A guide for Dads in the football student section
Your son can get your ticket through other students on a student website. However, you have to get it validated (applied sticker) and pay a $40 or $60 (premium game) surcharge at the ticket office.
You have to enter the student gates at the north end of the stadium.
You will probably have to enter a different section from your son and meet in the stands.
You can sit anywhere in the student section as long as you stay above where your seats are located. They check your tickets if you are seated lower in the stadium.
A must for all you Dads out there!
Especially a must for all of you diehard fans who complain about all the old farts who sit on their hands.
Loved the enthusiam, but be prepared to stand on the bleachers (bench) the entire game except for timeouts and halftime.
Be prepared to become hoarse from all the yelling and screaming.
Be aware that you may experience an odd pungent aroma.
Be diligent in your "wave" participation, if required.
I picked the perfect game last season: Northwestern. The crowd was pumped. And the team did not disappoint routing the12th ranked Wildcats 38-0.
I don't like the "You suck" cheer. But I did like the "bullshit" chant, the perfect release for pent-up game-day frustrations!
The crowd thins out after halftime because, as my son explained, the students get too tired from their pregame drinking ritual.
However I do miss what we use to do as students at games in the early 70's.
Engage in the passing up of boy scout ushers, racing adjoinng sections.
Pass-up girls in the stands, especially the "mad kicker".
Drink a bottle of Boonesfarm apple wine at the game and pass up the bottle at the end of the game creating "the green wave".
And my best experience of all time: Singing "Good-bye Woody" after the OSU coach ripped up the downs marker on the sideline after safety Thom Darden broke up a critical 3rd down pass play with a minute left in the game in a 10-7 victory. Woody went ballistic when no pass interference was called on the play.
Enjoy!
I had my Dad and Mom join me for separate games. Both are old enough to qualify as senior citizens. I think my Mom -- a 4'10" Jewish woman -- may have been the most enthusiastic fan in the stands that day.
Also, my Dad stood the entire game despite a broken foot (his leg was in a cast). No excuses for not standing!
When did they stop doing the passing girls up thing? Noticed last year that they had apparently stopped doing it.
The security people started to crack down on it in the last few years.
it's a M Tradition!
I was at the OSU game this year (first since 2011), and no one minded that we did that. I guess we just got lucky
It's hard to pass a human body up the stands while you're pounding your phone. Even taking a selfie requires one hand.
how the girls were "selected" to be passed up, and whether they were "willing volunteers" or "drafted into service"???
It's Hunger Games style. The more you tailgate, the higher the chance your name is picked.
I hate that we're still doing the "You suck" chant after a 3rd down stop.
It especially looks bad if we're losing, but even if we're winning its so un-classy.
We need to make a change to this one.
I don't mind having some fun with negativity (e.g. several of the MGoBlog shirts), but you'd think we could be more clever with it.
They beat NW 38-0 last season, FYI.
In 68 or 69 they passed a student up to the top of the student section and then threw him over. It was a dummy they had brought with them, but it got a gasp.
The last time ai sat in the student section was 71 or 72 and they were passing girls up then.
That's hilarious.
As for the 70's, I remember my first game and how horrified I was when a poor girl was passed up the stands. One of many criminal acts we routinely performed in the name of college fun. . . I was also present for the Goodbye Woody game. That was just epic. As for alcohol, most of us had what we called "Twelve-Pack jackets." We could hide an entire twelve pack within them and get them into the stadium. Alot of second halves were pretty foggy as a result and, like today's students, I remember being pretty worn outby halftime.
I also miss being able to storm the field and tear down the goal posts. I had my ribs smacked by an Ann Arbor policeman while handing from the student goal post after our great victory over a Mark-Hermann led Purdue in 1980. We eventually carted the goal post to the Diag where someone hack-sawed it into little pieces. I lost mine somewhere along the way.
For years after school (late '80's, early '90's). Things were waaaay more lax back then.
- Six-pack sized coolers were allowed, and we weren't required to check what was inside.
- As long as kids kept their booze somewhat out of sight, we left them alone. May have confiscated a couple of bottles, but don't remember doing so.
- Students could basically sit anywhere in their section. Our job was to instruct people to sqeeze in and make room, and break up disputes before they became fights.
- Our responsibilities ended at kickoff. Anything that transpired after that was handled by cops, not ushers.
- Ushers were allowed on the sidelines, so we could hop the (lower back then) wall and walk the sidelines.
The other ushers didn't realize how easy we had it; the student section was considered "combat duty". Fantastic job, and we even made some pocket change.
You must have been my usher. I remember handing him a rack of Stroh's while I dug through a trench coat for my ticket book. We could move freely rarely had any problems until random older folks showed up and got pissy about students taking *their* seats.
In 88 and 89 we customarily sat near one of the pennants in the student section. There was an usher who stood at the top of the stairs and basically guarded the pennant. At half time, he'd remove it. He'd get a few steps down the stairs with his pennant before we felt comfortable enough to spark up. By the end of '89, he actually turned and told us that he didn't approve but just "keep it away from the kids."
Shit. Today, I'm pretty sure such behavior would get you beaten with a Maglight.
We'd get a few people who wanted to plant their asses directly on their assigned number. Our policy was to tell everyone in the row to make room, and tell the complainer to lighten up.
The student section crew was done at kickoff. We weren't shirking; we were told our job was done once the game started. They probably shifted a couple regular ushers over to keep an eye on things.
One of my buddies scored us the gig; we were all former students and local A2 kids. Even after moving to Chicago I continued for a few years.
Most of the students were great. I think they appreciated we were basically peers, and we didn't act pushy.
from the Purdue game goalpost up into the stands. Thanks for helping to pull it down!
I still have a small vile containing paint chips from that upright--- I had noticed paint was peeling off the upright as we dragged it up the steps towards an exit ramp. I happened to have a ziplock sandwich bag in my pocket that day (I think it contained a bit of some dried leafy substance), so I scooped up several of the bigger paint chips I could find and kept them, brought them home and placed them in a vile and labeled it with the score from that game.
Some might find it hard to believe, but Purdue had a really good team back then for several years during the late 70's and early 80's under Coach Jim Young, featuring a series of really good QB's. Mark Hermann was the most heralded of those QB's, and many "experts" picked Purdue to win that game, as I recall. Though I don't remember the final score, Michigan completely shut down Hermann and Purdue that day and walked away with an easy victory.
I was lucky enough to get a student ticket 13 rows up for the first night game, 9-10-2011. Yes, you'll be standing up the whole game. You'll be cheering and hoarse in no time. But, if I wanted to sit down and watch the game I'd be at home. If I didn't want to yell at the refs, the idiot Domers (for that game) or to support my team I'd be at home.
Don't be "that guy", jump, cheer, high-five and have a helluva time! Granted the game was insane (I probably took a few years off my life that night) but any other seat hasn't been the same.
I highly suggest it if you can do it and you aren't going to yell "down in front".
April 10th, 2016 at 10:45 PM ^
"YOU SUCK" is the only anti-opponent cheer we use...its ok to be "bad boys" for one down.
Do girls notice when guys old enough to be their father are staring at them? Just curious.
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