Big 10 Football Tour

As was previously mentioned, the Michigan staff came through and offered to support our tour in a very creative way.  For the first time all year, we would get to sit in the student section.  Beyond just sitting in the student section, we would get to be part of the block "M."  I haven't seen any actual photos of this to date.  As the weather gets colder, these things are more and more challenging to pull off because...well, how many people do you know with maize/yellow coats?  The photo to the left is not from the 10/24 game, but gives you an idea of what it would look like, so it was a pretty unique/fun/clever idea to have us be part of that.

Well, just in case you've a participant on "Survivor" for the last few years and haven't had access to a television or newspaper, they refer to Michigan Stadium as "The Big House."   When you pull up on University Drive however, it doesn't seem all that big.  Well, that's because when you walk into the stadium, you're actually on row 72 and the field is below the concourse


The official listed capacity of Michigan stadium is 106, 201. With the new rennovations going on, it is expected to regain the title of largest stadium capacity in college football.  You may notice that in many of the photos, the press/box suite areas are undergoing construction.

Today's game was 110,337.  In over 70 sports venues, this was easily the largest attendence I've ever been a part of (although I think the tickets I purchased to the 2010 NBA All-Star game may give it a run for its money). 

Sitting in the student section is rather entertaining as you can quickly make out any chant that is being yelled.  You also get to witness the students do and say a lot of entertaining things.  So I'm very grateful to the Michigan staff for allowing me to not only be a part of the block "M" but to be among all of the students during a big game.

Lack of competitive play aside, there was only one part of the game that I really didn't enjoy.  During the 1st quarter, I looked over and noticed Blake standing in the aisleway.  I said, "Blake, why don't you get a seat?"  He tells me that there are people in his seat.

So there a guy who is passing by that looks like he has no business in the student section, and I said, "Hey, do you work here."  When he replied yes, I told him that there were these goonies standing in Blake's spot.  Blake shows the guy his ticket and then he gets on his radio for what seems like 35 minutes.  He tells me that Blake is going to have to come with him.  I say to the guy, "We drove 7 hours to get here from Milwaukee and "member of Michigan staff" provided us with these seats."  The security guard then tells ME that I have to come with him.  I said, "NO, I traveled 7 hours to see a game in the Big House and I'm not stepping away from this game for what could be hours!"  Security then tells me that he's going to have to call down the balance of the security team to escort me out.  I said, "Go right ahead, Michigan has a game on 11/21 and maybe I can make it back for that one since you're screwing me out of this one."  I then called my contact at Michigan and tried to explain the situation among the 100,00+ cheering fans.  Not easy.  A team of 3 other security guards came down and after what seemed like another 28 minutes on the radio, I was finally allowed to stay.  The security guard who started the whole fiasco gave us some story about how our tickets were vouchers for lost tickets and blah blah blah.

Anyways, the security team was really on an unfortuante power trip during the whole game.  We saw a kid who wasn't acting up get thrown out for simply hitting a beach ball.  We saw a kid have a bottle of water confiscated (to which the kid made a rather clever comment, "we've got a guy trying to hydrate down here...send backup").  A couple of other kids were thrown out for what seemed like entirely overblown reasons.  The only security guy who seemed reasonable was "Dog, the Stairwell Hunter," who was also a big Michigan football fan.

Early on, Michigan looked really good, driving 70 yards to take a 7-0 lead.  Penn State seemed unfazed and retaliated with their own touchdown, tying the game at 7.  

After that, Penn State got the ball back and again drove down the field for another score, this time a field goal putting them up 10-17.  After that, it got really sloppy.  A snap went right past Michigan quarterback Tate Forcier through the endzone and Penn State was awarded the safety.  This was also when you really began to notice the Penn State fans making a lot more noise than the balance of Michigan Stadium.  A 60 yard touchdown pass followed from Daryll Clark to Andrew Quarless and that was about it for the competitiveness of the game.

Clark would later throw 2 more TD passes (4 on the day) to Graham Zug (3 on the day) & the blowout was complete.

Apparently Penn State had not won in the Big House in over 10 years.  By the way, Penn State is now 3-0 when THE Big 10 Tour views them live.

Unfortunately during the tour, we haven't paid too much attention to the band.  Probably a miss on our part.  This weekend however, we did get to see both bands do the alphabet as Michigan formed an "M" and Penn State formed "PSU."

Some of the more interesting things at a Michigan game.  What I'm calling the "cowbell cheer" (if anyone has a video link of it, please email me).  I noticed a lot of this while in Iowa. 

The back and forth chant shown in the video below.  If anyone can explain this one to me, I'll give you a shout-out here.

The "you suck" chant with a tomahawk-chop feel to it.  My camera battery was dying & Blake was searching for the free popcorn, so somehow neither of us got a video of this.

The sing along to "Don't Stop Believing."  The sing along to "Living On A Prayer."  The band playing Michael Jackson's "Thriller."

I must say, I wish it didn't rain all rain and I wish it was a more competitive game.  Regardless, we experienced "the Big House!"