The Maize and Blue Rising, Part I

Alright, so…the reality is that I suck at updating this blog. Nevertheless, I’m going to try to recap a few weeks at once here. Let’s start with the Illinois game. Sound good? Good.

October 20, 2007. Memorial Stadium.
The University of Michigan Wolverines versus the Illinois Fighting Illini

The week leading up to this game was pretty stressful for hardcore Michigan fans. Mike Hart and Chad Henne were both injured? Or were they? Yes? No? Of course we were left guessing. Would they start? Would they play? Moreover, the fact that Illinois is actually kind of good this year just added to my anxiety.

On top of ALL of this, I couldn’t even watch the game. The Michigan Marching Band was performing at Band-o-Rama in Hill Auditorium, which conflicted with the football game time. Just before our performance started, marching band members were exploring the Modern Languages Building, looking for televisions with decent reception so we could get a glimpse of our beloved Wolverines. Naturally, we finally found one working TV, saw Mike Hart out of uniform on the sidelines, and then immediately had to leave for our performance.

Being members of the alto saxophone section, the consensus most prominent and most important musical section in the band, we were placed on…the very back of the stage. Some of us were actually stuck behind a pillar. And, I think Alan might have been standing underneath a tuba player. After 26,000 sets of entries, the brass players all backed up about a foot onstage, effectively smashing us into the back wall.

No matter. My lovely co-rank leader Nicole and I were fortunate to be on the end next to Carl Grapentine, the announcer and “voice” of the Michigan Marching Band. On a side note: I kind of wish Carl were the voice of my entire life. Like…a personal narrator. You know…like Emma Thompson in “Stranger than Fiction.” Except…without the crappy storyline, and bad acting, and painfully uncreative irony. Seriously, now I’m kind of angry. Emma Thompson is such a good actress, and I could have written that screenplay while sitting on the toilet and balancing a bar of soap on my forehead and doing ab crunches with ankle weights on. Not that I ever do things like that in the bathroom……………I don’t! I swear! Don’t look at me that way…COME BACK, CARL GRAPENTINE! I miss your voice!!!! I’m sorry!!!!!

Wow, how did I get so off-topic there? Yeah, so….Carl would go backstage during the songs and check out the football game, then come back and give Nicole and me updates. Unfortunately, these updates were, “It doesn’t look good guys.” “Hart’s out. Henne’s hurt. Mario Manningham’s hurt. We’re losing. We look pretty bad right now.”

Words cannot express how utterly stressful this concert was while knowing this information. Here we were, just toot-toot-tooting our horns while there was an f-ing BATTLE going on. Needless to say, the moment the concert ended, we literally sprinted to my apartment, in full uniform, saxophones-in-hand and arms FLAILING in the air.

We were able to see the whole fourth quarter, during which Chad Henne led a furious comeback while injured, and Adrian Arrington accidentally executed a RIDICULOUS trick play where he ran right on a reverse and tossed a touchdown pass to Mario Manningham to give us the lead. Final Score: Michigan 27, Illinois 17. Amazing Game.