatic a game as any I've ever seen.
The MSU and Northwestern games in 2012 weren't bad either.
October 25th, 2014 at 11:25 AM ^
I was sitting in the NE corner of the stadium that day. I was dating a girl from Indianapolis and she was gettig antsy to leave in the 4th quarter. I told that I never leave a Michigan game until it's over, so she might as well make herself comfortable. Afterwards she thanked me for bringing her to the greatest game she ever witnessed.
October 25th, 2014 at 11:25 AM ^
This has not been a traditional MSU - Mich week for me. I have not been reading mgoblog daily nor am I doing anything of note for the game... but I will be watching with hope that we can pull one of the bigger upsets of the season. I was at Braylonfest and stayed until the end and I will be damned if I wouldn't turn on todays game and watch it with hope that Michigan can win.
October 25th, 2014 at 11:27 AM ^
I was in AA the day of that game but not at the game but about 5 blocks away tailgating. You could hear the crowd-roaring a thoroughly fun day. Unfortunately, I would brace myself for the fact that something like that is not going to happen today. It will be the dashing of any hope for Hoke to survive this year.
October 25th, 2014 at 11:27 AM ^
I was in the stands with my wife (LSA '92), her sisters and their husbands. The youngest sister was an MSU grad. The middle sister didn't care about sports and her husband, who was from New England, didn't care about college football. The calls to "let's just leave" got louder and louder over the course of the game, but I braved increasing crankiness from the rest of them because you just Don't. Leave. Games. Early.
Until UTL1, that game was at the top of the "Amazing sports moments for which I was present" list.
October 25th, 2014 at 11:40 AM ^
the 2004 Braylonfest are the reason I NEVER leave early. EVER.
Sure, I've witnessed a few too many losses at Michigan home games in which we haven't mounted a 4th-quarter comeback. Obviously, huge comebacks don't happen unless you're behind (and from '75 and my first Michigan game, until the 2007 season we rarely trailed at home in the 4th), so there's that.
But those game with the comebacks? Among the most memorable of them all for most of us. Over the last 20 seasons alone: 1995 over Virginia. 2004 over Sparty. Tater leading a comeback vs. ND. UTL over ND.
Saturdays in Ann Arbor in Autumn remain special for me and always will be. Other things back home, 2 1/2 hours away, simply don't get scheduled on Saturdays, as that day belongs to Michigan Football, whether our team is great or not-so-much.
October 25th, 2014 at 2:11 PM ^
The storyline was made to order—the alleged greatest college football team in history, one that could challenge the Baltimore Colts, teacher vs. disciple, Woody vs Bo—but the reality was that going into that game Michigan was a damn good football team playing excellent ball in all phases of the game. Not to mention they were led by a soon-to-be-legendary coach.
That's why I think a win in East Lansing today would actually be—in pure, on-the-field football terms—a bigger upset win for Michigan. The apparent gulf in coaching and talent between MSU and UM in 2014 is significantly wider and deeper than the gulf between OSU and UM in 1969.
We've played like crap all year against teams with a pulse, our only wins are against weak teams at home, our coaching staff from top to bottom seems all too often like it doesn't have any idea what it's doing, and we haven't beaten a team with a winning record on the road since Hoke got here.
Unless a long list of improbable things happen today—Michigan wins the turnover battle, develops a semblance of a running game, protects Devin, clamps down on MSU's receivers, and actually sacks Cook in key third down situations—today's game will be the death knell for Hoke's tenure here.
If we win, we'll have the most conflicted and confused fanbase in the country.
October 25th, 2014 at 11:44 AM ^
October 25th, 2014 at 11:50 AM ^
I stayed to the end that day. Not because I was a glutton for punishment but because under Carr, we always had a really good 2-minute offense. Carr's losses often followed a pattern of our regular offensive scheme being held in check for three quarters and us falling behind double digits, followed by him unleashing the offense and watching it desperately rally but fall a little short (1999 MSU being a prime example). Sometimes the comeback made it all the way, as in 2003 Minnesota. I knew we'd come back on this day, but just didn't know if we'd have enough time. Once we got the onside kick I knew it.
I miss that feeling. We've got to get back to having a top-notch passing game. I don't care what offense we run or what our QB is like, but we've got to have an offense that can quickly move the ball down the field through the air. I don't think you can be a championship team without that.
October 25th, 2014 at 12:12 PM ^
As kids I think we all have those terms because of a highlight. My parent's driveway was the Michigan endzone, complete with the block lettering of Michigan in yellow chalk.
After the VIriginia game in '95, my brother and I scrambled outside and practiced dragging our foot in the corner of the driveway, complete with the Dresibach rainbow throw. Everytime we played or had a chance at dragging a foot, it was always a sly laugh and "Mercury".
Great stuff. Needed a read like this with happy memories before the inevitable today.
October 25th, 2014 at 12:15 PM ^
October 25th, 2014 at 12:19 PM ^
Gardner =/= Henne
Devin =/= Braylon
I sincerely hope that I am wrong, but this will not end well.
October 25th, 2014 at 12:20 PM ^
My college roommate is returning for today's game, and while we certainly can't hang like that anymore, we'll be doing our damnedest to encourage a Funchessfest.
Go Blue
October 25th, 2014 at 12:20 PM ^
Well done Ace.
October 25th, 2014 at 12:21 PM ^
October 25th, 2014 at 12:37 PM ^
is we have nothing to look forward to next season especially if Hoke stays. We don't have a QB that can take charge and more than likely Funchess will be gone.
A coaching change will ingnite renewed interest but given the talent at the skilled positions I don't see a substantial improvement. There will be more dark days ahead.
October 26th, 2014 at 1:49 PM ^
The way he was dropping passes vs MSU, he either stays and cleans that up or he leaves with lowered stock. You're right - he leaves.
October 25th, 2014 at 12:44 PM ^
I went to the '04 game and left in the 4th when we were down 17. Maybe the biggest mistake of my sporting life. I'm still upset about it.
October 25th, 2014 at 1:07 PM ^
cause it was warm at kickoff and because 19 year olds are stupid. When State went up 27-10, my housemate's dad offered to buy us a steak from The Chop House, so my freezing cold ass left the game early (first and last time I ever did that). We had literally just crossed Hoover when we heard the first roar. I'm a geniunely slow runner but I hauled ass so fast to the Union and sat and ate Wendy's and watched us win on those tiny TVs in the Union basement and nearly cried (out of both happiness and self-hatred).
That's my story.
October 25th, 2014 at 1:08 PM ^
I hope it's the last.
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October 25th, 2014 at 1:15 PM ^
October 25th, 2014 at 1:18 PM ^
Braylon Edwards sure had a way of making Chad Henne look good (Chad's freshman year iirc). Reminds me of Megatron: just get it close.
October 25th, 2014 at 1:19 PM ^
October 25th, 2014 at 1:21 PM ^
I didn't even care that I got pulled over on the way back to my friend's place in Albion after that game. The cop asked us why we were laughing and so happy when he walked up to the window. I told him with the straightest face I could that we had made an amazing decision about an hour earlier to stay in Ann Arbor.
Pretty sure he must have been an MSU fan.
October 25th, 2014 at 1:33 PM ^
Oh, and a buddy of mine had rented an RV that weekend, so we did a nice amount of partying in A2, both Friday and Saturday night.
October 25th, 2014 at 3:25 PM ^
.... I was in the band. As you can see from the gif, the MMB had the perfect sideline, front-row seats to Braylonfest. Yeah putting the band on the field was an easy ploy to sell more tickets, but being on the field for 2004 MSU and 2003 OSU was pretty amazing!
October 25th, 2014 at 4:51 PM ^
October 25th, 2014 at 6:09 PM ^
October 25th, 2014 at 6:39 PM ^
"Proud to say I knew Braylon Edwards.....Devin Funchess, you are no Braylon Edwards!"
October 26th, 2014 at 8:52 PM ^
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