I love our Wal-Mart Wolverines

Hey all - I was born in Columbus.  I have lived here my whole life expect for my time down in Athens, Ohio where I went to OU - Go Rufus!!!  I chose to the Maize and Blue and did not buy into the cult that is tosu.  I have been a huge fan since I was 5 or 6!  We have family friends that live in Detroit and they gave me my first Michigan sweatshirt (that help start it).  That was my favorite sweatshirt and would wear it all the time.  As I tell people all the time "I have seen the light and it is MAIZE and BLUE!!"

GO BLUE and BEAT sparty!!

Have no ties to UM.  A co-worker of mine loves Michigan more than anyone I've ever seen.  His entire family are dedicated fans, and none of them ever attended Michigan. 

The only problem I've run into with fans that didn't attend is that they seem to focus more on the MSU rivalry than the OSU rivalry.  I'm not sure why that is, but I remember as a student thinking about wanting to beat OSU more than anything else.  All of my friends on cmapus felt the same way also.  I think when you step away from campus people start to focus more on the in-state stuff for whatever reason.  Ohh well.  A dedicated fan is a dedicated fan, and we have the best.

In high school I was being recruited heavily by the MIAA to play both football and baseball. Naturally, I applied to MIAA schools and Michigan, being a die hard wolverine fan. I was accepted to Michigan and every other school I applied to, but the financial packages I received for academics from MIAA schools were much better than anything Michigan could offer. I was left with a choice, play 2 sports and pay less for a great education, or follow the dream of going to Michigan? I chose Albion, and haven't regretted the decision since.

An interesting sidenote is that my position coach played for Bo at Miami and GA'd for him at Michigan so they talked often. One day, I went in to my coach's office to watch film (of my own accord, of course) and he was on the phone with Bo. I stopped in the door, but he motions for me to sit down. He then says "Bo, I've got a big michigan fan here who'd like to say hi" and hands me the phone. I introduce myself, and tell him I'm a huge fan and that it's an honor to speak with him. In typical Bo fashion, he responds "Son, if you can play for Paul (my position coach) you could have played for me. Thanks for being a fan, good luck this season, and Go Blue." Since that short conversation, I've considered myself Michigan man. It was absolutely amazing.

My brother in law is an MSU fan. He gives me shit for being a UM fan on the grounds that it's only because they're good and it's the popular choice and blah blah blah. His favorite baseball team? The Yankees. The fucktard was born and raised in Michigan and has never set foot in the state of New York.

Another thing this shit wipe likes to say to piss me off is Wal Mart Wolverine. That cocksucker never went to college period, much less f-ing MSU (I actually did graduate from MSU - this fact baffles him to no end).

Dammit, now I'm all worked up. Imma go over there and shit on his porch.

          I was lucky to go to school here from out of State  but anyone who is a Michigan fan from any part of the country school or no school is family to me.

The funny thing is most of the people i've ever seen at Walmart remind me of Sparty fans....

Also it doesn't matter which school you come from it's the school that you cheer for, you waste a whole day being pissed off because they lost, and the school you defended from every clown out there for 3 years that matters.

We have all taken the hits for Michigan being down and we all walked through hell with this team to get back.

We are "ALL IN " right!

Go Blue!!!!

I'm in a tough position, possbile future wolverine or walmart wolverine here. I am interested in a journalism degree but I really can't see myself going somewhere else if i do get into Michigan....might just have to get a different career.

I was born in Dayton, OH (I now live in Grand Rapids) and lived there for 24 years.  I was born into a family of OSU fans.  I did not go to Michigan, and I've never understood why that should matter.

At about the age of 8 or 9 I became aware of the tradition of watching college football on Saturdays- this also brought with it an awareness of the concept of having an allegiance to a school.

During this same period of my life, I came to own an old-school UofM t-shirt, which I wore almost every day.

It was around then, that for the first time in my life, I saw Michigan run out of the tunnel and touch the 'GO BLUE' banner on TV....and that's where it all began- I was hooked.

I'm proud to say, that even before my 'age of accountability', I never rooted for OSU. 

In fact, my family, the OSU fans that raised me?  They're all Michigan fans now- still living in Ohio.  I converted each and every one of them.  I threw every piece of OSU trash I found, well, in the trash.  And not one of them objected having been turned from the darkness to the light.

A thread like this brings a smile to my face- because I know that somewhere in Ohio, or even Michigan, there's a kid with no one to show him/her the way of truth.  But all it takes is one taste of the deep tradition and magic of Michigan Football, and he/she will be plucked out of the drought stricken deserts, into the richness and glory that is MICHIGAN!  And when that happens, there will be a multitude of Michigan fans and alumni, just waiting to take them in and embrace them!

Thank you GWUwolverine. No matter where I go i can't seeing myself lose the passion I have for Michigan football. It will be a tough decision but i'll always be a Michigan fan.

My parents and grandparents are all Michigan alums, they've have had tickets since the late 60's and have brought me to games since the early 90's. While I didn't get accepted to UofM, I am a proud bronco alum with an aviation degree. I would much rather stay home and watch UofM on tv then attend a WMU game (even against CMU). I may not be a "Michigan Man" in the sense of the term, but I consider myself a proud Wal-Mart wolverine, and would not change anything about it.

jc is completely right.

i grew up in ann arbor.  my dad got something like 3 degrees from UM.  i spent more aggregate time on campus growing up than most undergrads do during their four years.  i went to just about every UM-affiliated camp imaginable (CAEN, all-state, MMSS, etc).  and i went to just about every game i could.

when it came time for me to choose a college, i applied to michigan, purdue (safety school), and four of the top engineering schools around the country.  when brouchures and mailings arrived from state and state, i either burned them, or used them as toilet paper.  it eventually came down to a choice between michigan and a little tech school located in pasadena that happens be the home of jpl and usgs.  for someone who wanted to study engineering, it was a pretty simple choice.  plus, going to college in the same town that i grew up in, with the same people from high school, and taking classes with professors who had a 50-50 chance of knowing my parents - well, it didn't seem that appetizing to me.

so i took my talents to the west coast, along with enough maize and blue paraphernalia to cover the facade of a small house.  and i got up every saturday at 9 after being wasted from drinking or exhausted from coursework to watch my team play.  when they weren't on TV, i followed on espn gamecast (in the days before liveblogs), and ran around my dorm screaming like a mad-man after henne to manningham.  i watched 06 osugeddon with a buckeye, a longhorn, and a fighting illini (the first two of whom were my closest friends in college - go figure).  after seeing the horror (incidentally, the last michigan game i attended in person), i went back to school and took my lumps and many shots of <insert alcohol here>.

now i live in seattle, and i still get up at 9 AM to watch my wolverines play.  more often than not, ill be hungover or still drunk (the latter is more probable).  i have a huge winged helmet fathead in my office and custom made adidas kicks that scream michigan.  i shelled out for a cadillac directtv package and a big plasma tv.  even though i live across the street from buckleys (the michigan bar in seattle), i prefer to sit in my condo and watch on my tv, chattering nervously on the mgoliveblogs. 

its a way of life.  i dont get angry or hate anyone who mocks or derides my fandom.  rather, i feel incredibly sorry for them - as their jealousy and pettiness is so strong that they cannot know what it is to truly love something.  they don't realize that you don't need to be related to someone to love them.

"It's great ..... to be ..... a Wal-mart Wolverine"

"It's great ..... to be ..... a Wal-mart Wolverine"

"You didn't even go there" is a logically absurd argument.

It cannot reflect poorly on anyone who actually did go to Michigan because the group of people being criticized are by definition NOT technically affiliated with the university.

Apparently MSU doesn't offer classes in simple logical fallacies or simple Venn diagrams, because either would put a stop to this non-sense pretty quickly.

A few thoughts on what the world would be like if you could only root for the university you attended:

• No children would ever be able to attend a college football game
• ALL (including MSU) fan bases would be automatically cut by far more than half
• All non-alumni parents of students would have to stay home on game day
• All non-alumni relatives of students would have to care less about family
• Children of alumni would have to care less about their parents allegiances
• ...........(Please feel free to add to this list)

I find it funny that, even if we wanted to, it wouldn’t be possible to put the ‘alumni-only’ rule into effect.  It just doesn’t hold up…but good luck explaining this to an MSU grad- you won’t be able to scream loud enough for them to hear you over their own insecurities.

One last thing- In case an MSU grad asks, and you didn’t go to Michigan, just tell them you get your fan membership card in the mail every year with your tax return.

Born in Californian, mom graduated from Cal, I currently live in Indiana, and go to Indiana State. When I lived in Cali I didn't know much about college football but I watched the 49ers since I can remember and still a die hard fan. I remember the '97 Rose Bowl and seeing them uniforms and Charles Woodson and all! I loved them! So, I started being a fan and glad I did.

Moved to Indiana and my mom remarried a Michigan State alum that is a huge Michigan fan. He hates Michigan State! From there my love only grew more for Michigan!

If you really think about it, MSU making fun of the UM for having "walmart wolverine" fans is hypocritical to another point they try to make. THey claim UM is beyond arrogant and smug, but don't you think the arrogant thing to do with wal mart wolverines would be to say " well you can only root for Michigan if you went here and are a true Michigan fan"...instead we embrace all fans , something that an arrogant university would not do.

My dad played for Bo...even though I went to UC...I have seen over a 100 games at the Big House (probably 5 a year since I was a kid). My dad will be on the field this weekend rooting for a big win over Sparty...best memory for me is being on the sideline for the 97 game vs. O$U. 

One thing I have always felt as a "Wal-Mart Wolverine", is that to me Michigan Football represents my home.

My family went to Michigan, I was born and raised in Ann Arbor and Dexter. I went to High School across the street from the stadium.

Everytime Michigan takes the field it represents my state, my family, my friends, where I grew up. It represents my home.

Alumni fans (especially from Out of State), some times don't seem to understand that. I don't think less of them as fans, but for many many alumni fans I have met in D.C. and some (fewer) in New Orleans seem to just care about Michigan being good to give them bragging rights at the bar. For me I want Michigan to be good and succeed because people do think of the University football team when they think of Michigan as a state.  They don't think of Sparty.  (Well, they also think of Detroit, but I love the D)

I was turned down by Michigan, OSU, Purdue, Wisconsin, Owens Communtiy College, Ivy Tech, Smith & Wesson firearm safety school, Academy of Performing Arts in Clowning, Empire Beauty School, Penn Foster Small Engine Repair & Highland Repair and Refinishing School....

So I went to MSU.

I lived in Lansing as a kid.  Liked Sparty by default (mostly because of Magic, i doubt there were too many kids of that era that didn't love Magic).  Then we moved to central Ohio.  The stupid Buckeye fans acted like asses when they found out I was from Michigan, so I played that up just to anger the idiots.  Thanks to the Bucknuts I'm true blue, now.  BTW, went to U of Cincinnati and settled there.  I come up to A2 for at least one football and one basketball game a year.  I haven't been to Yost, but go to M hockey games when they play Miami and I can get tix (which is becoming rare).  I also saw M win a hockey nat champ in Cincy.  

I live in NC, and I've been a Michigan fan for just about the same amout of time as Brandanomano. A friend of mine noticed my Michigan sweatshirt yesterday, and told me that he was applying there. Needless to say, I plan on making sure that he attends, I guess that's the closest thing to actually going to UM for me.

Some really good posts here. Thanks for that.

The concept is very foreign to those if us from one-team states. I grew up in Nebraska and just about everyone with a pulse was a Husker fan. Being an alum or not was a complete non-issue. The Huskers belonged to Nebraska, they were everyone's team.

Why do MSU fans care, anyway?  When fans pick teams independent of their college attendance, they have lots of choices. They could choose any school to root for. Some Spartans apparently can't bear to not be chosen.

This is not a middle school popularity contest, for Christ's sake. Get over it. And appreciate the thousands of non-alums who choose to wear the green, because they are out there too.

after attending a Bill Freehan invitation summer baseball camp i went into my senior season expecting to hear from M believing i actually had a shot to play baseball for my favorite school.   i also did not have the grades and eventually M baseball cooled on me and actually took a teammate of mine from the Michigan Highschool Baseball East/West game.  i am thankful to be honest that this thread was created and that there seems to a be a genuine grateful attitude towards those of us who do not have M stamped on our degrees!  GO BLUE BEAT green!

Really?

The fine folks that run WalmartWolverines.com did not appreciate my attempt at humor when I sent them a picture of wolverine I had taken at the Detroit Zoo.  I sent it with the e-mail of "I'm pretty sure this guy didn't go to Michigan either".  To which I got a reply back from them saying, "I don't get it" to which I replied, "Well your site is about Walmart Wolverines and this guy calls himself a Wolverine but I'm pretty sure he never attended which makes him a Walmart Wolverine".  For that I got, "Oh I guess that's what passes of as humor at Eastern Michigan.  Say, why don't you send a picture of yourself".  I didn't reply to that.....Anyways, I thought that was damned funny.....

I grew up on the rural flatlands of Northwest Ohio.  I was raised a UM fan because my dad grew tired of listening to his friends, who were all OSU fans, claim they were the greatest thing since the wheel.  He decided he didn't want to be lumped into that group of ignorant fools, so he decided to be a Michigan fan.  Since then, my family has bled maize and blue.  That's not to say my father was ever an OSU fan, he was just a lost college football fan when he was in high school.  I've grown up knowing nothing more than Michigan football and I credit that to my dad.  I love UM and even applied there....for the rejection letter that hangs in my bedroom haha.  That's not to say I'm stupid though, 2 BAs from the University of Dayton and a MLIS from Kent State, and MA from University of Hawaii says I'll do just fine for myself!

I am a UM alumnus -- LS&A class of '07, graduated near the top of my class.  Regardless, the term "Walmart Wolverine" pisses me off so badly that I don't even know where to begin.

Why should a person's legitimacy as a fan be determined by the name of the school he went to?  It makes no sense to me.  My four best friends I watch football with on Saturdays did not go to UM.  So what?  I hate the term "Walmart Wolverine" because it is needlessly divisive, and most of the people who use it do so without regard for what it actually means.

I have been called a Walmart Wolverine by MSU fans over and over again.  I suppose it shouldn't bother me, since I actually graduated from UM, but it just reminds me of how much I hate that term.  If I actually do get a chance to explain that I did graduate from UM, the topic suddenly shifts to "So what?  You were probably just a liberal arts major" (as if that doesn't count) or "So what?  I bet I make way more money than you with my degree."  Really?  Go fuck yourself.  These people don't really even care if you went there or not; they're just picking the most likely common scenario by which to insult you.