OT - UM Fact/Fiction Lore
Since we seemed to have had a good time with MGO Name (thanks, GoBlueScott) I thought I'd take a crack at a possible topic of interest and help fill the void until Signing Day.
What are some interesting traditions/stories/lore that you've come across that relate to the University of Michigan and are they fact or fiction? This could be from a student, resident, fan, athlete perspective. But I'm curious, "what's out there"?
For instance, when I was going through Freshman orientation (back in the 80's) our guide told us a lot of interesting tidbits. But the three that always have stayed with me are:
1. During lunch, if you know the song that the Bell Tower is playing and are the first to run to the top of the Tower and tell the carillon(sp?) player, you will receive a FREE Quarter Pounder from McDonald's. This, I learned was, unfortunately, FICTION.
2. When Horace Rackham donated the funds for the Rackham Library, he had a stipulation that he be able to stand on the stairs in front of his library and see the steps of the Graduate Library directly to the South. This meant that the donated marble water fountain in front of the League had to be lowered ten-ish feet - which it was. FACT (I believe).
3. If you step on the Block M in front of the Graduate Library, you will fail your next test. To this day, I have still never stepped on it - so I don't know if it's FACT or FICTION.
My apologizes upfront, if this isn't of interest. It's been something that I've wondered about and didn't want to read a book on. Besides, I always find the most entertaining and valuable part of MGOBLOG being the first-hand accounts from the users.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:08 PM ^
This is not OT
January 29th, 2010 at 12:20 PM ^
This is not a valuable contribution to a thread.
January 29th, 2010 at 2:15 PM ^
Let me contribute something then.
The University Seal (not the animal) currently says 1817 on it, but that hasn't always been the case. The University as we know it today was founded in 1841, but the original University of Michigan was founded in 1817, in Detroit. This was more of a high school than a college. If you go look in the grad library lobby, you'll see that the seal says 1841, while the one on the diag says 1817.
January 29th, 2010 at 3:13 PM ^
If I'm not mistaken, the seal there says "1837" on it, which is when the Ann Arbor campus was founded, and for many years that was the date on our seal. (The first actual classes were held in 1841.) Sometime in the early 20th century people rediscovered the Detroit school, and pushed the official date of foundation to 1817.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:10 PM ^
When I went to Orientation (2005) the story was that if you step on the Block M before your first blue-book exam you would fail it. After your first exam you're free to step on it with no repercussions.
I did not step on it before my first exams... but I have seen people take pictures of their small children standing on the M. Bad move.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:14 PM ^
beat me to it.
January 29th, 2010 at 1:39 PM ^
I used to see people walk on it just as they were giving that speech to them. It was like, geeze, way to be a killjoy.
January 29th, 2010 at 1:39 PM ^
Me personally, I'd run through the Diag, screaming "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMOOOORRREEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!"....just to see the horrified looks on the faces of the newbies.
January 29th, 2010 at 1:51 PM ^
for the full effect.
January 29th, 2010 at 2:07 PM ^
Because I do everything like that....
Typing this in now, naked, and on fire.
January 29th, 2010 at 3:33 PM ^
I have problems. I first read that as, "and fully erect."
January 29th, 2010 at 4:25 PM ^
I wish I would have written that
January 29th, 2010 at 12:14 PM ^
The version I heard of the Block M curse was that if you step on the Block M before you took your first Blue Book test of your Michigan career, you would fail out. (You have to be enrolled to be infected with the curses powers... So those kids playing football on the diag when their parents take them to their first game are ok).
I can confirm that this is fiction. As I stepped on it without knowing it was a curse until 2 seconds later as my buddy said "Have you taken your first blue book?"
I say: "What's a blue book?"
He proceeds to tell me that I will fail out of UM... I in fact graduated and even did very well on my first blue book.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:15 PM ^
rumor that there is a michigan flag on the moon that was put there when the american flag was put there...
January 29th, 2010 at 12:24 PM ^
http://www.michigandaily.com/content/debunking-moon-myth
We still dominate space though (See; Mesko, Space Emperor Zoltan)
January 29th, 2010 at 12:28 PM ^
As an Aero grad, I can tell you that is fiction. The Apollo 15 crew did however leave a document establishing a lunar branch of the Michigan Alumni Association... but no 'M' flags ever saw the lunar surface.
http://www.michigandaily.com/content/debunking-moon-myth
January 29th, 2010 at 12:39 PM ^
That's an interesting question. As we all know from the TV commercial, all 3 Apollo 15 astronauts (David Scott, Al Worden, Jim Irwin) had attended Michigan.
Scott had attended the Engineering school (on a swimming scholarship) for 1 year in 1950 before being accepted to West Point and transferring. Worden, after graduating from West Point, received Masters Degrees in Aeronautical Engineering and Instrumentation Engineering from Michigan in 1963. Irwin, an Annapolis graduate, also has M.S. degrees from Michigan in Aeronautical Engineering and Instrumentation Engineering, both in 1957.
An article in local papers right around the time of the flight in July 1971 indicated that they would leave a Michigan flag on the surface of the moon--not the size of the US flag, but about the size of an index card. Michigan, I think, also put out press releases announcing that a Michigan flag would be left on the moon. Given the size, I assume the flag was put in with a cuff checklist (which was tied around the wrist of the spacesuit) and Scott or Irwin was supposed to tear it out of the checklist and leave it there. That's just a guess, though; I don't know that for certain.
Maybe it was left there, and maybe it wasn't. If it was, they did not report it to Houston--no mention of it appears in the voice transcripts. So who knows.
Two Michigan-related things from the mission--
* During their 3rd and final moonwalk, while returning to the Lunar Module in the rover, Scott and Irwin drove by a large crater and announced that they were naming it "Wolverine."
* The wakeup call on the last day of the flight? "Hawaiian War Chant."
January 29th, 2010 at 2:42 PM ^
We have a problem."
January 29th, 2010 at 12:16 PM ^
If you graduated from U of M Flint you are considered a "Walmart Wolverine" by all of your sparty friends,FACT.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:28 PM ^
I agree. There was a lot of grumbling from the dearborn/flint students when they were given lower priority than the UM-Ann arbor freshman. The football team is associated with the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Dearborn and Flint are inferior institutions. I don't see anything wrong with being a Walmart Wolverine, and know that many of our fan basses greatest fans are part of this contingent. If any non UM alum is a walmart wolverine, than yes, the Flint and Dearborn alums would be walmart wolverines.
January 29th, 2010 at 1:26 PM ^
What if you got a degree from UM - A.A. and are currently attending UM - Dearborn for grad school?
January 29th, 2010 at 3:52 PM ^
Just curious, but does your diploma if you graduated from one of the satellite campuses say "U of M - Dearborn", etc.? On your resume do you have to write U of M - Dearborn or can u just write U of M? I never wrote U of M - Ann Arbor on my resume, but then again I was there for law school and there is obviously only one.
Just wondering b/c the UC schools are all separate institions as well at the Tennessee schools, but the U of M schools seem to have some sort of affiliation with each other.
January 29th, 2010 at 4:03 PM ^
Yes it says U of M Flint and yes my resume says Flint as well.
Proud to be a "Walmart Wolverine".
January 29th, 2010 at 12:19 PM ^
thou shallt not walk nor stand upon the Block M. Only once you have matriculated may you stand or walk upon the Block M. Even then, you should do so carefully so as not to excite the Michigan Safety Hating Gods.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:25 PM ^
I never once stepped on the Block M as an undergrad, but as an alum, stepping on it for the 1st time was very satisfying. In an almost mystical way...
I believe in the curse of the Block M.
January 29th, 2010 at 1:41 PM ^
and am in Ann Arbor all the time. I have and will never step NEAR that block M.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:27 PM ^
Matriculated means "enrolled." Let's not send the wrong message to our freshmen-to-be.
January 29th, 2010 at 1:12 PM ^
I stomped the M after matriculating and never made it to my 2nd year! I neg me!
January 29th, 2010 at 12:17 PM ^
...is obviously a myth...and yet I still have never stepped on it, even as an alumnus. Maybe it is just out of reverence for it more than anything else.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:28 PM ^
...although I think it may apply to exams in general and not just blue books. I stepped on it during orientation (in fact, I had just stepped on it when they told us not to) and I went on to fail my first exam (scantron, not bluebook) that October - the only exam I ever failed at any level of school. There is no doubt in my mind that stepping on the M was the reason.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:37 PM ^
maybe it was that keg stand you finished five minutes prior to leaving for the exam.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:23 PM ^
There is a secret or not so secret society of top students and athletes on campus
January 29th, 2010 at 12:31 PM ^
Order of Angell? Where is my "rolling eyes" smiley.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:32 PM ^
There was a protest group that took over their offices in the Michigan Union tower for weeks during my 2nd year... I think it was over the groups use of native american artifacts or something... anyhow, I think they went to "not so secret" society after that.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:36 PM ^
Yeah, that was when it was still called "Michigamua." The Daily was obsessed with it.
January 29th, 2010 at 1:30 PM ^
I tended bar for a Michigamua funciton once. I got to watch Jim Harbaugh "babysit" an reeling, babbling, drunken Andy Moeller and keep him out of trouble. I got two things from this:
1. I wasn't surprised by later incidents involving alcohol and the Moeller family.
2. I wasn't surprised when Harbaugh's leadership skills led him to the NFL, or to a head coaching job. I gained a lot of respect for Harbaugh as a human being that night. That's why I am probably more forgiving about his remarks from last year than many are.
Basically, Harbaugh took charge of a potentially bad situation and had his teammate's back. That is something you really want in a QB or a HC. Harbaugh really is a natural leader and a great fit for either position.
January 29th, 2010 at 2:03 PM ^
The only time I've seen him up close and personal was at Rick's. He was so drunk he couldn't stand still, and was pathetically trying to hit on co-eds that had no idea who he was. One experience doesn't form my opinion, but he wasn't very impressive that night.
January 29th, 2010 at 1:47 PM ^
Unfortunately things got a little murky when editors began getting "tapped".
January 29th, 2010 at 2:36 PM ^
True story: I was tapped for Michigamua. For weeks I was drawn to lunch meetings out of the blue with Michigan baseball players, swimmers, and assorted athletes. Ultimately, and due to an insufferably poor, alcohol-related lapse in judgment (not to be described here), my candidacy was revoked.
I made it through college with only one truly regrettable decision, but it was a big one.
/sadstory
January 29th, 2010 at 2:51 PM ^
Getting tapped is cool enough in its own right. I lived at the Daily because my boyfriend at the time/best friends were editors (I did more baking than writing!)
We had a good idea who was in and who wasn't, and would always speculate about why certain members of the "campus elite" were/were not tapped. My best friend who was then EIC is still shocked slash heart broken that he was never tapped, haha.
January 29th, 2010 at 4:39 PM ^
Alcohol-related lapses in judgment are a part of college, and beyond for some of us.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:36 PM ^
The two secret groups that I remeber hearing about were the Vulcans for Engineering and Michigamu for the student/athletic body. Not sure if they're around anymore!
January 29th, 2010 at 12:29 PM ^
2.) I believe another part of that story was that Rackham wanted to be able to see the steps of the Grad is because his wife worked there, so he could wave at her during lunch....or so i was told during orientation
January 29th, 2010 at 12:37 PM ^
Thanks - I thought there was something about his wife and the steps but couldn't remember what.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:29 PM ^
To break the curse of the block M, you had to stand on the M when the bell tower struck midnight. If you could run and touch the bell tower and run back to the M before all 12 tolls, then the curse was lifted. Clearly this is a FACT
January 29th, 2010 at 12:32 PM ^
Three times before the bell finishes its tolls = Denard's warm-up exercise.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:49 PM ^
historical museum (across from CC Little) to the Block M starting when the clock strikes midnight and getting there before it stops to reverse the curse (while naked).
Two problems with this:
1. The Bell Tower does not toll after a certain time because of a noise ordinance.
2. It is physically impossible to run that far that fast (although they just did an experiment with a normal human and not a man made of dilithium).
So while the "break of the curse" might be fact it's impossible to do.. So fiction?
January 29th, 2010 at 12:30 PM ^
"michigan mafia" that terry foster refers to anytime he talks about michigan football... this same mafia contacts all reporters that cover michigan football... is there such a mafia or is it just the guys from GBMW???
January 29th, 2010 at 12:31 PM ^
It's a well-known fact that the electricity used to power the campus is generated by the university president giving the Cube a hearty push in the early morning hours.