OT Your hometown and fandom origins

Submitted by RockinLoud on

I've not seen a thread like this and I thought it would be interesting and build a greater sense of community if we all shared a few things:

1. Where you were born/hometown
2. How you became a UM fan
3. (optional) high school you attended

I'll start. Born in Battle Creek (Mich, for those who aren't from mich) and went to Athens (just south of B.C.) until high school when my family moved to Omaha, NE. (On a side, the timing of the move couldn't have been better as it was in '97 when UM and Nebraska shared the NC; needless to say there was much smack talking that occurred that year)

Became a UM fan in about 4th grade because all my friends who had older siblings liked UM and hated State and OSU (in other words, it was cool to like UM and not cool to like State). Plus I was into comic books and thought it was pretty awesome that a team was named the wolverines since Wolverine was my favorite comic book hero.

What about you guys?

GOBLUE4EVR

August 16th, 2009 at 10:53 AM ^

1) born in dearborn, mi. grew up in windosr, ontario
2) my mom and aunt both went to michigan. plus my dad grew up a huge michigan fan and that is how i was brought up. and have been going to games since i was 5.
3) vincent massey secondary school in windsor.

GOBLUE4EVR

August 17th, 2009 at 7:43 AM ^

the ravens roster and i don't know the kid you are talking about. he must not have had a older brother or sister that went to school with me..... since you went to riverside, do you know anyone that would have been going there in 1997? reason why i ask is that massey and riverside played each other that year for the championship in football. during the game both stands emptied out and the fans from both schools nearly brawled in the south end zone at windsor stadium. i might have been leading the charge...LOL

GOBLUE4EVR

August 18th, 2009 at 6:42 AM ^

kennedy(the school).... and those aren't the helmets they had when i was in high school.

as for massey in track in XC. they were always decent in both while i was there. the were really good in girls track, they had 2 of the fastest girls in the province during my time.

The King of Belch

August 15th, 2009 at 2:44 PM ^

I was born and raised in Detroit and moved to Omaha, NE in 1982.

I became a fan in the early '70s--the Denny Franklin years. The earliest memory I have is the Rose Bowl (71?) loss to Stanford 13-12 (how appropriate). The second memory is a 52-0 beating of Mighty Navy in or about 72-3-4.

The Ten Year War, the helmets, the fight song--and then the stunning realization that sleeping my way to a high school GPA of about 0.8 WASN'T "good enough" for Michigan. But I remained a fan even though UM had some sort of snobby "standards" that I didn't measure up to.

Brodie

August 16th, 2009 at 9:52 AM ^

I can't speak for anybody but myself, but if I wanted to negbang you it would have happened ages ago. I'm personally not bothered as I don't know you at all and you've yet to do anything incredibly stupid... I'm just not sure what you stand to gain by openly flaunting the fact that you're a banned user.

Sommy

August 16th, 2009 at 11:47 AM ^

It's common knowledge at this point that claiming to be a fan of Michigan and then bashing the school for being "snobby" is widely frowned upon.

Brodie

August 16th, 2009 at 10:00 PM ^

He's claimed in the past his proof for this is that only a select percentage of people "over 25" have a college degree... of course, never mind that "over 25" covers everyone born from, say, 1900 to 1984 or the tiny scope of this message board and the fact that the average user is likely in a much more compact age range that is far more likely to have gone to college or that Michigan is a massive university with more alumni than any other school.

And that ignores the fact that a Michigan degree buys you absolutely nothing on this site. Some of the best posters are open about not having gone to UM. I'd venture to say 50% of regulars on this bored are non-alums. About what one would expect.

The King of Belch

August 16th, 2009 at 10:06 PM ^

I only "imply" it when an alleged graduate of Michigan displays absolutely NONE of the tendencies that show they are owed the VERY high esteem I hold them in. That's right: You graduate from Michigan, you're in my personal Hall of Fame. You've accomplished something I still have wet dreams over.

You act like a dolt who doesn't get sarcasm, I don't believe you.

MichiganMan_24_

August 15th, 2009 at 2:51 PM ^

I am from the Youngstown-Warren Ohio area... Dad was a football fanatic (OSU) .. i was 6 yrs old and lived in a apartment across from the star of my hometown high School.

He use to let me play Bball with him and his brother and told my dad to bring me to see him play .. So my High school has the winged helmets and fight song is hail to the victors.

I went and seen those helmets and seen my neighbor who i looked at as like a Emmitt Smith (i was 6) .. and then my dad said "come watch the buckeyes" .. they were playing UM and i seen those helmets and thought it was where my neighbor would go to play when he got older because of the helmets .. I became a die-hard UM fan .. neighbor went on to set all the rushing records at Bucknell U .. and Dad was sick he did not better explain things to me (would not have mattered its in my blood to yell GO BLUE ! )

YtownBlue

August 16th, 2009 at 1:29 PM ^

I'm also from the Youngstown area, worked there for several years and graduated from YSU. I live in Salem, Oh about 30 miles SW of Ytown. Salem is the hometown of Michigan kicker Bryan Wright.

I've liked Michigan since the early 80's & everyone asks me being from Ohio how did I start liking the enemy? I actually have no idea. Maybe it was the helmets or something as I was around 12 when I started rooting for the Maize N Blue.

I didn't start attending games until the mid 90's after I got out of the Air Force. I've been a season ticket holder for a few years now. My brother and I do the 3.5 hr drive every home game.

wingedsig

August 15th, 2009 at 2:49 PM ^

1) Lauderhill, FL (Random Fact: Vlad is from my home city and went to a rival high school.)
2) My Father is an M alum and it was always my dream to go to U-M. I've been a Wolverine since I was 7 and coming from a Florida boy that's saying something.
3) Random high school in SoFla (about an hour south of Pahokee).

befuggled

August 15th, 2009 at 2:56 PM ^

I was born in Ann Arbor in the sixties while my dad was in law school. At some point while I was growing up he bought season tickets, which we held onto while we moved around the metro Detroit area. Eventually we moved to Rochester, where I lived with one minor interruption until I graduated from high school (Rochester Adams).

I became a fan going to the games with my dad in the seventies. My brother and I would go to a game or two a year prior to the Rick Leach era, but '75 or '76 my dad bought two more season tickets and I went to nearly every game until I went away from college.

Don

August 15th, 2009 at 3:03 PM ^

My great-grandfather was a publisher of an Ann Arbor newspaper back in the 1880s, and my grandfather spend much of his childhood in Ann Arbor. Granddad attended UM from 1901-04, getting a Lit degree '04 and a Masters soon after. Watching the first four years of Yost's tenure must have been an amazing thing.

For a short while my dad also lived in Ann Arbor during the early 1920s, on Wells and later on Packard. One of my prize possessions is a photo album of my grandfather's filled with photos from his time in Ann Arbor back then. One photo was taken right on the sidelines during the 1904 game against Chicago at Ferry Field, and Germany Schultz is clearly identifiable amidst the scrum of players. Don't know how grandpa got the photo, and the identical shot is in the Bentley archives.

My first football game at any level was a UM game in the late 50s, and I can clearly remember my dad suffering through radio broadcasts of UM getting pounded almost annually by Sparty during the late 50s and 60s. It's hard to imagine, but MSU's domination of us back then was every bit as thorough as Bo's domination of MSU turned out to be. My dad also completely loathed Woody Hayes, so I grew up more or less with the same attitude toward the Buckeyes.

Attending UM was sort of a foregone conclusion; I came here in '71 as a freshman from Grosse Pointe South, and never left. I got to see all but the first two years of Bo's reign.

umhannon

August 15th, 2009 at 3:10 PM ^

1. Maumee (Toledo), OH
2. Grandfather swam and Grandmother played field hockey at UM
3. Maumee High School

Currently reside in Portland, OR; any other UM fans here, let me know.

KinesiologyNerd

August 15th, 2009 at 10:30 PM ^

you Maumee bastards! ha I went to Anthony Wayne, I'd call Whitehouse my hometown, but live in Maumee/Monclova now. I went to University of Colorado because it took so long for Michigan to accept me, but I applied again and here I am! Not really sure when I "became" a fan. My parents are fair weather OSU fans. My earliest memory is Woodson's punt return in 1997... not a bad one eh?

orillia

August 16th, 2009 at 5:46 PM ^

have lived in Phoenix Ariz., L.A., Walled Lake Michigan, Folsom California, British Columbia, Washington State where I graduated high school. Attended Linfield college in Oregon and I currently reside in the Portland area. I became a fan when I lived in Walled Lake in late 60's. Parents had season tickets to the tigers- saw them win the series in 1968. Loved the winged helmets. Only got Michigan Ohio state games on t.v. when I lived in California- thus hated the suckeyes. Both of my sons are diehard Michigan fans as well. Plan to make our first trip to a Michigan game next October- can't wait!

baleedat

August 19th, 2009 at 2:05 PM ^

Born and raised in Burns Park, Ann Arbor. Then moved to Perrysburg before High School. Attended a few community colleges, University of Toledo, OSU for three quarters, and Miami (NTM).

HermosaBlue

August 15th, 2009 at 3:21 PM ^

1. East Grand Rapids, MI

2. 5th generation graduate of UM. Family has had tix in Michigan Stadium since it was built. Michigan pennant hanging over my crib before I was born. Attended first UM game at the age of 2.5 in the 1974 season. Have attended at least one home game every season since then.

3. East Grand Rapids HS.

MichFan1997

August 15th, 2009 at 3:21 PM ^

Richmond, Michigan. I started watching when I was 10 because I thought the uniforms looked cooler than Michigan States. I went to Richmond High School. We played Jake Long in 2002.

octal9

August 15th, 2009 at 3:22 PM ^

1. I was born in Detroit. I have lived in every part of SE Michigan possible (short list: Detroit, Madison Heights, Sterling Heights, Warren, Harper Woods, Grosse Point Woods, Grosse Pointe Park, St. Clair Shores, Algonac, and a few others - currently A²). I have not lived in any other state.
2. I haven't been a fan of any other school. It's always been Michigan, as far as I can remember.
3. Algonac High School. Home of the maize & blue muskrats