Not entirely OT: your worst away game experience
I noticed on another board that there was a little bit being thrown around concerning fans of other teams, and since this is a bye week, I am curious to know if any of you have any away game experiences you would share that were not entirely pleasant. Or, if you have more than one, what was your worst?
October 13th, 2021 at 7:06 AM ^
1998 Northwestern, the Justin Fargas game. The NU fans were perfectly pleasant. But the rain was astonishing. Soaked to the skivvies before we even entered the stadium and then it poured even harder every second of the first half, at which point my NU hosts gave up and we left.
October 14th, 2021 at 9:10 AM ^
I was at that game as well. We lucked out with seats 4-5 rows under the 2nd deck overhang. It was a monsoon!
October 15th, 2021 at 9:46 PM ^
Watched that game with all the girls from the WISE (women in science in engineering) program on the top floor of Mosher-Jordan. You want to talk about heaven for 18-year-old Seth, it was surrounded by genius women who were into Michigan football. The storm made it to Ann Arbor that night and Palmer Field was one big mudslide. Game was miserable, but I had one of the best Saturdays of my life.
October 13th, 2021 at 7:24 AM ^
1968 in Columbus. 50-14 They were a bunch of cretins even back then. But revenge was sweet with 24-12 in 1969
October 13th, 2021 at 5:22 PM ^
I guess this where someone should probably say Username Checks Out
October 13th, 2021 at 8:41 AM ^
@ osu when I was about 12. I was there with my mom, grandpa and grandma and I was getting berated by fans. There was nothing like that and that's about all I have to say about that lol.
October 13th, 2021 at 8:42 AM ^
Without doubt the 1987 Rose Bowl against Arizona State. Harbaugh' last game as M QB. The ASU fans around us were drunk, loud, physically abusive, and had poor hygeine. The men were much worse. They made a point of knocking our beers out of our hands, pounding on our backs whenever ASU made a play and forced us to call the police up to our section. The behavior got worse after the police showed up. I didn't think anyone could be worse than USC fans but I was wrong.
October 13th, 2021 at 9:02 AM ^
The flip side - my son who lives in Omaha made a last minute decision and drove to Lincoln for last Saturday's game. Bought a great ticket on the street for less than face, parked for $20 and he tells me the Nebraska fans couldn't have been nicer. For instance, on the walk to the stadium a guy all decked out in Nebraska red said to him (wearing his M gear) "Have a great game, glad to have you here." He also said the fans in the stands were super nice to him.
FYI - my son also said as you drive into Lincoln, you can't miss the stadium. It stands out like a monolith against the low-rise skyline.
October 13th, 2021 at 9:37 AM ^
Reading through these, the general consensus I take away is that every situation for the most part is related to isolated incidents, individual fans or small groups.
"(Insert school) is by far the worst out there. Let me tell you about this incident that happened where this guy did this to me"
Every school has asshole fans. I've been to home games where a fan from another team tries to start shit with me or my group. I don't write off the fanbase and call them horrible because of it. I deal with the situation and move on. Just like I would with a fan of the team I root for, because I have seen plenty of bad behavior from the hometown fans, just like I have seen from every away fans. Dumb people exist everywhere. Dumb does not have a geographic region.
October 13th, 2021 at 11:47 AM ^
Counterpoint:
/gestures towards Columbus, ohio
October 13th, 2021 at 12:07 PM ^
dumbs of a feather.... something, something..... get dumber together
October 13th, 2021 at 9:38 AM ^
Getting pelted with field turf while sitting in the band after the 2006 Game of the Century.
October 13th, 2021 at 10:56 AM ^
EDIT: my bad, i missed 'away' in the OP
the bad, the bad and the great.....
2017, took my youngest to his 1st game in the bighouse for the showdown with lil' bro.
The bad: we had an idiot behind us who, after ever fucking play, said "come on Mi-chi-gin, if we don't convert on this play it's over". at one point he said the seats are his dad's season tickets and he doesn't usually get to use them because his dad says too many people complain about him. WOW... take a fucking hint!
The bad: The large, ornery lady (who made sure everyone knew she was a 1960 something alum and had season tickets for 10 years) sitting to our left must have said at least 5 times that she'd be happy if Wilt Speight fell over dead.
The Great: Watching my son's face walking past all the tailgaters & experiencing "Mr Brightside" during the downpour made it a great memory. He wasn't bit into football before that, he's a hockey kid, but he has been a huge football fan since.
October 13th, 2021 at 11:46 AM ^
Like many others, lots of great road trips, a few negative experiences stand out:
- Purdue never fails to surprise me with the level of vitriol, given you know... it's Purdue. I was there for Ernest Shazor destroying Dorien Bryant in '04 to end a fantastic back and forth game, the entire day was nothing but epithets, random bottles tossed at our tailgate, etc. Two Purdue fans actually came to blows behind us arguing over heckling the Michigan fans in their vicinity in the stadium. Would also echo the feeling of the Wilton Speight injury game, that was perhaps the hottest game I've ever attended (worse than Washington in '02) and the school played up Jeff Brohm's antics big time before the game and it fed the crowd. They viewed that as their opportunity to "be back" as you might recall. Incredibly satisfying win given the lack of sportsmanship of both team and fans.
- Losing to Penn State in '08 was awful, snapped a 12 year run against them and they took all 12 years frustration out on the walk out, lots of which went above and beyond just normal celebration/heckling. This was topped by the 27 for 27 game in '13, overall a wilder dynamic given the relative recency to the Sandusky scandal and the shear volume of JoePa apologists was mind blowing. Will say it made going back for the win in '15 totally worth it.
- Random, but the 2016 March Madness first 4 game in Dayton vs Tulsa was OVERRUN with buckeye fans, which obviously detracted from the viewing experience.
October 13th, 2021 at 12:00 PM ^
I was at the 2011 Gator Bowl.
October 13th, 2021 at 3:14 PM ^
Worst away game experience for me was 2019 Maryland. Everything went well, but the actual in-game experience - from the Maryland band, fan enthusiasm, and overall atmosphere was just so bland.
Yes, I’ve been blessed never to have a bad away game experience.
October 15th, 2021 at 2:41 PM ^
I missed 2019, but have been in two other years (I live in the area) and MD fans are about as apathetic as it comes. Which I find pleasant because MI fans are about 50-50 in attendance so if you squint enough it feels like a home game.
FFS, the band played hail to the victors after the teams left the warm up session. I don't know if they still do that for every team, but I was, like... Maybe don't play the opposing teams fight song?
October 13th, 2021 at 7:18 PM ^
1993 MSU game. I was sitting in the student section with a friend from Moo U. Dressed in maize and blue, of course. After the drunk students behind me knocked my Michigan hat off several times, I eventually got jumped by them and passed up about 50 rows. The whole time, the entire student section was chanting “Over! Over!” I was seriously concerned that they were drunk and stupid enough to actually throw me over the top of the stadium, because Sparty.
Thankfully, somebody lost their grip on me and I got dropped about 5 rows from the top. Then some bitchy girl started screaming at me “Get your Wolverine ass outta here!” and kicked me until I could scramble to my feet and get back to my seat.
Also we lost. 17-7.
October 13th, 2021 at 9:21 PM ^
Surprised about the Purdue nominations. I went to the game there in 2012 and don’t remember any hostility. Maybe it was because PU was bad that season and we won big.
It was a pretty bland trip though. West Lafayette seemed really dead. No gameday atmosphere at all.