To me, few things are more festive than football in the fall. So imagine my excitement when an old coworker/friend from California, who is in business school at Michigan, invited us up for the Illinois game this past weekend. No better way to embrace the season.
…except it didn’t feel like fall up north. We got to Michigan Friday night and it was 27 degrees. After 5 years in California, neither Paul or I are equipped to deal with any temperature below 50, so we swung by an REI on the way into town. I was also planning on doing my 10 mile run the following morning before the noon game started (because it definitely wasn’t going to be happening after the game) and needed to get some basic gear for running in the cold. It was in REI that, in addition to a hat and ear warmers, I was totally suckered into buying a beautiful, completely overpriced running jacket (because I own exactly one long-sleeved shirt that I wear for running…my justification for the purchase.) I experienced feelings of extreme guilt for spending so much on a stupid jacket…until I stepped outside at 7:30 the next morning in 23 degree weather to start my run. I am in love. I love my jacket.
But enough about clothing. After pre-gaming at the Michigan Business School Party Bus, we (and 111,000 other people) headed into the stadium…the biggest stadium in the country. (I guess Michigan had the biggest, then Penn State built a bigger one, then Michigan rebutted and updated theirs to be the biggest again. Pouring millions into a sports arena even though you can already seat over 100,000 people just to be bigger than the next guy…how American can you get.) We sat in the student section and enjoyed some chili cheese fries, irish hot chocolate, and a lot of touchdowns. Some idiot showed up wearing an Ohio State hat, both he and the hat were thrown out of the stadium. The game went into triple overtime, Michigan won 67-65 (the score was higher than the basketball score for the two teams last year.)
It was fun to be in college again for a weekend..and it only took me 3 days to recover. Our hosts were wonderful. Go Blue.
Rambulatory Ambulatory 