If you don't attend the game

I don't really have a preference. I watch a lot of games with the family or with a couple buddies. I go to a lot of the games though

the game with anyone who isn't also a serious Michigan fan. I close the door to my home office and emerge only at half time or during timeouts. I tolerate no interruptions or distractions unless it is my wife bringing me food. My dog is alowed, but he doesn't like my yelling.

while the dog hides under the table, fridge FULL of icy cold beer of my choosing, whatever food I feel like having etc.

 

I can pause the game when I have to take a leak, rewind the good plays and scream more at the TV while the dog hides more.

 

My son watches with me.  My daughter will come in once a quarter and look to see who is winning, then go back to whatever it is teenage girls do when they hibernate in their rooms.  My wife just shakes her head and says "I'm sorry honey" if we lose.

Michigan football games are just too emotional of a time. I prefer to watch them, as well as any other really big sporting event, by myself. I want to watch every second of every play and not miss one detail. I've had a couple game parties but when I find myself all of a sudden realizing a drive came and went with me barely noticing thats not a good thing.

And girlfriends arent allowed over on Saturdays until the game is over. A significant other who doesnt care about the game is the absolute worst to have around.

I go to all the home games, but REALLY enjoy cooking up some awesome gameday grub, good beer... home alone, unbeholden to anyone.

A buddy of mine usually hosts a party for our bowl game. I always go and have a great time... but part of me would still rather just watch at home by myself.

I have to go out of town the weekend of the Rutgers game and won't be able to watch it at all. I'm just as bummed about missing one of my four opportunities to sit at home and watch as I am about missing the game itself.

Home with someone whose EUTM can match my own.

I also mute the TV and sync Brandy and Dierdorf's audio stream...

online for three straight years (someone else selling their entire package).  By the time I drive to AA, tailgate, then dinner afterword and drive home, we missed all of the other games.  Me and the missus love college fb so much, we decided one or two games a year is best for us.  Just don't like to miss all the other games.   

but some of that is from being in Arizona. The wife generally assumes I'm insane about U-M football and will go no further than ask the score as she passes through the room on her way to shopping.

I've got a neighbor who's a Nebraska fan (who says he likes Michigan and hates MSU, OSU and Colorado), and though he's a good guy, he's a little too over the top for me to sit through a game with. He has five flat screens hooked up in his living room during the season and he screams at all of them while his wife brings in a steady parade of hot snacks. Gained eight pounds the last time I went over there and almost had a seizure from all the visual input overload.  /s

If it's a game I just have to see, I fly back for it and watch it alone. I did this for the OSU game last year. In hindsight, I decided it was my presence that jinxed them. Flying back for OSU next year with a jinx-free friend (another former Ann Arborite) who's never seen U-M lose in person, just to be safe. And, yeah, OSU fans really are assholes.Had one three rows back that ruined the game from the opening kickoff.

 

prefer to watch them alone. Head to my man cave in the basement, with my large screen TV, get comfortable and watch the game. Don't really care to talk to a bunch of people who might interfer with me seeing everything.

I am looking forward to attending the Colorado game this year though.

I usually go to my dad's house to watch the games with him

I don't own a TV so in the rare occasion that we aren't watching the game together I'll either stream it on my PC or head to a local sports bar

Immediate family only. Maybe 1-2 friends.

So I tend to grab a six pack and lock myself in a room away from my shitty freinds who make it their mission to taunt about Michigan football. 

To answer your question, I prefer watching it at alumni bars.  There's one in Austin that is a blast to watch it at, we take over the place, there are cowbells, chants, the whole nine.  And they have a terrific selection of beers and sammiches.  But I'll usually only do that for first game of the season and the important ones because I don't wanna keep racking up bar tabs.

I don't have any friends that are huge M fans like me so I usually just watch with the wife and some beer. She just sits on a computer and doesn't pay much attention, but she supports me when the good and bad happen. 

Home alone.

As some noted up-thread, the overly demonstrative fans annoy me, and living out of state, most of those fans are watching a completely different game if I'm out at a bar.  I'm also not too keen on sitting in a bar or restaurant for 3 hours, especially alone. I had a friend and fellow Michigan fan that I went to the local BWW with for a few games, but he retired and moved back to Michigan.

A plus for being at home (aside from saving money) is that I can rewind and rewatch any play I want.  And there are so many commercial breaks, I don't have to miss any live action. 

My preference is to watch the games live at the stadium, but living in Oklahoma, that makes it difficult.  I like being able to scan the entire field and watch what is going on, even away from the ball, where the camera is always focused.  The last Michigan game I saw live though was Michigan at Nebraska, a game I'd rather just forget.

I prefer to watch the game alone or with a couple of friends who actually care about the game. I don't like distractions or people who aren't 100% about the game.

I always have the game on record so I can flip around to other games. That way if I stay too long on another game, I can easily flip back and rewind to watch what I missed.

I like to have my MacBook flipped open on the coffee table so the Twitter app can update and I can follow reactions and comments on the game.

By September Founders Breakfast Stout is usually out so I like to have fresh Breakfast Stout cracked for the duration of the game.

I like to complete all errands and all responsibilites before kickoff. If that means waking up at 7am on my day off to get everything done before a Noon kickoff, so be it.

If Michigan wins, life is so damn good.

Watching with my two best friends who are almost as crazy as me. In my basment on the big screen.

Either Attend the Game
Or watch on big screen in basement. Record on DVR and start watching after halftime. That way can fast forward through all commercials and half time. Also able to rewatch any plays. So, it takes me half the time to watch. DIrecTV Genie is great. It also records 3-4 other games to browse later in the day.

with the windows open so i can hear the stadium noise watched msu w my little bro and his state friends they were all shaking my hand and saying good game and then... honestly they were kind of bummed because they knew going out after the game was gonna suck and they were right. everyone in town was down in the dumps after that

If it's a game we are expected to win easily, an alumni bar is great. 

 

If it's a competitive game, small group at home. 

Only with my roommates and friends who are big M fans. I absolutely cannot stand watching games at parties or with people who don't care. Can't stand talking/music/hawt taeks while the game is on. Has to be dead quiet with the only noise from other people coming on big plays.

I gues I'm like a lot of others here.  When I'm not at a game, (I try to go to at least one per year--I live in the Chicagoland area), I like to watch it either by myself, or with my wife who is also a Michigan fan.  We now have a 2 year old daughter, so it'll be interesting how that evolves as she gets older.  The past two years I think I'd watch it when she was naping or we'd DVR the game and watch it in the evening after she went to bed.

My wife "gets" it and is also a Michigan fan, but I definitely take losses harder than she does--my mood is sour for the rest of the day.  The only other differences in our watching habits is she can be nonchalant about watching the game when on DVR.  She'll get up to get a snack or go to the restroom, expect me to pause the game, then get distracted and not come back for a good 15-25 minutes.  The other difference is when it comes down to true crunch time in the final minutes of a game--she is a "clinger"--wants to grab a hold of me as she holds her breath waiting for the play to unfold, whereas when I get nervous, I'll want to get up from my seat, stand 2 feet in front of the TV and enter "don't touch me mode".

But overall I'm very, very happy that my MGoWife likes Michigan football.

I've learned I can't even watch with other fans of football, even if it isn't a huge gathering.  The worst was last year when we watched the MSU game WITH my in-laws who were MSU grads.  Brutal, plus my nephews were just running around the whole time not letting us pay attention to the game.

It's possible I could watch more casual games with other Michigan fans, but my honest perference is to watch it in total isolation, a great TV set-up, and comfort food.

 

 

If it's a garbage cash-in opponent at noon like UCF, i can't be arsed to even sit thru commercials, much less the hassle and cost of going. I will stay at home and torrent the next day or something and watch the other top games around the country. If a friend is bored and wants to come over, we'll watch then over some beers and channel surf as the score gets out of hand If it's a mediocre opponent i might go to a gathering of UM fans, or might stay home, but i'll watch for sure. If i can find a good deal on tickets i might go If it's special circumstance like top 10 game/rival, i'll be at the stadium The one thing i won't do is watch with ppl who never or rarely watch football. That shit is too distracting

At a bar where the game is on the audio, and hopefully no loud talkers.

At my house.

Always been that way I would sometimes watch with my stepdad.

Used to watch a lot of games with friends at BWW.  The Hoke years slowly put an end to that. Can't handle being around MSU fans when U-M is playing.  I think the 42-41 OSU game was the last at BWW.

Now it's just the fam and my best friend's sister, who is a huge U-M fan, at home.  After last season's MSU game, even that may stop.  It's embarassing to hear a woman ask me if I'm crying as my head is buried in the couch.

That said, the stadium is always my first choice.