Bill and Jan fixed a big breakfast for all of us, and Eric and Tammy brought Ethan over! What a treat! We don't often have the privilege of playing with a 7 month old. He is absolutely adorable - a most congenial baby - happy, contented, beautiful, and sweet. He's a veritable mini-Eric - no kidding. We watched him for the whole morning - an unexpected pleasure.
Then we were off to the football game with much trepidation. Dick was unusually nervous - I had already kind of given up on the game before it even began. As we were tailgating, who should walk by but Bo Schembechler and his wife. Dick said, "Hi Coach!" and Bo just said "Hi, how're ya doin'?" I told Dick - you know that this means? It means that we have a better parking place than Bo! It was a foreshadowing of the success of the day.
Off to the stadium - a gorgeous Fall day. It was a 3:30 kickoff, so we took jackets. The stadium was packed - the Maize Rage had emailed everybody to wear yellow, and the student section looked like a huge bed of yellow mums with yellow pom-poms. There were a lot of Penn State fans there - they seem to be more civilized than the fans of some other opponents. Tony and Sharon told us about some friends of theirs who went to a game in Happy Valley, and were tailgating in the midst of Penn State people. They teasingly "stole" a brownie from the car next to theirs, and those folks reciprocated by laughingly stealing some tasty morsel from the U of M table. The bottom line is that they became friends, and now whenever the two teams meet, those two couples arrange to tailgate together. I think it's a terrific story.
The game was a little boring in the first half - the score was 3-0 at half-time. Half-time was when I decided to put on my jacket. The second half was amazing. It was a roller coaster of elation and dismay. At one point there was a Series of Unfortunate Events for Michigan, including a bobbled Penn State snap for a PAT which resulted in the kicker going into the end zone for two points. Right then I decided that the game was going their way, and we were probably doomed.
I think we were brought to our feet about 10,000 times in the second half, and I'm almost certain that we sang The Victors 67 times (well, maybe not). Anyway it was a real workout, and we were feeling faint at the end of it all. This from mgoblue.com:
Facing fourth-and-4 with 0:01 left on the clock, Chad Henne found Mario Manningham in the end zone from 10 yards out for the winning touchdown as the Michigan football team handed No. 8 Penn State its first loss, 27-25 at Michigan Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 15. The Nittany Lions cappped a 22-point fourth quarter with a go-ahead score with 0:53 left, but Steve Breaston's 41-yard kickoff return set up the winning drive and Manningham's second TD catch of the game. LaMarr Woodley had four tackles for loss to lead the defense.
We really didn't want to leave the stadium - and stayed until almost the end of the post-game band show. It was dark and chilly, but we were warm and glowing. It was an unexpected pleasure.
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