What sort of home did you grow up in?
As we approach the spring game, I've been put in mind of the fact that until I was about 16, I didn't even know there was a spring game. My parents andthe rest of my family were and are Michigan fans, but of a certain variety.
Dad is a "state of Michigan" fan, and will cheer for Sparty in all cases where they are not playing U of M. Michigan is his #1, but anything of the state is his number two. His Michigan fandom is most evident in his intense distaste for ND and OSU. Mom is a Michigan fan because dad is, and my granparents and her siblings were and are, but really, if Dad rooted for OSU, that'd be her team. My sister couldn't give a rat's rear end.
Growing up, I never knew the player's names, because my family didn't go in for big time fandom. I knew Timmy B, because Mom thought his name was hilarious. I didn't really become aware of players till round about Henne's freshman season. Oddly enough, I can now talk about players from earlier eras with my dad, and he knows all who I'm talking about. I guess he was a pretty big fan, but it never occured to him to discuss it.
It's weird that, coming from these rather topical fan origins, I should become such a diehard. I mean, my Dad doesn't even know a guy exists until his third game starting. Meanwhile, I pore over recruitng and watch spring games and hang on every word of practice reports. I study UFR's and game evaluations with rapt attention. I follow our players into their NFL careers should they have them. I'm just trying to figure out how from those origins, I got so craze for the Maize and Blue.
What was your M upbringing like?
Half my family went to Eastern Michigan (including me) and the other half went to UofM. But we are all Michigan fans. My first experience going to games was my Dad taking my brothers and me to 4th quarter blow-outs when they opened up the gates back when I was a lad, along with our one-game-per-season actual game. Now I have season tickets and take my dad to every game, and when my son is old enough (he's one) he will be coming along too. I don't care that I didn't go to Michigan. It still feels like my family. And when they lose I die a little inside so eff off Valenti.
Zero. First M connection in the family. But my entire family has hated Notre Dame (save my grandfather, who loves them) since I can remember, so I'm sure that helped in my decision to attend M.
I wish I had a cool story about my grandpa bouncing me on his knee and teaching me the tradition of the Maize and Blue. Instead, I bought an off-centered Michigan sweatshirt for $5 in the summer of 2006 and that's what started my fandom.
When it comes to supporting the Wolverines, it doesn't matter how you got here; it just matters that you did.
Wal-Mart Wolverine crap never bothered me. If you root for the Maize and Blue, you're alright in my book (save for the ones that act like trashy OSU fans and make other M fans look like dicks).
My parents are both from Lansing, but neither went to MSU. Still, they were casual MSU fans. I have baby pictures of me dressed in MSU crap. My parents were not heavily into sports though.
Things changed when we moved outside Ann Arbor in 1988. I was 8 years old, and my dad started taking me to basketball and football games. Between the 1989 championship, Desmond, the Fab Five, etc I became a HUGE UofM fan. I think my dad slowly started changing too because it was something we did together.
When my parents divorced in 94 I lost that bond with my dad, and my mom moved us back to Lansing. So I'd say 90% of my friends in high school were MSU fans. I think it strengthened my love of UofM athletics by constantly being teased about them (and the mid/late 90s were not a time when MSU had much to gloat about mind you, so the teasing came off really lame to me).
Overall, I'm a "State of Michigan" fan. I cheer for State when they don't play UofM. Of course I live out of state so I don't have to hear the "little brother" chatter any more.
I've been informed that my first word was "hockey." By age 7, dad had taught me how to shoot a .22, my feminist alumna grandma had made it clear that Michigan was the best school in the world, my Hungarian side of the family had taught me how to embroider, eat with the correct forks, and ladylike activities in general, and my youngest half-sister was born. What sort of home, you ask? An interesting one.
My mother went to Michigan State, and has always been very passionate about her school. She grew up quite poor, and worked her way through, became a teacher, etc... She has always been proud of that.
Despite this, I grew up a UM fan (!!). Why? Well, the rate of success and the helmets of course. Actually, it was more a function of my older brother who had attached to UM football (probably for those reasons), and in an attempt to fit in with him, I embraced M football too. (He ended up at Miami [NNTM], and continues to be primarily an M fan, but roots for his school against M when they play).
My family used to go to occasional M games, and then the Gandy Dancer afterwards. During all this, my mom still loved her alma mater, but tolerated mine and my brother's M allegiances (presumably because her boys were more important than school affiliation).
In high school, I made a trip up to EL, and was enchanted with the feel of the campus. I also met some people in the Mason area, who struck me as the type of people with whom I wanted to associate. I decided then that I wanted to go to MSU.
I loved MSU and my experiences there, and I live and die with them today. However, I'd be proud as fuck if one day my kid(s) went to UM, which, all ideology and bullshit aside, I believe to be an elite public institution.
All right - that's enough of that.
I grew up in a house where they were michigan fans but oft didn't know who they played the next saturday didn't know a ton about them, but watched them every week. No one in my family had ever been to college. No one in my family had ever been to a Michigan game at the big house. I was always the most diehard fan there was. I wore the number six (or 16, or 86, or anything with a six in it) because of Tyrone Wheatley. I remember the rose bowl in 93 when I was six (turned 7 eight days later) but I don't remember what happened on my sixth birthday, or seventh for that matter. I went to my first real live Big House game when I was 17. Paid my own way. Got tickets from a friend of my sister-in-law's. I knew from the time I was 8 I wanted to go to Michigan; there was just no way in hell I was going unless I took on an assload of debt. I transferred to U of M - Dearborn after my freshman year in Siberia (Michigan Tech) and graduated Magna Cum Laude half paying my own way/half being indebted to Wachovia and the government for student loans. I discovered this website my sophomore year of college and have become a bigger fan each year. I saw my first game at Yost last year and hope to get to Crisler soon.
Go Blue!
are quite inconsequential... very well, where do i begin?
Father went to Ann Arbor High and moved to Chicago where he met my Mother. When I was 4 I sat on my Father's lap during the 1969 game against Bucks. I attended a Catholic League North High School and paid the price for hating ND. I still hate ND and enjoy beating them more then anything.
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is in my blood. my grandpa graduated in 1936 and my moms entire side of the family went here. my dad is a u of m grad as well, and took me to my first football game in the big house when I was 2 months old. I have made it to 2 or 3 home games each year since, always driving or taking the train in from Chicago. I got to see the best and worst games...think kordell Stewart hail Mary, as well as the woodson vs. Boston in the epic 97 game. Running onto the field was one if my finest memories while visiting Michigan as a kid. When I was applying to schools, my parents let me choose wherever I wanted to go and would help me pay for school with two exceptions: nd and osu. my dad pretty much said he would disown me is I went there. Picking Michigan was an easy choice and my mom admitted after my decision they knew I was going to choose this fine institution. I'm proud of my upbringing and that I can carry on the third generation alumni status, graduating in 2008.
GO BLUE
Move along...gettin used to the new droid app
4 posts...this is what i get for trying to post in a place with no phone service
I started my life in California, my mom went to Cal Berk, so i should have been a Cal Bears fan but didnt know to much about college sports at a young age. I was a big 49ers fan and the only thing i knew was good football, where the 49ers are now thats been long gone out the door, but im still a big niners fan. Moved to Indiana and my mom got married to a gentleman that watched Michigan Bball and love it, so i became a fan but not really a michigan football fan at the time until that glorious rose bowl. Since then my mom has followed me, my step father was Blue, my sister has followed me, and out side of the house you wouldnt believe how many Michigan fans that live in Terre Haute, Indiana! Go Blue
My first real memory of Michigan is driving in my dad's car the week leading up to the Notre Dame game. We had WJR on and J.P McCarthy was making fun of Notre Dame. He played a parody of the Notre Dame fight song that said:
Tears, tears for old Notre Dame
Michigan beat you ain't it a shame
The lyric got stuck in my head and I sang it all week.
Growing up I assumed everyone was a Michigan fan. I remember my mom leapng off of the couch and sreaming "run, run" when Anthony Carter caught the pass against Indiana.
I was really disappointed when I didn't get in to Michigan (I went to Hillsdale), but I realized it didn't mean I couldn't still be a fan. The majority of my fraternity brothers seemed to be Michigan fan's too so we probably cheered Michigan more than we cheered for our own team.
My grandfather was a 1905 UM grad, and then got a Masters here. During the 1920s the family, including my dad, lived in homes on Wells St. and later on Packard. My earliest UM football memories are of my dad listening to UM games in the late '50s and early '60s and expressing his hatred for Woody Hayes and active dislike for MSU. Unfortunately during those years, victories over OSU and MSU were few and far between so my dad didn't have a lot to celebrate.
I grew up in a Penn State household. In my grandparents home I think the standard crucifix at the bottom of the steps was hung just below a portrait of JoePa. And, to my credit, one of the first times I chose to stay home by myself as a youngster was when the rest of the family got together to watch the 85 Fiesta Bowl.
I'm sure I disappointed the family, choosing a night of Optimus Prime and the Autobots over Shane Conlan and company... but maybe that's what first prepared them for the reality of today.
I'm the 25th member of my family to attend Michigan, going back to great-grandparents. My paternal great-grandfather graduated with an engineering degree from Michigan in 1918 and, remarkably, my great-grandMOTHER graduated with her masters in english and latin in the early 1920s. My grandfather was a third string fullback for the wolverines back in the day. My parents met at UM, married here, and then moved to Ohio for my dad's job. I was raised a Michigan fan in Ohio during the Cooper years, so at least I won all the bets on games, although I received crap all the time from OSU fans. I still remember my third grade teacher asking me in front of the entire class why I was wearing a michigan sweatshirt to school and telling me to take it off. This adversity made me and my brother extremely fanatical because we had to be on top of our game at all times to trump OSU fans. My parents have had season tickets for 40 years and I've been attending football games since I was 6. I had to miss my first game when I was 5 because I had the chicken pox (thought this was the end of the world, but it made for a good admissions essay). You better believe my kids will be brought up blue, even though the fiance is a state fan (has degrees from both state and UM), because who has season tickets?? This girl! Go blue!
I was raised in suburban Cincinnati, but my mom graduated from Michigan in the mid-70s so I have been a Michigan fan my whole life (my parents are not from Ohio, we moved to Cincy when I was very young). My dad doesn't care about Michigan at all--he has a deep-seated distrust of large universities and college athletics (he much prefers the NFL). My mom, however is a die-hard. I learned all of my curse words from her at an early age as I sat in front of the TV with her during Michigan football games. While a lot of people have stories about their dad bringing them up on Michigan football, my stories all involve my mom. She's the one who took me to my first few Michigan games before I attended U of M. One year she took me to the Ohio State game and it was the first time she had ever seen Michigan lose in person outside of the Rose Bowl.
I grew up in a humble home, my dad lost his job when mom was pregnant with me, so we lived in a low rent part of town, under the bridge....in a van...DOWN BY THE RIVER
I grew up with no internet, cell phone, GPS, Wii or XBox. My only source of entertainment? My father's stories of eating jungle rice, hiding in barrels of sake behind enemy lines, and retrieving General McArthur's corncob pipe - and of Willie Heston, Tom Harmon, Ron Kramer and Anthony Carter.
Stay strong my friend.
Raised from birth as a Walmart Wolverine. My first M football memories are of Bo, Harbaugh, and Morris when I was six years old.
my dad hated Bo, Moe, Lloyd and RR...but he is so old he don't know who Hoke is yet.
I was a Baltimore Colts fan early on. Johnny U and all dat.
And then, in 9th grade...i fount MICH.
the end
My dad, even though he attended Eastern, was always a big Michigan fan. I remember him yelling and screaming at the TV right along with Bo. When I was 9 years old he took me to two games in 1989, Indiana & Purdue. I watched Tony Boles run for a 91 yard TD against the Hoosiers, and return a kick off against the Boilermakers. The atmosphere in the big house was too much influence for a 9 year old and thus began my Michigan addiction. Thankfully, this fine institution accepted my college application and I started the Michigan tradition in my family. As a former member of the Marching Band, I can tell you there is no greater college experience for the average Michigan student than running out of that tunnel on a warm September afternoon to 110,000 screaming maize and blue faithful. Go Blue !!
Unavoidable, I was born and raised in Ann Arbor. Dad went to M the in the 1940's, he was a boy scout usher in the 1930's and had season tickets for years. Mom was from Cleveland (went to Baldwin Wallace) and hated OSU and ND. She was a more vocal fan than my Dad. Also had 4 season tickets to BB.
I was able to get into games as a kid on a student tickiet for like $5 for games that were not sold out. Lived on the same street as Canham and a couple of blocks from Ufer and about a mile from Schembechler (went to school with one of his step sons who was my age). Graduated from Michigan and have been brainwashing my own kids....
My folks were from Benton Harbor, so they were pretty indifferent to UM or MSU. After my mom graduated from LMCC, we moved to Lansing so she could go to Staee. My old man was working at the prison in Jackson, so they chose Lansing since it wasn't too far from his job. Because of my parents' indifference, I too was indifferent towards the two until a certain five freshmen changed that. I was a diehard basketball fan then, and believe it or not, hated football. I lived and died with the Bad Boys, and then the Fab Five came around and I was sold. Since I rooted for UM in basketball it only made sense that I would root for the university as a whole. As I began following the fball team, I realized that I loved that more than bball.
My parents and siblings never liked sports of any kind - still don't, save fishing. My dad would "rather take an ass-whoopin than sit and watch a football game". I get that.
I'm lucky that my grandfather liked college football. I randomly was watching with him one Saturday afternoon on an old b&w tv, and Butch Woolfolk and Ron Simpkins were tearing it up. I liked it, but I probably liked hanging out with grandpa more than anything.
As the 80s moved in, it was AC time, then came Harbaugh and Morris, and by that time I was hooked. And that's the beginning and the end of it...
My parents met at Michigan. We went to a lot of football games. I'm going to Michigan next year. That's about it.
When I was a kid, I spent most of my time playing Hoop-n-Stick with the neighbor lads. I rarely watched Michigan on TV because football and TV hadn't been invented yet. I also spent many a lazy summer days competing in the hammer throw. A worthwhile endeavor if you have the means (which is just a hammer).
Pretty much grew up in a home where you studied most of the day and paid no attention to sports. :(
Missed out on the entire 90's sports-wise lol, never saw any of the Fab Five on TV or Michael Jordan's Bulls years
My family's only heirlooms are four tickets 40 rows up the 50-yard line that have been in the family since 1960. I've been going to football with my father, basketball with my mother and hockey with the whole family since I was 8. Every family member and relative who went to college went to Michigan, except my sister, who we lovingly refer to as Little Brother.
My mom and dad went to Michigan. So did my wife's mom and dad. And her brother and sister.
But it was grandfather, not a grad, that was the biggest fan... and he got me excited about the football team when I was little.
My dad went to State but left as soon as that was no longer a deferment. MSU never gave him much to root for, and his friends were all Michigan fans so by the time I was born, he was graduating from Oakland University and liked Michigan.
My mom was M, as was her mother (which was unusual in her day for Michigan to use one of its few allotted spots for Jews for a girl). But me ma doesn't care about sports except for "how cute everyone looks in their outfits."
Michigan was just always the home school among the kids in my grade. Literally nobody mentioned Michigan State -- when we split into teams it was Michigan and Ohio State, except the kids whose team was supposed to be Ohio State would refuse to call it that and say the teams don't have names. Sometimes it was UCLA cause we had a UCLA fan. I became a real Michigan fan when I went and visited the school with my cousin for a weekend when I was 11 and witnessed a real honest-to-God Desmond Howard doing ninja things.
Since then so much family has suffered from the admissions department:
- Little Brother 1: Not accepted to undergrad in '99, went to State
- Brother-in-Law: Huge M fan until not accepted in '00, went to State
- Little Brother 2: Not accepted to undergrad in '02, went to WMich.
- Sister-in-Law: Not accepted to undergrad in '02, went to Penn State
- Wife: Not accepted to undergrad in '03, went to Emich, became a State fan b/c her brother kept inviting her to party in E.L.
- Little Sister: Not accepted to undergrad in '04, went to State (sensing a theme here?)
- Sister-in-Law 2: Not accepted to undergrand in '06, went to State
- Little Sister: Not accepted to Grad School in '10. WTF guys?!?
I don't know anyone who got into Michigan and chose to go to Michigan State. But I do know a lot of people who didn't get into Michigan and chose to go to Michigan State who now say they know someone who got into Michigan and chose to go to Michigan State. They don't know anyone who got into Michigan and not State.
In no way is this intended to make fun of your sibling:
Your little brother went to State.
That is all.
that many people who went to MSU didn't get into UM.
I think it's also true that many people got into both, but in the end felt they could not afford UM's tuition or either UM/MSU's tuition, and therefore went to either MSU (the former) or some smaller school/comm college (the latter).
Cost is an often dispositive factor, obviously. But for some reason, it doesn't often figure into message board conversations (in my experience, anway).
I grew up in the Toledo area and my Dad was a huge Ohio State fan. I became a Michigan fan the year I graduated from high school. I was attending the local community college to escape the draft. Anyway my Dad was watching the UM-OSU game and I rooted for UM because I wanted to piss off my Dad and they were big underdogs. Yep, 1969. Needless to say I've been hooked ever since.
Yes I'm old, yes I have facial hair, but I wanted RR to succeed and defended him against my peers. Until the last three games finished the dream.
Dad is from Dearborn and went to Madonna. Mom is from Wisconsin and decided to spend three years in the early 80's cheerleading for the packers (I'm not kidding). Dad's side is True Blue other than two of my cousins who have gone green in the last few years. Mom's side is composed of casual Badger fans but also owns three sets of Packer season tickets (which I may inherit if I ever move to Wisconsin). Grew up in Westland, played for a high school that wore winged helmets, and my dad taught me which college team to root for from an early age (although I went with mom's side for a pro team). Football was always the favorite sport in our household and I've developed quite the healthy obsession during my 22 years on this Earth.
I am a younger fan (16 as of now) but I grew up as the no-sports-kid-who-feels-his-dad-is-ashamed-of-him-every-other-day.
The past couple years (2007) I started noticing and following Michigan football. It probably began when The Horror occured. 2010 I had started coming to this site and gained a huge amount of fandom. My dad is a "State of Michigan guy" and I HATED/STILL HATE Michigan State. Mostly because of the Spartans around me- the same ones you guys see.
Mom grew up as hockey/baseball fan and is a Michigan fan because of me and my dad. Aunt and Uncle's families are both State and Grandpa is a Tennessee fan.
I'm a Michigan Fan
My big brother went to MSU for Landscape Architecture. He is not a sports fan but lives in Ann Arbor. He is ambivalent about MSU but it had a better LA program at the time. Not sure if M still has a LA program. If you want to be a Vet or are into weeds and trees them MSU is a good choice. Being an LA is a tough way to make a living though, he has been a contractor after a couple of years as a LA.
Spent the first 10 years of my life pulling for tOSU only because being born and raised in C-Bus you are pretty much brain washed into it. Then there was that faitful day that tOSU fired Earl Bruce for what I felt was really a b.s. reason. I then decided to say FOSU and became BLUE.
Fondly remember the days of Ricky Powers, Leroy Hoard, Elvis Grbac, Tyrone Wheatley, Mercury Hayes, Desmond Howard, Derrick Alexander, Amani Toomer, Charles Woodson et al.
I've made the pilgrimage from central ohio to AA at least once a year since 2000 and began taking my youngest son with me last year. Gotta bring up another generation of BLUE in the house to offset my wife's tOSU sacralidge.
I was 4 or 5 (early 70's) my dad and I went over to my uncles to watch THE game.We got there early because my uncle went out and bought a new tv and dad helped him carry it in and set it up.
.At halftime Michigan was playing badly and losing,my uncle calmly went outside picked up a brick,come back in and promptly threw it through the screen!.Needless to say I grew up a diehard!