What's your worst memory ever going to a Michigan game?
With Christmas 8 days away, Festivus 6 days away, Hannukah 1 day away, and Kwanza 9 days away, i think we need some TOXICITY here on the board.
What is your worst experience or memory going to Michigan stadium for a football game? Mine was when I was 17 and went to the air force game. A bunch of old heads/racists around me telling Denard to cut his hair and spilling bbq sauce on my Chad Henne jersey.
HBU?
December 17th, 2022 at 8:12 AM ^
Umm.. let’s see. I think I’ve been to about 10 games and we’ve won them all. Including Harbaugh’s first 2 wins against top-10 opponents. So no real bad memories..
December 17th, 2022 at 9:03 AM ^
Start a go fund me to get yourself to SoFi stadium if we beat TCU
December 17th, 2022 at 11:13 AM ^
Same. I’ve been to 10-15 over my lifetime and have never seen a loss in person. I’ve seen them win the brown jug twice. Hockey is another story. Ive seen more losses and OT losses than wins
worst experience is when my brother got hurt so we sent the game at the hospital. Had them turn the game on in his room so we still got to see the win
December 17th, 2022 at 11:19 AM ^
I saw the HORROR in 2007, and then the following week saw us get completely gutted by Oregon by like 30 points (which in some ways was worse because instead of being an embarrassing fluke it showed we really couldn't compete with a modern spread team with talent).
December 17th, 2022 at 3:26 PM ^
I almost wiped that from memory. Damn you.
December 17th, 2022 at 7:15 PM ^
same. PTSD from 2007.
December 17th, 2022 at 11:37 AM ^
I had a long undefeated streak when going to games, including the Biakabutuka game.
Then I went to the Gary Russell / clock malfunction game in 2005. Such a stupid game, Michigan was leading most of the way then totally threw it away, Minnesota was just trying to run out the clock -- which, no one knew how much time was left -- and get to OT.
Started a losing streak of games I attended in person that stretched well into the RichRod Era
December 17th, 2022 at 8:13 AM ^
MSU punt return on final play of game...had not been to a game in decades, wife bought me tickets, took my kids...and final play as I was walking out the stadium...dumb, just dumb.
December 17th, 2022 at 8:23 AM ^
Dear God you have zero luck
December 17th, 2022 at 9:25 AM ^
Username checks out - baldbill
poor guy.
December 17th, 2022 at 8:51 AM ^
And only with many years of MGOTherapy have you returned to a "normal" life?
December 17th, 2022 at 8:54 AM ^
I went to a restaurant around the corner from my house and ordered a bottle of wine. I was by myself.
December 17th, 2022 at 10:06 AM ^
Baldbill = Mi Sooner, it seems lol.
December 17th, 2022 at 10:28 AM ^
Me, too. I was sitting right on the line of scrimmage. When the ball was scooped up by MSU i just buried my head to listen to the crowd and find out the result. The roar coming from the MSU corner of the end zone told me all I needed to know. BTW, i was not the kid with the glasses and his hands on his head. But I felt just like him.
December 17th, 2022 at 8:17 AM ^
Positive vibes only.
December 17th, 2022 at 8:17 AM ^
RichRod’s first year.
The Punt.
The MSU game in the torrential downpour.
I was driving back from Camp Michigania during The Horror…so I missed that one.
Also left early during the Kordell game.
December 17th, 2022 at 8:22 AM ^
I haven't ever had a bad personal experience like yours in the stands at a home game. I have been to a few road games with jerk fans though.
In terms of bad on field experiences, it starts with the Colorado Hail Mary.
December 17th, 2022 at 8:48 AM ^
Yep. Colorado Hail Mary. When Kordell Stewart dropped back to heave the ball I remember thinking, "Oh no!". After the catch, it was the quietest I have ever heard Michigan Stadium. Just an awful feeling.
December 17th, 2022 at 9:36 AM ^
Same here. After the game, the whole crowd stood in disbelief not knowing what to say or do. Internally, I blamed Chuck Winters, but it was more luck than one man's failure to spot the ball after a lifetime of playing DB....
December 17th, 2022 at 10:53 AM ^
Thought Ty Law tipped it.
That game was 2 weeks after I was in south bend to watch rent Hamilton kick the winner. Talk about highs and lows.
December 18th, 2022 at 9:27 AM ^
It was Vada Murray (RIP).
December 17th, 2022 at 10:30 AM ^
Yes easy call for me. Traveled from Colorado with a few buddies for the game. They were all CU fans and we were all stoked for this game. I think my three buddies and maybe a few hundred other people were the only ones cheering when the pass happened. I was in shock. Worse part we had traveled stand bye to get to the game. On the flight home they called us to get on the plane they told me to go back and find a seat. Only one I found was last row between two very large women my buddies were standing there and a flight attendant said there’s only 3 more seats and they were in first class. I had to sit in the back of the plane jammed into a seat and they all flew first class. Pretty crappy ending to that weekend
December 17th, 2022 at 10:43 AM ^
Yep, Colorado Hail Mary. Saw the throw, saw the ball pop up, felt the absolute dead quiet. Felt sick to my stomach for two weeks afterward...
December 17th, 2022 at 8:23 AM ^
Brady Hoke's team going up against Rutgers for the first time in NJ... Lost and walking out of that stadium to heckling from Rutgers' fans on the shuttle bus back to the parking lot. Sad day.
December 17th, 2022 at 11:19 AM ^
Yeah, was there too. Bitterly cold night in the nosebleeds. Actually liked chatting with the Rutgers fans near me, one guy had been going to games for decades. Admired his commitment. Reminded me of some of the beaten-down blue collar Lions fans I know. The loss maybe didn't hurt as much since I was ready for the Hoke era to end. But it still sucks to have a loss to Rutgers on the all time record.
December 17th, 2022 at 8:24 AM ^
Illinois at the Big House around 1988/9 Ty Wheatley tearing it up the first half and UM is winning. Sleet at halftime so crowd is now miserable and UM proceeds to fumble and lose the ball around 10 times. Not kidding. Wheatley had a majority of them. Illinois had a couple fumbles with better bounces and won. Crushed.
December 17th, 2022 at 9:57 AM ^
Pretty sure that was 1993. Still sucks though.
December 17th, 2022 at 2:10 PM ^
You are probably right. Memory plays tricks.
December 17th, 2022 at 8:26 AM ^
1998 @ND. Coming off the ‘97 MNC expectations were very high. Michigan dominated the first half but kicked FG’s. Some dumb shit happened in the second half and Michigan lost. Just a boring and disappointing game all around. No issues with fans or anything like that.
December 17th, 2022 at 9:32 AM ^
I was at that game and was going to say the same thing. The fans were so nice because they were soundly beating us. It was horrific.
December 17th, 2022 at 11:39 AM ^
It sure was. Still remember Bob Davie strutting around for NBC like he was an actual good coach or something.
December 17th, 2022 at 8:27 AM ^
Rocket Ismail’s two TD returns in 1989 vs ND. A 24-19 loss.
it was hot. It was humid. It was avoidable.
Don’t kick the ball to #25!
December 17th, 2022 at 8:55 AM ^
Rocket was running right at us in the student section...brutal.
However, I'll see your "Don't kick to Rocket EVER" and raise you:
Sept 17, 1988: #1Miami 31 #15 UM 30
A week after losing to damn Notre Dame (and a year before the "Rocket Game"), #1 Miami had some crazy 55 game winning streak on the road and Michigan may even have been the last team to beat them on the road.
For roughly 54 minutes (give or take), Michigan is laying waste to the Hurricanes to the delight of a roaring crowd. It's 30-14 good guys, and we're singing, "Hey, hey, hey...GOODBYE!". It was glorious.
Then the wheels came TOTALLY off, and in a series of unfortunate events so unexpected that a shock and silence took over the crowd, Michigan found itself trailing 31-30, yet still with enough time to go down the field and kick a FG, but alas, no joy.
That was the quietest I had ever heard 106,000 as we solemnly left the Big House.
HOWEVER, we did beat the Bucks and then the Trojans to win the Rose Bowl, so all was good in our world.
FUN FACTS FOR 1988
ND finished @ 12-0 (#1)
Miami finished @ 11-1 (#2) with only loss being 31-30 at Notre Dame.
Michigan finished 9-2-1 (#4) having lost to the two best teams in the country by a total of 3 points.
The inexplicable tie, was of course at Kinnick, against an Iowa team that finished 6-4-3. No analytics can explain that result...that's Iowa.
December 17th, 2022 at 10:06 AM ^
watched that game while stationed in Japan, I was dumbstruck for the rest of the weekend.
December 17th, 2022 at 10:07 AM ^
I was at that Miami game....and it was my worst experience at Michigan Stadium, too. I seem to remember Jimmy Johnson riding the refs and getting some calls to go his way down the stretch. Bo was livid.
December 17th, 2022 at 11:14 AM ^
until I read this I forgot that I was at that game too. With my husband, we'll now, ex-husband..crappy weekend all around...
December 17th, 2022 at 10:21 AM ^
This is my answer as well. In my nightmares of it we are playing a really deep prevent defense with the safeties facing the wrong way. It was really, really bad.
The OSU game in Columbus that year and the Rose Bowl against USC made up for it.
December 17th, 2022 at 10:10 AM ^
Michigan-ND in 1989 was not hot. The high was only 64 that day. It was colder by kickoff, it rained and dropped into the 50s. A week earlier, it had been in the 80s, so wet and temps in the 50s felt rather cold. It was miserable.
Every time Michigan gave the fans hope, it was dashed.
Michigan scores before half, to make it 7-6, Ismail takes the next KO 88 yards for a TD 14-6.
Backup QB Elvis Grbac comes in and starts slinging. He leads a scoring drive to make it 17-12. Ok! We’re in the this. Ismail takes the KO 95 yards for a TD. Hope dashed.
It was my first Michigan game as a freshman. Ugh.
December 17th, 2022 at 12:40 PM ^
That game is my worst memory too. When I tell the story to anyone, I always say "I don't mind cold and rainy if we win, but cold and rainy and losing sucks--and losing like *that* sucks a lot more." Dang Rocket.
December 17th, 2022 at 2:25 PM ^
Yes, having attended both the Miami game and the Rocket game the next year, the Rocket game was worse. We beat ND, except for the hubris of kicking to him twice. I was a student so just in jeans with no poncho in the cold rain. Just miserable.
I was at the Oregon beatdown and at ND where Brady Hoke's squad was shut out (as well as FSU in 1991), which were all awful. But the Rocket game ranks first for the misery of the experience.
December 17th, 2022 at 3:21 PM ^
Thankfully I had to work that day. I think I gave my ticket to someone in my dorm. I watched on TV, kinda thankful I wasn't sitting in the rain, then headed to work after the 2nd TD.
It was a long shift.
December 17th, 2022 at 8:27 AM ^
At the 2013 OSU game a really drunk OSU fan sitting directly behind us projectile vomited within the initial 5 min of the start. He then passed out. We were covered in frozen vomit the rest of the game.
December 17th, 2022 at 9:13 AM ^
That's disgusting... but at least he didn't mistake the isle for a cooler and take a shit!
December 17th, 2022 at 10:14 AM ^
Given that story and the outcome of the game, you win.
December 17th, 2022 at 8:29 AM ^
OP's comment about toxicity made me laugh (for real).
I've never had a truly bad moment in Michigan Stadium. There have been several losses, but in almost all cases (like OSU between about 2005 and 2020) expectations were appropriately set beforehand.
December 17th, 2022 at 8:38 AM ^
MSU 2017. Wife wanted to stay at the tailgate after we were drinking all day. I took a single ticket that someone offered to me for cheap. I check my phone at halftime and it turns out she tripped and fell on a broken beer bottle over by Fingerle and had to go to the ER. Her calf was split wide open. I left the game at halftime, walked all the way across the city (She drove with her wound and took our car to the hospital). Hitchhiked from kerrytown to the ER with a random nurse on the way to work.
We waited in line at the ER until 2am and decided it was time to go home without even seeing a doctor. A resident that my wife knows came over stitched her up in our living room the next morning. Just a flesh wound. While I was waiting in the ER we had to watch that shit show of a second half in the monsoon on the TV in the waiting room.
December 17th, 2022 at 8:48 AM ^
Probably November 6, 1986, when a buddy and I sat in a freezing cold stadium watching Michigan end its 15-game unbeaten streak and lose its chance at a National Championship and fall behind Ohio State in the standings - the New York Times, I see, called it "the biggest upset of the college football season" - by vomiting up 5 turnovers to lose at home to Rickey Foggie (who threw for a total of 94 yards in the game) and Minnesota, 20-17.
The loss itself is just the kind of gut punch Michigan fans learn to expect from a young age, but sitting in the freezing cold, fingers turning numb, watching a boring game involving your heavily favored team repeatedly punch itself in the face ... eh, it's an experience I could have done without.
December 17th, 2022 at 9:34 AM ^
"... just the kind of gut punch Michigan fans learn to expect from a young age, but sitting in the freezing cold, fingers turning numb, watching a boring game involving your heavily favored team repeatedly punch itself in the face ..."
Nicely done. That was reality from Schembechler through Carr (and beyond, though the post-Carr coaches found other interesting ways to lose pre-2021).
December 17th, 2022 at 10:38 AM ^
It's called The Michigan Screw and has been so named since the early '70s when we lost multiple games in inexplicable manner, mostly against the Buckeyes.
'72-- 4 cracks from the goal line, couldn't get it in.
'73 -- the tie (Lantry missed 2 late field goals) and The Vote.
'74 -- Lantry's last play FG was good, but called no good.
'75 -- blew a late lead against Archie Griffin and the Bucks.
December 17th, 2022 at 8:49 AM ^
2008 Toledo. My grandpa never had money to go to a game as he was busy supporting his family, so I got cheap tickets and figured it'd be nice for his first (and maybe only) UM game to be a victory.
Yeah...