This Week's Obsession: Your Michigan Cherry
I should have known you were temptation. [WH]
What's the first Michigan game you remember going to, or if that pre-dates memory, your earliest impressions of going to a Michigan game? And what would that kid/adult kid take away if he went to his first one this year?
-----------------------------
Ace: I can't talk about my first Michigan game without discussing what was scheduled to be my first Michigan game. My family moved to Michigan in 1993, and my dad, an alum, got us a pair of season tickets low in the North end zone for the 1994 season—we apparently bypassed much of the waiting list due to a clerical error. My brother and I would switch off going to games with my dad; Jack took the first game, a win over Boston College. I was crestfallen to learn a couple weeks later that my dad would be on a business trip for the next game, and my mom had zero interest in going—at six years old, I wasn't going solo. Instead of getting my first taste of the Big House, I got my first taste of the secondary ticket market when my mom drove as close to the stadium as she dared on the day of the game and sold our tickets for face value.
A few hours later, Kordell Stewart connected with Michael Westbrook, and while I had a good cry on my couch, not being at Michigan Stadium that day probably saved my budding fanhood.
For some reason (ill-timed Rec&Ed soccer game, most likely), I couldn't make the next home game, so my first game ended up being a titanic matchup between #5 Michigan and #3 Penn State. Most of what I remember of that game is everything but the actual game. Walking to the stadium, hugging my dad's hip so the the sea of people with stomachs at eye-level wouldn't whisk me away. Huddling at the main gate, wondering how all these people could possibly fit in a building that barely crested above ground level. The most memorable moment, and I'm sure I'm not alone here, was the breathtaking step through the gate and into the stadium; if you haven't been to the Big House, it's tough to describe walking through a concrete tunnel and seeing the vast majority of 105,000+ seats laid out below you, when from the outside—at that time, at least—Michigan Stadium looked downright understated.
 |
| Vague memories of going "Wheeeeeeeee!!!" |
I vaguely remember Tyrone Wheatley and Ki-Jana Carter playing very well. I definitely remember my immediate fascination with Tshimanga Biakabutuka, whose name I would repeat while running through my backyard for years to come. I remember being somewhat disappointed with the loss, but not crushed, in large part because my dad let us walk on the bleachers to get back up to the gate and out of the stadium, and it felt like we were getting away with something even though half our section took the same tack. I'd say I remember the walk home, but the many walks I made with my dad to and from Stadium and Main over the years run together into a blur of walking across the railroad tracks, cutting through the athletic campus, and passing that ever-changing pizza place on Dewey and Packard.
Despite the loss, I loved it. I loved that everyone in our section seemed to know each other, and even if they didn't they sure acted like it after touchdowns. I loved the pure electricity of a hundred thousand strong singing the same song. (A song I actually knew, even!) I loved how the laws of society seemed to loosen just a bit on those fall Saturdays—crosswalks became irrelevant (at six, this was a major development), lines were navigated with little regard for who arrived before whom, and standing on the seats was encouraged, not something that would lose me dessert privileges.
I don't think much would change for me today. While the additions to the stadium take away from the "hole in the ground is far bigger than I imagined" effect while walking in, that effect is by no means gone, and both Kid Me and Adult Me would/does love the updated concourse and overall look and feel of the Big House. The walk is still the same. The song remains the same. The camaraderie and feeling of connection, while perhaps not as strong after a trying decade, is still a big part of the experience. Seeing 100+ winged helmets fly under the barrier of the M Club banner still sends chills down my spine.
Kid Me probably wouldn't pay much attention to Special K, but he'd have been fascinated by the hype videos. They should play more of those.
[After the jump: fuzziness]
-----------------------------
Brian: When asked this question I exhaled something that kind of sounded like "whoof." I do not know man.
I do know:
0. I went to most of them after I moved back to Michigan for sixth grade. Before that I was in Colorado.
 |
| You can't make Michael Taylor into confetti; only WE can make Michael Taylor into confetti. [UM Bentley Library] |
1. When I was young I was prohibited from going to Notre Dame games because those tickets were reserved for adults who were important adults. Which fair enough, now. As a kid I was INCENSED.
2. When I was in the stadium my cousins and I made paper airplanes out of the free programs and tore up the pages to make confetti we could throw in the air whenever Michigan scored a touchdown. At points the paper-related activities were more important than the game; I remember getting impatient when Michigan did not score touchdowns particularly quickly because I wanted to discharge my confetti.
3. There was a game we lost against Illinois where I shot my hands skyward in exultation because I thought we had won because I was short and could not see we had lost. A quick googling indicates this must have been 1993, when I was 14.
4. Punt-Counterpunt in those free magazines was IMPORTANT. I hated Punt on his week to be pessimistic; I hated Counterpunt on his week to be pessimistic. We all flipped to the back of our free programs to read P/CP weekly. I divined legions from its eccentric prose.
5. Michigan losing was a seismic disaster. It happened, of course.
-----------------------------
Seth: I'm another of the impressionists. I have no idea what my first Michigan game was—I have an oddly strong memory of everyone's clothes. I was wearing a gray and blue jacket vest with zip-off sleeves that were zipped off, and a lamb's wool hood that zipped down the middle. Someone came up with the idea for a zipper right down the middle of kids' jacket hoods, and this idea couldn't have lasted much longer than it takes consumers to get their hair stuck in it, so if you can date doggie-eared zip hoods, that's the year. We parked in the lot across the street from the Fleetwood—a tradition that didn't last much longer than dog-eared zip hoods—and I watched everybody walking by in their sweatshirts. I remember walking the train tracks to the game, and after it the pumpkins outside the houses.
 |
| Nine of ten doctors do not recommend making the Fleetwood part of your gameday tradition. |
I went to a handful of games, but more often we drove up just to tailgate on some family friend's lawn while the dads went to the game and we threw footballs across the street to each other. I had a half-size blue football with a Michigan 'M' on it that was my prized possession, even though I spent car rides picking away at its rubber fake-stitches.
The first game that really sticks is when I spent a weekend with my cousin Larry, or Irwin as he points out every time I call him Larry, or Larry as I still call him anyway, who was a grad student at the time. It was the 1991 Indiana game, and we had pancakes at Frank's just the other side of the Nickels Arcade (years later I thought the bicycle shop had been the restaurant so I didn't get a Frank's pancake again until last year). Even then most people wore gray sweatshirts and I was one of a few in Michigan gear--a navy longsleeve 1990 Rose Bowl shirt.
From here Desmond Howard takes over. He returned a kickoff that's 71 yards in the stats, was probably more like 100 yards on the hoof, and has gone well past a million counting all the playbacks in my head. Michigan would hand it off to Powers or Johnson (or plow ahead with Burnie) until it was time for Desmond to score a touchdown, which he did every which way: a vintage short Dez-slant where he catches it then runs right by everybody, some other TD that I remember as a lot of large bodies leaping up around me, and a fingertip catch over the middle that finally gave Michigan more than a score's lead. After that last I announced to the grad students around me that Desmond Howard was my favorite player, and figured they were probably really impressed at such an astute observation by this 11-year-old.
Today I'd complain about the MANBALL gameplan, rue Bo's WR recruiting that left Michigan with just Van Dyne opposite Des, fret that Indiana converted 12 third downs, and use the eight-point final margin to evidence fear. At the time I probably forgot the final score half-way to the State Street book vendors; certainly it was gone by the first mug of hot cider at the Brown Jug. Michigan won, Desmond Howard, and by the bottom of that cider--blissfully ignorant that college football players had finite eligibility—I was decided to get back to Ann Arbor by any grades necessary.
Tahuwai la a tahuwai wai la
-----------------------------
BiSB: Believe it or not, I didn't attend a Michigan game until 1999. I grew up in a Michigan State household, so my Michigan fandom (which spontaneously generated itself somewhere around my early teens) was not internally supported until my sister became an athlete at Michigan. My first game was the 1999 Illinois game, in which Michigan turned a late 3rd quarter 27-7 lead into a stunning 35-29 defeat. I had watched Michigan games on television for years, so the early drubbing of a probably-mediocre-because-it-was-Illinois Illinois team seemed expected, not in a "Michigan is better than Illinois" sense, but in a "this is what Michigan does" sense. The Illinois comeback sucked, but in a very different way than did more recent blown games. Losses in 2014 feel like a blow to a thing that I like; when Michigan loses, it sucks because I like Michigan and I like when it does well. It was more personal back then; the outcome ruined MY experience, which was too bad for ME.
| The recording here has to go back to the early '90s if it's Gary Lewis. |
My fandom back then was stunningly different then than it is today. I knew much less about football Xs and Os, as well as about the players. Learning the personnel in those days was a matter of showing up on game day and listening to Carl Grapentine recite names and accomplishments after every play, or sitting at home and listening to (and underappreciating) Keith Jackson. I'm with Brian that the free programs were all, especially Punt/ Counterpunt. I would arrive early, read the rosters and the stats and get up to speed on what I needed to know. What I now spend months doing in the off-season, I accomplished back then in the time between when I sat down and the moment the 235 member Michigan Marching Band took the field.
I don't know which is better. Back then, I could watch a comfortable victory over a bad opponent and feel good about it without overanalyzing. Who cares if they couldn't generate any organic pass rush with their front four against East-Western Central State. They won, so yay. But I also couldn't appreciate the finer aspects of the game, like when a linebacker got great depth on a drop or if a guard pulled deftly on a power play. Sometimes I wish I could watch a game again as a casual fan, just to see what it feels like. But I have all of this useless knowledge, which is a blessing and a curse.
August 6th, 2014 at 11:22 AM ^
August 6th, 2014 at 11:22 AM ^
I came from the East Coast and had never been to the State of Michigan, never mind Ann Arbor, when I arrived at Michigan in August of 1967. When I told people I was going to Michigan, I had to fend off Michigan State references, since Staee was coming off its unbeaten, once tied season. I was, however, a big sport fan so I was looking forward to going to all the football and basketball games. The opener was against Duke, against whom Michigan has nver lost, although it was a close call: Michigan won 10-7 on a Frank Titus 27-yard field goal with about 10 seconds remaining. My most vivid recollection: asking my classmate why everyone was yelling Go Blue when we were playing the Blue Devils.
August 6th, 2014 at 11:26 AM ^
My freshman year which was also Anthony Carter's freshman year...I think the first game was against Duke or somebody crappy...but all I remember was Anthony Carter taking back a punt return...he was something special
August 6th, 2014 at 11:26 AM ^
My dad once sat next to a former Vandy player on a flight. The guy had been on the field that day for the Commodores, and remembered that Michigan's players seemed "really angry" and that he spent a significant portion of the day staring at the sky after being leveled.
August 6th, 2014 at 11:28 AM ^
I have no idea the opponent but it was 1987. I was a senior in high school and down visiting friends. I know it was early in the season as I was extremely warm walking to the stadium in my varsity letter jacket, which I was wearing so I could conceal and carry in as many cans of beer as possible. I believe I managed 6 - two in each sleeave, one in each pocket. This was not a big thing back in '87. Other than the guy ripping the stub off your ticket (damn I'm old) there was little resistance to the bringing in of contraband.
August 6th, 2014 at 12:05 PM ^
Early season games that year included an embarrassing 26-7 loss to Notre Dame, QB'd by Allen Park Cabrini's Terry Andrysiak. Terry predicted a 3 TD victory so when the Irish scored their last TD to go up by 19, Lou f'n Holtz went for 2. Prick son of a bitch.
We followed that up with 3 blowout wins: 44-18 over Washington State, 49-0 over Long Beach State, and 49-0 over Wisconsin.
August 6th, 2014 at 11:27 AM ^
August 6th, 2014 at 11:28 AM ^
My first Michigan game was when my Dad took my 12 year old self to see Michigan play Oregon in 2007. On the ride home, I thought the end of the world was surely near.
August 6th, 2014 at 11:33 AM ^
I was 11 and went with some friends because you could get tickets for a couple or bucks as a grade schooler at the gate. Michigan was crushed by Dan Devine's Missouri Tigers 40-17.
I remember having plenty of room to roam and watching from the box seats. Michigan used to set aside the first few rows with box style individual seats. These seats were lightly used as the sight lines were horrible before they lowered the field. We also spent time running around the wide open spaces of the upper end zone as there were only about 65k people there.
I wondered a bit about our new coach Bo after getting creamed.
At the time I was also a Packers fan and Dan Devine went on to coach the Packers.
August 6th, 2014 at 11:35 AM ^
My first game was #1 vs #2 against Notre Dame in 1989. Michael Taylor goes down and the crowd starts chanting "EL-VIS, EL-VIS, EL-VIS...". I thought it was a joke related to Elvis Presley's rumored residence in Kalamazoo. But instead, out comes Elvis Grbac and would have won the game if hadn't been for the "Rocket" Ismail returning two kickoffs for touchdowns. Also, it was Notre Dame's second game of the season to Michigan's first.
it seemd like it was always ND's second game & Michigan's first. In fact, looking back at the schedules for 85-90 it was that way.
I was a freshman in the Michigan Marching Band. Everything about the game you said is true. Going on to win every other regular season game that season didn't suck, though.
Technically, my first time in Michigan Stadium was to play the Victors for the football team, hear Bo speak to us, and then have a practice in the stadium. Regardless, until the fall after my graduation, I never entered Michigan Stadiume any way other than through the tunnel.
The tunnel, more than anything else, is my most enduring memory of Michigan football (and one of my favorite places on earth). Standing at attention ingnoring the opposing players as they went by and then screaming our fool heads off for the team as they went by. Then, "Presenting the [back then] 225 member Michigan Marching band. Baaaaand take the field."
August 6th, 2014 at 11:33 AM ^
Elvis got hurt against ND the week before and Todd Collins got his first start.
Maybe seventh overall. The thing I remember about that game was noticing the new stadium capacity number on the scoreboard when entering. I was a pretty avid fan but had no idea they had ripped out the first five rows to put in six, adding 800 seats in the offseason. It's hard to imagine something like that going unnoticed today.
August 6th, 2014 at 11:36 AM ^
My first game was during the 1997 season, 99% sure it was the Baylor game. I was 8 years old and had been cheering for Michigan for years already because my grandma told me too. I was also in my stage of fascination with the Guinness Book of World Records so I was super psyched that I was in the largest stadium in America. Details of the game are vague other than I remember they won. After the game, my dad took me to meet up with his good friend in the stadium who was the father of a backup O-lineman. It was talking to him that I found out if I waited for the players outside the tunnel I could get their autograph. So I waited for like and hour and got a few random players autographs (I didn't know enough about who was good) on a stadium-bought football and thought I was hot shit. I of course took the football to school next Monday and showed it off to anyone who cared. Anyone who cared's only response was "Why didn't you get it signed by Charles Woodson?" That was a bit of a blow to the ego.
My second game was that same season, against Iowa. With my Dad again and also a friend and his dad who was an Iowa grad. Michigan came from behind to win (I remember this vividly) and I got my first chance to become an insufferable Michigan fan which was so totally awesome at the time and cringe-worthy now that I think about how annoying I must have been to my friend's Dad.
August 6th, 2014 at 11:35 AM ^
Watched Biakabutuka run wild from the last row of the south end zone. I was in 4th grade. Can't remember too much about the game beyond what youtube tells me, but the memories are visceral and almost haunting considering the effects they had on me.
August 6th, 2014 at 11:36 AM ^
We had a similar thread to this last year but it never made the front page.
1969-I was 4 years old and I remember my Father pleading with the security gate keeper to let me sit on his lap. I remember the band. I remember my Father and Uncle crying with joy as Michigan beat Ohio State.
August 6th, 2014 at 11:36 AM ^
I don’t remember much from my first game other than Michigan crushing Minn. It was such a blowout the most exciting thing for me was when the Minn gopher kidnapped one of our cheerleaders and for payback the Mich cheerleaders racked his gopher nuts on the goalposts.
Good fun. I remember the Houston Cougar (1992?) and his cheerleading squad being notably bad sports about the whole thing, which was an established tradition by then. They formed a ring around the Cougar and wouldn't let the UM cheerleaders take him. The key was to slow down before making contact and then to set the victim down slowly. A FOF story involves a guy dressed as Domino's Pizza's "The Noid" on the sidelines at Spartan Stadium. Apparently the MSU cheerleaders had gleaned the basics but not the nuances of this routine. They seized The Noid and rammed him at full-speed, then dropped him from waist height, sending him headfirst into the carpeted concrete.
August 6th, 2014 at 11:36 AM ^
I was 14. My aunt was in grad school and was kind enough to let me use her other ticket and show me around Ann Arbor. I still hate Kordell Stewart.
August 6th, 2014 at 11:36 AM ^
Ok, November 16, 1968 vs Wisconsin. I was with my Jr. High Football Team - Thanks for the tickets, Don!
Yes, I did see RoJo establish the Single Game Rushing Record which still stands today - 347 yards. By the way, despite all of the great backs that have played for Michigan over the years, Ron Johnson still owns 2 of the top 5 records.
August 6th, 2014 at 11:37 AM ^
I was an out-of-stater with no loyalty to Michigan until I enrolled. My best friend was at Notre Dame, and Notre Dame had a starting sophomore linebacker, Rocky Boiman, who went to my high school. I was super excited to experience my first college football game and that it was against Notre Dame.
I remember walking through the section tunnel and being astounded at the size of the stadium. I remember buying a mediocre hot dog and a Pepsi (I hate Pepsi). I don't remember much of the specifics of the game, other than that it was hot, Michigan won, and I had a new camaraderie with my floormates (who had gotten up early that morning to attend College Game Day) and about 100k other people.
I now have a young son and will be sharing my love for Michigan with him early. He already loves when I sing him The Victors.
August 6th, 2014 at 11:40 AM ^
My first game was the 1979 game against Wisconsin. I was five and remember very little. My parents, who had season tickets up through the 1975 season wanted to take me so they went down on a whim, bought some tickets there, and went to the game. It was a blowout as Michigan won 54-0 (had to look it up).
The game that stands out for me the most was the 1991 game against Purdue. Not that it was a great game or anything, but my coach got us recruiting tickets (he knew someone in the program and took a couple of us down for each game). I got to be recruited by Michigan for a game. It was awesome. We toured the facilities, got to go out on the field, had then assistant coach Lloyd Carr come in and talk to us. I remember being in the tunnel with the Purdue players!. The best was being anble to see two of my favorite players, Tyrone Wheatley and Desmond play live. Seats on the 50 yard line. Michigan won big (42-0). It was a hell of a day!
August 6th, 2014 at 11:45 AM ^
I haven't had the opportunity to go to many UM games but my first was in 2006 UM vs Ball State. That game was a nightmare to sit through as they were looking ahead to the #1 vs #2 game against OSU.
Brady Hoke coached that Ball State team though.
August 6th, 2014 at 11:46 AM ^
my first game was the first game of my freshman year. i remember walking to the stadium with two guys, only one of whom i'm still friends with, from the dorms. i had seen a michigan game before, but at camp randall, not at the big house. worse, we lost at camp randall. my second game was the boston college game two weeks later, when it poured. sat through the whole thing. i was hooked.
August 6th, 2014 at 11:46 AM ^
The game ended in a tie thanks to a career days by Kirk Herbstreit and OSU WR Brian Stablein and a missed extra point by Michigan. I had a very good view of Elvis Grbac being knocked out while sneaking in a touchdown. I remember thiking the Shoe was ugly.
The OSU fans were, in retrospect, very hands-off as far as giving me shit despite the fact that I was wearing a No. 6 Michigan jersey. I was exposed to the OSU version of "The Victors" for the first time and got a few comments, but none of it was nasty.
The game felt like a loss to both sides. Michigan was used to beating OSU at that point, so a tie was disappointing, and OSU was getting really sick of not being able to beat the Wolverines.
August 6th, 2014 at 11:46 AM ^
August 6th, 2014 at 11:47 AM ^
August 6th, 2014 at 11:53 AM ^
Try to remember that time heals. Take things one day at a time.
August 6th, 2014 at 12:20 PM ^
Yeah that hurts. But remember that Oregon had a legitimate chance to be a national championship team until Dennis Dixon got hurt. They were pretty damn good.
August 6th, 2014 at 12:58 PM ^
Appalachian State DID go on to win the Div 1AA National Championship for the 3rd year in a row.
August 6th, 2014 at 11:50 AM ^
He seems to think it was a Michigan-OSU game...in Columbus! I don't remember, but it wouldn't surprise me since my dad is from Cleveland and is a big OSU fan. Sad face :(
August 6th, 2014 at 11:50 AM ^
Michigan v Notre Dame, 1979. I had just moved to Michigan from California. My new step dad took the family to Michigan Stadium because I was a HUGE fan........of the Figthing Irish. I jumped for joy when Bob Crable leapt on the back of his nose tackle and blocked the kick.
Now I hate that son of a bitch.
August 6th, 2014 at 11:50 AM ^
I was 7 the first time I visited Michigan Stadium. MIchigan thumped Duke 52-0 and it poured rain for almost the entire game. I don't remember a lot of the details of the game, but I remember my father continually trying to convince me that maybe we should leave and find someplace to get dry and I didn't want to. Michigan just kept scoring and everytime they scored the students would shower the end zone with toilet paper and I thought it was great.
August 6th, 2014 at 11:55 AM ^
I know I went to a few games in 1990 (and probably one in 1989), but the first one for which I have a vivid memory is 1991 Florida State. It was insane, and I was even more hooked than I was before.
August 6th, 2014 at 12:00 PM ^
I'm not sure I've ever been less upset after a Michigan loss. That game felt like two top-notch prize fighters going at it, and it was a shame that it had to end.
August 6th, 2014 at 12:08 PM ^
That game felt like it was over before it started. The early pick 6 just sucked the life out of the party.
August 6th, 2014 at 12:39 PM ^
I was at that game too (I had graduated, but I was back in Ann Arbor breaking up with my GF). I remember seeing the d-backs from FSU and thinking that they all looked like gazelles. Then that screen pass to Howard got returned for a pick-six, and I knew we were doomed.
I agree. We tried to make a game of it, but not until after it was over...
Michigan's first play from scrimmage was a pick-6 by Tyrelle Buckley.
August 6th, 2014 at 11:55 AM ^
The first game I remember watching was the 1968 game against OSU where Woody went for two to bring the score to 50-14 (cause he couldnt go for three). The first game I remember attending was the 1971 Navy game and all I remember is watching those poor cheerleaders doing push up after push up after every score.
That and my brother not letting me drink the cider they brought in for some reason. I wonder why - I really liked cider. He was in Dental school at the time.
And coeds being passed up. A lot of coed going overheard in the student section.
August 6th, 2014 at 12:23 PM ^
Can you imagine the outrage there would be if a coed was passed up today? I remember my roomate always grabbing and handful of whatever he could on their way up.
August 6th, 2014 at 12:01 PM ^
Oregon, 1960 and as I was still on the tit I don't recall much. My first recollection was the 1968 game against California. There we were dressed up in our blue Cub Scout uniforms, the pretense being that we were ushers. I don't recall anything of the game except that being in the student section we found out that hippies were people too. They treated us well but the cigarettes they smoked didn't smell at all like my dad's. Funny thing, they shared those cigarettes, passing them around, coughing really hard, and then giggling out of their minds. Wish we had their foresight about bringing something to drink. We only had the one can of pop our mothers allocated to us for the day, but those hippies, smart cookies they were, had leather bags full of liquid nurishment.
Those were great days, the 1960s, a gazillion rolls of TP flying around and out of the stadium, confetti being blasted from the exits as the team took the field. Throwing mini footballs to our friends waiting far far below outside the stadium. And some of the best cold hotdogs and soggy popcorn you've ever had.
August 6th, 2014 at 12:26 PM ^
My dad was a boy scout usher sometime in the early 30's, wish I had spent more time asking him questions about that.
I have a neg stalker.
August 6th, 2014 at 12:04 PM ^
I know it was 74 because the only players I remember are Dennis Franklin and Gordon Bell and that's the only year they both started. 99% sure it was Minnesota because the 49-0 score sticks out in memory. I remember watching the poor cheerleaders repeatedly have to drag their increasingly woozy selves up on the wall to count off the score in backflips. Tailgating between Yost and Fisher Stadium: Yost for the restrooms, the ball field for tossing footballs around. Both were just open -- you could wander anywhere you wanted.
It was either '72, because I think I was in kindergarten, or '74, because I thought the final was 49-0 only we left early when it was 42-0. So maybe we didn't leave early and it was only ever 42-0. I dunno. It's hard to tell when you're 5. Or 7.
Anyway, it was at once too much to comprehend and also quite a bit understated. The Big House is so big when you're little and it's full of people and you're coming in at kind of the middle, so it goes up a long ways and down a long ways ... but Minnesota back then was hardly a challenge, so it wasn't much more than a scrimmage, I think, especially not to the untrained eyes of a kid just learning about sports.
And then we left for the Land that Football Forgot, and I have not been back for a game. I had a chance in 2000, but, um ... it didn't seem like the right reason to ask permission to leave the state.
Anyway, I did see the 2008 48-42 loss to Purdue in West Lafayette. I had a friend at the time who liked to organize outings to games with people from both sides - at the time, it seemed cute, but looking back (and taking other things into account), it was maybe a bit sadistic. So I sat with a couple of Michigan-only fans in the crappy end zone section that was recently demolished, surrounded by Purdue fans, and watched a game that was exciting for about half the fans in the stands (obvs by then Purdue was selling a lot of tickets to away fans). I couldn't get my friend to understand why I wasn't excited by the win: a bad Purdue team (thankfully, Tiller's last) losing to a bad Michigan team. (I kind of root for the team that is better to win so that at least one of them has a chance at a good season ... so in football it's pretty much always Michigan.)
August 6th, 2014 at 12:05 PM ^
Boston College at Michigan. First play of the game was a 74-yard BC TD reception. It was an appropriately searing introduction to twenty years of deranged fandom. We went on to win, but still.
Defining moment in my Michigan fandom? Maybe. It has allowed me to shrug off the occasional loss and really love the last second wins like Henne to Manningham versus PSU.
Occasional loss? I remember when I could say that with a straight face.
The other thing about that game that I remember most vividly was the walk to the game itself, we passed through one of the neighborhoods and on someone's porch a fine young Wolverine coed in an American flag bikini was doing a keg stand, and possibly showing off a bit more skin than she had intended when she put on that bikini. Myself, my father, and the two guys we went with who had the tickets all slowed the walk down a bit as we walked by, and I thought to my 15 year old self "I think I'll go to college here."
August 6th, 2014 at 12:25 PM ^
Tony Boles 91-yard TD run...big M win...I was about 14 and took a bus with my dad and my uncle, an IU law school grad, with the Indiana Alumni Association chapter of GR. We were the lone Michigan fans.
An elder at my church had a heart attack in the summer of 1991 and recovered...but his doctor said he couldn't serve as an elder or go to football games that fall. My dad took the rest of his elder term and was given his season tickets in exchange. So I hit the FSU, ND, and OSU games that season...my younger brothers got Indiana, Purdue and Northwestern. :)
First game as a student was 1995 vs Virginia, the Pigskin Classic. Mercury Hayes!
My daughter's first game was The Horror, my son's was a loss to Minnesota in 2005. My youngest daughter hasn't gone yet...but history unfortunately tells me it will be a loss. :(
Comments