Car Rides, Tailgates, and Other General Shenanigahns

After preparing myself for the worst insults and mistreatment from the Michigan fan base, I have to admit that barring the football game (...), my experience Saturday exceeded expectations. Albeit, our plan of waking up at 8:00, grabbing breakfast at Reckers, and hitting the road was a bit of a stretch, but when all was said and done, my posse and I eventually made it to a $15 parking lot in Ann Arbor by 11:30.

After a quick stroll through the UM golf course, we made it to the Notre Dame Club of Ann Arbor official tailgate. Students were offered the chance to scarf a tasty brat and cool beverage for $1, and I can vouch that after a 2 and a half hour car ride, grilled meat does the body good. However, we soon left after realizing that further lunch treats were upwards of $6; I guess the ND club teamed up with the bookstore for the pricing plan.

When we left the safety of an all-irish tailgate and started walking around the golf course / parking lots where UM fans were set up, I was blown away by the overall good atmosphere. Imagine a place where football fans can set up and play beer pong and flip cup outdoors before a game and all just get along. After one fan stopped our group and asked us to join him for a drink I felt like busting out a few verses of Kumbaya.

And then there was the game...

I don't want to get into too much of a tizzy trying to analyze why we lost; it seemed like no one on our roster felt like bringing it last weekend. Michigan came out fired up, and after Sullivan's (I thought Remington award candidates were able to snap the ball) miscue on the first play, the momentum left the Irish and they were never able to get it back.

Did Michigan really care who was under center?
Rakes of Mallow put up a nice add for all of the positions ND seems to be lacking in, which is mildly humorous until you realize how true it is. It honestly doesn't bother me to be losing to these teams. While I obviously wouldn't prefer an O-fer to start the first however many games of the season, all of the experts (I'm talking about people other than Mark May, too) only had us winning one of two if any of those games. What got to me was the lack of hustle, the lack of heart, the lack of (insert any other coaching cliche). Our team just didn't seem to care; offensive linemen were falling to their knees on 5 step drops, Zibby was waiting for Hart to come to him (a classic example of being the hammer, not the nail) instead of attacking the runner, and the defensive front failed to push Michigan's line off the ball.

I have to hand it to the Irish students who stayed the whole game. After I moved down from row 93 to 30 in the fourth quarter, I was pleased to find a good crowd of students down there. What was even nicer was all of the fair weather fans who spent the entire game criticizing everything from the playcalling to the water distribution had already left to complain with someone else, leaving a student section that actually cheered for their football team. This loyalty was also shown on an ESPN segment that aired today.

Several students were interviewed outside of the Hesburgh Library on Sunday, and the responses were all pretty good. The basic message from the students was "We're disappointed with where we are right now, but we will continue to stand behind our football team even if they aren't winning right now." There was one kid who said that as long as we extend our winning streak vs. Navy he'll consider the season a success, but that had to have been more in jest than in heart.

Our trip ended with us sharing a Spicy Chicken Sandwich with the cheerleading team at a Wendey's a few exits West of Ann Arbor. After they climbed back into their leather seated, flat screen tv'd, and all around awesome coach bus, my gang piled into my '99 Civic and got ready to tough out the drive back to campus. In conclusion, the trip was fun, the game wasn't. I defiantly hope the team can at least manage some positive rushing yards in time for my next trip to Purdue.