Blogpoll Roundtable
I'm not a part of the blogpoll but I do read up on a lot of the sites that are a part of the poll and I definitely enjoy all the college football discussion that takes place on the sites. So when reading the latest entry into the roundtable I thought I'd discuss since I can share why I love Michigan so much being born and raised in California.
Q1. Why your school? Did you go to school there? Were you legacy, did you pick it for academics, for the football team, the party reputation?
This was a question I used to have to answer all the time from the point when I sent in my deposit to attend Michigan and even once I got there as people wondered why I would leave all things great that are in California and attend the always freezing Michigan. To tell you the truth I don't know how it happened but early in elementary school I somehow fell in love with Michigan. Being the sports nut that I was, yes even in elementary school I read the sports section everyday, the hot team at the time was Michigan. There was Desmond Howard and the Catch followed up by the Fab Five and I was in as a Michigan fan. Probably had a lot to do with the colors and the coolest helmet in all of football but either way in elementary school I was sold on Michigan. Sometime near the end of elementary school I asked my mom if Michigan was a good academic school as well, since all I knew was sports, to which she replied yes, it was a great school. At that moment I told her that I would be attending Michigan for college. Ideally, at the time I thought I would become a superstar athlete so I figured I would be attending on a football or hockey scholarship. Hockey was actually my favorite sport at the time because of Wayne Gretzky and the LA Kings.
Fast forward to the end of high school and unfortunately the athletic part didn't work out but the academic side of it did. I applied to a number of schools with the only ones outside of California being UPenn cause I had a good visit there and thought it was cool and Michigan, the dreaded childhood favorite, all you recruiting followers out there know what I'm talking about. In the end I was only accepted to three schools, UC Irvine, backup plan that my parents insisted upon I knew there was no way I would go there, USC, yes I hated them growing up as well but it was a backup plan and heard a lot about all the girls there and Michigan. Faced with these three choices my parents were pushing for USC because it was close to home but being a private school tuition was through the roof. Michigan was also expensive for out of staters, it was at least 3 times as much more than in-state students at the time, but that made cost an even fight with Michigan and USC but when it came down to it at the end there was no way I was going to USC. I grew up hating them and at the time the educational gap was a lot larger than it is today, according to US News. So as sports has a big impact on me, it did play a part in my decision as well since I knew I couldn't turn my back on the team/school that I had grown up rooting for.
Q2. Name a player or two who had "THE GAME" against your school. I'm talking about a guy who simply dominated your team and all you could do was tip your cap and say, "Wow."
Being as I'm still young the two names that come to mind are Plaxico Burress and Vince Young. Plaxico was unstoppable that year as we even tried to put David Terrell out there to cover him only to have him get bitched. At least we have the spiking the ball while it was still live his rookie year in Pittsburgh to laugh at because otherwise I would just continue to have nightmares about him.
Vince Young, we all know we had problems with mobile quarterbacks last year and having to play him in the Rose Bowl didn't help. I don't think I've ever seen a performance like that where he just singlehandedly dominated us and there was nothing we could do. As great as our offense was our D couldn't do a damn thing to slow him down. Countless times defenders had him in their arms only to have him slip away and I have never hated a single player so much after a game. I hated Texas so much at the time I attempted to burn my Texas hat that my mom had gotten for me the year before when she visited a friend that lived in Austin. But right now I love Texas and everyone on that team, I will love them forever if they can beat USC on Janurary 4th.
Q3. There are games that I have no interest in but I watch simply to see a certain guy play. What players from this season do you do the same for?
Due to my work schedule during this football season I really didn't have the time just to watch a player since I barely had any time to watch college football in general. Obviously Reggie Bush is one to always watch and Vince Young as well. I do remember last year I started playing College Fantasy Football and stumbled upon a kid named Ryan Moats from Louisiana Tech. I drafted him because he was a RB which I needed and he was only a Junior, the league being a keeper league I wanted to have him for an extra year. Well he was so exciting I didn't get to have him on my team as a senior but last year he was insane. Thanks to ESPN Gameplan I was able to watch most of Louisiana Tech's games and me and all my friends because the Ryan Moats fan club as this guy ran all over the place all year long singlehandedly turning my team into Conference champions.
Q4. A few weeks ago we were asked who the best player to suit up for our school was. I'm curious who your favorite player to ever suit up for your school is? Certainly doesn't have to be a superstar, or even a starter.
My favorite player would have to be hands down Charles Woodson. He was the man and everyone knows it so I'm not going to get into that. There are two others that I will also mention on this list one being Jason Avant because he catches everything and he has so much heart and passion for Michigan and the other is Kevin Dudley. Most don't know much about Kevin Dudley because he was the FB for Michigan last year opening up holes for Mike Hart. He also kept Derrick Johnson in check as much as he could during the Rose Bowl as well. But he never complained about not getting carries and just blocked the crap out of everyone he could. There is also another reason he is one of my favorite players, it happened last year at Rick's, a bar in Ann Arbor, when after the Ohio State game, which we lost, some douchebag decided to show up in a Andy Katzenmoyer jersey. In Columbus if any Michigan fan tried the same thing he would have already been dead at this point but at Rick's he was walking around enjoying himself. I remember seeing Dudley that night as soon as he noticed this guy and the look on his face was "I can't believe you're wearing that I am going to kill you" and he was ready to just tackle this kid and inflict some pain but none of that ever happened as his friends held him back but I will always remember that look on his face and for that he will always be remembered in my book.
Q1. Why your school? Did you go to school there? Were you legacy, did you pick it for academics, for the football team, the party reputation?
This was a question I used to have to answer all the time from the point when I sent in my deposit to attend Michigan and even once I got there as people wondered why I would leave all things great that are in California and attend the always freezing Michigan. To tell you the truth I don't know how it happened but early in elementary school I somehow fell in love with Michigan. Being the sports nut that I was, yes even in elementary school I read the sports section everyday, the hot team at the time was Michigan. There was Desmond Howard and the Catch followed up by the Fab Five and I was in as a Michigan fan. Probably had a lot to do with the colors and the coolest helmet in all of football but either way in elementary school I was sold on Michigan. Sometime near the end of elementary school I asked my mom if Michigan was a good academic school as well, since all I knew was sports, to which she replied yes, it was a great school. At that moment I told her that I would be attending Michigan for college. Ideally, at the time I thought I would become a superstar athlete so I figured I would be attending on a football or hockey scholarship. Hockey was actually my favorite sport at the time because of Wayne Gretzky and the LA Kings.
Fast forward to the end of high school and unfortunately the athletic part didn't work out but the academic side of it did. I applied to a number of schools with the only ones outside of California being UPenn cause I had a good visit there and thought it was cool and Michigan, the dreaded childhood favorite, all you recruiting followers out there know what I'm talking about. In the end I was only accepted to three schools, UC Irvine, backup plan that my parents insisted upon I knew there was no way I would go there, USC, yes I hated them growing up as well but it was a backup plan and heard a lot about all the girls there and Michigan. Faced with these three choices my parents were pushing for USC because it was close to home but being a private school tuition was through the roof. Michigan was also expensive for out of staters, it was at least 3 times as much more than in-state students at the time, but that made cost an even fight with Michigan and USC but when it came down to it at the end there was no way I was going to USC. I grew up hating them and at the time the educational gap was a lot larger than it is today, according to US News. So as sports has a big impact on me, it did play a part in my decision as well since I knew I couldn't turn my back on the team/school that I had grown up rooting for.
Q2. Name a player or two who had "THE GAME" against your school. I'm talking about a guy who simply dominated your team and all you could do was tip your cap and say, "Wow."
Being as I'm still young the two names that come to mind are Plaxico Burress and Vince Young. Plaxico was unstoppable that year as we even tried to put David Terrell out there to cover him only to have him get bitched. At least we have the spiking the ball while it was still live his rookie year in Pittsburgh to laugh at because otherwise I would just continue to have nightmares about him.
Vince Young, we all know we had problems with mobile quarterbacks last year and having to play him in the Rose Bowl didn't help. I don't think I've ever seen a performance like that where he just singlehandedly dominated us and there was nothing we could do. As great as our offense was our D couldn't do a damn thing to slow him down. Countless times defenders had him in their arms only to have him slip away and I have never hated a single player so much after a game. I hated Texas so much at the time I attempted to burn my Texas hat that my mom had gotten for me the year before when she visited a friend that lived in Austin. But right now I love Texas and everyone on that team, I will love them forever if they can beat USC on Janurary 4th.
Q3. There are games that I have no interest in but I watch simply to see a certain guy play. What players from this season do you do the same for?
Due to my work schedule during this football season I really didn't have the time just to watch a player since I barely had any time to watch college football in general. Obviously Reggie Bush is one to always watch and Vince Young as well. I do remember last year I started playing College Fantasy Football and stumbled upon a kid named Ryan Moats from Louisiana Tech. I drafted him because he was a RB which I needed and he was only a Junior, the league being a keeper league I wanted to have him for an extra year. Well he was so exciting I didn't get to have him on my team as a senior but last year he was insane. Thanks to ESPN Gameplan I was able to watch most of Louisiana Tech's games and me and all my friends because the Ryan Moats fan club as this guy ran all over the place all year long singlehandedly turning my team into Conference champions.
Q4. A few weeks ago we were asked who the best player to suit up for our school was. I'm curious who your favorite player to ever suit up for your school is? Certainly doesn't have to be a superstar, or even a starter.
My favorite player would have to be hands down Charles Woodson. He was the man and everyone knows it so I'm not going to get into that. There are two others that I will also mention on this list one being Jason Avant because he catches everything and he has so much heart and passion for Michigan and the other is Kevin Dudley. Most don't know much about Kevin Dudley because he was the FB for Michigan last year opening up holes for Mike Hart. He also kept Derrick Johnson in check as much as he could during the Rose Bowl as well. But he never complained about not getting carries and just blocked the crap out of everyone he could. There is also another reason he is one of my favorite players, it happened last year at Rick's, a bar in Ann Arbor, when after the Ohio State game, which we lost, some douchebag decided to show up in a Andy Katzenmoyer jersey. In Columbus if any Michigan fan tried the same thing he would have already been dead at this point but at Rick's he was walking around enjoying himself. I remember seeing Dudley that night as soon as he noticed this guy and the look on his face was "I can't believe you're wearing that I am going to kill you" and he was ready to just tackle this kid and inflict some pain but none of that ever happened as his friends held him back but I will always remember that look on his face and for that he will always be remembered in my book.
posted by Kenny at
4:25 PM
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