College Football: Can You Remember When?

When you're eleven years old and visiting Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1979, watching college football with one hundred thousand other people is as good as it gets.

I remember us packing up the old Chevy stationwagon for a road trip one hundred miles south for one heck of an exciting day.

Thirty years later, as the Michigan Wolverine football season starts up, it brings back memories that mean a lot to me.

What I want for fathers, mothers, sons and daughters at the "Big House" is to remember the fun time of tailgating on the old golf course across from the mighty Michigan Stadium. I want you to remember throwing the football around, like we did.

I want you to remember the sound of hundreds of radios tuned to the same station as the pregame fun and smack talk fire you up for the entire game.

I want you to remember the college student that was hired to sell programs. If you bought one, perhaps you could get a player to sign it like Michigan football quarterback great Rick Leach did for my brother after one of the games.

I want you you to feel the excitement of the moment you first entered the stadium gates and handed your ticket over. I want you to never forget the first time you laid your eyes on the inside of Michigan Stadium, seeing the rows and rows of seats that would be filled with thousands of screaming and cheering maze and blue fans.

I want you to remember the Michigan marching band, one of the greatest college bands as they "Take the Field." I want you to remember the many times the band played "Hail to the Victors."

But, most of all, I want you to remember the game. I want you to enjoy a tough-fought football game and in the end see a victory.

As I remember back to this day when I was only eleven years old, I close my eyes and a big smile comes to my face.

Ah, yes. It's time for college football.