Inside the Boxscore - Team 136, Game 4
[Ed-S: Bumped from the diaries. He writes these every week after the games so if you like it look out for it.]
Why do we keep these?
In my last ItBS diary, I alluded to the fact that I would be traveling to Michigan during the week for a family wedding. Unfortunately, my travel plans had me flying from Detroit to Dallas during the Michigan-BYU game. But never fear, I taped the game, avoided social media all day long and watched the game last night. What a game it was; I'm definitely glad I made the effort to avoid any spoilers.
As this was my first trip back home since my dad passed away over two years ago, I expected this trip would not be a normal one. There were plenty of private moments, but as my dad was a big Michigan fan, there were some things that happened that might be of interest to this blog's readers. If you just want to read the normal post-game boxscore analysis, skip ahead to the link. If you want to read about why football matters, or at least, why it matters to me, read on. The next few paragraphs speak to why, as Jim Harbaugh says, football matters. It's the bigger story, if you will.
My dad was a collector. He collected Michigan football programs and ticket stubs. The first thing we would do when we got to the stadium was find the program vendors. Dad would buy two programs and carefully wrap them in black plastic garbage bags to protect them from the elements. He would tuck those into his Michigan bag that kept his binoculars (and unlike many Michigan fans, he actually put binoculars in his binocular case) and his radio and earphones. He would get two programs every game because at the end of the season, he would give one complete set of that season's programs to, I believe, the UofM alumni association of Lansing to raffle off for their scholarship fund. The other set of programs he kept. He made it to most of the away games. On the rare occassions where he couldn't go, he'd ask a friend to get him a couple programs. On Friday, my brother and I decided to keep those programs, at least for the time being.
My dad had a dream of one day displaying all of the ticket stubs on a wall in a Michigan room in the house. He never got around to doing that, but we still have all those ticket stubs. Nothing would get my dad more upset than when a ticket-taker would rip the ticket in half, instead of tearing it off neatly at the perforation. Dad would even separate 3/4 of the stub from the ticket to make it easier for the ticket-taker. Phil Hartman played a character on Saturday Night Live called, "The Anal Retentive Chef." That was my dad.
[After the jump: Be careful, his bow tie is really a camera]
I also found a letter I wrote in 1982, "To whom it may concern." I'm not sure who 12 year old me thought might be interested in this letter other than Mom and Dad, but that's how I addressed it. The letter presented my prioritized list of games I wanted to attend. First, of course, was Ohio State at home on Nov. 19. Tenth was Minnesota. I guess I wasn't terribly impressed by the Little Brown Jug game or the thought of driving to Minnesota.
Back then, we had an 11-game season. At the 11th spot on my list, I wrote, "If you pay WASHINGTON Game is most wanted, if I pay it is least wanted." I was always budget conscious, even back then. Dad was also budget conscious and ended up going to Seattle by himself. That was the game where Michigan fans discovered the wave and brought it back with them to the Big House. I should point out that Dad was not responsible for the Wave, as I don't recall him ever standing up or raising his hands for the wave. Anything that distracted from the play on the field was anathema to him. (The Michigan Marching Band was part of the game. Special K was not.)
AC, via Bentley |
Even though Dad only had one Michigan degree, he had three Michigan rings, two class rings (one gold for days he wore gold glasses, a gold watch and carried a gold pen and pencil set, and one silver for days he wore silver colored glasses, etc. I wasn't kidding about that Anal Retentive Chef thing,) and a gold signet ring. I brought his gold Michigan MSW (Masters in Social Work) ring back with me. He never really discussed with me what he wanted done with his things except for his Michigan rings. The University and his time spent there was that important to him.
Saturday morning Mom drove me to the airport. She turned on the radio to try to catch the pre-game. Instictively, she put on AM 760, WJR. Back in the day, Michigan wasn't on television every Saturday. For the three of us that didn't get to go to the game with Dad, we'd listen to the game on WJR. I got to listen to Bob Ufer call Anthony Carter's touchdown reception against Indiana while my brother got to see it live. I'm not sure who came out ahead on that. I suggested she try 1050 WTKA, thanks to Brian and Ace.
I used frequent flyer miles to purchase my round-trip tickets. I ended up booking first class seats because they only cost 50,000 miles and the miles for the carrier I took have an expiration date. (I'm still budget-conscious, but frequent flyer miles don't have the same appeal to me as actual dollars.) On the flight from Detroit to Dallas, the seat next to me was empty. I thought this was a little strange because when I fly for business, the frequent flyers I travel with are always trying to upgrade to first class. They rarely ever get upgraded because there will be a list of a dozen people trying to upgrade. On the second leg of my journey from Dallas to LAX, the seat next to me was again empty.
I'm not Jewish, but I watch enough television to understand the symbolism of having an empty chair for the prophet Elijah at the Seder meal. Here I am, flying back to Los Angeles with a collection of items from my Dad and there is an empty seat next to me the whole way home, except that seat wasn't empty.
In first class, they sometimes give you headphones to listen to the in-flight radio. Only on my last leg did I get headsets and listen to the radio (due to the lady sitting behind me and her incessant coughing.) The second song I heard was Simon and Garfunkel's America. Of all the songs they could have played, I'm sitting there listening to them sing, "Michigan seems like a dream to me now..."
In a sense, dreams are our memories we play back while we're sleeping. Dad saved all of those Michigan-football related items. Those collectible items add color to our memories, making them more permanent. Michigan, and Michigan football, seem like a dream to me now, the kind of dream you have where when you wake up, you feel like going back to sleep because the dream is so real, so vivid, so comforting. The Jim Harbaugh-coached version of Michigan football harkens back to those earlier days when Bo roamed the sidelines.
Football matters. It matters to the players. It matters to the coaches. It matters to the band members, the students, the alumni, and the fans. Football matters to me because it is one of the things that keeps my connection to my Dad alive.
Link: http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/092615aaa.html
Burst of Impetus
- The game changed when De'Veon Smith went Beast-Mode. You all know what I mean.
Two Jakes
- Jake Rudock versus my definition of efficient QB play - no turnovers (check,) 7.8 yards per attempt (check,) 56% completion percentage (so close.) I'll gladly accept <60% if that comes with no turnovers and nearly 8 YPA.
- Rudock was the second leading rusher on the day for Michigan with 33 yards net. Subtracting the 15 yards he lost on sacks puts him at 48 yards on 8 carries. Not bad at all.
- Jake Butt caught one pass for 41 yards. I still get the feeling plays exploiting his immense talent are being saved for MSU and OSU.
Citizen Darboh
- Darboh led the team with 4 receptions for 57 yards, a touchdown, and an incredible one handed grab. He showed that Ian Bunting isn't the only one with frying-pan hands.
- For the 3rd time in 4 games, 9 different players caught a pass. This time, the H-back/tight ends dominated as Hill, Butt, Bunting, Williams, and Poggi all caught a pass. Hill caught two and showed he can be a weapon for the passing attack.
Jackhammers
- Good De'Veon returned to the tune of 125 yards on only 16 carries. He scored a TD on his 60 yard beast-mode special.
- Derrick Green was given much more time this week and it wasn't just in garbage time. He only averaged 2.8 yards per carry, but I thought he looked really good in short yardage situations by getting to the hole in a hurry.
Tacos and Peppers
- Channing Stribling led the team with 4 tackles. That's it. FOUR TACKLES!!! In this case, that's a remarkably good statistic.
- Stribling did have a BrUp and should have had an interception, but the Stribling's Cat Paws corollary to Schrodinger's Cat theory bit him again. In brief, we cannot know whether Channing Stribling has actual hands that can catch a football, or teeny-tiny cat paws for hands that can only playfully swat at a football much like a cat playing with a ball of yarn until we throw a football in Channing's direction.
- On the 17 offensive plays BYU ran (at least it felt that way) Michigan still managed to accrue 6 TFLs, 3 sacks, 3 BrUps and five QHs. I've been following QHs for awhile and believe me, that's an insane number of QHs. This defense is filling up the boxscore and playing like a championship caliber defense. But what championship? B1G East Division? Big Ten? Surely not National Championship, right? As readers of this diary know, defense is only 5/12th of the game (offense is 5/12th, and special teams are 1/6th) so any talk of an actual championship will be delayed until the offense develops a little more.
ST3's STSTs
- The good news is that Blake O'Neill ran for 9 yards on one carry. The bad news is that it was 4th and 16. It's good to make those mistakes when the game is well in hand. It also puts the rest of the conference on notice that we will run, so hopefully our opponents have to play us honest and that will help the punt coverage team get downfield.
- When O'Neill did punt, he put 3 of 4 inside the 20.
- There were 27 special teams plays out of 153 plays total, roughly 1 in 6. 11 of the special teams plays were BYU punts.
Baughscore Bits
- Total first downs were 22-8 in Michigan's favor. Talk about total domination.
- BYU was held to 50 yards rushing and 55 yards passing. I remember when that would be a good quarter for the Michigan defense.
- Before moving on from the Lotulelei portion of the Michigan schedule, I would be remiss if I failed to mention that BYU's leading tacklers were Micha and Micah, and Sione Takitaki had 5 takis, I mean, tackles. Additionally, Eric Takenaka had one kickoff return for 19 yards. If he adopted Chaka from Land of the Lost, his son would be Chaka Takenaka.
- Of BYU's 12 drives, only 3 gained more than 10 yards. Michigan's defense recorded 7 three and outs.
WHAT ARE THOSE?
- I have a really old pair of blue sweatpants. They've been washed so much, they actually look purple, sort of like the Michigan football uniforms on Saturday. Come on, Adidas, is the color blue really that hard to pull off? How about using a fabric that doesn't fade to purple one month into the season?
- WHAT ARE THOSE "Y's" on BYU's helmet? My 10 year old thought we were playing Yale. You know, come to think of it, maybe they would have given us a better game.
September 27th, 2015 at 11:34 PM ^
September 27th, 2015 at 11:39 PM ^
Regarding the jersey colors, I think that the blue of the jerseys was the more traditional color. It only looks purplish next to the more royal/bright blue that adidas has been pushing along with their neon-ish yellows. There was clearly a difference between the Adidas sideline windbreakers and the jerseys. For an interesting comparison, compare Harbaugh's sweatshirt to the jerseys... pretty similar. I'm not sure if it's Hackett, or the impending switchover to all Nike, but I think colors have moved a bit more back to traditional this season.... something I personally like!
September 28th, 2015 at 11:46 AM ^
The area around the torso was blue, but the shoulders were really purplish. I think it was due to the laundry, because Rudock was standing next to a walk-on (Thompson?) or someone who I didn't recognize and likely doesn't play and need to get his uniform cleaned, and the difference was stark.
September 28th, 2015 at 12:11 AM ^
September 28th, 2015 at 12:40 AM ^
September 28th, 2015 at 8:31 AM ^
Thanks for sharing the story about your dad. That was really something.
September 28th, 2015 at 9:05 AM ^
Beautiful, man.
September 28th, 2015 at 11:48 AM ^
for the formatting, added pictures, and the front page bump. I can now cross that off my virtual bucket list. The last remaining MGoBlog related bucket list item is to actually meet you, Brian and Ace. One of these days...
September 28th, 2015 at 9:15 AM ^
Chaka Takenaka, enough said
September 28th, 2015 at 9:21 AM ^
Thanks for the repost - don't know how I missed seeing this in the diary section. You shared some really special memories.
September 28th, 2015 at 9:23 AM ^
Loved this. Thanks for sharing.
September 28th, 2015 at 9:31 AM ^
September 28th, 2015 at 10:11 AM ^
Same here. My Dad would staple his ticket stub on the inside cover. At basketball games he would always hang around and grab a copy of the stat sheet from press row. Like the ticket stubs, that too would be stapled to the cover. I miss those days. He would be happy to see the way this season is shaping up.
September 28th, 2015 at 9:35 AM ^
That should come with a bit of a warning... now I gotta tell people here at work my allergies are acting up or I brought in onions for my lunch.
Exactly the kind of memories I want to make with my kids (maybe, spare the anal retentive stuff about the programs..) but those little things made your Dad your Dad. Great write up, thanks for sharing that.
September 28th, 2015 at 9:41 AM ^
Did someone get themselves a phone number on that 2000 Rice ticket?
September 28th, 2015 at 10:02 AM ^
nice catch there. I was a student from 98-03 so I remember when student tix were $13.50 and gas was $1.25 a gallon! Now, where's that Centrum...
September 28th, 2015 at 9:43 AM ^
September 28th, 2015 at 11:20 AM ^
Watched the game on ABC and the jerseys definately had a very purplish hue to them. Regardless, the rest of the team apparrel clashes with differing hues of blue and maize (yellow).
September 28th, 2015 at 11:27 AM ^
September 28th, 2015 at 9:45 AM ^
While reading this post I go to the point where the author said "The second song I heard was Simon and Garfunkel's America. Of all the songs they could have played, I'm sitting there listening to them sing, "Michigan seems like a dream to me now..." - and I thought to myself, I haven't heard that song in a long time, I wonder what it sounded like. Just as I was looking up the lyrics a Simon and Garfunkel's song came on the radio in the coffee shop I was sitting at and as I read the lyrics I heard them outloud. So weird how that happens sometimes. Michigan is more than just a team or a school, it is a part of all of us who love it so.
For all the Michigan Men and Women for whom Michigan never leaves,
Go Blue
September 28th, 2015 at 9:48 AM ^
the actual game on the field, although there is tremendouse meaning there too when it comes to character development, excitement, and of course Michigan. it is wonderful that you honor your father in such a fashion and that it can be done in a frequent, visible, and enjoyable manner. i would suggest that if you have children of your own that you not get rid of any of the memorabilia.
blessings to you and your family, and it really is great that you all have rallied around this tremendously positive part of life. thanks for sharing.
September 28th, 2015 at 10:07 AM ^
Very special memories, thanks for sharing! I always look forward to this diary following the games, thanks for the great work!
September 28th, 2015 at 10:16 AM ^
More than 1 out of every 14 snaps in this game was a BYU punt. Somewhere Kirk Ferentz is taking a cold shower.
Also, jerseys definitely looked washed out. "Violet"-- so said my wife and 5 year old daughter.
September 28th, 2015 at 10:17 AM ^
Also when I see BYU's helmets I always think Yahoo! somehow has a college football team.
September 28th, 2015 at 10:31 AM ^
and thanks for sharing about your Dad. Priceless memories. I also can confirm that the jerseys did not look at all purple in person.
September 28th, 2015 at 10:40 AM ^
Before I get to your regular column I wanted to thank you for sharing your story of your father. I am very spiritual, I work spiritually with plants and my wife is a shaman, so your story gave me chills. Now on to the rest of your article, I'm sure that is great too, so thanks for that as well.
September 28th, 2015 at 10:45 AM ^
Amazing story about your dad and just damn excellent writing. People probably wondering why I'm tearing up at work.
September 28th, 2015 at 11:48 AM ^
I had an upbringing similar to yours---I was born in UM Hospital when my Dad was in law school, and slept in a dresser drawer in a house on Ann St. near the medical campus accorinding to my parents.
My dad was an undergrad during the great teams of the late forties.
His father also went to Michigan, and I followed suit, as did one of my younger brothers. Part of our family's home has always looked like WD's bedroom, and while we have all left him (my mother has passed, and his sons of course have all grown), he continues that tradition to this day.
He will be 85 in January, and if there is anything in his spirit that is still fully age 24, it is Michigan athletics.
Thank you for explaining what should have been obvious to me---the Michigan connection with my Dad lasts forever, and is but another reason why I embrace it so.
September 28th, 2015 at 11:14 AM ^
Well done!
September 28th, 2015 at 11:15 AM ^
What's worse is when the camera pans to Harbaugh and the backdrop of coachs and assistants reveals about 3 or 4 different shades of blue (and yellow/maize). There needs to be a complete swap out of ALL apparrel once Nike comes on board.
September 28th, 2015 at 11:47 AM ^
That being said, an awful lot of balls do seem to slip right through his mitts. Some sort of corollary may be needed...
September 28th, 2015 at 12:12 PM ^
Many thanks for your sharing, and I was at the Wrangler to Carter game with your brother, you did get the short end of the stick.
I remember walking up the stairs on the last play, my dad said they need to throw it short, and then history happen.
September 28th, 2015 at 12:32 PM ^
September 28th, 2015 at 10:34 PM ^
I'm blown away by your story. And not just what you have described, about your life events, about what matters, to both you and your Dad. How you reached an understanding of the person who gave you life. It's about Bo's leadership touching lives and how he still does. Good lord. It's not for nothing that he is recognized as a visionary leader years after he is gone. He always will be. He cared about people and he found solutions. I wish there were more people in the world like him, and, your Dad is proud of you.
September 28th, 2015 at 2:20 PM ^
Amazing stuff. It's sometimes amazing to look back and realize how ingrained this program can be in your family's life and their memories.
I'm sure your Dad enjoyed this game quite a bit.
September 28th, 2015 at 3:44 PM ^
Football is important to us for many different reasons, but I think much of it is because of family. That was a truly touching story, as I was sitting eating lunch in between classes I had to low key dab my eyes a couple times... Thanks for sharing!!!
September 28th, 2015 at 6:52 PM ^
September 28th, 2015 at 9:51 PM ^
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