In a weird way, sitting in the middle of the Big House surrounded on all sides by Michigan fans while being subjected to Dr. Khaki's own personal brand of the Ludovico technique wasn't as bad as it sounds.
It was still awful, don't get me wrong, but it was more of the "Wow! I've been throat stomped so many times that this doesn't hurt nearly as bad as it used to!" kind of awful. It still hurts, but hey, I've lost so much blood by now that I think I'm going to pass out soon!
Hooray!
Of course, like during many of Nebraska's recent blowout losses, I wasn't physically bound to a chair with my eyes forced open by a pair of metal pincers. I could have left any time I wanted to. The only restraints placed on me were the mental ones, the fiber of my being which refuses to leave early or stop watching no matter how bad it gets.
And unlike the last 2 Ohio State debacles, we actually got to see what Michigan's punter looks like! He looks like this:
I had no delusions when my wife and I headed to Ann Arbor last week. I expected to lose, but was hoping we could play a competent game. Every year we head to a road game and the thought of seeing Supreme Leader Scott Frost's first road game combined with the fact I hadn't been to the Big House yet was too much to pass up.
All the pregame festivities were just as fun. I got yelled at by a crazy guy for wearing a Nebraska shirt in downtown Ann Arbor and I got to experience the annual dropping of the jaws among the staff of the restaurant we went to Friday night as they were swept away in a tidal wave of red.
"We've never had a crowd like this before a football game," our waitress told us as she took cover behind our table, waiting for a path to the kitchen to clear out.
The real surprise and highlight of the trip, though, came when we got to the stadium (and I'm probably the only Husker fan saying that). Michigan fans were an absolute delight. I fully expected a few of them to lecture me on 1997 and Scott Frost's 1998 Orange Bowl post-game speech, but aside from that crazy guy I mentioned above, all I got was "Welcome to Ann Arbor."
It kind of felt like what I imagine most opposing fans feel when they travel to Lincoln. Most of the places I've been, the fans just ignore you, but here they went out of their way to make me feel welcome and it was appreciated.
My wife and I didn't sit in the visiting section. Instead we were smack dab in the middle of a rowdy Michigan section and when they game turned ugly, they very easily could have too. Aside from one guy a few seats down (who the guy in front of me apologized for), the rest were great and empathetic to our situation, telling us that Frost would get us where we wanted to go in a few years.
And because I'm the world's most old-school millennial I was very upset to learn I could only get mobile tickets to the game. I'm trying to collect a ticket stub to every Big Ten stadium I go to so I can arrange and frame them on a wall once my pilgrimage to every stadium is complete. I'm sure my future kids will be absolutely astonished to see that we ever had physical tickets for anything. Fortunately the Michigan fan in front of me willingly parted with his stub so my collection could remain complete.
Despite the loss, my experience in Michigan was so positive that I definitely plan to be back someday once we have a team capable of competing with Jim Harbaugh and the Fightin' Khakis.
It was still awful, don't get me wrong, but it was more of the "Wow! I've been throat stomped so many times that this doesn't hurt nearly as bad as it used to!" kind of awful. It still hurts, but hey, I've lost so much blood by now that I think I'm going to pass out soon!
Hooray!
Of course, like during many of Nebraska's recent blowout losses, I wasn't physically bound to a chair with my eyes forced open by a pair of metal pincers. I could have left any time I wanted to. The only restraints placed on me were the mental ones, the fiber of my being which refuses to leave early or stop watching no matter how bad it gets.
And unlike the last 2 Ohio State debacles, we actually got to see what Michigan's punter looks like! He looks like this:
 |
| Would you look at that handsome fella |
I had no delusions when my wife and I headed to Ann Arbor last week. I expected to lose, but was hoping we could play a competent game. Every year we head to a road game and the thought of seeing Supreme Leader Scott Frost's first road game combined with the fact I hadn't been to the Big House yet was too much to pass up.
All the pregame festivities were just as fun. I got yelled at by a crazy guy for wearing a Nebraska shirt in downtown Ann Arbor and I got to experience the annual dropping of the jaws among the staff of the restaurant we went to Friday night as they were swept away in a tidal wave of red.
"We've never had a crowd like this before a football game," our waitress told us as she took cover behind our table, waiting for a path to the kitchen to clear out.
The real surprise and highlight of the trip, though, came when we got to the stadium (and I'm probably the only Husker fan saying that). Michigan fans were an absolute delight. I fully expected a few of them to lecture me on 1997 and Scott Frost's 1998 Orange Bowl post-game speech, but aside from that crazy guy I mentioned above, all I got was "Welcome to Ann Arbor."
It kind of felt like what I imagine most opposing fans feel when they travel to Lincoln. Most of the places I've been, the fans just ignore you, but here they went out of their way to make me feel welcome and it was appreciated.
My wife and I didn't sit in the visiting section. Instead we were smack dab in the middle of a rowdy Michigan section and when they game turned ugly, they very easily could have too. Aside from one guy a few seats down (who the guy in front of me apologized for), the rest were great and empathetic to our situation, telling us that Frost would get us where we wanted to go in a few years.
And because I'm the world's most old-school millennial I was very upset to learn I could only get mobile tickets to the game. I'm trying to collect a ticket stub to every Big Ten stadium I go to so I can arrange and frame them on a wall once my pilgrimage to every stadium is complete. I'm sure my future kids will be absolutely astonished to see that we ever had physical tickets for anything. Fortunately the Michigan fan in front of me willingly parted with his stub so my collection could remain complete.
 |
| A tree died to satiate my desire to collect and I don't feel the least bit bad |
Despite the loss, my experience in Michigan was so positive that I definitely plan to be back someday once we have a team capable of competing with Jim Harbaugh and the Fightin' Khakis.
Comments
Post a Comment