Hail to the Victors! A Fan's Tribute (before disastor strikes...)

It's been a long journey for me as a Maize and Blue fan, and I can't say there haven't been times when I wished I could just shut down the part of me that loves this team. They're a frustrating bunch, seeming to savor the sweet scent of victory, but too greedy to keep it to themselves. They blow fourth quarter leads and undefeated streaks like it's their job, maybe they just want more face-time on ESPN Classic.

But not this year! Harkening back to the Glory Days in '97 (yes, I still have the hat and the shirt from that championship run), the Winged Helmets are flying all over the field, looking like a team that could challenge for the title come January. The best part of it is that we've got that blitz-the-hell-out-of you attitude back again, the one that dares you to drop back and throw, because we can probably get to the fifth step of your drop before you do. Umm, it feels so good!

It's hard not to have the weight hanging there, in the back of my mind like the Swords of Damocles waiting to end the dream at one fell stroke. I can't help the worrying, it's genetic. My dad, the only one in the family with actual ties to Ann Arbor (engineer, graduated back before we started counting time in "years") can't watch the games anymore, they ruined too many Saturdays. I wish I had the strength of will...I can't count to number of Saturday nights I've spent, wishing to God that I could find that part of my stomach that seemed to have fallen out back in the family room by the TV. Always took at least a day to remember that life would go on, that rankings weren't everything, and I could wear all that Michigan apparell again when the season was over.

So, do I think we're going to blow it again this year? Hard to tell, but I think the ulcers are on their way. I'm just so scared that Ron English is going to lose his mind and go into "prevent defense" (more like prevent-your-team-from-winning-defense), that Lloyd will call a 1 yard pass on fourth and 5, and that the demons of the past are all-too unexorcised from the Big House.

I wouldn't have it any other way.