The Fatman Cometh
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Ahhhh yes. We've had our 15 minutes of fame a time or two here on UMTailgate.com, but never quite like this. I arrived at the tailgate to find my tailgate neighbor and his son (whose snarky wit you can follow on twitter @cooperjd88) asking for my autograph. I dismissed it as trash talk regarding my previous night's activities at Ann Arbor's finest pub, Conor Oneill's, where the crowd was treated to appearances by some mid-90's Wolverines, and John U. Bacon himself. Bacon had a smile on his face that couldn't have been removed with steel wool...dude sold some units. But it wasn't about that. It seemed that the great read whose poignant prose I had been begrudgingly laboring through, Bacon's Three and Out, contains a reference to a certain pleasantly plump tailgate site owner donning a shirt referencing the misinformation slinging Free Press writer with an agenda that attempted to bring down RichRod and Bill Martin. Chapter 21: Big Ten, Big Rings, Big Games....a few pages in under a bold heading that says Wolverines are 3-0! Football's Back, you'll find this:
On a Michigan football website, someone posted a photo of a proudly overweight tailgater wearing a too-tight blue T-shirt spanning his gut that said, ROSENBERG SAYS I WORK OUT TOO MUCH.
Ok, ok. I was proud...but that shirt was not tight.
Then I got home and did a narcissistic self-google of the term "Rosenberg Says I Work Out Too Much" and came up with some hits. Here, here, and here....which included such quotes as:
That's the guy. "Very large" may have been an understatement... I was drunk.
What's larger than very large? Bastards. Then there's conflicting information on my size a year later at the Spring Game...
I do not know who you speak of. However, I did see a rather large man (tippin the scales at about 300 lbs) wearing a T- shirt that read "Rosenberg thinks I work out too much." My dad and i were laughing so hard that we were on the verge of tears. I also saw him at Connor Oneills after the game. Cheers to you if you are out there.
Which is followed up by...
Don't know him, since I have my own festivities, but, he has a blog...
Oh, and looking at the pics, he doesn't LOOK 300#...maybe the photos have a slimming effect!
That's right baby...I wear it well.
What's really funny about this is that I spent a lot of time this past winter and spring at Sweetwater's coffee shop in downtown Ann Arbor, surfing the internet and blogging and drinking coffee....basically posing as a student, ok maybe a grad student, alright, alright, maybe a professor...and chatting up Mr. Bacon, who spent his evenings there writing and editing the book. We talked Michigan football a lot, sharing stories and opinions, with him never letting the cat out of the bag about all the information he had. He also knows me as the Friday night DJ at Conor Oneill's, where he occasionally makes an appearance. I wonder if he also knows that I'm that "proudly overweight tailgater." Next time Mr. Bacon....next time.
Anyway, I'm nearly done with the book now. It's been a painful read. To believe in your team and believe that the things that are going on behind the scenes are all for the betterment of the program...that's a great thing. Even when you are complaining and dreaming up conspiracy theories amongst friends, there's still part of you that trusts the system. Bacon exposes that very system and confirms all of your worries. And the reliving of each of the 22 losses over the last three years....its like watching Leaving Las Vegas and Million Dollar Baby back to back.
But it is what is is. A history lesson. Study it....and never let them repeat it.
GO BLUE!
