Tracing the roots of my unhealthy obsession

In the process of moving myself to a northern suburb of... wait for it... Columbus, Ohio, I happened to uncover one of the very first pics I ever snapped at a Michigan football game (see right).
This photo was taken during the Wolverines' 49-13 rout of the Indiana Hoosiers on November 3, 1973. I captured it with an Argus C3 35mm land camera, a camera with no telephoto lensing capabilities to speak of, and from what I recall this was the clearest, best shot of the whole lot. As such, I felt it was worthy at the time for an 8x10 enlargement, so I blew it up myself at a photo studio owned by a photographer my dad worked with frequently. (Pops was a commercial art rep and he had only one or two photographers he preferred using, so his kid being interested in photography and junk got to know them pretty well... well enough to have access to their darkroom equipment).
Anyway, about the game where the photo was taken. Indiana was in a familiar formation, that being punt formation. From the length and position of the shadows I would guess that this is third quarter action, with Michigan leading 42-7 (the halftime score) or 49-7 (the score at the end of three quarters).

Now compare this to a photo shot from a similar location during, say, this year's game against Air Force. Has much really changed in 40 years of football at the Big House?

Fab Five redux

Spike Albrecht. Mitch McGary. Glenn Robinson III. Nik Stauskas. Chris LeVert. They're Fab. They're Five. They're Freshmen. And they're capable of not only taking the court at the same time, but holding their own while they're at it.

Do we dare?

In other words, should the third-ranked Michigan Wolverines let bygones be bygones and honor coach John Beilein's freshman class as the second coming of the Fab Five? Well, in light of corrupt Buckeye head football coach Jim Tressell leaving Ohio Stadium on the shoulders of his former Buckeyes last month, why not?

The crew doesn't lack talent, that's for sure. In Saturday's convincing 80-67 victory over Arkansas, Robinson and Stauskas were two of the five Wolverines in double figures, scoring 17 and 12 points respectively, with Stauskas logging a team-leading 36 minutes. McGary played 16 minutes, scoring six points on 3-of-6 shooting. Albrecht and LeVert combined for 14 minutes on the court, in a contest full of just about anything but garbage time.

It's hard to fault them for the star power that's in front of them. While Webber, Rose, Howard, King and Jackson landed in Ann Arbor in the fall of 1991 with essentially five vacancies in the starting lineup, Fab Five part deux don't really have any on Saturday either. The powerful backcourt tandem of Tim Hardaway, Jr., and Columbus transplant Trey Burke aren't shy about calling the shots, whether they're on the court or not. The pair were just 9-for 23 from the floor, but their 30 total points kept the Razorbacks honest for much of the game, allowing the inexperienced Wolverine reserves to go from spot duty to active status in a flash.

[still writing the rest of the story so stay tuned!]

Bleeding maize and blue from the nose-bleeds

Do they take care of me at The People's Blogger headquarters or what?

In all the coverage and put-you-right-in-the-action photography I've provided, I neglected to mention that the aforementioned lucky ticket I scored for last week's Michigan-Ohio State game led me to the pristine location of last row in the visitor's section (see right). And the visitor's sections in Ohio Stadium are about as far away from football as you can be in that historic, decrepit facility.

You know those ROTC guards they have stationed way up atop each of the four posts inside the stadium? I looked down on them. Actually, I could turn around and look down on pretty much all of Columbus—from crowds gathered around the Jumbotrons that lined the stadium's perimeter, to nearby St. John Arena, former home to Buckeye basketball, and its current home, the Schottenstein Center a few blocks away.

And to my right, downtown Columbus, eighteenth largest city in this fine nation of ours, its skyline peaking over the stadium's top rim (see pic below). Sitting quietly before the cityscape, Nationwide Arena, home to the NHL's perennially futile Columbus Blue Jackets, pouts dormant and gray, its cancelled All-Star Weekend the latest casualty of the league's season-threatening lockout.

It was my own virtual sightseeing tour, and it was my free bonus for having a seat location just a row or two in front of parking deck B.

Nonetheless, it still afforded me a chance at some history of my own... and the opportunity to immortalize myself in the video history of college football's biggest rivalry.

After Denard Robinson's electrifying touchdown run put Michigan ahead 20-17 pending the point-after-touchdown, ABC cut to a long-angle shot of the jubilant Wolverine fans high up in the closed end of the 'Shoe. And there I was, in all my glory (see below; circled fan in last row to be exact). In fact, you can clearly see that I am already hard at work, generating some of the stunning photographs you would soon be seeing on this very site.

(By the way, I'm still wearing the oh-so-stylish "HAIL" shirt, it's just hidden deep inside my large gold-and-gray parka... did I mention it was cold outside?)

Emails hit my phone with screen grabs from the broadcast. Sure, the title lines may have had "LOL" or "WOW UR SEATS SUCK!" And most couldn't even identify me due to the images being so tiny and distant. But it's very clearly me. If you can imagine me wearing enough thermal gear to make a channel-surfing Eskimo stop and think, "Oooh where'd he get that?"

Yet I couldn't help but reminisce about one of my favorite commercials of all time, a classic Miller Lite spot featuring baseball's most familiar nobody, Bob Uecker. Speaking to camera inside a baseball park, he covers the obligatory product features while seating himself in a prime lower-deck box (see below).

His monologue is interrupted by a ticket usher kicking him out of the seat he's chosen. To which Uecker replies, "Oooh... I must be in the front row!"

Following a gratuitous condescention-covered product shot, we cut to a far-away shot of an empty upper deck. We see only two people in the stands, and it takes a camera zoom to reveal that one of them is Mr. Uecker. "Great seats, eh buddy?" he says to the other fan, before jumping up with outrage at a close play at the plate a quarter mile below. "He missed the tag! He missed the tag!" he screams.

I feel ya, Bob.

Second verse, same as the first

In light of the spectacle witnessed in the north end zone during last week's game—where members of the 2002 mythical national champion Buckeye team carried their coach, the recently shamed and admitted liar Jim Tressell, off the field—I thought I'd share a little poem I penned for the occasion.

Congratulations, Ohio State,
You finished undefeated.
Good luck in the BCS Championsh—
Oh yeah that's right, you cheated.