OT: How did you become a Michigan fan?

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

Title says it all.

Whether you signed on when you got an acceptance letter or the first thing you saw coming out of the womb was a Block M.

I was raised a Michigan fan. 

My first game was September 18, 2004 against San Diego State (W 24-21). Mike Hart's breakout game.

I really really really got into it to the point where it became my one and only interest with a bullet when I got my first history book when I was 11 years old. Just looking through the history and records amazed me, seeing the 1901 team just kill people 119-0 and 128-0. 

It inspired me to write down the results against opponents on spiral notebook paper so I could organize records against teams from what conference and then erase team records and write in new ones when they were broken. That notebook eventually became the SuperGuide.

jdon

March 28th, 2017 at 9:04 AM ^

I remember Rocket Ishmael pissing me off in my youth but Howard and Moeller cemented my love for Michigan.

True fact: I cried when I got my acceptance letter.

 

Sam1863

March 28th, 2017 at 9:21 AM ^

As a Flint native, I say congrats to your alma mater for the renovations they've done to the area (campus expansion, Chevy in the Hole, Atwood Stadium).

But like many old Flintoids, I will always think of it as GMI - in the same way that DTE Music Theater will always be Pine Knob.

Robbie Moore

March 28th, 2017 at 12:10 PM ^

...and went to every football game for four years. 1971 to 1975. Remember Tom Slade anyone? Saw Woody break the yardmarkers in 71. Watched the hoops team under Johnny Orr and his hyperactive assistant coach (Frieder) and hockey before and after the move to Yost. Went to two classes with my nom de plume goalie Robbie Moore. These memories NEVER go away. I became Blue in 1971 and I will remain Blue into my next life.

McDoomButt

March 28th, 2017 at 9:06 AM ^

My family moved from Germany to Ann Arbor in the 90s after my dad retired from the Air Force.

Michigan Football was obviously a huge deal to all my friends, and I caught the bug. It was basically the only thing I had in common with anyone I went to school with.

Attending the university became a dream of mine, and I ended up making that dream come true! So I am definitely a lifelong fan now :)

GPCharles

March 28th, 2017 at 10:37 AM ^

I had been a fan since the early 60's with Bob Timberlake and the 1965 Rose Bowl game, but it was the 1969 Michigan-Ohio State game that sealed the deal.

Two years later I matriculated at U of M.  I got to see another victory in the 1971 version of The Game.

mgoblu88

March 28th, 2017 at 9:07 AM ^

and now a supporter of all things Meeeechigan!
I thank my Grandfather for directing me towards the "Maize & Blue" !!
Plus, listening to M games on the radio with Bob Ufer helped too.

Mr. Yost

March 28th, 2017 at 9:11 AM ^

Born at Hutzel Hospital in Detroit while visiting family. Already lived on Ann Arbor/Ypsi border near St. Joe's.

Moved to Detroit at 5...moved back to Ann Arbor at 7. When I got my mother in trouble for using an Ann Arbor address to go to Ann Arbor public schools while living in Detroit.

Allen Elementary
Scarlett Middle
Huron High

I was born to be a Wolverine...no family influence. Wasn't raised...no one in my family liked sports like I always have - now everyone watches every game. I just became a fan myself due to being from Ann Arbor/Detroit and loving sports. Michigan was always my team.

My allegiance to that city, University, and those people is as tight as my closest family. I LOVE the University of Michigan.

M-Dog

March 28th, 2017 at 9:15 AM ^

My fandom came late, by attending grad school at Michigan in the early 80's.  Before that, I knew almost nothing about Michigan.

As a kid I used to root for Ohio State against Michigan because I thought it was cool that they let them put marijuana leaves on their helmets.  For real.  

 

pkatz

March 28th, 2017 at 9:14 AM ^

but then I was fortunate to go to the business school (pre-Ross days) and the rest was history - receiving my admittance letter to UM still ranks as one of my top 5 moments.  

Several years after graduating from UM, I brought my family back to AA for three years while I ran a division of a company in the area - that experience ingrained UM fandom into my kids as well... while I have two who opted not to go to UM (Cornell; maybe Wisco), my youngest claims to have her sights set on Michigan in three years... I should be so lucky.

Everyone Murders

March 28th, 2017 at 9:15 AM ^

I never cared that much until I transferred to Michigan as an undergrad.  Would watch The Game and the bowl games and pull for Michigan, but without much passion.  When I first got on campus I used to laugh a bit at people who said "we won today" thinking "that's weird, I did not know that they had 5'3" rotund players on the team".  In an eye-rolling way.

I shook that off pretty quickly, and was rabid by the time I was a senior.  And by the time I got my second Michigan degree - Jebus, I was that guy who said "we won" and meant it!

Blue Baughs

March 28th, 2017 at 9:15 AM ^

I used to love the old Western movies that featured the Cavalry.

 

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

The Horse Soldiers

Fort Apache

 

So when it came time to pick a football team, the Maize and Blue just drew me in. It just looked like the good guys to me.



Then i got my first football jersey for Xmas that year. #60 Mark Messner, and the rest is history. I felt like the football version of John Wayne walking around in that shirt.

Sam1863

March 28th, 2017 at 9:44 AM ^

That's weird, because that was partly my reason: Michigan's uniforms were the same color as Union cavalry. (My Dad was a Civil War nut, and I caught it from him at an early age.)

The other reason I became true Maize & Blue was the 1969 24-12 beating of Ohio State. When I saw Woody Hayes on TV, he looked and sounded like a nasty, loudmouth, obnoxious bully (or so my 9-year-old self thought.) Beating him and his team so soundly seemed like the right thing to have happen - like the good guys won over the bad guys.

Actually, I'm 56 now, and I still feel the same way.

ZB75

March 28th, 2017 at 9:17 AM ^

Living in Ohio all my friends were osu fans. I wanted to be different. As a 16 year old in 1991, Desmond turned me on to Michigan, and then the Fab Five brought me all the way in and I've have been a die hard ever since.

The Fugitive

March 28th, 2017 at 9:17 AM ^

Started watching with my Pops in 1997. Good timing.

A family friend took me to my first game in 1998 against Indiana and Randel So.

I think my eyes were bigger seeing the Big House for the first time than seeing boobies in person.

SoDak Blues

March 28th, 2017 at 9:17 AM ^

Used to go to games with my dad when I was little. Totally and completely brainwashed as I am currently doing to my kids. The two most significant moments in my fandom were John Kolesar making the game winning catch in the 1988 Hall of Fame bowl and Rumeal Robinson icing the free throws in the NC game. I was 8 at the time, and have never looked back. 

Stuck in Ohio

March 28th, 2017 at 9:23 AM ^

Genetics.  My grandmother graduated from there in 1928. My perents met there as students. My uncle went there. My brother played football there in the late 70's and my nephew was in the marching band.

pdgoblue25

March 28th, 2017 at 9:20 AM ^

The school that produced Grbac, Desmond, Al Sincich, Andy Cannavino, and Eric Riley.  They were personal friends with Al and Andy.  As soon as they went there they started rooting for them and it stuck.  I became a Michigan fan through them.  It wasn't hard though because my family always hated Ohio State.

Soulfire21

March 28th, 2017 at 9:20 AM ^

I grew up outside of South Bend so I was originally a Notre Dame fan, though only because my family was. I applied to Michigan, Purdue, and Notre Dame.

West Lafayette and South Bend didn't hold a candle to my visit to Ann Arbor. I felt immediately at home from when I first set foot on Michigan's campus and the rest, to be cliche, is history. While I have formally renounced my Notre Dame roots I don't have the disdain for them that many Michigan fans do.

EGD

March 28th, 2017 at 9:25 AM ^

When I was a little kid I thought the winged helmets were cool.  Also dug singing "The Victors."  Also liked how people would throw rolls of TP when we kicked PATs and they woudl unravel like streamers.  And I loved seeing players crash into fans and horn players in the end zones (this was back before the field was lowered)--until John Kolesar broke his clavicle that way: not cool.

I liked watching little Jamie Morris pop out from behind a bunch of massive linemen and drag tacklers several yards before going down.

Mark Messner, Tripp Welbourne and Vada Murray were bad asses.

The basketball team had this guy, Robert Henderson, who used to shoot line-drive jump shots and would routinely hang the net when he swished them; I dug watching that.  And Antoine Joubert had the best nickname in college hoops.

On Saturday afternoons I could listen to the games on the radio, and then on Sunday mornings watch Michigan Replay with Coach Schembechler and see what I was hearing.

I must say though, Michigan was really just a sports franchise to me growing up.  But on my first visit to Ann Arbor at age 17, I fell in love with the city and the campus and the whole vibe of the place.  (It probably didn't hurt that it was the day of the 1991 NCAA Final between M and Duke).  I had applied to both M and MSU and up to then I was basically undecided between both schools.  I'm pretty sure that day was when I became a Wolverine for life.  (Either that, or later when I visited MSU and thought the place was lame).

L'Carpetron Do…

March 28th, 2017 at 9:25 AM ^

I got in and then my mom made me go because it was the best school I got into haha.

But I would never have thought about applying if I hadn't hung out with some of the popular girls one Saturday night in the fall of my senior year.  One of them was pretty cute and I developed a crush on her and she said she wanted to go to Michigan. The next week, I asked my guidance counselor about the University of Michigan. 

17-18 year olds really have a smart decision making process.

The girl ended up going to Michigan too and we lived in the same dorm freshman year. After that I didn't see her until graduation weekend of my senior year - HA!

NowTameInThe603

March 28th, 2017 at 9:25 AM ^

I started to really enjoy sports at the age of 7 which just happened to be in 1997. I remember charles woodson and roses. I remember being in my parents bedroom watching michigan beat BC in OT.

I grew up in NH with no affiliation to michigan. I am a loyal person.

Brian Griese

March 28th, 2017 at 9:26 AM ^

and his parents defected from the state south of us when he was only a few months old in the earlier 60's. I doubt my grandpa gave two shits about sports at the time, but as my dad became a child they decided a good way to have some fun with all their relatives was to start cheering for the maize and blue. Furthermore, my dad, shortly before I was born, started working at a company founded by "Bullet" Bob Westfall and remains employed with them to this day. Bob's son, Harley still owns the company and is an excellent person. Needless to say, I was all Blue at birth. I went to a difficult but excellent small liberals college, but I wish had pursued Michigan a bit more at the time.