New for '02

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UMTailgate.com Version 2.0

Hello again everyone. I hope you enjoy the new format. Bear with me as I go back and update previous pages to fit into the new format. I have attempted to go back and change the links so that everyting works in the interim, but I am sure I made some mistakes. If you find any errors or weird occurances, please email them to me...webmaster@umtailgate.com. A couple of new things have been added. First, all of the menu links are now imbedded at the top of the page. The Extras link will take you to a new page that has some downloadable desktop wallpapers. The Events page has been improved with added graphics and pulldown menus for each year. The Home section replaces the previous 'News' section and will have the latest cover story as well as links to recent stories.

Summer...AKA The Period Between the Spring Game and the First Game

I really miss writing those childhood essays entitled How I Spent My Summer Vacation . Last year, that essay would have been a half torn piece of paper soaked in Red Bull and Panchero's Salsa, with one crayon etched word...Kg'wreat. This year, it's been a little less exciting, a little less hazy, and a lot less expensive. Nonetheless, it has been eventful...

Event #1: Another Michigan Fan

On June 29th at 10:15AM Danielle Tabar entered the world. Now a one-month old, Danielle and mother are both doing great and Andrea loves her new little sister...as long as everybody knows that she's still number one. Caleb...don't even think about it.

Event #2: The End of an Era

The Lonestar Steakhouse Ann Arbor, home of the UMTailgate.com annual birthday party and post-game celebration, has closed it's doors for good. No longer will Captain Michigan, Goody and friends be able to sexually harass their fine staff. No longer will The Godfather be able to demand that he be able to receive Captain and Cokes in his giant mug. Yes my friends, Dennis has cried his last tear in the private backroom of Lonestar Steakhouse.

Event #3: A Night In Manchester

Never mix your tailgating life with your real life. That's the quote that they'll put on my gravestone someday. On July 3rd, I attended the annual Manchester Fireworks Extraveganza. Captain Michigan, Janet, Goody and friends were all on hand, swilling spiced rum at accelerated rates until the fireworks began. The fireworks in Manchester is something really special. It's basically 20 members of the Men's Auxillary sitting in nearby trees continuously lighting and throwing sparklers. Fun.

The night progressed following the fireworks, as toothless wonders from surrounding areas gathered en masse at The Beer Tent. At this point, Goody and I were slightly more than faded. From there, memories are spotty at best. Beer was served in (hopefully rinsed out) old half-gallon milk cartons, and it seemed that many people felt the need to just give me these half-gallon beers. You see...red-necks, um...give things to eachother.

Flash-forward... I woke up at 5:30AM alone in the backseat of my car. Nice.

Upcoming Updates

Season preview and more fun stuff is coming up next week...stay tuned.

GO BLUE!!!

The Webmaster

Spring Into Action

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Practice Makes Perfect for Team, Tailgaters

On Saturday, April 13th, the Wolverines took the field against the Wolverines in the annual Spring Game. An estimated 25,000 maize and blue faithfull showed up to watch. They didn't paint the endzones, they didn't keep score, and each unit's jerseys didn't even always match... but nobody seemed to care. We came to release ourselves from winter cabin fever, break out the dusty picnic tables and coolers, get the flag down off my apartment wall, and reunite in a place where we are most comfortable, the Big House. A record number of UMTailgaters were in attendance for the Spring Game tailgate, and that butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling that we felt walking into the stadium for the first time in 5 months was second only to the heartfelt reception prior to game.

Who won?

If your talking about the game, they REALLY didn't keep score. If your talking about the quarterback job, I'm already sick of all the press, and John Navarre is getting the pressure. He was outperformed statistically by both Gonzales and Brinton. But it's Spring, and from what we've all been told, the job is still John's to lose, and what we saw Saturday had little to do with the offense we should see in the fall.

If you are taliking about the 2nd annual UMTailgate.com tournament challenge, the top 2 point-getters were in attendance, and they received their checks (can you say 'BOUNCE'?) as well as a token gift of a personalized coffee mug from the Godfather. Much to my surprise, I got one too, inscribed with the "Team Leader Award". That old guy just keeps getting more creative with all of his spare time. Note: I sold mine on EBay...and I think the Godfather bought it.

If you are talking about the Big Game Lottery, no one won that, and the jackpot is at $300 million+ on Tuesday. My plan when I win is to purchase our corner of the golf course, move the green back 40 yards, and put up a small tailgating house with bedrooms for our visitors, a kitchen for our tailgating cullinary artists, and bathrooms for our ladies.

If you are talking about the "Who came the longest distance to watch a practice?" contest, that winner was Tuba, who received a specialty drink, a variation of the 'Manhattan' called 'The Bronx'. 3 parts watermelon pucker, 1 part Captain Morgans... tell your local barkeep.

The next event is still in question, but there are a lot of things in the works for the summer, so stay tuned. 4 and a half months until the Dawgheads come to town.

GO BLUE!!!

The Webmaster

Wolverines Make the Frozen Four!

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Wolverines Advance

You can take the 'M' off the ice, you can take away our home lockeroom, but you can't take away our fans. On Saturday night, in front of a raucous crowd at a neutral looking Yost Ice arena, the Wolverines showed everyone what they're made of. Jed Ortmeyer's goal with 1:21 left to play in the 3rd period iced it for the Wolverines, who advance to the Frozen Four yet again. They will meet Minnesota for the frozen version of the Little brown Jug on April 4th, with the championship game being played on April 6th. Games will be televised nationally on ESPN and ESPN2...so I see no reason why we shouldn't use this as an excuse to tailgate, drink, and/or take to South U in celebration.

Wasn't Sparty In Our Bracket? Where's Sparty?

Sparty? They're at home. They've been home since early Friday evening after they got blanked 2-0 in the afternoon game against Colorado College. Ron Mason has no cup, no Frozen Four, and can happily settle in to his job as the Michigan State Athletic director. His first order of business? Hire another coach that sucks.

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Searchable Tournament Pool Results Available

The results of the 2002 UMTailgate.com Tournament Challenge are now available. Please use the Tournament Scenarios menu to see the possible winners. There will be no update next weekend as a Fearsome Foursome including the Webmaster and JJ are heading to Atlanta to see the tourney play out first hand. There will be a full update from The Final Four upon our return. Wish us luck... we're gonna need it.

GO BLUE!!!

The Webmaster

Southern Ho...spitality

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Where the Players Play: The Arrival

The 2002 NCAA Tournament came to a close in Atlanta, Georgia. Three games in three days with an amazing run of bars in between. We arrived Firday and after a lengthy stay at the Atlanta airport, we embarked to our hotel in Buckhead, a burb-like area of Atlanta filled with bars, restaurants, tournament spectators, and locals. We spent our first night on the town at Moondogs, an open-'til-4am dance club and bar packed with Georgia's finest. Being the savvy seat-seaker that I am, the boys and I found a booth at the center of attention and gawked at the passing scenery which included well-dressed co-eds from the college mecca in the area: Georgia, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, and Georgia Tech were well represented.

Saturday, Game On

Saurday the town began to buzz. We slept late and headed downtown. The CNN Center, adjacent to Phillips Arena and just blocks from the Georgia Dome, had a mall-like food court serving $5 32-ounce beers and was packed with college basketball fans. Indiana and Kansas were the most represented of the final four schools. We conned our way into NCAA "Hoop City" a massive display of games, activities and a replica of the actual court and took a bunch of "goodie" bags and other free stuff. We settled into a bar that opened up into the Hawks basketball court in Phillips Arena and knocked down a few before heading to the semi-final games. The crowd of 50,000 plus were electric as Indiana knocked out #2 seed Oklahoma, and Maryland defeated Kansas.

The late ending of the second game stopped no-one, Buckhead's streets were filled that night. Crowds of people lined up for a chance to get inside the Buckhead ESPN Zone, and even more just partied in masses inside and outside of bars.

Easter Sunday, A Day of Rest?

Sunday was a food-filled day as I made up for lost time with my favorite friend, MEAT. Our Easter Sunday dinner was at Mortan's where I had a couple of Belvedere Martinis in honor of the Godfather to go with my double filet.

Championship Monday

JJ and I headed to Turner Field for opening day, but the scalpers were relentless and we never made it into the game. We then took a walking tour of Atlanta's not-so-friendly parts, hiking all the way back to the CNN Center and seeing the congregation of fans beginning to come together. We grabbed a $5 beer before cabbing it back to Buckhead.

We rounded up the other two group members and made our way back to the CNN Center, which was now completely filled with Indiana fans, Maryland fans, and shrewd businessmen looking to make a buck scalping their tickets. Suddenly, the tap beer was gone, and 16 ounce cans were on sale for $40 per six-pack. The laws of supply and demand were in full effect. A sea of red, 5 to 1 in favor of Indiana, congregated outside Jocks and Jills, a CNN Center bar that opens to the outside towards the Georgia Dome. Mellamcamp songs rang through the air as we made our way through the crowd and to the game.

Indiana fought hard, but came up short, as Maryland won its first NCAA Basketball National Championship. Following the game and the cutting down of the nets, CBS piped in "One Shining Moment" to the remaining crowd as the Terrapins stood on a podium at center court...definitely a moment to remember.

Despite fighting complete exhaustion, we made our way out in Buckhead following the game, and returned to our hotel just in time for me to get 1.5 hours of sleep before catching a cab to the airport.

Summing Up

It was a spectacular weekend worthy of UMTailgate.com. Special thanks to JJ, Marcel, and Steve for making the weekend the alcoholic haze that it was...and to Bill for coming through once again.

Bubba?

The money stays in the family this year as Bubba came through picking 68% of the tournament correctly. Runner up was our tailgating neighbor Gar. Stephen Hernandez came in third by winning the tiebreaker with his buddy Dave Callaham. Special thanks to all of the participants and congratulations to the winners.

The Frozen Four and the Spring Game are right around the corner...stay tuned.

GO BLUE!!!

The Webmaster

Wolverines Make the Big Dance...On Ice

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WE BEAT STATE!

Well, it's about damn time. The University of Michigan defeated the Michigan State Spartans Sunday 3-2 to capture the CCHA Tournament Championship. This Championship Trophy will sit next to the CCHA Regular Season Championship trophy, and earned Michigan an automatic bid to 2002 NCAA Tournament. As luck would have it, the NCAA Tournament West Regional is being held at Yost Ice Arena, and the Wolverines have earned a #4 seed in that region.

The schedule is as follows:

Friday, March 22

Game 1 -- #3 seed Michigan State vs. #6 seed Colorado College -- 4:30 p.m.

Game 2 -- #4 seed Michigan vs. #5 seed St. Cloud State -- 8 p.m.

Saturday, March 23

Game 3 -- #2 seed Minnesota vs. Game 1 winner -- 4 p.m.

Game 4 -- #1 seed Denver vs. Game 2 winner -- 7:30 p.m.

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Strokin' It

We've gone from 65 to 16 in the NCAA Basketball Tournament, and a bother-sister combo sit tied atop the UMTailgate.com Tournament Challenge picking 75% and 77% of the games respectively. Gar, Bubba, Tuba (entered 4 times), and Billdo (who has never seen a college basketball game) are among the other notables in the top ten. Stats and picks are available by following the menu on the left.

GO BLUE!!!

The Webmaster