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Could be wrong but I remember

Could be wrong but I remember seeing the guy in charge of special teams doing what you just described. I bet Pelini has nothing to be happy about though- they got thoroughly dismantled like this at Wisconsin too.

Could he just be using his

Could he just be using his interest in Michigan primarily to get to take an official trip to the UM-OSU game which happens to involve the team he's currently committed to?

Re: Chicago hotels

If you're looking for something right off Michigan Ave, try the Whitehall Hotel. It's on Michigan and Delaware, less than half a block from Hancock Center so you're pretty much in the middle of things, as it's just off the Magnificent Mile. It's a pretty nice hotel and I think the prices are reasonable compared to the bigger chains. Could be wrong but it's worth a look.

Lots of good restaurants in the area, I think Whitehall has an Italian restaurant next door that they also run. It's not bad, but the best Italian restaurants in my experience have been on Taylor Street. There's a great one by Rush Medical Center that I ate at the night before I ran the Chicago marathon.

This time, without having to

This time, without having to be on guard for random Buckeye molesters, i.e. being in enemy territory, it felt like I had diplomatic immunity walking around with friends who are Buckeyes and tailgating with my friend's classmate's family. It helped that I wasn't out to antagonize anyone, though I got a few comments asking about the Red Wings shirt I was wearing (i.e. why are you wearing that, You don't have any red OSU stuff?, Red Wings suck, etc). But generally now that I was considered a human being, the experience was way better than the first (though that might be because we lost that game).

The night game atmosphere is a lot of fun. I think Michigan should do more of those. Also, I think that the Block O in the Ohio Stadium is responsible for a lot of the noise that they make, and leading the cheers. I never really felt the same way in Michigan Stadium. As I understand it, to be in the Block O, you have to be an undergraduate, and you have to go to these 'training' sessions to learn how to lead cheers in unison, and you can't leave the game early (you might think that's not a bad thing, but what about the blowouts?). So basically they get the more hardcore students, teach them how to lead the cheers, give them towels and choreograph the gear so that the Block O shows up.

Continuing on that tack, I think that that group sets the example. When I was at The Game in 2006, I was in the visitor's section in 28AA, with a pretty good view of the Block O. I didn't know how that worked then, but I remembered that a lot of the noise started from there. And then, being in 38B, just behind the Block O, I could really hear and feel the noise. My thinking is that these groups set the example, and lead the O-H-I-O cheers, and all of that stuff. Is there no group like that at UM? I know there's usually the guy with the cowbell, and the student section is usually quite loud. I haven't had to sit in the other sections of the stadium so I don't know how things are. But those were my thoughts while I was at the game. Don't blame the acoustics, or the old people (OSU has their fair share of the elders)- we need some way to help direct the energy. If we don't have these tacky NBA arena animations on a giant TV-like board that OSU has (i.e. Laurinaitis waving his arms up and down with the giant red letters "GET LOUDER!!!" or marquee "LETS... GO... BUCKS!!" messages scrolling across, and Brutus jumping around and making the "no-good" signal, fake decibel graphs, etc.) then we can at least have a specific part of the stadium lead the cheers. It's not the acoustics - we just don't have the direction. That's just my thought on the issue; I haven't been back to the Big House since '06 Iowa so it's been a while.

What are your thoughts on the sound issue? I'm told that Beaver Stadium can get even more rockin', but I haven't had the opportunity to go yet - I'm looking into going for the Michigan State game. Another opportunity to root against Sparty.

Anyway, Blue Balls - yeah, I liked Hershey a lot. I've been in Philadelphia for 2 years now, and I'm ready for a change that's more metropolitan.. even if Hershey is a bit more rural than I'm used to. Good place to study medicine, is the way I see it.

Yeah

Leaning towards the Red Wings stuff, as I'm also a big fan. I think I was a Red Wings fan before I became a Wolverines fan (i.e. learned the game of football). Though that's basically 4th grade vs 6th grade.. not that big of a difference in the scheme of things.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm out to just enjoy the spectacle of 2 Top 10 teams duking it out at night, even if its at the Goatshoe... again.