I've been to a bunch, and can co-sign a lot of the ones that have been mentioned already. I'll add a few more though.
If you're in the Nashville area, Stones River and Fort Donelson are not too far away (about 40 minutes to Stones River and 90 minutes to Fort Donelson).
Stones River has a great marker erected by the state of Michigan to honor its soldiers who fought there, and had the highest proportion of casualties of any of the major battles of the war. It also has the oldest Civil War monument that is still in its original location, the Hazen Brigade Monument that was erected by the US veterans of that brigade after the battle.
Fort Donelson of course helped put Grant's name on the map and there are many intact earthworks. It also has the only major surrender site of the war that is both largely original and in its original place.
If you're in the Lexington, Kentucky area, Perryville is about a 30 minute drive. It's not super well known, but was an incredibly important battle that ultimately ended the Confederate invasion of Kentucky in the fall of 1862. It's also one of the most complete battlefields and one of the best preserved--the American Battlefield Trust estimates that more than 90% of the battlefield is intact.
Kennesaw Mountain is in the Atlanta area (on the west side of Marietta). Wonderful trails to hike, and another place where you understand the folly of frontal assaults just by walking the ground. It's also a good opportunity to see the locomotives from the Great Locomotive Chase--the General is in a railroad museum in Kennesaw and the Texas is in the Atlanta History Center (which itself has maybe the best Civil War exhibit I've seen).
Others have mentioned Chattanooga, but that has to include Chickamauga. Walking at Kelly's Field and Snodgrass Hill and imagining those US soldiers standing firm as they threw back attack after attack after attack and saved the Army of the Cumberland (and earned George Thomas his nickname "The Rock of Chickamauga."). Goosebumps.
Bentonville in North Carolina was the site of the last major battle between the western armies as Joseph Johnston launched an attack trying vainly to stop Sherman's march north through the Carolinas. You can also go to Durham to visit the Bennett Place where Johnston surrendered to Sherman--the largest Confederate surrender of the war.
If you're in Charleston, Fort Sumter is a must-see. From the fort you can also see the northern end of nearby Morris Island which was where Battery Wagner was (although the site is now underwater) and honor the memory of the 54th Massachusetts.
Two of the best US history books I've ever read are Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era by James McPherson and Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad by Matthew Delmont.
Unfortunately, the performance for the team during Band Week no longer happens. They did it in Harbaugh's first season but apparently he didn't see the point and it was discontinued.
After six years, Craig Ross is still wrong about who screamed "I've got blisters on my fingers!" at the end of "Helter Skelter." It was Ringo Starr, not John Lennon.
The band had done around 18 takes in a row of the five-minute song, and at the end of the last one Ringo threw his drum sticks across the studio and stormed out because he literally had blisters and couldn't continue. It wasn't a scripted line.
George Gershwin owned three Steinway grand pianos in his life. One is at the Library of Congress. One is at the Songwriters Hall of Fame. And the third (the only one of the three that is playable) is in the Earl V. Moore Building at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance.
The MMB going to South Bend (which was a single-day round-trip) cost north of $250,000. That's on buses with no hotels. Bowl trips are over half a million.
MVictors did a whole series on the Little Brown Jug and it pretty firmly establishes that the Jug today is almost assuredly the same one as was left behind at Minnesota in 1903. They also point to the wrong ones in the video, the one on the right is a display replica, the one on the left is the real Jug that's exchanged.
I sit in a corner and I think it's probably the best view for a reasonable price. The end zone isn't bad, but I would get frustrated not being able to see how far plays went without watching the big screen.
It's not quite the same for us and ND. We're locked into nine conference games, so we only have three other games we can schedule on our own. ND is locked into five ACC games but can do whatever they want with the other seven. Over half of their schedule is discretionary versus a quarter of ours.
I would have liked to have seen our home-and-home with Arkansas as well, but our scheduling flexibility is tighter than an independent's.
The best I ever heard was during the second half of the 2011 Michigan-Nebraska game which we eventually won 45-17. There were a couple of Husker fans sitting right behind me, and to their credit they were still there as the rout was starting to become apparent. For whatever reason, there were a few empty seats here and there in my section, and Michigan fans were occasionally moving from seat to seat working their way to better viewing locations. One of the Nebraska fans loudly said "Man, people sure do get up and move around a lot here." To which an older (probably mid to late 60s) woman decked out in Michigan gear yelled back "If this was a more competitive game we'd all be stayng put!" The whole area erupted in laughter.
A close second was late in the 4th quarter of the wild 2011 Michigan-Notre Dame game. When ND scored to go up with less than a minute left, the ND cheering section at the top of the south end zone began loudly chanting "It sucks/to be/a Michigan Wolverine!" After the epic three-play scoring drive, a great many Michigan fans cheered "It's great/to be/a Michigan Wolverine!" right back at them.
Revolutions - from Mike Duncan of the excellent History of Rome podcast, he's going through a dozen or so historical revolutions. So far, he's done the English Civil War, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, the Wars of Spanish American Independence, and is currently wrapping up the July Revolution of 1830. Next will be the revolutions of 1848, and he has plans to cover the Mexican and Russian revolutions, among several others.
Chewin' It with Kevin and Steve - hosted by two members of Broken Lizard (Super Troopers, Beerfest), they talk about their lives, performing comedy, and working in show business. They tell a lot of great stories, but I think my main takeaway is a pretty thorough understanding of how Hollywood works, both as a business and how movies and TV are made from writing through production, editing, and distribution.
The Greatest Generation - a Star Trek podcast by two guys who are a little bit embarrassed to have a Star Trek podcast. Hosted on the Maximum Fun comedy network, the hosts are reviewing every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation from a comedic angle.
More Perfect - from NPR, the hosts cover the history of the Supreme Court of the United States, including little-known cases, intrigue, mutual admiration and hatred among the justices, and more.
Sadly true. Some people who sit next to me in Michigan Stadium are friends with Kenny Allen's family, and they said he got death threats after he missed those field goals against Wisconsin.
The post-game thread on r/CFB is about 95% filled with fans from teams all over the country--including MSU, ND, and yes even some OSU--talking about how badly the referees screwed Michigan in this game. So this isn't sour grapes, the whole nation knows this was stolen from us.
I had to go to Arborland today for something unrelated and it actually seemed like a normal day. I didn't go anywhere near Briarwood, but if I didn't already know it's Black Friday I wouldn't have been able to tell.
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I've been to a bunch, and can co-sign a lot of the ones that have been mentioned already. I'll add a few more though.
Probably the Michigan fan living in Columbus back in 2006 who had a custom-made Clemson Charlie Bauman jersey and used to wear it around town.
Two of the best US history books I've ever read are Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era by James McPherson and Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad by Matthew Delmont.
Unfortunately, the performance for the team during Band Week no longer happens. They did it in Harbaugh's first season but apparently he didn't see the point and it was discontinued.
That's a great one, especially as part of a double feature with Run Silent, Run Deep (1958) with Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster.
Paths of Glory (1957)
Turn it into a field goal kicking contest.
After six years, Craig Ross is still wrong about who screamed "I've got blisters on my fingers!" at the end of "Helter Skelter." It was Ringo Starr, not John Lennon.
The band had done around 18 takes in a row of the five-minute song, and at the end of the last one Ringo threw his drum sticks across the studio and stormed out because he literally had blisters and couldn't continue. It wasn't a scripted line.
It's also 1 more point than the men's basketball team has given up in any of their 6 games this season.
Inject this directly into my veins.
Eat Arby's.
Someone who will never lose to Michigan, because even when bad things happen to them nothing bad actually happens.
Daxton Hill? Is he related to Dixon?
I lurked in the blogspot days for about 2 years, then got my account right after the 2008 redesign.
Glory
Lack of attention to small but important details.
I also read an article.
Harlan Hatcher, 8th President of the University of Michigan (1951-1967) and namesake of the U-M graduate library had the following CV:
http://journalstar.com/news/local/how-cold-is-it-lincoln-ranks-th-coldest-in-nation/article_c4a3fae3-3803-5322-b409-7b58bf75d4bf.html
Nitpick: the Iowa State marching band played the Coach theme/fight song.
...and when Lloyd Carr was our coach.
The MMB going to South Bend (which was a single-day round-trip) cost north of $250,000. That's on buses with no hotels. Bowl trips are over half a million.
The carilloneurs play it pretty frequently, especially in the fall. I used to hear it regularly when walking to class.
What would Harbaugh's Asterix name be? Histrionix?
It's been a warmup tune since 2007 or 2008, replacing Salvation is Created (which I think was recorded on "Victors Valiant").
MVictors did a whole series on the Little Brown Jug and it pretty firmly establishes that the Jug today is almost assuredly the same one as was left behind at Minnesota in 1903. They also point to the wrong ones in the video, the one on the right is a display replica, the one on the left is the real Jug that's exchanged.
Disregard.
Victor Lieberman, Kali Israel, David Hancock, Juan Cole.
It's not quite the same for us and ND. We're locked into nine conference games, so we only have three other games we can schedule on our own. ND is locked into five ACC games but can do whatever they want with the other seven. Over half of their schedule is discretionary versus a quarter of ours.
I would have liked to have seen our home-and-home with Arkansas as well, but our scheduling flexibility is tighter than an independent's.
The best I ever heard was during the second half of the 2011 Michigan-Nebraska game which we eventually won 45-17. There were a couple of Husker fans sitting right behind me, and to their credit they were still there as the rout was starting to become apparent. For whatever reason, there were a few empty seats here and there in my section, and Michigan fans were occasionally moving from seat to seat working their way to better viewing locations. One of the Nebraska fans loudly said "Man, people sure do get up and move around a lot here." To which an older (probably mid to late 60s) woman decked out in Michigan gear yelled back "If this was a more competitive game we'd all be stayng put!" The whole area erupted in laughter.
A close second was late in the 4th quarter of the wild 2011 Michigan-Notre Dame game. When ND scored to go up with less than a minute left, the ND cheering section at the top of the south end zone began loudly chanting "It sucks/to be/a Michigan Wolverine!" After the epic three-play scoring drive, a great many Michigan fans cheered "It's great/to be/a Michigan Wolverine!" right back at them.
There's a reason that my GPA in the four Winter semesters was .5 higher than it was in the four Fall semesters.
Michigan dominates UCONN in College Knowle(d)ge
Politics way out of hand in there.
Revolutions - from Mike Duncan of the excellent History of Rome podcast, he's going through a dozen or so historical revolutions. So far, he's done the English Civil War, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, the Wars of Spanish American Independence, and is currently wrapping up the July Revolution of 1830. Next will be the revolutions of 1848, and he has plans to cover the Mexican and Russian revolutions, among several others.
Chewin' It with Kevin and Steve - hosted by two members of Broken Lizard (Super Troopers, Beerfest), they talk about their lives, performing comedy, and working in show business. They tell a lot of great stories, but I think my main takeaway is a pretty thorough understanding of how Hollywood works, both as a business and how movies and TV are made from writing through production, editing, and distribution.
The Greatest Generation - a Star Trek podcast by two guys who are a little bit embarrassed to have a Star Trek podcast. Hosted on the Maximum Fun comedy network, the hosts are reviewing every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation from a comedic angle.
More Perfect - from NPR, the hosts cover the history of the Supreme Court of the United States, including little-known cases, intrigue, mutual admiration and hatred among the justices, and more.
Sadly true. Some people who sit next to me in Michigan Stadium are friends with Kenny Allen's family, and they said he got death threats after he missed those field goals against Wisconsin.
He did.
The lack of an impactful running game, much of which stems from poor/middling offensive line play.
I had to go to Arborland today for something unrelated and it actually seemed like a normal day. I didn't go anywhere near Briarwood, but if I didn't already know it's Black Friday I wouldn't have been able to tell.
Yeah, you're not supposed to get called for a penalty, but that's never stopped a Big Ten referee before.