I Swear This Blog Isn't Closed

Remember me?  

Ooof.

I write here, occasionally, which is a sad state of affairs for such a high level and classy URL.  UMTailgate.com deserves better, even if it is May.  I mean, we are a mere 105 days from football.  That's not very much time.  And there's so much to catch up on since the last meaningful post here that there's really no point in dwelling on the past.  

So let's move forward shall we?

Lloyd Carr will be Michigan's 6th coach to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame...so pretty much every Coach except Mo and RichRod are in the Hall.  I had the honor of crashing the Griese-Hutchinson-Woodson Golf Outing party last Saturday.  [BLATANT SELF PROMOTION ALERT]  Did a lot of palm pressing, and a lot of man-on-man jersey chasing.  Definitely hugged it out with A-Train like we were long lost brothers.  Might have overstepped the personal space of Jalen Rose, but he'd never say anything as he is quite possibly the most gracious and outwardly nice celeb you'll ever run into.  Tailgater Tarek was with me, and we were able to speak to Coach Carr for a bit after breaking the ice with the classic "hey! we're from Riverview too" move.  Coach is getting to be old, but he's still all there, and he's becoming the Bo figure for this era of Michigan Football.  His legend continues to grow, no matter how you might feel about his waning years as coach, and his induction is well deserved.

Things are really happy around here now.  It was all smiles.  These guys are 100% behind Brady Hoke.  I think Amani Toomer was on campus for the first time since he played his last game here.  Rifts with Lloyd and not wanting any part of the Rodriguez debacle kept him away, but now he's back for Brady.  Everybody is back for Brady.  Maybe they weren't here the way they should have been for RichRod, maybe the lack of support made for a no-win situation for him and his staff.  But I can't think about what I wanted or what could have been anymore.  Michigan has never been more Michigan than it is right now, and Hoke's team hasn't even seen the field.  It's in the atmosphere on campus.  It's evident in the recruiting.  

Everything is going back to the way it was, good or bad.  

This team has to know its importance...this season's importance.  Eight home games.  Ohio State reeling....

...Nebraska arriving.  Sparty looking to make it 4 in a row.  Notre Dame under the lights.

Ya, so I hovered around the Heisman Trophy Winner and current Super Bowl Champion cornerback like a 5 year old.  The man that covered 2/3 of the field on every play for Michigan in 1997.  The man that almost single handedly put Carr in the Hall.  I waited for the right time, nearly 2am, and then...

Ya, that's a big smile.  It's OK to have heroes at 34 isn't it?

Here's to building a new set of heroes in 3 months...

GO BLUE.

My Friend Craig

You never know what the appropriate forum is for a situation like this,  but I think I've always treated UMTailgate.com as more of a tailgate family album than an actual website for public consumption.  So with that, there's this...

Craig Wagoner will always be one of my favorite tailgaters.  If you've been to the tailgate, you may not know his name, but you definitely know Craig.  He's the guy with the ponytail.  He's the guy that's always smiling...always having a good time.  He's one of the most genuinely nice people you'll ever meet.  For the last several years, I have had the honor of calling him my friend.  

Craig has been a regular tailgater with the group for many years, long before I called it home on Saturdays in the fall.  And in addition to being an always-active participant in tailgate themes and food preparation, Craig brought an ample dose of personality to our group.

While battling cancer this off-season, Craig had been planning for a while to get healthy enough to get to the Spring Game.  Leading up to the game a couple weeks ago, we had heard that he was indeed going to make it out for it.  With that in mind, our group gathered, braved the weather and set up shop in anticipation of seeing Craig...decidedly more important than actually going to that 90 minute "practice."  But Craig had a setback the night before, and ended up unable to make it.  Before leaving the tailgate to head over to the game, we grouped together in a circle and called Craig on the phone.  I told him to keep fighting and that we'd see him in the fall.  He told me to expect him to be there Labor Day weekend.  

We all got to talk to him.  I like to think we cheered him up that day.  And we all got a chance to say goodbye.

Craig passed away on Easter Sunday.  He will be missed more than he ever could have known.  Thoughts and prayers go out to his family...from his tailgate family.

Visitation is this Wednesday, 4/27/11, from 2pm to 4pm, and from 6pm to 8pm.  

The funeral is Thursday at 11am.

J Kevin Tidd Funeral Home
811 Finley Dr.
Albion, Mi. 49224-9712

Springy

A little rain, a little cold, and definitely windy...but it was no Northwestern 2008.  We even managed to snag about 45 minutes of sun at the morning tailgate as overcast clouds parted to remind us that it was, indeed, spring.  It was a simple and sparsely attended event, fresh Brueggers and sausages seared on a portable grill, beers, captain and coke, cheese and crackers, and about 15 of us die-hards, just wanting a quick fix.  See some tailgaters, see the team, see Brady Hoke in shorts and a t-shirt charging at Will Hagerup as the lone rusher.

I'm pretty sure Hoke could still suit up.

Skeleton crew or not, it's always good to see the Godfather, Captain Michigan, Stephy, and even Goody.  It's even better to see Denard doing that Denard thing.  Despite the day resulting in what should be considered a resounding victory for a beleaguered defense...make no mistake, games will still be won by the man they call Shoelace.  No offensive system will contain him...neither will any opposing defense.

Here's the pictures:

Win Them All

The Winners

A week late, but congratulations are in order for the winners of the 2011 UMTailgate.com Tournament Challenge:

1st place: Dan Grant (Riveview grad)

2nd place: Tailgate Girl (yep, THE tailgate girl)

3rd place: Walter Noot (Last year's winner comes up just short of a repeat)

Of note, I still have several people that "forgot" to "donate."  I'd like to get that settled up this week, so shoot me an email at tourney2k11@umtailgate.com to make arrangements.