Favorite Moments in Big House

Submitted by Hail-Storm on

I wrote a post earlier asking people about their favorite moments at Yost, and enjoyed everyone's shared memories.  Although, its an entirely different atmosphere, I was thinking we could do the same for the Big House with hopefully a great span of memories from "The Catch" to Braylon's show, to 2 seconds.

Although I was there for the Brady, Henson, and Navarre years, my favorite game and fan memories came after school. I think the most exciting game I have been to at the Big House was actually last year at the Notre Dame game. It seemed to have everything, with key scoring plays, key stops, a great rivalry game, and maybe it is the new construction, but I have never heard the crowd so loud, before, during, and after the game.

 

My favorite fan moment, came a few years ago when I had tickets in the student section, it may have been against Minnesota, but I can't really remember. What I do remember is that after the third quarter, as everyone was sitting down, a student arose with a hotdog, and he pitted the different sections of the students against each other to deem who could cheer the loudest, earning the hotdog as a prize. After the first hotdog was flung, a second appeared, and then a third, and then another.  I honestly can't remember how many hotdogs actually were hurled out, but everytime we thought he was done, another would appear to the approving roars of the crowd. Of course the ushers found this act dispicable enough to boot the kid, with an appropriate boo from the students. I have to admit though, this was the best quarter show I ever saw there.   

M-Wolverine

June 18th, 2010 at 10:16 AM ^

Never have the Roses been sweeter. Field rushed, trophy presentation, evil Buckeyes vanquished...and headedfor Pasendena, undefeated.

In hindsight, 11/25/89, Bo's last game, was pretty special.

I'm sure others will list great games...so I tried to list some great moments.

Pea-Tear Gryphon

June 18th, 2010 at 10:33 AM ^

I was 5 rows up on the 10 yard line in the student section. We went ape shit when Woodson took that punt back. I don't remember him past the OSU 40, as the mosh pit had started in earnest.

My eyes still burn a little when I think back to rushing the field. Man, they went a little crazy with the pepper spray. I had a chunk of end zone turf for four years from that game.

Perfect season, perfect game.

bluebrains98

June 18th, 2010 at 11:32 AM ^

I kept the chunk of grass I harvested that day, after rushing the field, in a Ziploc until about 2003, when my wife decided it was just too disgusting to keep anymore.

The only thing that topped it was being on the field after winning the Rose Bowl two months later and having my arm around Charles Woodson as the media interviewed him--that didn't suck.

wigeon

June 18th, 2010 at 2:03 PM ^

Single greatest day, other than the birth of my kids. I remember every detail of that day - the drive into town, the clouds, the snow on the ground, the timbre of Frank Beckmann's voice in the pre-game radio show. 

michgoblue

June 18th, 2010 at 4:56 PM ^

When Charlie Heisman took that return back, the place went insane.  I remember being on the field high fiving with the likes of Woodson and Griese thinking that this has got to be the best day of my life.  To this day, I have never experienced a comparable moment asa sports fan.  I still have the clump of dirt from the field in my freezer.  Just awesome! 

Man do I long for those days.

blueheron

June 18th, 2010 at 10:22 AM ^

Big:

* Tate's game-winning pass to Matthews last year.  (As loud as I've ever heard the crowd...)

* John Thompson's "buffalo stampede" interception return against Wisconsin.  (Ditto...)

* Brabbs' game-winning field goal against Washington.

Small:

* Every time a giant inflatable dong is tossed around the student section.  (I guess that would be big, too.)

Bryan

June 18th, 2010 at 10:27 AM ^

Yelling at the other students not to leave because we would come back in the 4thQ and having people look at me as though I were crazy. 

Showed them.

Hail-Storm

June 18th, 2010 at 10:44 AM ^

in Boston during the game.  With 8 minutes left and down 27 to 10, the bar emptied out to just a few of us. Since most of them probably took the T (subway) home, I could only imagine their suprise when they got home and saw the final of 45-37. Man that was a great game. The crowd that remained looked amazing and loud on TV though, so as the saying goes "those who stay..." 

Greg McMurtry

June 18th, 2010 at 10:47 AM ^

MY dad came with us to that game and he is always so dead-set on getting to the car and "beating traffic" at any sort of event that he watched most of the end of the game on a concession stand tv.

Great game.

M-Wolverine

June 18th, 2010 at 11:00 AM ^

But for me it was the people who stayed that amused me more. Specifically the MSU fans. To watch their cocky tenor get obliterated, bit by bit...mmmmmm... But then, I'm kinda a dick.

I'll confess, I was just about at the breaking point. I had seen what assholes they can be after the last time we lost at the Big House with the Desmond trip, and was still stinging from Spartan Stadium after Clockgate. So, I was telling myself, I don't want to be here for that. So, if they don't score a touchdown here, I'm gone...ok, if we don't get the onside kick, I'm gone...well, shit, we have a game here!

Of course, got to relive losing to the Spartans at home finally 2 years ago...but that game certainly held it off for awhile.

Huntington Wolverine

June 18th, 2010 at 3:21 PM ^

I had to find a satelite TV to watch that game while I was in Haiti that semester.  No one around me could figure out why this game was such a big deal to me that I would skip dinner and stay glued to the TV through the whole thing.  So satisfying and draining that the only way I could celebrate was in awed silence as I watched the sun set into the Caribbean while sipping an ice cold coke I had stuck in the freezer during the second OT.

Huntington Wolverine

June 18th, 2010 at 3:33 PM ^

I had to find a satelite TV to watch that game while I was in Haiti that semester.  No one around me could figure out why this game was such a big deal to me that I would skip dinner and stay glued to the TV through the whole thing.  So satisfying and draining that the only way I could celebrate was in awed silence as I watched the sun set into the Caribbean while sipping an ice cold coke I had stuck in the freezer during the second OT.

MGoRobo

June 18th, 2010 at 10:36 AM ^

Wisconsin '08.  Biggest comeback in the Big House.  Everyone else i was with left...I got the chance to gloat about being in that game for weeks later.  Especially cause the season was so bad, so  I was there for one of that year's few highlights.

Harmonnj

June 18th, 2010 at 10:39 AM ^

I think it was '95, comeback against Viginia. It was so hot that day, pretty boring game really until the end....heave ho to Mercury Hayes with no time on clock. Place went totally crazy!

MGoJen

June 18th, 2010 at 10:44 AM ^

  • Literally jumping onto the field and hugging absolutely everyone on November 22nd, 2003
  • Henne --> Manningham
  • Forcier --> Mathews
  • The concourse after the '09 ND game when everyone (old, young, all in and not) high-fived each other in solidarity
  • The '03 38-0 shut out of Notre Dame and chanting, "Hou-ston's Bet-ter! *clapclap clap clap clap* at the end
  • The '04 MSU game (one of the most amazing memories of my entire life)
  • The '08 comeback against Wisconsin where I (literally) burst out crying

Tater

June 18th, 2010 at 10:45 AM ^

The Heisman pose and Mercury Hayes' catch to avert an upset by Virginia.  If I was the kind to have nightmares about football, the Barber twins would have provided plenty.  Hayes kept them from being part of what would have been a legendary upset for their program.

As for the Heisman pose, I really can't say anything that hasn't been said a thousand times.  My other great moment in the game was watching the OSU fans leave well before the game was over.  It was the first time I had seen anything like that in the Big Game. 

I still rely on that memory to remind me that Michigan is due to turn the cycle back around on OSU. 

bluewave720

June 18th, 2010 at 10:46 AM ^

but it is truly difficult to pick a "favorite" as there have been so many moving experiences.

'97 OSU - giving Jerame Tuman a high five on the field after the game.

'99 OSU - watching Dhani Jones grab an orange from someone in the student section, hold it above his face and obliterate it so the juice could victoriously travel into his mouth.

'02 - Brabbs 44-yarder vs. Washington

'04 - Edwards vs. MSU

'05 - "Touchdown Manningham!!!!"

'10 - Denard's 4 all-purpose TDs against MSU in Michigan's 63-24 victory. CNNSI homepage the next day with a picture of Rich Rodriguez and his 6-0 team with the caption "Machine of Destruction Running on All Cylinders."

MGoJen

June 18th, 2010 at 11:05 AM ^

That's what just happened to me, haha.  This thread spells doom for my productivity today, but I'm even more hyped up for the season to start.

Only 78 days til kickoff when we'll be able to add amazing '10-'11 memories to our all-time lists!

WichitanWolverine

June 18th, 2010 at 10:48 AM ^

I've got two good ones:

1)  '03 OSU.  Rushed the field.  Best moment of my life.  Enough said.

2)  '08 Wisky.  Got told I was going to "have my fucking teeth kicked in" by an old guy after I told people to shut the fuck up and stop booing the team.  Glad the team backed me up there.

Crime Reporter

June 18th, 2010 at 10:55 AM ^

I haven't been to the Big House in years, but that game sticks out the most.

It looked pretty bad at halftime, after Tim Dwight returned a punt as time expired.

I remember how electric it was in the second half when Michigan stormed back and took the lead. The A-Train emerged that day as a houehold name.

That was a pivotal game for our national championship run, and one of my favorites.

silverslugger

June 18th, 2010 at 11:00 AM ^

1) My First and only Michigan ever, so far. September 19th against Eastern Michigan University

 

2) From my house...TOUCHDOWN MANNINGHAM!!!

and of course..."Forcier Throws, CAUGHT, TOUCHDOWN GREG MATTHEWS!" 

 

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