What Was Your 1st Gameday Experience
With the first game of the 2015 season upon us, this got me reminiscing about my first Michigan game. It was 1990 ( I was only 9) in South Bend against #1 Notre Dame. We had endzone seats which was cool because we could see Touchdown Jesus over the other side of the stadium. I know a lot of people hate Notre Dame, but they have an amazing campus. And even though Michigan ended up losing 28-24, I fell in love with Michigan because of that experience.
So what was everybody else's first experience, home and/or away? What memories did you take away?
September 3rd, 2015 at 2:46 PM ^
ND 1999. First game as a freshman with no prior connection to the university. I had no trouble diving in, though.
September 3rd, 2015 at 4:07 PM ^
Grew up a huge Michigan fan but without any connections to the University, my parents were never able to get tickets growing up. Funny to think that tickets used to be difficult to come by. I couldn't even get through The Victors the first time without getting choked up (it must've been a particularly dusty day or something...).
September 3rd, 2015 at 2:46 PM ^
The one thing I will always remeber was walking into the stadium for the first time and realizing how big the Big House really was. The game was bascially over when it began. I remember the score being 50-3.
September 3rd, 2015 at 2:47 PM ^
10/7/2007 against Eastern Michigan University
From NJ but in Michigan visiting family that weekend. I was 16, I had long been a Michigan fan and I couldn't wait to see my first game at the Big House. My dad had raised my brother and I to be UofM fans and I know he was excited to take his boys to their first games.
I remember I was really dissapointed that Mario Manningham wouldn't be playing due to suspension. We knew there was a good chance that Mike Hart would break the rushing record that day, so we were really excited when he broke the record and we could say we were there.
10/11/2008 against Toledo
This was the second game I went to at the Big House. Not as fun
September 3rd, 2015 at 2:47 PM ^
We yelled "Wahoo!!!" all the way back to our car, because the Virginia fans were yelling at at us when we were down and most of the fans were leaving early.
Never hugged so many strangers in my life.
September 3rd, 2015 at 2:47 PM ^
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September 3rd, 2015 at 2:53 PM ^
September 3rd, 2015 at 2:48 PM ^
I was 16. I live near St. Louis we drove up to Kinnick and it was cold and rainy. My brother was a intern for the Rams along with Brent Musberger's son. We went to the TV truck to pick up our tickets. Note on the tickets said "Enjoy the game." Brent Musberger. Jay Feely kicked the game winning field goal with about 8 min left in the 4th. UM added a safety and won 12-9. Great experience and memory.
September 3rd, 2015 at 2:48 PM ^
1992 Okie State. The year of blowouts or ties.
September 3rd, 2015 at 2:48 PM ^
As a freshman in 2001, after flirting with the marching band and ultimately leaving it... (Should have seen the writing in the wall when I showed up, and they had me signed up for Flag Corps)
I walked down to Hoover to check out the organization which I had left. A mom of a HS classmate gave me her son's ticket. (He stuck it out with the MMB)
After that day, I was hooked.
You all know the feeling.
September 3rd, 2015 at 2:49 PM ^
1997 vs. Colorado - I was a freshman. It was a good omen for the year. I, however, remain bitter that the AD gave some students spilt season tickets, so I missed out on Notre Dame the following week. I was happy to still have a ticket to Ohio State that year.
September 3rd, 2015 at 2:50 PM ^
September 3rd, 2015 at 2:50 PM ^
I was in third grade and my parents landed tickets from our then-neighbor in Northville, enough tickets so that I go could as well. We actually did go early and hang out at some of the tailgates - my mom is a Michigan alum and even ran into some old friends from those days.
The feature of that game - aside from the 20-0 win over the venerable Bobby Ross - that stands out now but seemed kind of inconsequential to the kid that I was at the time? Jim Harbaugh was the Michigan quarterback. Yes, my first game was a Harbaugh-led game.
September 3rd, 2015 at 2:50 PM ^
Long Beach State, 1987
I was 8, and made confetti and paper airplanes out the the free paper programs they used to hand out.
Sat on the aisle, so I could squirm around a bit.
Ate pringles and sandwiches which I brought in with my dad, think we brought in some pop too.....in his "gameday bag"
Walked on the turf field after the game, looking for leftover pads/tape/gloves on the benches
September 3rd, 2015 at 2:52 PM ^
September 3rd, 2015 at 2:53 PM ^
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September 3rd, 2015 at 2:54 PM ^
I was there too!
September 3rd, 2015 at 2:53 PM ^
September 3rd, 2015 at 2:53 PM ^
2010 UConn. Walking past the big parties in a massive flowing crowd as a buildup. Then entering the Big House from ground level and seeing the bowl for the first time...just took my breath away. The only thing that compares is my first game at Yankee Stadium as a little kid. But seeing the Big House had so much more impact. I've been watching college football since the 70s and hearing Keith Jackson call UM/OSU at the Big House was and is still my definition of everything I love about college football. So entering this great stadium I'd seen on television so many times before the Big House become MY house...moving and unforgettable. Go Blue. UM 4evah...
September 3rd, 2015 at 2:55 PM ^
September 3rd, 2015 at 2:56 PM ^
I was in High school. My mother got two tickets to MSU - Michigan at MSU from a MSU alum. Bob Timberlake at QB. Michigan beat MSU for the first time in five or six years.
September 3rd, 2015 at 3:00 PM ^
U-M beat the crap out of Jeff George to clinch the conference title before beating OSU the next week. I was 12.
September 3rd, 2015 at 3:13 PM ^
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September 3rd, 2015 at 3:03 PM ^
Notre Dame at Michigan, 2011. It was my birthday. Great day to become a football fan.
September 3rd, 2015 at 3:09 PM ^
Are we September 10 birthday twins?
September 3rd, 2015 at 3:04 PM ^
It was on my birthday, and my first ever Michigan game, not only as a student, but ever. I got up super early, blasted MMB music as I picked out my clothes and painted my face, then met some friends to walk to the Big House.
I don't remember much of the walk. I'm sure I was in awe of the spectacle and I know we marched with the band down to the gates. However, the moment I'll nver forget is walking through the section entrance, and emerging in the sun on a glorious September morning. As soon as I heard the crowd and saw the massive stadium layed out before me, tears began streaming down my face. I knew then that I was home.
September 3rd, 2015 at 3:05 PM ^
With my Dad, I was 10, Michigan won 35 - 0!
September 3rd, 2015 at 3:05 PM ^
I was just a youngster and asked my dad to take me to the bathroom. Pandemonium ensued as Westbrook and Stewart took the day. #sadface
September 3rd, 2015 at 3:07 PM ^
September 3rd, 2015 at 3:10 PM ^
1996 Boston College in the rain at the Big House. My Dad and I drove in from GR with a change of clothes for after the game and man, good thing my Dad always thinks ahead.
Michigan 20
BC 14
Pretty sure I was wearing a replica Dreisbach jersey.
September 3rd, 2015 at 3:10 PM ^
September 3rd, 2015 at 3:12 PM ^
First game as a student. Arrived about 2 hours early and somehow ended up standing around the 40 yard line amongst a bunch of seniors. Never again will I sing "na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye" because I now assume that song is always followed by a dong punch.
September 3rd, 2015 at 3:29 PM ^
Can't figure out why I feel so anxious. But I feel honored to be corrected by the WolverineHistorian. Very apropos!
September 3rd, 2015 at 3:12 PM ^
Freshman year, triple OT game vs sparty. I remember it being like 77 or so at kick but the tripl OT pushed the game into early evening. As soon as that sun went down temp had to have dropped into the 50's. I and my gf at the time were some of the prescient few to bring sweatshirts. I hadn't bought season tickets that year as I could barely afford to drive from my home in western SD to school let alone get tickets, but watching us come back from 17 down in the fourth to win with Braylon grabbing 2 TD's was the best memory of freshman year.
September 3rd, 2015 at 3:43 PM ^
I have been reading "lurking" here since 2008. I just had to respond to this because my first game is the reason I am a Michigan fan. In 1979 I am 11 years old. My older brother is at Michigan - a student not an athlete. We lived just south of Lansing and my dad was a huge Spartan fan. He was given tickets and took me along because I was just getting interested in football and it was a chance to go visit/check up on my brother. Well I probably would have been a Sparty fan like my dad but with it being "my brother's school" and the stadium and Bo and all I started to really get interested. Then it happenned. Wangler to Carter. That was it for me. Michigan fan. That turned out to be the only game I saw live with my dad as he passed away the following spring on my twelfth birthday.
September 3rd, 2015 at 5:12 PM ^
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September 3rd, 2015 at 3:28 PM ^
September 3rd, 2015 at 3:50 PM ^
I watched that game in the hospital with my wife and new baby girl who was born Thanksgiving morning 1995. C-section so we didn't go home until that monday. That sweet little baby is now a sophomore at EMU.
September 3rd, 2015 at 3:22 PM ^
Amazing Experience. I was a 14 year old die hard Michigan fan growing up in Columbus. My dad and I drove up to actually see a Tigers game with my uncle and cousin. After that game, my dad spontaneously decided we should go to Ann Arbor, as he thought they let people in for free in the fourth quarter. My dad's not the most spontaneous guy as it is, so I was extremely excited. We get to the stadium and because the game is close, and it's ND, not many people are leaving, so they did not open up the doors in the 4th. We post up next to Crysler and attract a crowd trying to watch the game/get reception on one of the portable TVs with a 2inch screen. Eventually, however, they do let us in.
Now, I imagine for any UM fan, walking into Michigan Stadium for the first time is a surreal, amazing experience. But walking in for the first time, to 110,000 screaming fans in the 4th quarter of a rivalry game induces goosebumps and awe that I will absolutely never forget. A true jaw-dropping, ho-lee sheeeit, moment. Obviously Michigan held on (and went on to have a pretty solid year). My dad and I lingered after the game. We went down on to the field and walked the turf. I randomly remember seeing cooler of water bottles labeled for Lynn Swann. I picked up a discarded divot of maize turf in the endzone that I still have to this day. One of the absolute best moments of my childhood, and one that cemented me as Michigan fan for life.
September 3rd, 2015 at 3:37 PM ^
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September 3rd, 2015 at 3:44 PM ^
Well last game at the Big House. We beat OSU. I was 8 and my Dad took me. It was what started my absolute love of Michigan football. I still have the ticket stub somewhere I think...
September 3rd, 2015 at 3:44 PM ^
As far as I know, my first game was UCLA in 1990. The first one I really remember is FSU '91. Frankly, all the games when I was a little kid blend together--same seats, same people, most everything was a win. And, of course, I was a crazy little savant about the whole thing--I was crazy about Desmond, Ricky Powers, Tyrone Wheatley, Derrick Alexander...
September 3rd, 2015 at 5:10 PM ^
What I do remember is that I went to this law firm's tailgate with a couple of my really close friends and ate so incredibly much candy I got sick and threw up later that night.
I absolutely loved the experience though.
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September 3rd, 2015 at 3:48 PM ^
First game was The Horror. Second game was Toledo the next year.
I don't go to games anymore.
September 3rd, 2015 at 3:55 PM ^
7 yrs old, group of 12 parents had tickets in section 2, all the kids in section 44. I remember we won, but I admit I had to look up the score: 51-0. Ricky Leach was my hero for years after that.
Those were the days, parking in the M-Club lot and playing football on the terraces outside Chrisler.
September 3rd, 2015 at 4:05 PM ^
My first game was Baylor in 1997 with my dad. We had moved to a suburb of Toledo from New Jersey just the year prior and I didn't understand the whole Michigan vs. Ohio State rivalry. I remember my friends at school that first year asking me who I cheered for and having absolutely no idea what to say.
I can still see the train tracks as we crossed them on Hoover - that's about my only memory outside of the stadium. I'm fairly sure the weather was great; we had seats on the visitor's side; about sixty rows up somewhere around the twenty yard line.
We won big that day, 38-3, and the experience was absolutely breath-taking. Over 100,000 people crammed into the stadium to watch a football team play and I remember thinking to myself, "it doesn't get any better than this."
I was a fan from that day forward and by the time November rolled around I knew exactly who I was rooting for.
Fast forward seven-ish years and I find out I've been admitted to my dream school, the University of Michigan. It wasn't even a discussion, I was going to Michigan. I spent four (okay fine, five) of the greatest years of my life there and made some life-long friends. I wouldn't trade any of my time there for anything. In fact, some of those life-long friends and I are renting a house for a game next month so we can enjoy Ann Arbor like we did a decade ago.
None of this would have happened had my dad not decided to take me to that game almost two decades ago.
September 3rd, 2015 at 4:05 PM ^
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September 3rd, 2015 at 4:05 PM ^