InterlopingYooper

January 2nd, 2024 at 4:15 PM ^

I watched Michigan win the Rose Bowl over half a lifetime ago. I was just a kid starting college and didn't properly enjoy the victory because I was too focused on the half of the national championship we didn't win instead of the half we captured.

If we only knew how deep the valleys ahead would be. We lost Bo and The Game in a matter of hours, and then Appalachian State came to town the next fall and shook our program to its very foundation. We responded by unmooring ourselves from our core identity, mistaking change for progress. The spread offense was a false doctrine, followed by snake oil peddled by a man willing to trade tickets for soda pop lids. As the losses to our rivals began to pile up, we welcomed a conquering hero back to Ann Arbor. It was a match made in heaven, but that didn't mean we didn't have some hell left to crawl through in order to get to the pearly gates.

Jim Harbaugh's arrival wasn't the end of our suffering; it was only the beginning of the end. A college football program is a lot like one of those impossibly long ships that haul iron ore across Lake Superior. You can't turn those on a dime; you need time, patience, and a strong pair of hands on the wheel.

By 2020, it seemed like Jim had run out of time, and a large part of the fanbase had run out of patience. Trouble with the snap, a bad spot in Columbus, postseason futility, an inability to execute the forward pass - Michigan's football program took on the feel of a production of Shakespeare's MacBeth. Players and assistants came and went, but the entire enterprise seemed hopelessly star-crossed. Double, double toil and trouble.

But Jim's hands never wavered, and somehow it all turned around. A winning culture bloomed from a crack in the sidewalk. Last night, we won the Rose Bowl again, and this time, I savored it. There is nothing that can tarnish this for me, not the rival fans with their talk of asterisks or the prostitutes who make their living as competitive yellers on ESPN. The glass has never been more full, and next week, it has the chance to overflow.

 

Joined: 10/24/2017

MGoPoints: 2924

rob f

January 2nd, 2024 at 8:43 PM ^

After reading what you wrote about a Lake Superior ore carrier, I award you the coveted "MGoUserPic  Checks Out" Seal of Approval.

A lot of truth in the rest of your post, too---as someone who attended my first Michigan game nearly a half century ago in the fall of 1974 (and a season ticket holder since 1977)  I look back differently at numerous fan moments I've experienced along the way.  And I've come to realize how important it is to fully savor this special season. 

Joined: 11/11/2010

MGoPoints: 194597

Ray

January 2nd, 2024 at 5:57 PM ^

Almost all of the Alabama fans I talked to were polite, civil, and great ambassadors for their university.  There was one guy in front of me though (we were solidly in the Michigan section) who managed to piss off a number of us.  In my case he suggested I was a bit too exuberant and I should kindly STFU.  I guess every fan base has their knuckleheads.  

The Michigan fans absolutely made a difference when Alabama was on offense.  Not sure how it came across on TV, but in the stands we were very, very loud.  

Joined: 07/05/2008

MGoPoints: 7044