Senior Year. A time to enjoy life. A time to reflect back on the previous three years of school. And a time to make the most of the final 8 months. Some of my best memories from college are from my senior year- my 21st birthday, the creation of Groove, my house on Walnut, and consecutive-nights-of-drinking streaks so long that it was easier to count how many nights I didn’t go to the bar (The Michigan – Ohio State game.
Since the location of the game alternates each year, the 2000 and 2002 games (my Freshman and Junior years) were played in Columbus. In 2001 (my Sophomore year), the game happened to fall on Thanksgiving Weekend, so I missed the game to go home to Florida. The 2003 game would be my first live UM/OSU game. And since this game is always the last of the season, this would be my last home game as a student. This was special.
Add to the mix the fact that the 2003 game was also “The Hundredth Game,” the centennial matchup between Michigan and OSU. The hype was there all week. Offical shirts were printed. A “Blue Out” was planned. You could feel the “specialness” in the air.
And of course, there were BCS implications. Both teams had just one conference loss each, so this game would decide who won the Big Ten Championship and go to the Rose Bowl. Special special special special special.
I had planned on staying in the night before, because of agressive game day pre-partying plans with some guys in my fraternity. But not one to resist an invitation, I was easily persuaded to go out “for just a couple drinks at Rick’s” (which, if you know the relationship between Rick’s and I, is pretty much an oxymoron). So to Rick’s I went.
And so did Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi, and (I think) Jorge Posada. You see, former Michigan quarterback Drew Henson had recently signed with the Yankees, and so he brought a couple of them back with him for the game, perhaps to cheer them up after their loss to the Marlins in the World Series. This of course, led to mass hysteria at the bar, everyone trying to get close to them, talk with them, sleep with them (if asked who was more in love with Jeter- every girl on campus, or Sachin- I’d refrain from answering). What does this have to do with anything? Absolutely nothing – I just feel like telling this story. Toward, the end of the night, Derek Jeter walked by me and I shouted out “Go Marlins!”, to which he turned and gave me that same smug look he makes when he steps out of the batter’s box between pitches. The look where it seems like he might have to fart, but is worried that a little nugget of poo might come out. It was incredibly satisfying (though Sachin was a little heartbroken). After closing out the bar and stopping at Panchero’s for a quick bite, I made it home and passed out at 2:30.
And woke up 3 hours later.
At some point earlier in the week, someone made an executive decision that 6 hours of prepartying would be necessary for a game of this significance. The problem: The game started at Noon. The solution: Start partying at 6am. And so I woke up at 5:30 and headed over to my frat house. Although my sleep lasted only three hours, my mind had transitioned from “Friday night” to “Saturday morning”. And as we alternated turns of Beirut, pounding beers before the sun had even risen, a weird emotion came over me. A mix of “What am I doing with my life?” and “Life…makes…sense”.
Eventually, I broke off from that crowd and crossed campus to meet up with some other friends who were throwing a party. When I got there, I found that everyone was more or less still asleep.
Me: “Let’s go guys! Its Game Day!”
Sachin: “Dude, its 8am”
Me: “Exactly! Only four more hours to game time!”
Sachin: “Are you drunk?”
Me: “I’ve been drinking since 6!”
Sachin: “Jesus Christ”
Eventually, people rolled out of bed, other friends showed up, and the festivities started. We took the party onto the front lawn of their apartment building.
Me: “Where’s the food? When are we gonna start grilling?”
Someone: “Already?”
Me: “Yeah, its time for lunch.”
Someone: “Its only 9 am.”
Me: “Really?”
Someone: “Yeah”
Me: “So…uh…when are we gonna start grilling?”
And so it went, all of us celebrating the day. A little before noon, we headed to the Big House. The place was packed, a crowd of 112,118, the largest crowd to attend a game in NCAA history. We could barely stand side-to-side, the student section crammed so thick that we had to rotate our bodies, stand sideways, and turn our heads to watch the game. Michigan owned the field. Any big play was met by violent eruptions in the student section (at one point Sachin’s sister was quietly rooting against us, only because she was sick of the mosh pit that was our section). The intensity, the energy, the spirit…it was unreal.
As the fourth quarter winded down, it became apparent that Ohio State would not overcome Michigan’s 35-21 lead. A stream of policemen and state troopers came out and stood along the railing in front of the student section, one every 2-3 feet. As the final seconds ticked off the clock, a quietness seemed to come over our section. Would we do it? Was it going to happen?
One guy went. And another. And another. The police backed off and surrounded the goal poasts. And within seconds, the entire student section was on the field, for the first time since 1997, cheering, celebrating, Hailing To The Victors. We ran around, we patted the players on the back. We sang the fight song over and over again. I kissed the Block M at center field, and tried to take a piece of the field home with me (unfortunately, the newly installed turf bested me).
That day. That moment. My final home game as a student. Beating Ohio State. Winning the Big Ten. Rushing the field. It was the best day of my college career.
It’s great to be a Michigan Wolverine.
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Tomorrow’s game is bigger. It means more. In 7 seasons of being a Michigan fan, I’ve never felt like this. I’ve never anticipated a game as much as this one. Needless to say, the festivities will begin early (though at a much more reasonable hour than 6am). I won’t go into more detail about how excited I am for tomorrow’s game, because I’m not even sure I know how to put it into words. Instead, check out some of what other people have had to say:
-Jim Weber, a fellow 2004 grad and former writer for the Michigan Daily, tells the story of his rivalry with his father. I didn’t know him that well in school, so I didn’t know about any of this, but its fucking hilarious.
-Jon Stewart: Michigan-Ohio State is like Sunni-Shia
-A Michigan fan and an OSU fan debate Saturday’s big game.
-Ohio State: Welcome! Let’s be friends! We won’t hurt you!.
-Michigan: “Fuck that. We know better.”
-This nearly made me cry.
-David Shuster (of MSNBC’s Hardball) hates Buckeyes.
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