Stadium atmosphere yesterday
I got back for my first game in the Big House this year, and I have a few thoughts.
1. I could not get over how beautiful the weather was! The Man Upstairs gets major marks for that one!
2. The F-16 flyover was incredible, and I almost wet myself as the stadium shook.
3. The new boxes look pretty good, and the brick facade is gorgeous.
4. I prefer to listen to the marching bands, but I came in with an open mind about hearing the canned music. After my experience yesterday, I can clearly cast my vote against having this next year. It was jarring how loud it was, and it was really unbalanced (way too much tweeting).
5. I could not hear the MMB at all in section 8. I know that I was across the stadium, but that really blew my mind. The OSU marching band was really good.
6. I sat/stood next to a bunch of Buckeye fans, and I have to admit that they were incredibly civil. Hell, they were even friendly. I cannot remember that ever happening before. I think a small part of them wants us to at least be competitive, because this rivalry doesn't quite have the cache it used to have nationally (hopefully, we can restore that in short order).
7. I wonder how injured Forcier's shoulder is, because his arm was pretty weak yesterday. I know that Denard Robinson has more arm strength, but the difference looked huge.
8. Ohio State did not impress me that much, and I think that the Rose Bowl will be an ugly one for the Big Ten.
9. Pryor should be a DE or TE.
10. I really wish that Ohio State would have worn their Scarlet uniforms, because the throwbacks were disappointing. I think both teams ought to take advantage of this new rule.
11. I already miss the Space Emperor and Brandon Graham. What a couple of studs!
12. The fact that the OSU fans were able to carry the O-H-I-O cheer around the stadium in the second was embarrassing.
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:49 PM ^
Way too much red. Don't sell your tickets to Ohio State fans
November 22nd, 2009 at 5:05 PM ^
Way too much RED for me...we traveled to the Big House from upstate NY. If I had season tickets, I would never give them up, especially to a Buckeye! Still can't believe how loud their OHIO Chant was...
November 22nd, 2009 at 5:47 PM ^
Probably improved the sound of those F-16s at full afterburner as well, was that something or what!
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:38 PM ^
I'm a CNY guy myself. Did you go through Canada? We had a half an hour plus wait at Sarnia.
November 22nd, 2009 at 9:03 PM ^
My wife and I just got married in August, so her passport is in her maiden name so we didn't want to push it. So we took I90 through Cleveland and up through Toledo. What a trip...8 hours in the car! Last time we made it to the big house was 2 years ago for the ND game and we went through Canada...I think it is faster. Back is sore today!
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:52 PM ^
of OSU-Michigan games at the Big House and that's the most scarlet I've ever seen there. What a travesty that our fans would sell their tickets to OSU fans.
November 22nd, 2009 at 5:06 PM ^
It was my first time at a game this year as well, and I came in prepared to hate on the piped in music. Sure, the Bob Seger was a bit silly, but the Seven Nation Army and Lose Yourself clips seemed to get the crowd going (especially the student section), and that Hells Bells - Seven Circles of Barwis thing at the end of warm ups was killer. (Denard was head-bangin)
I'm surprised to see myself write this, but with a little tweaking, the music may end up a welcome addition.
Also, I agree, the band was too quiet, and the halftime show was fairly uninspired.
Overall, I liked the vibe at the game despite the OSU contingent, and was also impressed by their generally good behavior. (Although there were two tOSU jackasses who flipped us the bird and dropped the f-bomb in front of my 2 1/2 year old. He must've been surprised when mommy then rolled down the car window - we were in traffic before the game - and ripped them both a new one right there on the street.)
Cheers Babe!
November 22nd, 2009 at 5:33 PM ^
I wish the MMB would have started playing the victors the first sound of the O-H-I-O cheer. They took a bit too long to get it going in my opinion.
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:45 PM ^
That was a bit frustrating. I just started screaming Lets Go Blue as loud as I could and frantically tried to get others around me to join. At least I couldn't hear it that way.
November 22nd, 2009 at 5:40 PM ^
Hearing that stupid "look ma, I can spell now" chant of OH-IO in the Big House, or catching a whiff of the stink wave that followed?
November 22nd, 2009 at 5:45 PM ^
1. The second half was beautiful, the first half less so, but it's amazing how much the body heat of 110,00 can impact the temperature.
2. No #$%^! A tad early, as we had yet to finish the national anthem, and it alarmed everyone! Straight out of Top Gun, lol!
3. I had this Buckeye girl I met there ready to go sit up in the suites; she asked why they were were empty and I said I guess the folks just weren't interested enough. Kind of annoyed me later that she agreed, like it made sense, errr!
5. I was impressed with the OSU band as well; I hate to admit it but I like their music. I'd like our band to play more upbeat stuff; Sam and Dave's 'Hold on' comes to mind. I think 'rich musical tradition' is great, but it can get us stuck in a rut.
6. Yeah, the buckeye fans that I met were civil as well, but hell, they've beat us 5 in a row, and pretty confident about number 6; even they aren't that crass.
10. I was disappointed about the unis too; who's idea was that? The buckeye girl I met asked if we ever did throwbacks and I told her, "you're lookin' at 'em'"
12. A friend of mine who was at the '07 loss told me how they did that over and over and how depressing it was, but fortunately we were in this game to the end so they only got it going twice. Both times, especially the second time was promptly shut down by a chorus of boos and grousing, haha; those sneaky buckeyes!
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:41 PM ^
I thought all OSU ladies did was stuff cheeseburgers in their mouth and waddle around all day. The fact that they can talk back makes them all the less attractive to me now.
/chauvinism
November 22nd, 2009 at 5:54 PM ^
If there isn't a pointed and spirited discussion between the MMB and Athletics during this offseason in regards to stadium music, I will be very disappointed in both parties. The Band needs to work to be more relevant to game-day, both in volume and repetoire, and Athletics needs to come up with something consistent and fair regarding the piped-in music if they're going to absolutely insist on implementing and maintaining it.
Personally, I absolutely and totally hate the piped-in music, and think the addition of songs like Ain't No Mountain High Enough prove that Athletics is trying not to pump up the crowd, but rather make up for/replace the MMB. I hate hearing Shout! and Apache and Bob Seger in Michigan Stadium. It drives me up the wall.
There is nothing original about what we are doing, nothing that implies that we're the "Leaders and Best" or that we value the tradition of our University in not being like everyone else. It's been proven that the students can get just as rowdy without Thunderstruck and Sandstorm, if they are given the right opportunity to do so. That's where the MMB and the cheerleaders come in. Meetings between student groups, the band, and Athletics during the offseason to determine what all three parties can do to make the Stadium experience better WITHOUT having to resort to absurdly loud and incredibly bad canned music can do a lot. Do it.
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:19 PM ^
As a few of you have already noted, the OSU fans I ran into were disgustingly civil. I have always found somewhat of a dichotomy between OSU students/grads and the other wannabees who always seem somewhat neanderthal in appearance and behavior.
The flyover was amazing. They came in very low and the sound was almost ear shattering. The cloud layer might have helped.
Weather for November 21 was amazing, as was the weather the whole season but for PSU, and then, it was not bad compared to how it could have been.
Anybody know if the scoreboards are being replaced? They look puny compared to the scale of the Big House.
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:53 AM ^
I live a couple of miles south of the stadium and they were LOUD--we came tumbling out the front door to look up at them. However, they were above the clouds so they weren't visible. I'm glad they got down low enough (over the stadium) to be seen by the crowd.
Where do they come from? I have seen earlier posts about flyovers in which one of the pilots is a U-M grad and the planes came from Lemoore Naval Air Station.
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:16 PM ^
I guess I can kind of answer my own question since these were apparently F-16s not F/A 18s. I still would like to know where they came from.
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:22 PM ^
There has been a real problem with Michigan fans for the past several years. Maybe it's the poor economy. I remember MSU OWNING crysler for basketball games (that has decreased). Having MSU have so many fans in our stadium last year and OSU having so many fans this year is a huge disappointment.
Alabama (seating 92,000) has a policy that if your neighboring seatmates turn you in for having sold your tix to the rival team, you lose your ability to purchase tix for the next season. Michigan is not in the position to do this (yet) but when the program turns around the requests will seriously outnumber available seats and a stringent policy like this could be put in place.
It is an absolute embarassment to have opposing teams do this. I have 4 club seats for next year and I will give them away to a real Michigan fan before I would take $1 from an opposing fan!!!
November 22nd, 2009 at 10:48 PM ^
Even last year the "go green, go white" chant was overwhelming in the 2nd half at Crisler, it was terrible
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:50 PM ^
i totally agree with that. my god, they play one of the most boring brands of football ever. did they only throw the ball twice the whole second half??
alot of people were jumping back on the tp bandwagon saying how great he played, but honestly, i didnt see it. sure he "managed" the game, but he was an allworld recruit who was going to light the world on fire and go pro after his freshmen year - to hell with maurice clarett!- beacuse he was That Good. but he did nothing against our pass defense. the SAME pass defense that made tolzien look like fuckin peyton manning.
i guess you could say that tressel didnt want him to throw because they didnt need to, but that right there should tell you how low tressel thinks of tp's skills at this point.
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:04 PM ^
he can barely throw better than denard robinson! he looks awful! but he runs quite well, which he burned us on a couple times.
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:33 PM ^
The band needs to be in a better spot where more people can hear them, like one of the corners.
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:35 PM ^
I don't necessarily hate the piped in music but several issues should be addressed; namely-the timing, the selection and the volume. It's not an matter of "if it's too loud, you're too old" but rather the shrill cracking of a system being pushed to its distorting limits. When people of varying ages all around me are covering their ears, there is a problem. Someone in charge needs to sit out in the stadium and realize just how ridiculous it is.
I've been coming to games for over 20 years and although I realize that times change, it's hard for me to stomach Michigan mimicking everyone else,(especially Hells Bells, which OSU has been using for years).
I miss the different pregame shows that the band used to do. What happened to that? A drumline has been started but never performs for anyone but the students. Is there a legitimate reason why they can't come to the South end once in a while?
And on the topic of volume, certainly there is a feasable way to mic the band and pipe them through that shitty system so that the rest of the stadium could hear and enjoy them. I have always loved this band and have many pics from throughout the years. I used to brag about them and the things that they would do. Lately, it's the same old pregame, same old halftime show, etc. etc. I'm afraid that the band is slowly being lost in this transition and I want them back.
November 22nd, 2009 at 10:27 PM ^
I believe they're putting in a new sound system (thank god) for next season. But too loud? Cmon. This is a football game! What makes you want to FUCK.SHIT.UP more than loud rawk music? Don't forget, the music isn't just for the fans, its for the players to get jacked up too. And not all the music is copied. Bob Seger and Eminem are some specialties.
November 22nd, 2009 at 10:35 PM ^
There's a difference between "loud" and "ear-splitting treble." This year, it was in the latter category.
Also, definitely heard that Eminem track being used in the Arizona game the other night. And I'm sure it's not the only arena or stadium in which it's being played. None of the music we are playing is completely original and unique to Michigan Stadium.
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:49 PM ^
I attended two games this season: the ND and OSU games. There was a stark--and considering this season's arc I suppose not altogether unexpected--depreciation in the level of excitement from September 12th to Saturday's game. I thought the ND pre-game and game atmosphere was electric. Things were more subdued Saturday.