Badges of Fandom Redux

Submitted by BigBlue86 on
I couldn't believe what I saw from my seats, late in the fourth quarter. Notre Dame had just taken back the lead, 34-31 and Michigan was getting ready to punt with five minutes to go. I was sitting in row B behind the ND band in section 4, and THREE Michigan fans, sitting in row A in front of me, got up and left the game. They were grumbling and so forth, and just got up as soon as Michigan couldn't convert the third down that led to the punt. I was so pleased with the intensity of the crowd so late in the game, even though it was a Notre Dame game which automatically makes the hardcore fans infinitely louder.

Brian used to write about "badges of fandom" after some of the great Michigan comeback wins after being down late. Namely the Wisconsin game last season and the Penn State game in 2005 and the MSU game the year prior. It made me so sad to see those three people leave such a great game early, especially when they probably pay thousands of dollars for the privilege of sitting in the front row, in section 4. Everyone who bought tickets both for the whole season and who came to this Notre Dame game definitely earn badges of fandom in my mind. There was a shockingly high turnover of people not renewing season tickets for this year, because they had given up on Rich Rodriguez after only one season...but in a way it is like a great purge of all the old codger Michigan fans who complain about missing the old days, and never stay for the times that Michigan has a memorable comeback win. They are the ones who missed out on this game, and if the only drawback is giving the true Michigan fans the chance to buy a ticket to a game or finally move up the season ticket waiting list, then it is fate that we all got to witness the defining moment (so far) in the Rodriguez tenure and start to believe that Michigan will be OK.

I salute everyone who was inside the Big House until the end, making it the loudest I have heard in as long as I have been going to games (since about 5 years old in the Desmond Howard days).

But on to another thing that struck me, and that was the Irish band. I had to sit two rows behind them for four hours, and they really earned some respect from me. They were loud (but respectful), never sat down, and definitely overpowered the faint sound of the Michigan band coming out of the other corner. And at the end of the game, even though some of them looked like they had just had their kitten thrown off a skyscraper, they lined up, and raised their instruments to play the Notre Dame alma mater, "Notre Dame, Our Mother" as all their remaining fans joined in singing. Ohio State does the same thing after games, even after ones they lose, and it always gives me pause at the undying love these bands and fans have for their schools.

I *always* stand there in silent respect and watch these traditions, out of a love for college football, and it also always reminds me that Michigan foolishly doesn't do their own version.

I have been quietly hoping for years that someday, Michigan would take up the same tradition...to especially overshadow the shameful "You Suck" chant after third down stops...but it never happens. I think this might be the year to start that tradition, because Michigan only ever plays "The Yellow and Blue" once at homecoming, and that's it. Rich Rodriguez has done a fantastic job getting some new things going at games and pumping some new life into a somewhat sleepy fanbase. I hope there are others out there who would join me in possibly getting RR to start an alma mater tradition to go along with singing "The Victors" in the student corner after games. After all, we want to show up the Irish and Buckeye bands in every way, don't we?

Go Blue, and here's to hoping for some more magic before the season is done!

Comments

StephenRKass

September 14th, 2009 at 3:33 PM ^

I will never forget staying to the end of the game when Anthony Carter score a TD from near midfield in the waning seconds of the game. My roommate left with several minutes to go, and told me later of the sinking feeling he had when he heard the roar coming from the stadium.

I don't know what to do about the band and rawk music. Whatever. I like both, but they are so secondary to what is on the field. Hopefully, the band can be retooled with more brass or something else to pump up the volume. Regarding Rawk, well, this is something you'll never please everyone with. I guess it's ok, but I don't want cheesy announcers and pyrotechnics and visions of WWF and the Palace of Auburn Hills, etc. I also don't want wine and brie and a-holes with ascots and blue hairs and an opera house atmosphere, but I don't want to be the Horseshoe and mullets and the same lame big Rawk that is in sports venues everywhere.

JustGoBlue

September 14th, 2009 at 3:48 PM ^

The band plays the Yellow and Blue after every game, win or lose. There is a post-game show after the game, the band plays full Victors, the other band plays their fight song, MMB plays a halftime song, other band plays a halftime song, MMB plays Temptation and Hawaiian War Chant (full versions), other band plays their alma mater, MMB plays "The Yellow and Blue". Every sport that has a band (Volleyball, men and women's bball, and hockey) also gets the alma mater after every game, with the difference that a victory results in the band singing the alma mater, while a defeat means they will play it. The MMB plays it regardless of the result.
The Irish have a very good and loud band. It also has 100+ more members than the MMB. The MMB sat only for player injuries. Most of the MMB still won't have their voices back by today and you will never catch them joining any "you suck", "F the whatever" chants or anything else like that.

topgun161

September 14th, 2009 at 4:23 PM ^

The band plays the Yellow and Blue after every single game win or lose as part of the post game show. UM even allows the other band to play after the game as well. No other school in the Big Ten does this. Perhaps you are the one that is FOOLISH enough not to stick around for these traditions.

BigBlue86

September 14th, 2009 at 4:28 PM ^

Yes, the Michigan band does play it during the postgame show, but that kind of defeats the purpose...since ND did theirs before anyone could/want to leave. That's what I'm hoping the M band does, is play the alma mater right after "The Victors" with all the players in the student corner.

And I realize I didn't properly talk up the M band...this appears like I don't love them to death, which is of course false. No better band in the land, I just couldn't hear them over the ND band too often since there's (a) more people in the Irish band and (b) I was literally right behind them :)

JustGoBlue

September 14th, 2009 at 11:01 PM ^

I probably shouldn't have assumed that complimenting the ND band meant you didn't think the same things about the MMB, all the ND banders I met were very nice and they were definitely a very good/classy band. You probably just felt the need to mention it because while it's assumed Michigan fans are always classy (who here knows an unclassy U-M fan?/sarcasm), finding the same level of classiness from ND is surprising and note/praiseworthy :-D;-). In fact, classiness from anybody is praiseworthy. YAY CLASSINESS!!!!

Also, I kind of agree with what you're saying about "The Yellow and Blue", but at the same time, ND, OSU etc. don't have the greatest fight song to sing ever and for a while at least, I think a good portion of the stadium would just wonder what song the MMB was playing. I'm all for playing the Alma Mater, but I'd hate to be the only one in my section knowing what was going on...

NoNon

September 14th, 2009 at 4:52 PM ^

Anyone who's got the chance to catch the Victor's March needs to get there early. Unbelievable and I'm betting it will be phenomonal next time.

Kudos to the student section and kudos to the fans who were (gasp!) standing and yelling when we needed it the most. There were at least 5 comments by Millen about how much louder it sounded there.

~ And now we'll listen to Notre Dame have all their excuses as they come running in and saying how "the officials missed all the calls and there's supposed to be 2 seconds." To hell with Notre Dame!

strafe

September 14th, 2009 at 5:13 PM ^

Real fandom is sitting through every game last season until the time runs out. But I guess I will accept that some people will leave when we're down by 21 or whatever and the weather is really shitty.

Two of the girls sitting in front of me (in the student section) commented quite loudly at halftime that they would leave "if [Michigan] started sucking." Sure enough, they left with the last ND touchdown (Maybe they didn't realize there was still a game?). But, uh, I guess people leaving just makes it that much more satisfying for those of us that sit around in the freezing rain regardless of how the game is going.