10 Years of Michigan Football: The Ups, Downs, and Everything In ...

As the countdown to the 2006 college football season continues to grow less and less, the memories start to come back from every moment in the past. Everyone can remember them. That one time where your team made the last second play or the exciting stop on fourth down. We all have them. For fans of college football, those types of moments are burned into memory during every game after. You go through cheering day in and day out, no matter what the outcome. There'll be times when your team wins and is on top of the world, and when they've hit rock bottom. Throughout all of the firings and hirings, the players that come and go, there's always one thing that is constant, and that is the fans. I am proud to say that I am one of the many fans of college football. For the past 9 years, college football has been what I look forward to every Saturday in the fall months of the year, and it still is to this day.

Many of you probably don't know this, but I'm only a junior in high school. I turn 16 late next month, about a week before Michigan kicks-off the 2006 season. For the last 9 years of my life, Michigan football has been my favorite part. On September 2nd, when Michigan and Vanderbilt start the season in Ann Arbor, I'll be there. It'll be the 10th year that I will have been attending Michigan football games, a mark that not many are lucky enough to hold, especially at such a young age. There are so many die hard fans of the Wolverines around the country that never even get to make one trip to Michigan Stadium. I get to make that trip almost every Saturday during the fall months.

It all started on October 11, 1997. Well, actually it started long before that when my dad, an alumnus of Michigan, received two season tickets for Michigan football games. I was only 7 years old, but the sport of football had my interest, especially the college game. Week in and week out I would be glued to the TV set, watching all of the games I could. Games that I can still remember to this day. I guess you could say that's when the addiction of sports in general started. The 1997 season got off to a great start for Michigan, just as it would end up finishing. The Wolverines were 5-0, and ready to meet with a Northwestern team that had upset them a year before. This is when my dad decided to take me to my first Michigan football game.

It was a cool fall day, the 106,048 fans in attendance made their way to the gates of Michigan Stadium. Michigan prepared to continue their win streak, and make sure that the loss column still read zero. Brian Griese led the Wolverines to a 23-6 victory that day, and just made it another step towards a national title. My first game turned out to be a great one. The maize and blue didn't lose again that season. They capped the regular season off at home in a game against Ohio State. I was there for that one as well. Charles Woodson cemented his Heisman candidacy with a punt return that I was barely even able to see over the swarms of fans. A year too early for the video-boards. Out in Pasadena the Wolverines defeated Washington State for the Rose Bowl championship and a national title. A great season to be a Michigan football fan.

From that afternoon on October 11th to the present time, I've been a Michigan football fan. All together I've attended 38 games over the 9-year span. At home, I've witnessed the Wolverines win 27 games and lose a mere 4. On the road, 2 wins and 2 losses. And on a neutral bowl site, 1 win and 2 losses. The longest winning streak was a big 11 in a row. The longest losing streak wasn't even that long; just 2 consecutive defeats. My father and I don't make it out to every game simply because you don't get to see what's going on in the rest of the college football world. Usually, we go to every home opener; no matter who the opponent is, a road or bowl game, and then all of the home games against high-profile opponents.

I've seen it all in the past 9 years. I've been through the heartbreak of a Michigan loss at the very end of the game, 4th quarter collapses, and bad officiating. But, with all of the bad, there's also lots of good. I've seen a national championship team, comebacks, overtime wins, last second field goals and touchdowns, a Heisman trophy winner, future NFL stars, tailgating parties, former players and coaches, ESPN's College Gameday, bowl games, road games, upsets, perfect seasons, mediocre seasons, Big Ten championships, and most importantly: the best experience in the world, a Saturday afternoon in the Big House. That's what it's all about.

During those 9 years I've been lucky enough to live through so many great moments in the history of not only Michigan football, but college football altogether. When I finish attending my 10th year of Michigan football, I hope the outcome will be as good as when I attended my 1st. To prepare everyone for the upcoming season, I will look back at all of the games I've attended, and countdown my favorites. With all of that being said, here's to the last 9 years of Michigan football, and to the countless ones ahead.

Go Blue!