Red, white, maize and the blues!

"You guys (fill in expletive here)!"

 • I might be the only one who thinks this, but Michigan losing to Ohio State this past Saturday actually was a good thing for Wolverine fans – at least as far as the rivalry is concerned. When Michigan was beating up on Ohio State during the Buckeye’s John Cooper-era, the vile and hatred spewing from OSU fans was at an all-time high. This may never be the case with Wolverine fans, but I started seeing a little more frustration starting to seep out of the maize and blue faithful on Saturday. When one team dominates for a while, it just makes it that much sweeter when you finally turn the tables back the other way.

 

"I feel the need ... the need for speed!"

• I’ve seen plenty of flyovers in my days as a photographer, but they always amaze me – give me goose pimples even. Saturday’s was no exception. A few weeks ago they had a flyover at cruising speed, but this time they roared over the Big House with the afterburners glowing – awesome! After the flyover, I turned to my brother Duke, a former Army Ranger who was assisting me at the game,  and said, “They sure make you realize how little chance you have (if you’re a soldier) if they decide to call in an airstrike on your position.” “Yeah,” he replied, “it sort of takes the fun out of combat.”

 

Is this Columbus, or Ann Arbor?

• A lot of folks complained about the amount of red in Michigan Stadium on Saturday. Personally, I don’t think there was any more than usual, except maybe in the student section. It wasn’t that long ago when all the visiting fans were clumped together in the south end zone. I vaguely remember Michigan changing that policy because the Buckeyes always brought so many, and they wanted to spread them out so they would be less vocal. The problem is, the color red really stands out, so rather than one big clump of red in the endzone, there are pockets of red all throughout the stadium.

 

 

Can you imagine this lot in 1954?

•  Maybe the Buckeyes caught wind that Michigan was celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Bo Schembechler’s legendary (at least to Wolverine fans) 1969 24-12 upset, of then #1 ranked Ohio State, by honoring members of the that team prior to the game. Whatever the reason, the Buckeyes arrived in Ann Arbor wearing throwback uniforms honoring their 1954 National Championship team (except with facemasks). I liked the uniforms, I only wish Michigan would have worn throwbacks as well … ummm, wait … I guess they were wearing throwbacks since they’ve never changed their look.

 

Reggie McKenzie sheds a tear or two for his beloved Wolverines ... and that was before the game!

• Speaking of the ’69 team, it was cool to see a bunch of former players still getting choked up at memories they had as kids four decades ago. Cooler still was the fact that I remembered a lot of the players myself, even though I was only a 4 year-old in 1969, and I’m from Ohio. Several members of that team went on to NFL careers (including Thom Darden, my all-time favorite Cleveland Brown) and I still have a lot of their football cards.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me!"

 • It’s rare that an offensive lineman makes headlines, but Ohio State’s Justin Boren did just that by having the audacity to transfer from Michigan to the hated Buckeyes two years ago. Me personally? I could care less. If it’s a better fit for a kid to go somewhere else, so be it. But judging by the amount of insults hurled this kid’s way during warmups, I’m guessing most Wolverine fans don’t feel the same way. I heard words I’m pretty sure aren’t even in the English dictionary!

My press box buddies, Don Lund, left, and Art Holst, telling stories of days before even my parents were born!

• Saturday marked the last game for the old press box at Michigan Stadium. Even though I spend most of my time on the sidelines, I still spend a fair amount of the pregame in the press box. As press boxes go, it wasn’t the best. But I’m a sucker for history and tradition, so I always liked it. I especially enjoyed my time chatting with Don Lund, a Michigan legend, who, at 86, tells great stories that could only be matched by his buddy Art Holst, also 86, a former NFL official who still scouts NCAA officials for the NFL. Between the two, I have a hard time pulling myself away to head down to the field for the opening kickoff.

 

"Now take this ball and head for left tackle!"

• I know this is a great rivalry and all, but when was the last real good game between these two teams? Saturday’s game could have been called the “Boring Bowl” due to the lack of anything remotely resembling a big play. The Buckeye’s vanilla-encrusted head coach Jim Tressel decision to run off tackle 1,347 times didn’t exactly showcase Terrelle Pryor, the highly sought after quarterback that Michigan was hoping to land. I guess the bright spot might be the fact Wolverine fans didn’t feel so bad they didn’t land Pryor after watching him do “pretty-much-nothing” on Saturday.

 

"Dad gummit! I told you not to throw the ball to the guys in red!"

• As vanilla-smooth as Jim Tressel is, Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez has let his frustration show more and more as the second half of this 5-7 season turned sour. Saturday he looked more like an active volcano than a head coach at times, but that’s cool, I like passion, it makes for good pictures!

 

"A little louder please, I can still hear out of my left ear."

• After shooting a good portion of this season’s games from the visiting team’s sideline, I’m guessing I should regain some of my hearing sometime in mid-January after being blasted time and time again by the visiting band’s trumpets, trombones, and drums at point-blank range.

 

"So Brandon, how do feel about the colors brown and orange?"

• Finally, after watching Michigan senior defensive end Brandon Graham’s career come to an end Saturday, all I can say is this kid is a hell of a player and a class act and I hope he ends up being a first round pick in the NFL draft. Are you listening Cleveland?

Purdue's and don'ts - beautiful day, horrible game.

At least things started out on a high note.

My latest sideline observations from Michigan’s disastrous 38-36 loss to Purdue, Saturday, November 7th at Michigan Stadium, the Boilermakers first win at UM since 1966.

Cheer up, there's always the Papa Smurf Bowl.

• Sunny skies and warm temperatures greeted the Michigan Stadium crowd as they filed into the Big House the first week of November for their last realistic chance to get that coveted sixth victory of the season and a bowl trip to … Detroit?  C’mon, quit your griping, sure, two years ago the Motor City Bowl was below the Wolverines, but now doesn’t any bowl game seem like an achievement? Of course, the Motor City Bowl is now the Pizza, Pizza Bowl, but the way Michigan’s been playing lately, they’ll be lucky to make the Cheesy Bread Bowl.

Umm, Tate? ... yeah, about that headwear ... you might want to lose that. 

• What’s up with Tate Forcier’s new headwear? He came out for warm ups wearing some strange, blue stocking on his head. Okay, I get it; it was a bit chilly, but by game time the head sock was still in place under his helmet … and it was 60 degrees! Dude, this is Michigan, not San Diego. A 60-degree day in November is what we call a "heat wave" here in the Midwest. Losing games is one thing, but you sure aren’t making yourself look any tougher, or helping your cause with the fans, by wearing that silly head stocking on a warm day. 

Bang the drum slowly, after all, it's been 43-years since you last won here - might as well make it last!

• Purdue University has a lot going for it - nice campus, great engineering school, cool uniforms … and the world’s largest drum! I’m not exactly sure how they know they have the world’s largest drum, but that’s what it says on the drumhead, so I guess we’ll have to take their word for it. At any rate, that drum got a workout following the Boilermakers 38-36 win over Michigan, as several players stood patiently in line, waiting to give the drum a whack with what I assume must be the world’s largest drum stick.

I got out of bed early for this?

• The days of the 110,000 plus crowds at Michigan Stadium seem to be dwindling. I suppose the beautiful weather had something to do with it, but Saturday’s crowd of 108,000 was very late-arriving, especially the student section, who seem to be losing patience with two sub-par seasons quicker than the alumni faithful.

Anyone need a Q-tip?

• I heard from more than one person they thought Purdue’s marching band was every bit as good, if not better than Michigan’s band – especially while doing their halftime Michael Jackson tribute. I don’t know about that, but I did like Michigan’s seldom-used Blues Brothers tribute prior to the game. Also, what the heck are those things on top of the heads of the Boilermaker band members? They look like a pack of human Q-tips.

"Dee-fense ... Dee-fense ... dee-fense? ... c'mon people ... anyone? ... anyone? ... Bueller? ... Bueller?"

• What on earth has happened to the Michigan defense? In the 15-years I’ve been shooting Wolverine football, I’ve never seen the opponent put up so many big plays on Michigan. Usually after one big play, I’ll have plenty of time to get to the other side of the field to continue shooting the action, but Purdue’s opening touchdown drive happened so fast, I was still walking behind their bench when they scored. 

"I don't want it, here you take it!"

• Perhaps the most critical play of the game took place on a fourth and ten play for the Wolverines late in the fourth quarter. Trailing the Boilermakers 38-30 at the time, Rich Rod decided to go for it rather than kick a chip-shot field goal. The result was a goofy play that saw running back Carlos Brown lateral the ball to lineman Mark Huyge as he was being tackled near the sideline. At first the play appeared to be successful, but after an official review it was determined that Brown had lateraled the ball forward to Huyge. That, of course, is a no-no, and the Wolverines turned the ball over on downs. What I don’t understand is why Brown wasn’t ruled out of bounds in the first place, when, as my picture shows, he’s on top of Purdue’s Torri Williams, who is clearly out of bounds while making the tackle.

More than a Minor disappointment.

• Of all the players on Michigan's team I've come to know over the past few years, I feel worse for Brandon Minor than any other player. His bum ankle has kept him from having the kind of senior season I'm sure he envisioned. I can sense his frustration every time I see him coming off the field. Nothing against these smaller, quicker running backs that Rich Rod likes to recruit, but I like Minor's powerful running style. When he's healthy, in my opinion, he's one of the best backs in the Big Ten. Here's hoping some NFL scouts feel the same and give Minor his due come next April in the draft (are you listening Cleveland Browns?).

That’s it for this week. I’ll be staying home for the Wolverines trip to Madison this Saturday, but I’ll be back in action when they take on Ohio State for their last game of the season. Hopefully for you Go Blue faithful, the Wolverines won't be in a position where they'll have to beat the Buckeyes to go "bowling."