OT: How did you become a Michigan fan?

I was 8 years old and living in Oklahoma(Army brat). My dad was/is a huge Alabama fan but they had a bye week. But my dad is a football junkie so he watched every game that came on that day, including Michigan's homecoming game against Florida State(on TBS! The 80's, man. The 80's). I jumped up and said, "that's MY team!". My dad just gave me a puzzled look and said, "Who? Michigan? Why?".

"Because they have cool helmets".

I was a fresh eight years old. The only thing I really knew about football at that point was:
1. You can run and throw a ball.
2. My dad LOVED it.
So my love of the team started with something simple. And I didn't have to conform and love the Sooners like 98% of everyone else around me.

Grew up on a farm in west Michigan. Fortunately for me it was the Bo and Woody era. Those games on fall Saturday afternoons with Keith Jackson commentating flipped me as the only Blue in an all green household. Thank God they did!!! GO BLUE!!!!!

Moms side are spartys including my brother, dads side is M. Watched the 97 season and mainly championship with my dad and that solidified it. Then growing up friends who had family members that played at UM and got me tickets sweetened the pot.

..and 2 degrees

...through childhood even though I did not come from a family that fostered it. Then 1989 happened and the deal was sealed.

My father was a professor and started taking me to football and basketball games from about age 3 onward. My first understanding that life was not fair was the "vote" in 1973. I have not yet forgiven most of Ingham County. My college degrees are from Michigan as well. After graduation, I lived in a few places around the country for 15 years or so, then came back in '07. My son's first football game was App. St. He has since forgiven me.

Dad went to grad school at Michigan with no prior sports passion and gradually became a casual fan of the football team and a bandwagon fan of the basketball team.  So as I grew up he would always watch the football games, and I watched with him at times.  Slowly but surely I became a fan.  The earliest game that I remember and that cemented my fandom was the win over Penn State in 2005, when Manningham caught the game winner.

"TOUCHDOWN, MANNINGHAM!"

...it took about one week on campus and 30 minutes of MICHIGAN STADIUM football to go ALL BLUE.  Even when Bo kept kicking the ball to $*%damn f^ck!ng Rocket Ismail, which was ALMOST as bad as witnessing the SILENCING of 106,000 by Miami AFTER we wore out "Hey, Hey, Hey, Goooooodbyyyyee!"  50+ road wins in a row by the Hurricanes (last road loss having come to Michigan), and we couldn't nurse a 30-14 lead late in the 4th.

As an aside, the therapist says I'm doing WAAAY better now, but he's a tool, 'cause seriously, why shouldn't that still be upsetting?  Anyway, I've grown, matured (which is a weak euphemism for those avoiding that they have AGED), and probably should go take a nap.

Good topic, WD.

Carry on with Dignity.

Also, FOSU!

I was born in TC, so Michigan games were always on. No one in my family were sports fans, but I developed a love for football very early on. I saw the '69 Michigan/OSU game, saw BO interviews and really was drawn to him as a male role model. Eventually, I became the first in my family to graduate HS and consider higher education as a viable option. I applied to exactly 1 school: MICHIGAN. I was accepted, matriculated, graduated and my life long connection was cemented. Uber alles, GO BLUE!

From kindergarten through college.  Was a huge sports fanatic at a young age.  Started following Michigan football probably as early as 1st grade.  It's been 40 years of excitement, hype, glory, pain, anticipation, frustration, bliss, hope and many other things.  I only applied to one school.

GO BLUE!!

I'm from Ohio. Nearly my entire family are Ohio State fans. The few family members that live in Michigan are Michigan State fans.... So yeah the choice was pretty clear for me on which team would be my favorite.

when everyone I knew rooted for Michigan it was my destiny even though my ex GF and my wife are buckeyes. women enjoy making love with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind

Bob Timberlake.

My parents both went to Wisconsin and were big proponents of the Big Ten schools generally. Academically, I knew I wanted to go to the best public school in the Big Ten, and I fell in love with Ann Arbor. Also, when I moved to Michigan from the East Coast half way through high school, I was in an area surrounded by Sparty swarms (just outside of EL), which, as a contrarian, naturally turned me off to MSU and gave me UM sympathies. 

 

My acceptance letter in 2011 sealed the deal; attending U of M was the best thing I've done in my life to date. Will always be a massive proponent of the entire university and city; I'm in love with the maize and blue.