Bye Week...Let's Get Drunk!

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Irish Car Bombs Anyone?

Suffering from football withdrawl, I unleashed the beast (my camera) for a night at the bar. Thanks go out to the camp counselors for a kg'wreat night...and for taking all of the pictures.

In addition, I'd like to welcome any new visitors to UMTailgate.com that might be stopping by because some lunatic (not me) kept getting in their face and forcing them to have their picture taken while yelling 'UMTAILGATE.COM'. If you're new...leave us a message on the board...especially my new friends from Ohio U that were getting loose at Conor O'Neill's so they could go home and swap girlfriends.

Homecoming

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Michigan Manhandles Boilermakers
Friends and family returned to Ann Arbor to see the Wolverines defeat Purdue 24-10. The golf course was closed, so we were forced to relocate for the first time since 1997. We gathered at the home of Tuna and didn't miss a beat. Captain Michigan collected his winnings from the Bin Lotto and promptly donated it to the City of Ann Arbor in the form of parking fees.

I apologize for the brief update... more to come next week...
FDWM

We Own...Penn State

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JoPa Stuck In Unhappy Valley
Michigan's defense was the story (at least the on field story) at Beaver Stadium on Saturday as the Wolverines posted their first shutout of the season and the first home doughnut for the Lions since 1965. Despite continued suspect play by the secondary, Michigan's defensive front only allowed 25 rushing yards yards on 26 carries and forced 3 turnovers to seal the victory. BJ Askew continued to impress with 122 yards on the ground, though the offense sputtered early and often in the red zone. An amazing catch by Marquis Walker for a first-half ending touchdown was the turning point in a ho-hum game, as the #12 Wolverines improved to 2-0 in conference and 4-1 overall.

Dishing It Out... and an Unexpected Shower for the Webmaster
We came, we saw, we talked trash...alot of it. The UMTailgate.com megaphone was in full effect the whole weekend, especially at the pre-game tailgate. We updated neighboring tailgaters about every 15 minutes on the weather, the time, our web site, and the state of PSU football. A late visit by the University of Michigan Superfan was a real treat for me...I've always wanted to chat with this marvel of a modern fan that attends just about every Michigan sports event...not just football. He bestowed his wisdom and the secret of his success with our tailgating group which can be summed up simply as... "Know what your priorities are... and DON'T GET MARRIED."

Under intense pressure early Saturday morning by the 'older' tailgaters in our group, I chose to not shower in support of a quicker exit from the house.... Not long after Superfan's exit, and in the melee of attempting to gather for the group picture, the megaphone trash talking became too much for a disgruntled Penn State fan who proceded to give me the shower I needed in the form of tomato juice. The family rushed to my side as I travelled into enemy territory armed with a belly full of Captain Morgan to confront the brainless drunken jackass. A shouting and shoving match ensued that ended with us deciding to go to the game over going to jail. The UMTailgate.com family were the bigger men on this day, both in brains and in gerh.


Camp Counselors Make Travelling Squad
Several people were on their first trip to State College. T-Bone, Tuba, Amy (AKA Mrs. Hasler), and the beautiful Camp Counselors of Ann Arbor's Summer Fantasy Camp, Lisort and Emit (pictured above) made the trip a memorable (and educational) one. We stormed the campus on the eve of gameday to little resistance from the student body, and only slight resistance from local police that cornered us despite my exceptional attempt to outrun them.

Captain Michigan Wins the Bin Lotto
Sunday is as good of a day as any, as the US and Great Britain began their assault on Afghanistan at 12:30pm EST. UMTailgate.com Hall of Famer Captain Michigan was the lucky holder of 'Sunday' in the pool, and will collect the prize money and most likely turn it directly over to Janet.

Thanks
Special thanks go out to Gar and his gang at Gar's World for their generous hospitality and use of their Winnie. Gar - Sorry we missed you Saturday night...we all passed out... See you Saturday and GO BLUE!

Michigan Football...Balls Out Victory

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Spurrier Sighting on Sidelines

With about three minutes to go in the first quarter, the Michigan offense had amassed negative total yards for the game, John Navarre had been sacked several times and looked like a deer in headlights. It looked so bad that when Gonzales came in at quarterback for the Wolverines, most thought that it was replace Navarre for good. He threw a pass about three yards behind the line of scrimmage to Marquis Walker, who then threw the ball back to Gonzales downfield for a 51 yard gain. That play set up a 21 yard touchdown pass...not from Navarre, not from Gonzales....but from Walter Cross. Later, after stuffing the Illini in their own territory on fourth and inches, the game was all Wolverines.

The Hall of Fame

Prior to the Michigan victory, a ceremony took place at the tailgate. One of the founding fathers of The Tailgate, Larry "Captain Michigan" Goodell, had his leg wrestling belt retired. In addition, his name was stitched into UMTailgate history on a banner that will be flown at all future tailgates. UMTailgate.com honors Captain Michigan as the first tailgater inducted into the UMTailgate.com Hall of Fame.

JoPa Awaits Huge Road Trip

One of the largest road trips outside of the state will occur next week, as UMTailgate.com takes a travelling squad of 15+ out to State College, PA. In a scene that will may rival the Real World, 15 people will attempt to co-exist in a house 1.4 miles from Beaver stadium.

Bin Lotto Rolls Over

In more patriotic news, all of the participants in the Bin Lotto added to the pot, which now totals $140.

Tears For Western...No Gas Necessary

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Love That MAC

It started with a moment of silence, had a patriotic joint band performance in the middle, and a touchdown that really pissed me off at the end. Michigan trounced the Broncos, 38-21. Let us not break our arms patting ourselves on the back quite yet though. The offense was stagnant, the playcalling at times was atrocious, and the secondary had more huge holes than you might see Wednesday night at Rick's...giving up 300+ passing yards. Much improvement is necessary before our Big Ten opener next week against a quarterback that is actually good.

From Ground Zero to Ann Arbor...

Yes folks, not wanting the tragedy to hinder his goal of attending all of this years Michigan games, my good friend Bill made it in from New York City this week. Just wanted to take a second and recognize his portrayal of "The Great Michigan Spirit". We all look forward to seeing you and Tuba make it in next week!



Also, I want to recognize first-time tailgater, first-time gamer, and frequent UMTailgate.com visitor Don Junior, who was amazed at the spirit and love he observed from what he could describe only as 'a family'. He was in awe of the fact that there were more band members on the field at halftime than you could fit in his hometown's miniscule Wrigley Field. I think we might have turned an old Illini fan to Blue.

Our Patriotic Duty...Gone Bad

The game ended and we reconvened at the golf course. After regaining our buzz, someone (to remain nameless) came up with a tremendous idea. We used our game score pool numbers to make a new pool. Each number 1 through 7 represented a day of the week. We drew the numbers from the bucket, and put in $10 each. The person who has the day of the week that corresponds to the day that the U.S. launches a counter-attack in any country wins the pool. Even better...if the counter attack results in the death or capture of Bin Laden...each person throws in another $5 to that person. An unprecedented event such as this can only be called....... The Bin Lotto.

See you next week!

GO BLUE!

FD-WM