Choosing Green Over Blue

Photos courtesy of the Detroit Freepress

People down here in Atlanta tend to confuse Michigan State University (MSU) with the University of Michigan (U of M). I’m sure that would offend many in my hometown state, but it’s an honest mistake. I just remind people that it’s similar to Georgia Tech (where Doc. B. got a Ph.D.) being confused with the University of Georgia. They're both very good schools, for different reasons, but you certainly wouldn’t want to confuse the two.

I spent all but three years of my childhood in Michigan and most of that time was spent in towns half way between East Lansing, home of MSU and Ann Arbor, home to the U of M. But there was a four year period of time, from 5th grade through 8th grade, that I actually lived in Ann Arbor, just two miles from the U of M campus. I attended stone school elementary for two years where my only claim to fame was my football ability. Recess meant that I would skip jumping rope and playing jacks with the girls in favor of being the touch football quarterback. Why not, I was taller than all of those little 5th grade boys and none of them could block my passes. Then I moved on to Tappan Junior High for two years. This a famous school in Ann Arbor because it’s where Bob Seger went to Junior High. I was also a member of the Methodist Youth Fellowship (MYF) in downtown Ann Arbor. The church was just blocks from "The Diag", home of the annual April fools day "Hash Bash". The event takes place at "high" noon and I feel certain that a fly on the joint would likely hear the crowd chanting "Pot is an herb, Bush is a dope". Don’t worry mom, I never really skipped school and went to the hash bash, but I'm pretty confident that I lied to my friends and said I did. I will admit that I skipped MYF a time or two to waste a few quarters at Pinball Pete’s. But that’s all I’ll admit to today.

My childhood stint in Ann Arbor was way before Amber alerts, razor blades in apples, and crack. It was not uncommon for us kids to wander off about the city for hours. One year on a school snow day we even cross country skied to Briarwood mall. But the coolest thing was to get on our bikes on U of M game days and make our way to "The Big House", the U of M football stadium. If you waited until half time, you could get in for free. The place was amazingly big and awe-inspiring as a youngster - even adults are wowed by it. You had to remember where you locked your bike as it was a madhouse when the game ended. So we’d try to be on our way home before the end of the 4th quarter. This was back in the Bo Schembechler days and as I recall, I witnessed a few plays of a Woody Hayes-Bo Schembechler match up. We’ll miss you Bo, just like we missed the losing season jokes - which were few and far between. "Why didn't Bo eat cereal for breakfast? Because he’d only lose the bowl".

Despite my enjoyable times in Ann Arbor, I chose MSU over U of M. I remember visiting MSU for the first time. It had a true campus feel, and a beautiful one at that. The U of M campus was part of the city of Ann Arbor and there was no real line of demarcation. But MSU was gorgeously landscaped and appealing to the eye. And to someone who had no interest in anything but "the liberal arts" (beer drinking, pizza eating, social issues and the pursuit of happiness), the campus spoke to me. I guess I have one more admission to make. I could have gone to U of M, but I was accepted on an academic probation status only and I didn’t want that pressure. I only scored an 18 on the ACT’s (out of 36) so what did I expect! MSU welcomed me and my 2.99999 GPA with open arms. But more importantly, MSU was where my parents met and were married. How could I, as their first born, NOT attend their alma mater? Oh, and the MSU marching band is way better than the U of M’s.

But this past weekend, I cheered for the U of M Wolverines to beat the Ohio State Buckeyes. I should have seen it as an omen that OSU would win because on a recent hiking trip in north Georgia, I found my first ever buckeye nut. This is reportedly a sign of good luck. I think the buckeye nut got confused. It was suppose to grant me my wish for Michigan to win, but instead it let the OSU buckeyes win. I was so certain that U of M would prevail (given the passing of Bo and my finding of the lucky buckeye) that I even bet on the game with a coworker. The wager: a slice of Rosa's New York style pizza. Oh well...another slice of pizza beats the dust...at least I was well trained at MSU in that "art".

Hail to the Victors and Happy Thanksgiving everyone.