25 Things We Love About Michigan Football Saturdays: #15 Carl Grapentine

You remember this list, don't you? Well, I barely did. Heck, I had to go back and look at my notes to remember where we were on our countdown. But I'm up to speed and we continue today with...

#15 Michigan Marching Band and Stadium Announcer Carl Grapentine

"Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the Michigan Marching Band. Baaaaaand, take the field!"

You just got chills, didn't you? Yeah, me, too.

When you hear Carl Grapentine, the Michigan Marching Band and Big House announcer, utter those words over the stadium PA system on Saturday, all will be good in the world.  The game will be mere moments away.  And Grapentine's soothing baritone will have just set the stage.  Like your mom saying grace before Thanksgiving dinner.  You wouldn't even think of touching the turkey until mom had her say.

Same with Carl in The Big House.

For me, the game doesn't start when the Wolverines run out of the tunnel.  Or when they race under the "M Go Blue" banner.  Or even at kick-off.  Nope.  I'm in full game-mode as soon as I hear Grapentine.

According to the Michigan Marching Band website, "Grapentine has been 'The Voice of the Michigan Band' since 1970 when he was appointed to the post by Dr. William D. Revelli.  An alumnus of the University of Michigan School of Music, he played oboe in the Symphony Band and Symphony Orchestra, and was baritone soloist with the Men's Glee Club during his student years."  Having outlasted Bo, Mo, Carr and Rich Rod, Grapentine is as much a part of the band and the gameday experience as anybody down on the field forming the giant block "M".

In 2006, Grapentine added to his duties when he became the stadium PA announcer, as well.  He took over for Howard King, who was The Big House public address announcer for 33 years, from 1972 until his retirement at the end of the 2005 season.

In this capacity, Grapentine is responsible for this other chill-inducing announcement...

"Good afternoon.  And welcome.  To the University of Michigan football stadium.  And this, the 57th meeting between Michigan and Purdue.  Now for the starting lineups..."

Then, after the teams are introduced on Saturday...

"...And in his first season as head coach...Brady Hoke!"

Here come the chills again.

Ladies and gentlemen, presenting #15 on our list of the 25 Things We Love about Michigan Football Saturdays...Carl Grapentine.



ED. NOTE: Notice how he no longer says, to my knowledge, the exact number of members in the MMB as he does in the above older recording. Anybody know when that stopped and why? Or am I just not paying attention like I should these days?

25 Things We Love About Michigan Football Saturdays: #16 The Turnstile & Tunnel

After a longer-than-expected delay, we continue counting down the 25 Things We Love About Michigan Football Saturdays.  Today, we jump back in with...

#16: The Turnstile and Tunnel

Must have been Bachelor Party Day at The Big House
Where the hell are the female fans?

Number 16 on our list could have just as easily been called "Anticipation."  Because that's what going through the turnstile and heading down the tunnel toward your seat are really all about.

It started when I was a kid going to my first games at The Big House.  The moment I went through the turnstile and saw the perforated portion of my ticket get torn off was the moment that everything changed: I was no longer going to the game, I was at the game. My excitement, which had been building all day, immediately went from 10 to 11.  It was one louder.

Moving past the turnstile, I was instantly confronted with the criss-cross of people whizzing past, left to right and right to left.  And just beyond them was the promised land.  No, not the stadium (not yet, at least).  I'm talking about the guy selling game programs.

The frog had it easy compared to
fans at The Big House

That's when things turned into a human game of Frogger as I attempted to slice through the cross-current of maize and blue bodies to get to Senor Program Guy.  I'm convinced that such a risky and tricky endeavor would be an excellent test of a young running back's skill set.  If one can make it through the crush of (maize and) blue hairs and sometimes-drunk students without getting knocked over, he just might have a future in football. 

Once my program was secured, we'd head for the stadium and our seats.  Depending on the section and our arrival time, we'd either be able to walk right up to the stadium or we'd have to wait in line to get to our seats (Memo to the folks who'd always try to race across the grassy knoll to sneak in at the front of the line after I'd been waiting for 20 minutes with my family: Go fuck yourselves).

Then we'd begin the trek down the tunnel in our section.

This all brings me to one of my favorite things about The Big House, probably even more so before the recent upgrades: how deceiving it looked from outside.  Because so much of "the hole that Yost dug" was concealed below ground before one entered.  So much so that many people often don't think it looks "that big" -- until they reached the end of the tunnel.

For me, making that walk and seeing...something...up ahead truly was "the light at the end of the tunnel."  I couldn't see the stadium...yet.  I couldn't really hear anything...yet.  But it was there, just steps away. 

And then I would reach the stadium staff in their yellow jackets.  "Ticket, please."  But I was barely paying attention at that point as my dad showed them our tickets and the Man in the Yellow Coat pointed up or down.  I was in awe.  There were the Michigan Wolverines warming up down below.  There was Schembechler - Bo Schembechler! - arms crossed at midfield, eying his troops.  The block M.  The press box.

And me.  Heading to my seat.  About to watch a Meeechigan football game.

Hell, I get chills just typing these words in a blog post.  All these years after those first games.  Sitting here late at night, I'm honest-to-God smiling as I write and remember some of the specifics that began my journey as a lifelong Michigan fan (yes, Dave Brandon, even without a mascot).  And you know what?  It hasn't changed.  The little boy still living inside the man who writes these words continues to feel the same excitement on game day.  When my ticket is taken, each time I walk down that tunnel.

So because of those memories and more, the turnstile and tunnel are #16 on the MZone's list of the 25 Things We Love About Michigan Football Saturdays.

"Then I saw a bright light at the end of the tunnel,
and I knew everything was going to be okay."

(U-M pictures via Ann Arbor.com and Wuebbling @Flickr)

25 Things We Love About Michigan Football Saturdays: #17 Hearing the Attendance

Continuing on with the 25 Things We Love About Michigan Football Saturdays, we find ourselves just two days before kickoff and yet only on #17 on our countdown (which should come as no surprise to those who follow the MZone and know my utter disdain - not for countdowns - but for having to actually produce them on a daily basis once started).  In any event, sit back, relax and enjoy...

#17 Hearing the Attendance

I don't care how many times I go to a game in The Big House, I still love hearing the stadium announcer come over the loudspeakers in the second half and announce the attendance:



Why do I still get such a thrill for something that's a foregone conclusion?  Not sure.  I mean, it's kinda like going to see the same movie over and over again.  You know how it ends, but somehow it's still awesome.  Like Caddyshack or Animal House.  We're always thanked for "being part of the largest crowd watching a football game in America today!"  Always.   As expected.  Yet still I cheer.   Always.

I guess in some small way, I feel like I'm doing my part holding up a small piece of Meeechigan tradition.  I sure as hell could never have contributed as a player on the actual football team (although I'm guessing my kicking skills last year couldn't have been much worse).  However, my being "part of the largest crowd watching a football game in America" and keeping Michigan's attendance above 100K every home game since 1975 (when the streak started) does keep a Michigan tradition alive, one that I can directly claim I contributed to, in my own 1/100,000th way.

Although, let's be honest - we've all been to one of those crappy games against a shitty team with a noon start when the team was struggling - and it's raining for good measure! - where it feels like they might have counted the ass of the fat guy two rows in front me twice... or 12,384 times.  I mean, at kick-off in the student section, it looks like somebody yelled "COP!" at a dorm keg party.  And it never does quite fill up.  Plus, outside the student section during those contests, you can actually - imagine this! - sit with both butt cheeks touching the metal bleacher underneath, the number printed on your ticket, shockingly, right below your ass!

But I believe, even on those days, we're still somehow, some way, over 100K.  Why?  Because I have to.  I did my part being there.  And I'll be damned if it was in vain.

25 Things We Love About Michigan Football Saturdays: #18 The guy sitting next to you

Continuing our countdown of the 25 Things We Love About Michigan Football Saturdays (that was supposed to coincide with and end the day before the first game of the season but is going to miss that by a country mile) we arrive at...

#18: The Guy Sitting Next to You

Before the game, he is a stranger you might exchange perfunctory head nods with if you happen to catch glances as you find your seat.  But by the end of the 4th quarter of a close, thrilling Meeechigan victory over a big rival, the guy sitting next to you just might end up being one of the groomsmen at your wedding (but not at The Big House).

I don't know these people...
and yet I love them

Such is the bonding that goes on at The Big House on Michigan football Saturdays. 

The instant camaraderie of 110,000 Wolverine fans on gameday is electric.  Sure, the same guy on the side of the road with a flat tire during a snow storm may only warrant a sympathetic shake of the head as your cruise past at 75 m.p.h.  But sit that same dude next to you for a game like Michigan's triple OT win over MSU a couple years ago and you'll have high-fived him so many times both your hands will lack several layers of skin.

During Michigan football games, you will also find yourself bonding with folks you'd normally find as embarrassing to be around as your dad that time he wore his dark socks and sandals to the beach.

For example, I enjoy sitting next to Headphone Guy at The Big House.  This is usually an older alum, parked on a seat cushion, who has some outdated and overly-large radio adding 20 or so pounds to his head.  With a silver, extendable antennae reaching toward the heavens and ginormous padded earphones that cover roughly 40% of his exposed skin, the guy looks like he should be hunched over in the radio room of a trans-Atlantic ocean liner circa 1934.

But on gameday in The Big House, this guy is invaluable.  He's the one who updates you all afternoon on Denard's increasingly jaw-dropping stats (eliciting more skin-removing high-fives with Excited Guy behind you).  And when Shoelace got hurt, he's the one everyone in your section turned to.  Waiting for him to share the news of how bad it was.  He'd put one hand on the E.T.-phone-home looking thing on his head and another in the air to quiet everyone so he could hear better.  Instantly, your entire section fell silent.  And if he shook his head and said, "It's not good..." high-fives would be replaced by simultaneous head-drops.

When not updating my section at The Big House
on Saturdays, I listen in on radio chatter coming
from the international space station as it orbits earth

There's also Fire Up Guy, the self-appointed dude who is the first to stand up and try to get the crowd cheering before a big third-and-short play.  Raising his arms like a symphony conductor minus his wand, before suddenly turning around to see if you're being naughty or noisy in your team's time of need.

Some people don't like Fire Up Guy.  Me?  He great if he's sober.  Drunk Fire Up Guy can be annoying.  But Proper Fire Up Guy can get a whole section rocking in no time.  It's a fine line. 

Yes, the above are but a small sampling of The Guy Sitting Next to You.  But each is just as much a part of Meeechigan Football Saturdays as tailgates and marching bands.  That's why he (and she) are #18 on our slooooowly unspooling list.

No, I've never sat next to them either,
even when I was a student. 
They're like Big House unicorns

ED. NOTE:  You know, just as I finished writing up this post way past my bedtime, I had another (I think even funnier) idea for a post using the above concept - simply listing all the "guys" one will meet/sit next to at The Big House this Saturday (Start the Wave Guy, Leave Early Guy, Down in Front Guy, Always Leaving the Section During the Game Girl, etc.).  Damn.

Double damn.

Maybe next time.

25 Things We Love About Michigan Football Saturdays: #19 Students Parties

Checking in at #19 on our countdown of 25 Things We Love About Michigan Football Saturdays are Student Parties.  I touched on this in our #25 entry, State Street, but I love heading into A2 and seeing the houses on State Street overflowing with students and their bashes (of course, they're not limited to State, but those are the ones most visible to those of us who are no longer students).

Such parties, on seemingly each and every block, make college football better than a pro game any day.  Hands down.

When you're in school, of course, it seems those parties will go on forever.  Each week culminating in a mass of friends and booze on Saturday.  Sadly, that's not exactly what happens.  Get a few years removed from college, settle down, have a few kids, and a rockin' Saturday night is the babysitter saying she can stay an extra hour so you can grab a quick coffee after the shitty movie you and your wife saw.

Post-college, Quarters is no longer a game you play on Saturdays, it's that change your wife digs out of her purse after you super-lucked out and found a parking spot actually near where you want to be.

So if you're reading this blog and you're still a student, live that shit up! 

Actually, #19 shouldn't be limited to student parties but should really be students in general.  Because as pumped as I still get for the games, I can't top the students.  Put it this way, my first thought now when I see a bunch of dudes with no shirts on at a game in mid-November with a windchill near 20 is, "Holy crap!  That's crazy!"  Of course, they're thinking, "Dude, we're gonna get on TV, and then get laid!"

Advantage: students.

But back to the parties.

You gotta love how they swarm the yards at those parties.  Their plastic red cups in hand, they surround the keg like ants on a bee carcass.

Meanwhile, you just watch as you pass with your wife/girlfriend/friends.  Remembering those times from your own college days.  Different and yet unchanged.  Your memories and their current experiences all intertwined by the common thread that is a Meeeechigan football Saturday.

25 Things We Love About Michigan Football Saturdays: #20 Ticket Stubs & Programs

If I ever - ever - start a countdown list on this blog again, somebody please just smack me in the f*cking head.  Son of a bitch!  The problem with these lists is that I feel compelled to do them once started.  But then blogging, rather being the fun hobby I enjoy as an escape, becomes like a job and/or homework.  Something I have to do (like make fun of people who still think Tressel was an innocent scapegoat).  And that defeats the whole purpose of blogging.  For cryin' out loud, this countdown was started so that its finish would coincide with the home opener.  But that plan's already gone to shit.*  Oh well, I digress.  Because today we somehow reach...

#20: Ticket Stubs & Game Programs

This dual item (they really do go hand-in-hand) harkens back to my childhood.  I don't think anybody who started going to Michigan games as a kid didn't love leaving A2 with a game program and a well-preserved ticket stub as souvenirs.  Sure, the bigger ticket items like a hat and a shirt were nice, but the actual ticket and corresponding program were a way to relive the game again that night and for months (or years) to come.

Just looking at this cover and
reliving what happened still hurts

Personally, I would get home from the game, still sky-high from the experience, then immediately begin browsing through the program again.  Memorizing tidbits about the coaching staff from their bios (holy crap, Fred Jackson has been there forever!).  Marveling at how old the players all looked when I was a kid (18, 19, 20 and 21, my ass!  These were grown, old men).  Trying to figure out that scheduling chart at the end of the program with all the Big 10 teams (when indeed it was just 10).

And the ticket stubs.  I'd collect mine, saving them along with the other important worldly possessions of an eight year old: comic books, some piece of crap from a cereal box, that gift your grandma gave you that you never played with but your mom wouldn't let you throw away.  Yet while the comic books, cereal box toy and gift quickly did vanish, I kept those ticket stubs for years, each one bringing forth a small smile of remembrance.  The first Big House game I'd ever been to; some crappy blow out game in which the outcome was never in doubt (remember those days?).  My first Michigan-Ohio State game (when we won those, too).  And other "special" games.  A big play.  A great comeback.  Special memories with my friends or family.  All from an old ticket stub.

Then, when I got older, while I stopped saving the ticket stubs and became a season ticket holder.  And if you are also a season ticket holder, there is nothing - and I mean nothing - that can get a grown Michigan Man as excited (okay, a few things) as getting his season tickets in the mail.  It's, well, like this...



Actually, I think a Michigan Man getting his tickets in the mail is slightly more excited than that.  Maybe it's just me.

* No, this won't be the last time I bitch about this countdown.  Hell, in time, the bitching may actually overtake the countdown content.  Which might even be more entertaining for you, the loyal MZone reader.  It'll be a cyber-meltdown for all to enjoy.  Grab some popcorn and stay tuned!

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)

25 Things We Love About Michigan Football Saturdays: #22 The Wave

Continuing our countdown of the 25 Things We Love About Michigan Football Saturdays.  Today...

#22: The Wave

Frankly, The Wave almost didn't make the list.  I'm really torn about this one.  Sometimes I despise the damn thing, usually when some drunks try to get it going at the exact wrong time (Hey, jackhole - when we're on offense driving for a touchdown in a tight game, PUT YOUR ARMS DOWN AND SHUT THE FUCK UP!).

But then there are the Delaware State-esque games where there should be no bad time to do The Wave (in theory.  I'm looking at you, Appy State).  Plus, the unbroken design in the stadium makes The Wave look cooler here than almost anywhere else.

For those not familiar with the history of The Wave in The Big House, it all started back in the days of mullets, big hair and a time when the M in MTV actually stood for music - 1983.  Michigan played the University of Washington that fall in Seattle, where some claim the "cheer" originated in 1981.  Michigan's cheerleaders then brought it to The Big House for U-M next home game and Bo had an absolute fit.  You see, folks got so caught up in the new fad, they did it while Michigan was on offense making it probably the only time in the history of The Big House it's been too loud for any QB to actually be heard by his teammates.

According to Wikipedia:

A letter to the sports editor of New York Times claimed, "There are three reasons why the wave caught on at Michigan Wolverine games: It gave the fans something to do when the team was leading its opponent by 40 points, it was thrilling and exciting to see 105,000 people in the stands moving and cheering, and Bo Schembechler asked us not to do it." The fans responded to his request by doing more waves, including "Silent Waves" (standing and waving arms without cheering), "Shsh Waves" (replacing the cheering with a "shshing" sound), the "Fast Wave," the "Slow Wave," and two simultaneous waves traveling in opposite directions. The following spring, fans who had enjoyed the wave in Ann Arbor introduced it to the nearby Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The Tigers won the World Series that year and appeared on many televised games throughout 1984, so people all over America saw it.

As a  young kid going to those games, I vaguely remember all the wave variants mentioned above.  Maybe it's that fondness for wave creativity that kept this aging cheer on our list.  For a youngster seeing it for the first time, I'm sure it's just as cool for him or her as it was for me in my youth. 

Today, I can take it our leave it.  But as an ode to my youth, I'll keep it on this year's list.

25 Things We Love About Michigan Football Saturdays: #23 Homecoming

Continuing our countdown of the 25 Things We Love About Michigan Football Saturdays.  Today...

#23: Homecoming

Definite crush

Homecoming only #23, you say?

Yes, for one simple reason: it comes but once a year.  Add a couple homecomings each fall and this would surely move up the list.

There's nothing like walking around Ann Arbor on Homecoming, seeing all the old alums strolling across the campus only to suddenly stop in front of a new structure, turn to their spouse and say, "Where the fuck did this building come from?  This wasn't here when I was in school."  Then said spouse (if not also a U-M alum) proceeds to listen politely as the old alum regales her with oft-told (exaggerated) tales of his college days, while the Bruce Springsteen song Glory Days plays somewhere if life truly has a soundtrack.

I also love seeing the old cheerleaders down on the field for the game.  Each, dressed in the cheerleading outfits of their era, staking out a spot along the sidelines as their own.  Leading that section in cheers, both new and old.  For a lot of the guys, it's a chance to see "that one cheerleader" you had a crush on from your student days.  You remember the one.  No, she's still not interested.  But - holy crap! - she still looks amazing in that skirt!  Ah, the crush lingers.  And for the cheerleaders themselves, one can't help but notice the smiles and warm embraces between each of them as they reconnect with old friends, this one day probably the only time they get see people they used to hang out with every day.  Their college friendships now separated by time, distance and that crazy thing we each experience as college disappears in the rearview mirror: life.

Welcome back! Please don't try to flip!

I do however get worried by some of the older male cheerleaders.  There's always that guy who looks like he graduated during the Truman Administration who seems to think he still has the same flexibility and young knees of both his own youth and those of the current crop of male cheerleaders.  Each time they jump or - even scarier - try to flip, I hold my breath, hoping the next thing I hear isn't the Stadium Announcer asking if there is a doctor in Section 17.

And how can you not love the alumni band?  Seeing them high-step it (or any-step it depending on their year of graduation) across the field gives me chills.  Of course, some of those are a different breed of chill, caused by music played by folks who haven't touched an instrument in decades.  But that's just being picky.

Oh, and there's also a game that day, too.

Until recently, homecoming at U-M wasn't about the football.  That's because, until recently, homecoming used to mean an almost guaranteed victory, and usually a blowout "W" to boot.  A relaxing day in The Big House enjoying all the sights and sounds not associated with football.

Unfortunately, those certain victories haven't been so certain lately.  But we trust - nay, know - that's about to change back to the ways of yore.  And maybe, just maybe, it'll help "Homecoming" nudge its way higher in our next MZone poll.

No, of course we didn't forget the Mud Bowl!

Seriously.  Did you really think we'd forget this?!

25 Things We Love About Michigan Football Saturdays: #24 Elbel Field/Revelli Hall

Yesterday, in preparation of the upcoming 2011 season, we started counting down the 25 Things We Love About Michigan Football Saturdays.  Clocking in at #25 was State Street.  Today...

#24: Elbel Field/Revelli Hall

(via UMich & Ann Arbor Greenway)

During the week and on non-football Saturday's, Elbel Field is just a great place to toss the football around with your friends.  Or play a softball game.  Maybe kick a soccer ball.  Or, our favorite...

But the large open space - bordered by S. Division, Hill Street, Greene Street and E. Hoover Avenue - is also the outdoor practice facility for the University of Michigan Marching Band.  And if you get to A2 really early on game days, you can catch the band practicing for afternoon's performance on the now-turfed practice field just off Hill St.

(via MGoBlog)

Revelli Hall, across from Elbel on E. Hoover, is the indoor home of the Michigan Marching Band.  If you miss the early morning practice at Elbel, catch the band outside Revelli before they head to The Big House.

And if following them up Hoover Street doesn't give you chills, you won't need a ticket to the game because you're already dead and can simply float through the gates past the ticket takers.

25 Things We Love About Michigan Football Saturdays

With the start of the 2011 Michigan Football Season just 25 days away, we kick off our blogging campaign with a countdown of the 25 Things We Love About Michigan Football Saturdays.

So until you can be there on September 3rd with 110,000 of your closest friends, do the next best thing: follow along with us here on the MZone as we count down the Maize and Blue memories that, just reading about them, might give you chills. Just thinking about them might cause you to hear the roar of the crowd. And just watching the numbers get smaller lets you know that Meeechigan football is merely days away.

#25: STATE STREET

If you live in one of the suburbs of Detroit or have ever flown into DTW and then driven in from the airport for a game, the feeling starts long before you reach the green highway sign.  It begins as you go west on I-94, passing car after maize-and-blue-adorned car.  Each heading to Exit #177:  State Street.

You inch your way up the off-ramp (nobody said doubling the size of a town was easy on traffic).  Until you're able to make that right on State Street.  You pass Briarwood Mall on your left and, when you clear the light at Eisenhower Parkway, something inside you (and outside your car) changes.

The increasing price to park means you're getting closer.  A few hearty souls park way out and trek in, but usually they're fans of the opposing team who weren't exactly sure where to park so they simply took the first thing they saw.

But not you. 

You don't even start looking until you see the Varsity Tennis Center on the left.  Because right after that comes the golf course.  You can already spot the footballs arcing above the fence, the flags flying high.  Tailgating nirvana is nigh.

Or maybe you wait until you cross over the train tracks and park in one of the student neighborhoods across from Schembechler Hall. Slip in to somebody's backyard who promises "easy in and out" even though it looks doubtful. 

By now the crowds flowing up State Street are no longer confined to the sidewalks.  Reaching McKinley, the car is the intruder, the pedestrian now king.

A party seems to be going on at each of the run-down student houses near State and Hoover.  A keg on the porch, banners draped out of the upper windows, colorful signs for the more creatively inclined.

Continuing on toward the heart of Michigan's campus, you're met by the wall of folks who've attacked A2 from the north.  South Quad, West Quad and the Student Union, where JFK announced his dream of the Peace Corp, to your left; Central Campus and the Diag to your right. 

The stage is set.  The ambiance is perfect.  The game is just around the corner. 

Or, more precisely, now just a short walk from State Street.