It's amazing how a little post like that can bring me right back the glory days of being able to walk to Zingerman's, and marshmallow fights that seemed like a good idea until it got stuck in your hair. And going out to Lake Michigan, sucking in a big gulp of air, and thinking "nope. can't live here. no salt water."

When I was there, the hockey coach (can't remember his name beyond 'Red') kept getting arrested for pissing in public. but we didn't really care, because our hockey team totally kicked it old school. Go Blue!

For a Michigan grad, that was surprisingly well-put!

I attended five seasons of glorious football in the stands at the Horseshoe in the early 90s, where rather than exacerbating my sense of alienation the setting broke it down. For those who wish to be critical individualists at all times, if there's no point in your life when you can feel your deepest wishes in unspoken accordance with 105,000 other people - go Ginn go! - I pity you. Only a Springsteen concert in Comiskey Park approached that feeling.

Time and change will surely show

How firm thy friendship ... OHIO!

In the later 1960's, Ann Arbor high school kids could sneak into that stadium, and play football on the big carpet. The Freaks against the Straights. Now, we probably would be arrested and sent to Guantanamo.

And I don't think students can afford tickets to the games anymore. I know for sure that students can't afford to eat at Zingerman's.

Andrew,

You and I were in Ann Arbor and South Quad at the same time. I will never forget moving into South Quad ("the football dorm") and having the elevator door open on the two largest human beings I had ever seen --Ed Muransky and Bubba Paris. Life amongst the giants was interesting to say the least ( I also did learn to play mean game of quarters among others which have stood me in good stead over the years) and while I generally escaped the notice of Muransky, I can say that Bubba was very respectful to women even when he followed them around and clearly could manhandle them like others one reads about in the sports pages virtually everyday. And you are correct--The Nation (which I have an on again/off again subscription with) needs to lighten up. There is nothing like fall in Ann Arbor at a football game. Sometimes a game is a game and not about the Rust Belt.

This game is way over-hyped. Yes, they are both professional college football machines and the oxymoron of "student athletes" can be discussed until we are all blue in the face. But sometimes, it is just good to sit down and enjoy the game. And the camaraderie and memories are why all three of my children were raised with The Victors and the Yellow and the Blue as part of their lullaby repertoire (now to figure out how to pay out of state tuition for said brain washed children who think Ann Arbor is as good as it gets (kids who live in a major metropolitan area with beaches and mountains and great weather).

Call it hypocritical, call it ignoring reality, but please please, football gods, please call it in our favor!

GO BLUE!!!

jlooney3

UM '82 '85

I had no idea there were so many Michigan grads lurking around here -- including a coresident of my dorm! I was in Kelsey House, jlooney -- where were you?

Your experience in Ann Arbor mirrors mine as a graduate student at the University of Nebraska, in the early Osborne years. Football Saturday was an amazing experience. Almost Zen.

Make the over-worked, tired, middle aged mind try to remember on a really long day....Hunt? I was on the 4th floor.

Everyone told me I would I hate living in the "zoo dorm"! Loved it.

JLooney

Yes, yes, I'm sure that waxing poetic for the pastoral days of your youth on the quad, on your way to see innocent contests of skill and athleticism... blah blah blah... happy memories... I loved the things I loved about my college experience, too.

However.

I live in Columbus. What I now care about is the annual "burn the cars and dumpsters, get drunk and arrested, jump the out-of-town-guests, and blame it on

A. WE WON!!!!

or

B. WE LOST!!!!

festival" that is about to occur in my otherwise bland midwest city. Win or lose, it's the worst weekend on the calendar in this provincial town.

Some of the people who call one of the teams "my team," and put emotional investment into it to the point of psychotic detachment from reality have nothing whatsoever to do with effecting the outcome. And yet, this is the weekend they will take the outcome so personally that they will make this cultural wasteland of an otherwise off-the-map capital city a slice of living hell.

My husband and I actually laughed out loud at a propaganda TV commercial we saw this week aimed at reminding the common citizenry that "It's not nice to beat up or otherwise be mean to people from out of town. Remember -- we're a nice city!!! " How out of control has "piffle" gotten when one must televise reminders not to maim people or damage their property?

What the writer is saying is not "don't enjoy the game and root heartily for your team," he is trying to say "save your disproportionate emotional reactions for things that matter."

Clearly these people have no idea what it means to be a born-and-bred Buckeye, to think that having a nut as a mascot is the most natural thing in the world, and to learn to say "Go Bucks! Michigan sucks!" in first grade. What I love about Ohio State is that the entire state unites against the Wolverines, no matter what their collegiate or political affiliation. Unlike Michigan or Indiana, say, Ohio has one enduring Division IA powerhouse--and Ohioans are fiercely loyal to it and its players and coaches. Watching the players sing the alma mater after victories brings tears to my eyes.

Anyway, if either brand, Ohio State or Michigan, risks alienation, it is Michigan, which has relentlessly sold its logo and name to market its image nationally. Even at other Big Ten universities--I'm a graduate student at Indiana, and I see kids in UM apparel all the time. Not that marketing is a bad thing, but how long until actual Michigan students and Michigan natives begin feeling alienated from what the logo represents because it's attracted so many bandwagon fans with no real connection to the school or the state? Oh well--Texas has done the same thing.

GO BUCKS! GO BUCKS! GO BUCKS!