My shot at "Cool story, bro"
So my wife, eldest son and I hauled over from Chicago on Friday afternoon. We dropped MGoSon at Ashley's to meet some friends and drink their beer, then the missus and I wandered around town a bit checking out what has changed since our last visit: 2008's Wisconsin game.
A lot has changed and a lot hasn't changed, in a nice mixture from my perspective.
We checked Yelp for dinner ideas and wound up choosing the Chop House on Main -- whoa, price check on all the damn aisles -- those prices impressed me and we have dinner out in Chicago and burbs a lot. Bless their cotton-picking Maize and Blue hearts at the Chop House.
Anyway, we were seated at a table for two in the front window. We ordered, had a coupla glasses of red stuff, and were into our salads when a big honking limo pulled up outside and the right rear door opened. The first man trying to get out was struggling because his feet and legs were too big to pull out of the space and get out the door. Once he was out and standing, it occurred to me that the guy looked an awful lot like Bubba Paris...and the next guy looked a lot like Eddie Muransky. Another 4 or 5 huge guys exited the limo, but I didn't recognize them.
A few minutes later, another five really large guys came down Main from the south. I think one fellow was John Elliott -- among a bunch of big guys, he was clearly the biggest.
More and more of similarly sized fellows came in, most of whom I did not recognize, but a few I did included Drew Henson, John Wangler, Tony Leone, Ron Simpkins (I think), Stan Edwards (also a guess). One guy was the largest human being I have ever seen in my life, easy 6' 7'' and completely filled the double doors on the restaurant. With the number of my-era 70's guys there, I was looking for Mike Jolley, Butch Woolfolk, Billy Dufek, Rick Leach, Russell Davis, Andy Cannavino and some others, but didn't see/recognize them. One guy might have been Kirk Lewis and another Jeff Bednarik.
All these guys disappeared downstairs into the cigar room, followed by a flock of wait-persons.
A bit later, a little short dude with straight reddish hair in a grey sweatshirt and briefcase headed out -- John U. Bacon, apparently feeling underdressed with all the guys in blue blazers because he was back in about 20 minutes later with his blue sweater and khakis on.
A bit later still, another group in blue blazers came up. This crowd was different, though. There was an older square-jawed gent with his wife and a somewhat younger square-jawed gent with piercing eyes. Obviously, it was Jim Harbaugh and his folks heading in to join the crowd.
The Chop House emptied in moments, patrons leaving steaks and wine unchaperoned to go meet, ogle and take pictures with the Coach. Jim was extremely kind and outgoing with everyone who came up. He chatted and posed for pictures with diners out on the sidewalk for about 15 minutes before heading inside and downstairs. I left the table to go say hi and shake hands, and also chatted briefly with Jack Harbaugh. Jack had been on the staff back when I was in school and I knew him a little bit. He was gracious enough to pretend to remember, so I could tell my wife.
So, anyway, there must have been nearly 100 guys there down in the cigar room and going in and out. I wish I could have recognized more, but they and I are older now and much different than before.
My wife was thrilled -- she and I dated in college when a lot of those guys were there. She excused herself to powder her nose -- downstairs, of course -- and came back saying she had said hi to Jim and Wangler. Great news for a old, short, balding, bearded, low-on-the-roster baseball player with a pretty wife. She did come back, though.
So, great night all around. Lots of good guys enjoying each others' company and telling stories, having drinks and sharing cigar smoke.
Oh, yeah, one more thing -- Jim was talking to a guy whom I thought was Brandon Minor, a guy I always respected for giving so much in tough circumstances. Presumptive Minor said to Coach that it was an honor to meet one of the alltime greats. Coach's response was that he was honored to meet one of the greats himself.
I wish I had talked to Brandon.
One guy was the largest human being I have ever seen in my life, easy 6' 7'' and completely filled the double doors on the restaurant.
Greg Skrepenak? Has to be the largest guy to ever don the Maize and Blue.
When you dwarf other NFL OLmen, you are huge.
Our time at Michigan coincided. My man would wear t-shirt, shorts, and an open overcoat on campus in January. The cold seemed to get out of his way. I also remember him dunking repeatedly down at the IM Building one day.
I sat next to him on an airplane when he was just starting at Michigan. He is from the same home town as I am.
The very definition of Cognitive Dissonance. I was honored to be in his presence while simultaneously wanting to kill him.
Is "wanting to kill him" just a really embellished way to say "wanting him to get another seat"? Otherwise, you left quite a bit out of the story.
Yes. I was squished by greatness.
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in the hallway outside of CRISP, under the front steps of Angell Hall. He seemed to take up about 80% of the hallway's width and my whip-thin self took up the other 20%.
I particularly enjoy how you mention your wife's hotness. She's very lucky. #besthusbandever!
No, he's very lucky.
32 years and, hopefully, counting.
I'm glad I got to see him play.
Looks like the drunken dickhead Bo's Left Nut isn't impressed
That was a great night to be part of!
Those names man, let me touch on a few of them.
First of all, Paris and Muransky. I had read we were getting these two 6'8 300 pound linemen coming in, unbelievable, Michigan had never had guys that big before. So one day I walked into Crisler and came in to the concourse between the blue seats and the yellow, on the opposite end my seat was at. I looked across the way and on the opposite end of the concourse was this giant hulking creatire standing there. Oh, I said to myself, that must be one of those Paris or Murasnky guys... but when I walked around to my end and walked by that person... it turned out to be a new basketball player, 6'7 300... on the womans team!!!!
I don't remember her name but I ended up knowing her a little bit, and playing with her once because I was good friends with about half the team. She wasn't hanging out with the group of girls I was, but we saw her at the gym a couple of times when we went to play. One day she showed up with long cuts and scratches all along her forearms because she had punched out a window. Pretty sure it was at Dooley's, forerunner to Scorekeepers (Skeeps). She was pretty wild and got kicked off the team if I remember correctly, or she quit, didn't last long either way.
John Elliott, there is no such person, there is a JUMBO Elliott however! :)
Tony Leone!!! Something made me think about the Leone brothers the other day. My friends and I used to watch Tony and Mike, (was there a third one too?) along with Leach and Grote, I think they were all on one team, playing in a summer basketball league at Tappan Jr. High. There were a lot of football players on some of the teams, and the reason I was mostly interested in seeing those games was because AC was always supposed to show up for one of the teams and put on a dunk show, but he never made it when I was there. He was supposed to be incredible on the court and I wanted to see it!
Billy Dufek, he has an insurance office on S. Maple and has always been around. When I was 9, in tee league baseball, Mr. Dufek, Don senior the Rose Bowl MVP, was our coach, his son Joey was my teammate (QB at Yale & the Bills), Donnie & big ass Billy would come to our games. I was the littlest guy on the team and the only lefty I think, I guess Billy batted left too because he would ask me why I wasn't hitting home runs over the pond wayyyyy out past right field like he used to do? haha. My home runs were line drives up the middle not over the heads or the ponds :)
Russell Davis. There were a couple of years when I was a video game king at the local arcades. There was a great for the time game called Atari 4 man football. A heavy, glass topped table with a field/screen with X's and O's for players. You choose from a menu of plays and then there are 4 trackballs that each controlled the qb or rb or reciever or two guys on defense whose movements you were in charge of amongst the automated "players" who followed the scripted plays. The design is for one player for each trackball but my friend and I would play it as a two man game where we each controlled both trackballs on our side.
So Davis and Huckleby would come in to Tommy's Pinball where R.U.B. BBQ is now, and play me in Atari football, two on one, and I'd kick their ass every time, I was a pro. They thought I was a god, beating the two of them by myself every time. Well, I was better than them anyway, but little did they realize that it was much easier to play by yourself than to coordinate between two people :)
In '98 I think, I had a sideline photo pass for the homecoming game and I saw those guys & reminded them who I was & spilled the secret about how it was easier to beat the both of them then if they had tried going one on one, which cracked them up :) At that game I also met Jeter & Mini Me and almost stepped on him to death when I had a camera to my eye by the goal line when the action suddenly shifted to our direction and a bunch of us had to backpedal to not get run over by the players and "little" did I know Vern was standing behind me & I kind of stumbled over him! I wondered why he was at a Michigan game & it turns out he grew up near Jeter in the Kzoo area and is a lifelong M fan! Incredibly nice guy!
Wangler, I hope I meet him some day. I've met his son Jack the WR and told him my cool story of watching the famous Wangler to Carter Indiana miracle. One time I met Lawrence Ried at the IM playing hoops a few years after the play and had a great moment talking to him about the key to the play, which was the previous play that made it possible.
If you don't know or remember, we had no time outs and were about to fucking TIE INDIANA when it was the big two little eight and losing to or tying Indiana was almost like losing to Toledo! Well on that play before Ried gets the ball trying to run a sweep left and the play was snuffed and there was no way he was going to make the sideline and the game was going to end, so he "fumbled" out of bounds by doing a fastpitch softball style underhanded flip to the sidleine... right into the hands of head coach Lee Corso's hands who had a Woodyish fit that fell on deaf ref ears and that set up the famous play!
So I reminded him of the play and told him how it looked to me and how funny it was and asked for the admission that he of course did it on purpose and yes he did and yes he laughed a lot about it!!! Just as clutch a play but totally forgotten! Actually it would've been more clutch to make it look like a real fumble but he got away with it :)
Wow, that was long! I have a million more stories though!