September 29, 2001: Captain Michigan retires (for the first time) from leg wrestling, and becomes the first person inducted to the UMTailgate Hall of Fame before Michigan’s 45-20 victory over the Illini in the 2001 Big Ten opener. BJ Askew ran for 2TDs, John Navarre threw for 2 TDs, and the Bin Lotto rolled over to the following week (if you know, you know). Pics from the rest of that day are on the game page.
September 8, 2001: You’ll be saying this a lot over the next few days, but “I can’t believe it’s been 20 years.” We gathered in Seattle prior to The Huskies ruining yet another one of those 90’s and 00’s west coast road trips for Michigan, 23-18.
“In less than 60 seconds in the 4th quarter, the Huskies blocked a kick and returned it for a touchdown, and returned a Navarre tipped pass for a touchdown 2 plays into the ensuing Michigan drive” 🤮 🤮 🤮
I might have ate some salmon. Then some serious shit happened and trapped a few of our members on the left coast for a bit, and we all became super American for a while. Full game page is here.
September 1, 2001: Captain Michigan becomes the first inductee into the UMTailgate.com Hall of Fame before the Wolverines defeated redshirt freshman quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s Miami of Ohio 31-13. Of note, I was wearing a Hawaiian-ish shirt so this may have been the first Luau tailgate. The rest of the game pictures from that day are here. Some interesting quotes from the postgame write up of a 25 year old:
Bubba and Stephan W attended their 50th straight Michigan game on Saturday, enduring what may have been the most boring Michigan victory ever. The Godfather presented several of us with commemorative champagne with personalized labels marking the boys place in history.
The streak lives on dammit. Covid doesn’t count.
About half way into the tailgate, our friend Larry dissappeared. Minutes later, Captain Michigan appeared with a duffel bag full of yellow socks and passed them out to the tailgaters. He announced that he was ready to leg wrestle again...right now. He quickly disposed of Goody, Tuba, and Brian. I warned you all...don't ever count out the Captain. He'll be leg wrestling until he’s 6 feet under...and then he'll wrestle God.
I feel sorry for those of you that never had a chance to see Captain Michigan wrestle. And drink.
I want to thank everyone for attending the first real tailgate since the creation of UMTailgate.com. People know us, people know this website, and the support and thanks I received throughout the day (especially that which came from people I have never met) is enough motivation for me to keep this thing running forever.
And wow, forever? I think we’ve crossed forever. Forever is a mighty long time when your last Big Ten title was in 2004.
Looking forward to starting it all over again in 3 days.
GO BLUE!
October 6, 2001: I was assaulted by Nittany Lion Bloody Mary after running my mouth all morning, but The Wolverines would back up my talk, blanking Penn State 20-0. The home crowd around the tailgate seemed awfully concerned about me and my megaphone, but given at that moment in history, perhaps they would have been best served to look inward, Pictures from the tailgate, game, and what was perhaps the first Airbnb in history, are all here on the game page.
November 4, 2000: The group gathers in Evanston before the highest scoring affair between the Wildcats and Wolverines, a 54-51 Northwestern victory known as one of the greatest games in Big Ten history. There’s a recap of the spectacle here.
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