25 Things We Love About Michigan Football Saturdays: #21 Noise

Okay, I made a horrible, horrible mistake starting this countdown, not fully thinking through the fact that I'd have to blog during the final weekends of my summer in order to keep it going and have it end in conjunction with the first game of the season. 

But, alas, we plow forward today with...


#21: Noise

This really should be a Top 10-er.  But longtime readers of The Original MZone (respect) know that one of my pet peeves about The Big House and some Michigan fans is the aversion to giving the Maize and Blue a true home field advantage by making it LOUD.

I hope this becomes as obsolete in
The Big House as leather helmets

As I've bitched about in the past, sometimes it feels like the #1 cheer in The Big House is, "Down in front!"  I've traveled to numerous away Michigan games (and other college football games not involving Michigan) and it's amazing how much louder some stadiums are with waaaaay less people (I'm looking at you, Oregon).  Needless to say, on important plays, they don't reach into their pockets and pull out their %$#@ keys.  Instead, they scream, stomp and yell in order to make it as hard as possible for the opposing team to hear the QB's signals.

However, the tide may be turning.

Last season, I noticed a marked improvement in fan noise (though still not on par in total time or decibel level to other places).  Did the new construction help trap in the sound, as some claimed was the reason for the lack of noise in The Big House?   I'm sure to some extent.  However, I'd like to think that more people are realizing that jangling your %$#@ keys not only does NOTHNG to help the team, it's really just plain STUPID (No, it's not clever because of the double meaning associated with shaking your keys on important or - wait for the laugh - "key" plays).

And when the noise - I'm talking about 110,000 people screaming at the top of their lungs, trying with all their might to be one with the Wolverines, to help their beloved Maize and Blue just that little bit extra - kicks in and washes over the stadium it is truly something that gives me chills (even just typing about it).  When it's 4th and 1 in the 4th quarter, Michigan clinging to a small lead, and everybody rises to their feet and makes the opposing QB think he just stuck his head in a jet engine, I feel like I can make the tackle myself from my seats.

It still doesn't happen often enough (hence the #21 ranking here), but it is happening more often.  And I love it!



(above is a video Benny did for The Original MZone that was part of one of my many rants about crowd noise)