Successfully Avoiding Anything Planned

Tag Archives: Michigan Football

Breaking Blue

 

I’m not sure exactly when it happened.  I’m not even sure how it happened.  All I know is somewhere along the line, much to the disdain of my Fighting Illini loving friends and family, I became a Michigan Wolverine football fan.  I can hear my cousin Mike in an orange beanie yelling, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” from Decatur as I type.

This is my confession.

Let it serve as a warning to those who think they can dabble in team interest without being enthralled by yellow and blue fervor.

 

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If it happened to me, it can happen to you.

It starts out so innocently you know.  A game here, a ‘look at all those people in that stadium” there. You begin causally grazing stats in the newspaper.  You’re pleased when Jim Harbaugh is announced as the new coach.  You catch yourself humming “The Victors” fight song and breaking eye contact early with anyone from Ohio.

Your outbursts at bad calls are increasing.  You go to your first game at the Big House and your attire matches all the people around you minus chest paint.  Why is there a cheese plate in the shape of an M on my kitchen table?  And that’s when it hits you.  You don’t make cheese plates for nothing.  You’re a frickin’ fan.

“WHYYYYYYYYYY?!,” yells Grandpa Carl from a leaf covered driveway.

I’m afraid so.  It’s undeniable.  As I sit here, I can’t wait to watch the rest of the games this season. We ordered the Big 10 network just so we wouldn’t miss a snap.  This is all too real and I have the chips in the cushions of my couch to prove it.

 

This Michigan fan won dog Halloween.

 

I grew up like any other kid in Illinois, eating orange jello in the fall.  My family took me to visit U of I. We have family pictures on campus.  I have grandparents and aunts and cousins who went to school there.  I visited their dorms.  I even went to football games.  Shouldn’t this be enough to entrench my loyalty?  What happened?!

I met a girl.

She proudly takes the blame for this.  Growing up in the shadows of The Big House, my wife Christi is no casual fan.  It’s a scary moment in any marriage when you see the speed and precision at which your spouse can hurl a throw pillow.  I used to wake up in cold sweats to the sounds of yelling, cheering, shouting…and that was before kickoff.

I made the mistake one time of saying, “Go Big Blue.”  I thought black and blue was going to be the color of my eye.

An innocent mistake, I now know it’s “Go Blue.”

No “Big.” Nooooooooooo “Big.”

 

I may or may not ever build a Big House out of Legos

 

In my defense I tried to resist, I really did,  but somewhere along the line my heart shifted and I have no choice but to go with it.  Fall is the season to embrace transformation.  Sometimes change happens as we strive to better ourselves, sometimes….it just happens.

Where are you embracing transformation this fall?

Don’t get me wrong, there will always room in my heart for orange jello.

 

May be our future.

 

Cheers,

A