What Michigan moments have brought you to tears?

Submitted by The King In Yellow on

Sorry, this is not for the manly men.  This is for those who are not ashamed to shed a tear, good or bad, over Michigan athletics.  

The reason I am asking is because of some weird youtube hole I found myself watching Brock Mealer videos and found myself tearing up.  What are some of your Michigan moments that got you the most emotional?  I'm sorry if this has been covered before, BUT I'M EMOTIONAL! 

As I ponder right now I think my top 3 (other than Brock) are:

  • Michigan beating OSU in 2011.   It was my senior year and kind of in a weird way meant the end of my college life at UM and the fact that all of my friends and football players would almost certainly be in a different place a year from then. 
  • Michigan beating ND in 2011.  Ok so some of these might just be based around my senior year, but this day was one of the best of my entire life.  I will never forget this day.  
  • I realize as I'm writing this that i'm very focused the last 3-5 years, but regardless, I think that MBB game against Kansas made me cry my last, truly suprising tears of joy.  My friends and I were punching each other because we had no other way to express the joy of that shot.  Oh man.  

Anyways I know my choices have are all fairly recent.  I'd love to hear some other emotional memories.  i'm sure it will make me cry.  CUZ I'M SENSITIVE, OK?

Lady in Blue

August 20th, 2014 at 12:27 PM ^

I'm an easy target.  Every hype video or glimpse of the band taking the field brings a tear.  At any other point in the year... Post-NC clip of Griese receiving MVP.  Brock Mealer (obviously).  "The Great Michigan Spirit" (Ufer).  Junior's post-Sugar Bowl MVP speech (memorably described on EDSBS as the time Hemingway "gloriously loses his shit").

GoBLUinTX

August 20th, 2014 at 12:49 PM ^

I was nine years old, my grandfather had just died of a heart attack a few months earlier, so when news that the Mighty Knight who had slewn the evil Ohio Hate had also suffered a heart attack, I thought he too was gone.  

Four years later they were tears of bitterness with the realization that the Green Slime had denied Michigan its rightful triumphant march to Pasadena.

1991, I watched, through blurry eyes of scathing hatred, as FSU added insult to injury by first lancing the block M midfield and then ripping sod from the field as if it were a scalp.  Ever since then I dream of the day Michigan travels to Tallahassee bringing a backhoe to the post game midfield celebration.

Bo's passing.

Blaze09

August 20th, 2014 at 12:51 PM ^

1. Clockgate. I was watching the game on a little TV in my grandma's kitchen. The events unfolded and 10 year old me stormed up the stairs and bawled myself to sleep.

2. 05 Rose Bowl. My heart was pretty much ripped out of me during that 4th quarter. I was at a family BBQ and just went outside and cried.

Because of my age, Bo's death didn't have the same effect on me as others, but that weekend was a pretty bummed weekend, especially after the loss (which then turned to a bummed week when we lost in the state championship against Nouvel)

northmuskeGOnBLUE

August 20th, 2014 at 12:59 PM ^

When I first read that Bo was retiring after the 1990 Rose Bowl Game (1989 season) I got a little misty. I was in my Junior year and this announcement hit me out of nowhere. The funny thing is that if something like this happened today we would probably have a good idea well in advance of the actual announcment. But in that era, unless you were an "insider" you didn't know until you read it in print. Took my breath away. 

Braylon_Edward…

August 20th, 2014 at 1:00 PM ^

I remember shedding a few tears during Juniors Sugar Bowl speech. As fans we sometimes forget what these kids go through on the inside so listening to him talk about the struggles they went through as a team got to me. Also, anything Mealer related I have a hard time not tearing up.

MAccLA

August 20th, 2014 at 2:01 PM ^

Charles Drake (who played 99-02) was one of my closest friends while attending Michigan. He was a senior when I arrived to campus as a freshman and was one of the most caring individuals I have ever met.  It didn’t matter who you were, a bum on the street or a billionaire, Chuck showed you love.  Suffice to say I was shocked and full of tears when I saw the text messages stream in with rumors of his passing early the morning of July 6, 2012.

Drake played in the NFL for a couple of seasons but eventually made it back to Ann Arbor in 2004 to work for the Athletics Department and finish his degree. That’s when we really bonded; we spent tons of time working together at the Ross Academic Center and discussing our future family and career plans.  

When my first child was born at University Hospital in 2007, Chuck was the FIRST person to visit. He had just become a father, himself, five months prior. I moved to LA shortly after my first child was born and, unfortunately, we lost touch. Eventually, Chuck also moved back to LA (his hometown) and we had planned to reconnect shortly before he passed away.

Attending his funeral was tough for me; I broke down crying, as did his former teammates who were there. It was the most emotional funeral I have ever attended. Charles Drake was a local legend in the LA community, especially in Westchester (where he attended HS and set several records in football and track). I miss him everyday.

MAccLA

August 20th, 2014 at 2:02 PM ^

Charles Drake (who played Safety 99-02) was one of my closest friends while attending Michigan. He was a senior when I arrived to campus as a freshman and was one of the most caring individuals I have ever met.  It didn’t matter who you were, a bum on the street or a billionaire, Chuck showed you love.  Suffice to say I was shocked and full of tears when I saw the text messages stream in with rumors of his passing early the morning of July 6, 2012.

Drake played in the NFL for a couple of seasons but eventually made it back to Ann Arbor in 2004 to work for the Athletics Department and finish his degree. That’s when we really bonded; we spent tons of time working together at the Ross Academic Center and discussing our future family and career plans.  

When my first child was born at University Hospital in 2007, Chuck was the FIRST person to visit. He had just become a father, himself, five months prior. I moved to LA shortly after my first child was born and, unfortunately, we lost touch. Eventually, Chuck also moved back to LA (his hometown) and we had planned to reconnect shortly before he passed away.

Attending his funeral was tough for me; I broke down crying, as did his former teammates who were there. It was the most emotional funeral I have ever attended. Charles Drake was a local legend in the LA community, especially in Westchester (where he attended HS and set several records in football and track). I miss him everyday.

chewieblue

August 20th, 2014 at 2:31 PM ^

in the tourney last year. Brought tears simply thinking of all the people who endured such crap and ridicule to get the program back to where it was. Thanks for all the sacrifice that all associated with the men's hoops program to get it back to such heights.

ca_prophet

August 20th, 2014 at 5:00 PM ^

I couldn't believe that such an obvious error in the foundations of the universe was allowed to happen. (I was ten, and new-come to Michigan fandom. This is still one of the unkindest cuts of all, because I didn't have the perspective that age brings yet.)

Ufer waving goodbye is another one - I hadn't know him long but already knew I'd miss him.

Maize and Blue…

August 20th, 2014 at 5:21 PM ^

  Sorrow

     The 2006 loss of both Bo, and to those scum in Ohio the next day was the tipping point for the whole program, it has never been the same, and probably indirectly led to all of the woes that have followed. It will probably not get better until we go into that place (Columbus) and beat the hell out of those bastards decisively.I still blame Shawn Crable for that late hit on their panzy QB out of bounds, we had them stopped, and if he doesn't do that we had an excellent chance to win the game.

Joy

    The 1988 Ohio State game wher John Kolesar won the game almost singlehandedly, and made my birthday a happy one.

     Desmond Howard's catch to win the game against Notre Dame in 1991. Back then Lou Holtz coached Notre Dame and they were tough to beat.

     The 1997 Charles Woodson punt return giving Michigan an undefeated season and a trip to the Rose Bowl in the wake of spoiling two Ohio State undefeated seasons.

      The 1998 Rose Bowl - the entire thing, winning part of the National Championship, The Greise family drama, and the sign off of Keith Jackson, the greatest television college football announcer ever.

Almost but no cigar

    In 2010 I was in Team Mickey's, a sports store in Downtown Disney, and as I looked at all of the other team's paraphenalia Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon et all, they began to play The Victors on the store's intercom system, and as I thought about how far we had fallen as a program during the R.R. years, I realized how much I loved Michigan football, I had to fight my ass off not to cry for my team and what had become of our rich and storied program.