General

Michigan Fans Are Quaint, Scared Of The Dark

Mar 22, 2010, 9:00 PM UTC

â†µâ†µYou probably don’t know this since you’re not a Michigan fan andâ†µtherefore the idea of being outside at night does not terrify and amazeâ†µyou, but ever since the biggest games in college football startedâ†µmigrating to night kickoffs the idea of playing a night game at Michiganâ†µStadium has been a cultural war, on par with abortion. Entire sections ofâ†µthe state aren’t talking to other sections because some guy wrote anâ†µop-ed in favor* of the idea. â†µ

â†µâ†µIt seemed like a moot point under previous athletic director Billâ†µMartin, who muttered things about safety and lights and the city of Annâ†µArbor being prohibitive hurdles to the idea. Yeah... it took the new guyâ†µall of two weeks to figureâ†µout the logistics there:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥“We know how to string lights and we know how to work traffic inâ†µâ‡¥those conditions,” athletic director Dave Brandon saidâ†µâ‡¥Thursday. â†µâ‡¥

â†µâ†µâ†µOhhhhh. You point lights places, and then you plug them in. Maybe theâ†µplug is really really big because the lights are really really big, butâ†µit’s the same principle. Michigan will play Notre Dame at night in 2011.â†µCommence foofaraw.â†µ

â†µâ†µLater Brandon staked a claim for Most Interesting Athletic Directorâ†µIn The World when he said “I don’t worry about the past. I createâ†µthe future.” That is a verbatim quote. David Brandon’s reputationâ†µis expanding faster than Domino’s pizza in the oven. â†µ

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â†µDepending on what side of the cultural divide you find yourself,â†µthis will either result in someone forcing Gizmo to chug a beer afterâ†µeight PM and result in the city being overrun by sweatervest-wearingâ†µGremlins or it will be a totally awesome event that has no negativeâ†µconsequences whatsoever. That latter is probably closer to the truth,â†µbut once you start playing night games can smoke machines andâ†µ"Enter Sandman" be far behind? I mean, keep on with your badâ†µself, Virginia Tech, but that's your thing. â†µ

â†µâ†µMichigan’s thing is stodgy adherence to tradition, and I wonder ifâ†µthis will energize the fanbase or just send it further into veryâ†µannoying warring camps. As with everything else related to Richâ†µRodriguez and the next year or two, that will depend entirely on howâ†µmany wins he can rack up and exactly nothing else.â†µ

â†µâ†µ*(Just kidding. They’re not talking to each other because Michiganâ†µran out of gas and electricity six months ago.)â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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