(ISO) Testimony about UM vs Washington 2002
Hey,
((((EDIT: Ok, if you are not around Ann Arbor but have a great memory - Still email me - IF I start to see many of you are in the same area - Or if I am traveling close by - It makes sense to be in touch)))))
I am working independently on a video project about the Michigan victory vs Washington in 2002.
With the very famous 44 yards kick from Brabbs.
So I am searching people whom have memory of that game and that kick to be recorded on camera.
Looking for people within reasonable driving distance of Ann Arbor (I am investing my own $).
Or if you are coming back soon.
Hope to collect as many as I can in the next 3 months.
If you are interested you can shoot an email to
[email protected]
If you could included where you are at - And potential date, or times slots, etc.
EDIT:
Following the first email I received:
No - I won't pay you (Budget is low and usually you don't pay interviewee for documentary).
And it should be about 10 to 15 minutes commitment.
Thanks much'.
Mg
Also:
Are you interested on getting updated about that project?
Any feedback? ideas?
I don't have strong memories of that game other than the final kick, but I know Frenchy from my day job as a designer—he's a tremendous photographer and a great guy.
Thanks Don - Missing Working with you.
Actually just remembering the kick is actually enough of a qualifier for the interview :)
My memories, other than the kick, are of a really brutally hot day and a nasty sunburn
Amen to the sunburn.
My memories from that day are drinking, shouting, sweating with 110,000 people, massively celebrating, <darkness>, and most vividly, waking up and banging my head on the wall of my bedroom several hours later - and leaving a piece of my forehead as it peeled off stuck to the wall. In my defense, it was the opener, and my new apartment had a different layout for sleeping than I was used to
I am not in driving distance, so you probably can't use me. But my memory is particularly poignant; it was the last game my dad and I attended together before he died. I alluded to it in a post attached to the wrap of the season preview in 2018, here. After Brabbs was diagnosed with cancer, I corresponded with him about this briefly via email.
I'm not local, but happy to help if there's something I can offer.
Stephen - Please email me.
Thank you for sharing.
I was there. Braylon Edwards nearly cost M that game. If they had been using replay back then to assess whether passes thrown to him were drops or fumbles Michigan probably loses that game.
that’s my testimony.
Yup. Fourth down play on the final drive. Ball hit him directly in the hands, too. Refs +3.
Two other memories...
A) Brabbs' previous field goal attempts in that game were bad misses. Like, possibly had never kicked a football in his entire life-caliber bad.
2) One of UW's touchdowns was a third-and-forever arm punt into double/triple coverage.
Not only were Brabbs' previous attempts awful misses but at least one other kicker (can't remember who) was used and he missed too. That's what made the game winning kick so memorable and glorious. There couldn't have been many who were confident that was going through. My personal memory is that I got off the mat that morning and went to the game after a bad stomach flu. Glad I did!
That was #10 in your programs but #1 your heart, walk on kicker, Troy Nienberg. He was dating a friend of mine at the time. Really nice dude. But that was not a highlight reel moment.
I’ve been trying to come up with a joke about not doing nudity, but I’m not clever enough so this will have to do.
You should have used the fact that I am French ...
Maybe said "Sorry, I only do interview Boudoire".
I don’t think you’re getting it. He said he doesn’t want to get naked.
Boudoir is technically not naked.
:)
I just emailed you. I was there and probably still have my ticket stub. Cool project and love to be part of it.
I probably have my stub somewhere. That was the first game I attended as a student. The main things I remember are:
-- the sun was so intense I got probably the last really rough sunburn I can remember
-- dudes were passing out in student section from the mix of alcohol and oppressive heat
-- the general feeling was that there was a 0.0% chance Brabbs hits that kick
-- it turned into a mosh pit down in the bottom of section 6
-- "it's great to be a Michigan Wolverine" chant the whole way out of the stadium
(sorry, can't be much use for the interview because this is the year my string of attending every home opener probably gets broken because obviously)
The sun!
That was something I certainly remember. It was hot and sunny, and I was stupid enough not to wear sunblock (and I'm a pasty white Irish dude). I was wearing my Michigan hat backwards and I ended up getting super burned on my face and completely protected above my eyes where my hat was. I get into the office on Monday, and my co-worker says "your face looks like the Polish flag".
Some what off topic but will Washington come play at Michigan next year? Since we had a home and home with Washington I am assuming no money would have to be transferred between the schools but I can't imagine Washington will want to play a road game without compensation and given the loss of athletic revenue this year I could see Michigan being reluctant to write a big check.
Depends on the contract. Most contracts have payments for cancellations. Most also have "act of God " clauses. I don't know who cancelled Washington or Michigan but one of them will be on the hook for something. However my guess is Michigan's trip to Washington gets pushed back a year or two, the Huskies travel to AA next year and everything is great.
- Game was the season opener and both were in or near the top 10.
- Our defense was being hyped up and the offense was in its first year of Terry Malone. Was suppose to be more open than previous years.
- Perry scored on the the second play of the game on a run you could have driven a car through. Followed shortly by a nice bomb to Edwards. We looked great to start but then sputtered out until the 3rd quarter. Defense got a interception early too I think.
- the field goal attempt was set up by Washington having too many men on the fields..15 yard penalty. So we won on a 44 yard kick. Lloyd said after the game he would have tried a 59 yard field goal with Brabbs too.
-Lloyd went into the Washington locker room after the game and told them it was one of the best games he had ever coached in. Kind of a weird move that probably pissed off their coaches and players.
Not volunteering for being on camera and don’t have much to share other than that I recall it was pure bedlam in the stands and everyone on campus was burnt to a crisp for the next week.
My sister asked for my help in moving her in to college, I told her anytime other than the game and could be available any day.
She chose the game, so I refused to help until the game was over. As soon as the kick was made I left to help.
I quit my job to go to that game lol.
I remember this game. I actually left the stadium in disgust when Michigan missed the last FG with like a minute left. I was on Hoover Street when the stadium erupted.
I was a junior and have a two great memories of that game.
After UM missed the go-ahead field goal with a minute and change left, two friends of mine left early as it looked like we had just lost. Once outside the stadium, they noticed a group of others who had similarly left early all huddled around the radio of a guy selling waters. Realizing UM got the ball back and had a chance to win, this group listened to the final drive and couldn't believe what they were hearing. As Brabbs was lining up for the game winning field goal, the guy selling water turns off his radio and says "Everyone give me a dollar and I'll turn the game back on." Some old man shouts "Turn the game back on or I'm gonna kick your ass." The guy immediately turns back on the game, and the rest is history.
As for me, I watched the final kick in the student section. Once it sailed through, I got swept off my feet in an avalanche of celebrating students. After a minute or so of mayhem, I was finally able to put my feet back on the ground, only to find that I had moved 6 rows down from where I started.
All of you guys complaining about the sun and the heat. I still say the 1995 opener against UVA was much worse sun and heat.
My worst “hot” game was a few weeks after the Washington game, against Utah. It was a lousy 10-7 game, and I remember baking in the sun and hating every minute of it. The consolation came before the game when the band Cheap Trick played a free concert on the back of a flat bed semi in the Colonial Lanes parking lot.
It was the day after my 21st birthday. The day prior I had lunch with my parents at Charlie's before they wisely left the area code. I had then spent a long night at Mitch's and finally returned to the house to keep the festivities rolling. It was hot. I had a hangover that could have started a war. Standing for 3 hours that afternoon was a struggle. Then I was physically hit by a soundwave unlike anything I'd ever heard before. Then we went back to the house and tapped the keg before heading to Mitch's...
I got a good look at the bomb to Braylon from the south end zone, where I was sitting with my relatively new brother-in-law and his brother.
Our reaction to the FG? We thought it was nice to see Michigan on the right end of a close game. (Didn't seem like that happened often enough ...)
It was also cool to see the players celebrate with the students. I can't remember when that became commonplace.
Michigan Replay:
Thank you I had largely forgotten most of the big moments in this game. I really only remember it was a great game, if sloppy, and a little crazy. UW fans were livid at a couple calls late in the game.
The irony of that game is that it shouldn’t have come down to a Hollywood like finish. 3 field goals missed that would have been chip shots for any other team. Also, we pretty much handed Washington two freebie touchdowns with lost fumbles in our own territory. After UW won in Seattle the previous season thanks to two fluke special team plays, I don’t think I would have ever recovered if we lost this one.
It’s amazing how badly the easier field goal attempts were. But the game winner from Brabbs was so perfect, it looked like it would have been good from 65 yards.
I also remembered being very impressed with the crowd noise on TV. Brabbs kick and David Terrell’s game winning catch against Wisconsin two years earlier were probably two of the loudest stadium moments against a non-rival since the 2000’s started.
Two of my buddies from college and I were watching that game at an apartment near Columbia University. Lee Bollinger had just recently moved on from UM to be the president at Columbia. So, right after Brabbs made the kick the three of us sprinted to Bollinger's house, did some chants, and sang The Victor's a few times. He must not have been home though, because he didn't come out to invite us in for beers.
That was a fun day
I will never forget that game.
I would have bet all the money I had that he was going to miss that kick. As I recall he'd missed at least one earlier and it didn't look good.
Everyone was shocked. The announcers. The fans. His own teammates.
I think his next 5 kicks were the worst kicks ever seen on this planet and he quickly vanished, never to be heard from again (as I recall).
Never to be heard from again? Uhhh. He’s been featured on this blog for his Kick Cancer work multiple times over several years.
All I remember from that game was the kick. Sorry I can't help on that front
The absolute hottest game was in 2000 against UCLA. I was at the Rosebowl and it was 110 and sunny in the stands. I can only imagine what the on field temp was and remember being surprised that they were playing. Seemed dangerous as I was dying in the stands doing nothing. Lloyd had tried to postpone the game until later in the day but due to tv etc they couldn't.
I also have another story of UM in California as I was on the field for the 2004 USC Rosebowl. If I ever get to 100 points I'll post the story. Just saying it involves a song girl and an encounter with Jon Falk.
Wow - So many comments.
So many emails.
It is very encouraging to see that game really resonate with you guys.
I guess, now I have to live up to the expectation (Dang!)
I remember buying 40s after the game and walking down Arbor for Arborfest and the cops were walking around monitoring and breaking a few things up.
We walk by pretending to be drinking our 40s like 2-3 times before finally caught, cops shine flashlights on the caps, see they were closed bottles still and said Have a Nice Night. We had graduated 2 years prior and didn't want to crash someone else's party so at some point we left and threw the 40s in the trunk of the car, never to be seen again, or at least not for 6 weeks til my friends mom found them and just made a funny comment. Its a shame, but I dont think those 40s ever were enjoyed, lost $3 total on that.
Aw, Brabbs, thanks for the memories!