Michigan plays other sports, too!

To recap, we spent a week in Michigan (Part 1 about the football game is here, and Rob's permanent souvenir is here).  When I was a student at Michigan I went to all the football games but rarely ventured out to see all the other sports the school had, this is one of my biggest regrets.  Now, I subscribe to to a special sports package on my cable so I can get the Big Ten Network and take in as many Michigan sports as possible.  So while we were in Michigan I thought I'd take advantage and try to attend some other fall sports!

I really wanted to go to the women's volleyball game against Nebraska.  Our volleyball team has recently gotten very strong and the big ten has become a competitive conference, even more so now with Nebraska.  Sadly, the game was sold out by the time I got there so I wouldn't get to see them play.  I had actually attended quite a few volleyball games while I was a student and it is a very fun atmosphere in their arena.  They play in a smaller arena than basketball and it makes it very loud and exciting in there.  I'd never been much of a volleyball person (I suck at playing it) but I now understand it better and have since become a big fan and love watching it!

We did make it to a men's lacrosse game.  On Sunday, after the football game, they were playing in some exhibition games in Michigan Stadium.  Our lacrosse team just got promoted to varsity level (they were very successful at the club level) so I thought it was a good time to check out the sport.  We had a great time watching it (even though we still don't understand all the rules) but its a fun, fast paced, scrappy game.  Sadly, Michigan lost in OT but we still had a good time and I am now very interested in the sport, hopefully they'll be showing some games on TV this spring!

Go Blue!


And finally, we went to a men's soccer game. I LOVE soccer, I've loved the sport for much longer then I've loved football.  Michigan men's soccer went the the semi-finals of the college cup last year, so they are coming off their best season ever.  Unfortunately, they've had quite a let down year (so far).  I really wanted to go to one of their games because they just built a new soccer complex.  The new field was really nice and the student section (which was nearby where we sat) is right on the field!  Sadly, we lost the game but it was a really great game to watch.  The student section has a lot of good chants and although there weren't a lot of students that night I could see it being a fun group to cheer with. (side note: the men's basketball team sat right next to us, I was a little star struck when I realized I was so close to Stu Douglass and Tim Hardaway Jr!!)

UPDATE: The men's soccer team just (well two days ago) beat #4 ranked Akron in OT!!  It's one of the biggest wins for this team, ever. Maybe this will turn their season around, keep it up boys and Go Blue!

Michigan Vacation Part 1: Football!!

So I realize I've been missing for a while (almost two weeks!).  And I thought it was about time I updated you on where I've been and what I was up to.  I was in Michigan for 9 days so lets start with the first event, Michigan Football!

We arrived at the Detroit Airport and waited what seemed like forever in the rental car line.  We had a small issue with the rental car, we had reserved a small compact car (since we would be driving a lot, and we love to be efficient) but they couldn't seem to find a small car for us so we ended up with a free upgrade to one of the smallest cars they had, a Ford Flex (not small at all, it seats 7, and is really just a minivan in disguise).  It was also super cold and raining, we were not ready for this weather!

Check that ext temp for September 30th!

We spent the first weekend in Ann Arbor mostly for the football game, but also got to see some old friends and eat at some favorite restaurants.  First I wanted to do this link up with the Belles of Saturday and show off some of my gameday pics (and try and expose their blog to some northern schools!):

I <3 Denard

If you look closely you can see the ball in the air headed for Vincent Smith!

The game was great and Michigan won 58-0, yay! (I realize I've missed two Fridays for Football Friday, but I promise this week will be a good one with the big game we have against little brother!)  There were some fun offensive plays in the game where we used two quarterbacks (Gardner at QB and Denard in the back field) and the awesome trick play where Vincent Smith (usually a RB) threw for a touchdown.  It was also nice to shut them out (even though it took a lot of mistakes on their part to help us with that).

Most important were the people I saw before the game while tailgating.  I got to see most of my closest friends from college and I saw every person I ever shared a room with (which is pretty good considering I live in CA and only make it back there once a year).  Its always so nice to see old friends and catch up with them and their lives.

Roomies 417 Michigan House, "Reunited and it Feels so Gooood" (thanks for the great pic Typh!)

After the game we bar hopped to see the rest of the games of that day/night.  Including Wisconsin destroying Nebraska and little brother (michigan state) beating that school down south (ohio state)!  I did all this with my girl friends since Rob was off getting a tattoo and then going to a "bachelor party".

As for the food we had throughout the day, we started the day with bagels, cream cheese and fragels from Bagel Fragel on North Campus (jalapeno bagel with parmesan artichoke cream cheese, yummy!). Then some great tailgating food and drinks (Apple Cider and Hot Dam!). For dinner we went to Cottage Inn, and I got a quick snack at NYPD!

A great day in Ann Arbor full of football, food, and friends!

More of my Michigan trip to follow...

Football Friday: The correct way to use a cowbell

I watched the LSU vs Mississippi State game last night, and it was quite the defensive struggle for a while, but eventually LSU pulled through and I really think they just wore out the Miss State defense.  But the worst part of the game was those damn cowbells.  Lots of people complained about the vuvuzelas during the world cup in South Africa, but I think these are worse.  It's one of those background noises that just sounds like a swarm of bugs, very annoying.

A much better use of a cowbell would be one person beat out a rhythm with a drumstick and everyone around them cheering something catchy like "Go Blue".  This is much less annoying and makes for a unified cheer instead of just background noise.  But I might be just a little biased :)
(I tried to look up you tube videos of both these situations but it was hard to find anything, I guess you have to go to the games and judge for yourself!)

Anyway, this weekend my Wolverines take on the Eagles of Eastern Michigan University.  This game is usually a walk over for us, but there are a few things different this year.  They come into this game 2-0, I can't remember the last time this happened.  And they have Mike Hart as an assistant coach of some sort (hopefully they are just grooming him so he can take over the running backs position coach at Michigan in a few years!).

I <3 Hart

Another interesting game is obviously Oklahoma vs Florida State (fsu).  I'm still not convinced that fsu is for real, I think Oklahoma will beat them.  The other game to keep an eye on it ohio state (osu) vs miami.  I hate osu, but they are part of the big ten which I always try to root for so I'm kinda stuck.  Miami already lost a game so it'd be great to see them beat osu.  But I's also like he big ten to look good, for once, so a road win would be nice.  I can't decide who I want to see lose! And lastly, michigan state (msu) vs notre dame (nd), I'm also torn on this one.  I think nd is better this year, but they are still over rated so I think I'd like to see them lose (again!).  Lots of people root against MSU (they are a hated rival) but I don't see many msu fans around here (they usually don't make it vary far out of Michigan) so I don't have to deal with their fans.  I'll take Oklahoma, Miami, and msu.

Check out my earlier post for some great game day fashions (haha, fashion, from me!).

Friday Fancies: Game Day Chic!

Ok, I usually wouldn't participate is something fashion related (since I'm not very confident in my style) but this one was right up my alley!  I've also never done a link up so here's my first one through the blog {long distance loving}.

The outfit on the top is a super cute outfit, but if I'm being honest with myself I'd be wearing the outfit on the bottom on game day!

Top:

Yellow scarf, comfy "I feel hoMe", cropped jeans, dark blue nail polish and cute yellow flats.

Bottom:

Denard Robinson legacy jersey, Michigan adidas running shoes, and straight leg comfy jeans.

I will also have a football friday post later tonight.  Currently watching the Boise State vs Toledo game, hoping for the Broncos to win big (although things are looking a little shakey right now, uh-oh)!

The Best Season is Finally Here!

Its almost fall, and that means its COLLEGE FOOTBALL season (aka the best season)!!! It's been a long wait but its finally here, the first college football game is on tonight, and my beloved Wolverines play on Saturday!

I have a strange history with the sport of football.  Growing up I was very athletic and played lots of sports but had zero respect for football, maybe because I thought it was stupid that only americans play it.  It also didn't help that our high school football team was god awful and they seemed to get all the money, when our soccer teams were consistently making it to state championships (I might have some pent up bitterness).  Every now and then I had to play in the pep band for those football games, this was also pretty terrible.  We didn't have a marching band so sometimes our director would throw together a random assortment of students from the jazz bands which resulted in poor instrumentation.  And we played really crappy music, our high school didn't have (doesn't have?) a fight song so when we scored a touchdown (which was rare) we played the "Hey Song", which is awful.  All this resulted in me using the common phrase "Football is Stupid", ask anyone in my family, I said it all the time, I truly hated the sport.

Then came college, everyone told me that i would have to like football because I was going to school in the Midwest.  And I felt like that would be ok, I've always loved big sporting events but to me football was never that.  I had also made the decision to play in the marching band which obviously revolves around football, this I was also ok with, maybe I was turning over a new leaf.  I was even excited for my first football game in the Big House. 

Yup, that's me, second in line

Then, BAM, I loved all of it!  I soon became Michigan  football obsessed, over the next year this turned into an obsession with college football as a whole.  Now, my Saturdays are run by football I want to watch games all day and eat/drink/tailgate.  I read a ridiculous amount of blogs about Michigan and college football, I really can't get enough.

Pure love

That brings me to this weekend the start of this amazing, amazing time.  The most important game being, of course, Michigan vs WMU (GO BLUE!).  Other games I've very interested in are LSU vs Oregon (I'm taking Oregon in this one), Boise vs Georgia (going with Boise).  A few upsets that I'd love to see are Minnesota over USC (go big ten!) and south florida over notre dame (who doesn't love watching notre dame lose?).  Have I mentioned how much I LOVE this time of the year?


I hope to see some of this!