On Jan. 1, 2008, I exited the Citrus Bowl, home of the Capital One Bowl, feeling a high you can only get from a classic college football game.

After hearing nothing but incessant “Appalachian State” chants and bad Tim Tebow jokes from the thousands of Florida fans in attendance, I witnessed one of the best Michigan football wins in the last 10 years.

Lloyd Carr retired a winner. After struggling with spread-offense quarterbacks, the Wolverines dumped the best of them all, the Heisman winner Tebow. And it was a bowl game, which, as Michigan fans found out last year, you can never take for granted.

So, I walked out of the stadium wearing my Mike Hart jersey proudly. And then, spiraling down the ramp to the main concourse, I leaned over the rail and heard it faintly wafting up to me:

“It’s Great. To Be. A Michigan Wol-ver-ine.”

My family has had season tickets to Michigan football games since I was two years old, and despite the myriad games I have attended, I’ve only heard that chant a select handful of times. Not coincidentally, all of those games are among the best I’ve ever seen.

Iconic Michigan games that deserve an extra bit of special celebration — 1997 Ohio State, 2004 Michigan State, 2005 Penn State.

And that’s the way it should be.

I was pretty surprised when I heard the chant surface during the post-game celebration after Saturday's 45-17 shellacking of Eastern Michigan. Sure, it’s cool when the Wolverines head over to the student section after each win. But the crowd should sing the fight song, chant “Let’s Go Blue” or something — instead of busting out the big guns for nothing.

That’s like buying your friend a sheet cake on his half-birthday. I guess it kind of makes a little sense, but seriously? C’mon.

After a so-so win over Eastern Michigan is not the time to be chanting “It’s Great, To Be, A Michigan Wolverine.” Save that for Penn State or Ohio State, who are both coming to the Big House this season.

A lot of people might say that I’m making a big stink out of nothing, that it’s just a chant and the students who hollered it after the Wolverines beat the Eagles were just trying to have fun.

But you’re diluting the greatness of the simple chant.

In 2007, I took a road trip to Illinois to watch Michigan play. After both Mike Hart and Chad Henne battled severe injuries and Adrian Arrington threw a pass to fellow-wideout Mario Manningham, the Wolverines toppled the eventual-Rose Bowl-bound Fighting Illini, 27-17.

In the bowels of the stadium after the game, Michigan fans took over, cheering “It’s Great. To Be. A Michigan Wol-ver-ine” louder and louder. Everyone knew the chant, even though it’s such a rare entity.

That makes it so much more special. What would the chant be if every maize-clad fan yells it after Michigan dumps Delaware State by 40 points?

Students, I encourage you to get rowdy, get loud and have fun on State St. before the game. You only have four years — live it up.

But, respect “It’s Great. To Be. A Michigan Wol-ver-ine.”

— Reid thinks you should chant it all night after rushing the field on Nov. 21. He can be reached at andyreid@umich.edu.