M Go Blue, I Love You

     As I start to write this, the Sugar Bowl just ended about 20 minutes ago.  Man, that was a great game.  The term nail-biter gets thrown around a lot, but truly, I bit off most of my finger nails.  In case you're not aware, Michigan won 23-20 in OT.  It was a little bit of a sloppy game, I admit.  But the team won the game, and they deserved it.
     I'm not a crazy football fan, but I am a crazy Michigan fan.  It's a hard feeling to describe.  I feel about Michigan the way I imagine other people feel about their spouses or their children.  I've experienced deaths of family members that didn't churn my stomach as much as watching a Michigan interception.  I've also experienced some pretty awesome things that still couldn't hold a candle to the joy in my heart when Michigan wins bowl games and Denard Robinson leaps into the stands.
     It may sound like there's seriously something wrong with me; the thing is, I'm not the only one who feels this way--not by a long shot.  There was a good chance blood would start streaming from my roommate's ears every time the defense failed to stop a first down.  You've never heard "for fuck sake" screamed so many times in a three hour period as when the Michigan defense isn't doing their job.  We probably should have warned the neighbors before we moved in that apartment 5K would be getting loud every Saturday, and then really loud for any bowl games.
     I love when Denard Robinson runs into the stands at the end of a game.  It makes me so happy to see him so happy.  He runs and jumps up, and the fans grab him and pull him up into the stands and everyone celebrates together.  And that's a huge piece of this feeling, I think.  It's about all of us in this together.  We all feel like we're part of something that is bigger than just ourselves.  I also really like Brady Hoke's speeches at the end of games.  For him, it's always about the players and their heart.  He doesn't talk about what he's doing, he talks about what the players are doing.  Also, it looked like he was really happy to get the blue Gatorade shower at the end of the game.  And not just the "ha ha, very funny guys, I'll tolerate it because I'm on TV" reaction you get from most coaches.  It was the "awww, thanks.  I love you guys."  He gave a double thumbs up as the Gatorade came crashing down over him, and really let it soak him.  I, along with many other Michigan fans, really like Brady Hoke.
     It's not just Michigan football I love.  It's the whole damn lot of it--the football, the hockey, the solar car, James Earl Jones and Gilda Radner, the space program; the list goes on and on. Cheering for Michigan makes me feel like I'm part of something bigger than myself.  Wearing my Michigan sweatshirt and my Michigan class ring makes me feel that way too.    It's where I'm from; it's the place largely responsible for shaping me into the person I am.  It's also why I think college is so damn important.  And when I say college, I mean a real one, with the word University in its name and dorms on its campus.  Does that make me sound like an elitist asshole?  Good.  Because I earned being an elitist asshole.  (This is also my thinly veiled attempt at telling my 18-year-old niece to go to college.  Rachael--you too can be an elitist asshole!)
     Hail to the Victors.  It's great to be a Michigan Wolverine. Go Blue.  Thanks for a great season, team.

So Much Football

     The Rose Bowl was on yesterday.  As was the Fiesta Bowl, the Gator Bowl, and several others with names I don't remember.  I watched more college football yesterday than I probably ever have.  I couldn't look away and I don't know why.
     I usually don't watch games in which U-M isn't playing, but I got sucked in.  It was the Rose Bowl after all, a New Year's Day tradition.  And even though it was the 2nd, what are you going to do?  The damn Rose Bowl is on and there are chicken wings available--you damn better watch it.  And really, it was a very interesting game. It was fun to watch.
     Now tonight is the game I actually do want to watch:  The Sugar Bowl!  Go Blue!  Or, as we're saying for this game, Geaux Blue!  (Because they're playing in New Orleans.)  Football games aren't usually appointment viewing for me, except for Michigan games.  The game (game coverage) starts at 8pm.  That's also the same time that the new Switched at Birth comes on. Ah, decisions.  Do me a favor and don't tell me what happens on Switched; I'll have to catch up later on Hulu or something.  Tonight I'm going to watch some football!

  GO BLUE!

Happy Paczki Day Indeed, Mary

     It's one of the few Michigan traditions I do miss.  For non-Michiganders, it's Fat Tuesday.  For a long time growing up, I didn't actually know what Fat Tuesday was, but I knew what pacski day was.  (Quick disclosure: a pacski is a Polish pastry, not unlike a doughnut, but more awesome.  It's pronounced like poonchki, kind of.  You can read more about them here.)

     The moment my dad would walk in the front door with the giant pastry box was better than Christmas morning.  He always ordered his way ahead, and would usually get two dozen.  If mom prepared dinner that night, it was going to go completely unnoticed.  We tore open the box and divvied up our pacski.  My favorite were the powdered ones with custard, even though I don't think that's a traditional Polish filling.  It's embarrassing now, but no shit, we would put down three each.  Easy.  He did this for as long as I can remember.  He would actually leave work early on paczki day to make sure he got his.  He would work on Christmas Eve, but damn it, those pacski meant something.    

     Holidays that revolve around food are my favorite.  This is a very regional holiday, and the mania is difficult to describe to outsiders.  It's easy to explain the hullabaloo of Mardi Gras.  But the hullabaloo of the paczki?  Maybe you have to be from Michigan to understand that.  (According to the internet, other places celebrate it  like Buffalo, Toledo, Cleveland, Milwaukee, South Bend, and Windsor.  So I guess they get it too.)  I often had to explain it to me new Michigan transplant friends at college. 

     Yes, we order our paczki weeks in advance.  Yes, there is a parade.  Well, they're like doughnuts, but they're more dense, and more fattening, and just way better.  Yes, I will skip class to go buy paczki.  Yes, I will call my parents so we can compare paczki from Ann Arbor, the paczki my mom got from the hometown bakery at lunch, and the dozen my dad brought home from a bakery in Detroit. Because it's a thing, and it's important, that's why.  Now excuse me while I go gain at least ten pounds in about 45 seconds.  

     Happy Paczki Day!