On the road with Bob Hunt

• The whole experience was pretty surreal, one that I would
compare to my trip to the Rose Bowl as a fan last January.
Everything was great, except for the actual game part.

• With just over five minutes to go and a Michigan loss
immiment, I took the elevator from the press box down to the field
level. But the elevator went up one floor to the University club
level to pick up a surprise guest. When all I could think of was
“it happened again,” all of a sudden Muhammad Ali,
walks into the elevator, stares me straight in the eye, and
pretends to jab me. No joke. Let’s just say I was stunned. He
then took out a red handkerchief, put it in his hand, and preceded
to make it disappear. After that, Ali made it look like his thumb
was gone. I was just in an elevator with one of the most
influential figures of the 20th century, and he’s doing magic
tricks! Meanwhile, I didn’t say anything. I was so astonished
and depressed after witnessing first hand another Michigan
second-half collapse that absolutely no words come out of my mouth.
Besides, what should I have said? What do you say to someone like
that? After the fact, I still don’t know the answer.

• I thought it would be funny if I slapped on my Glasgow
Celtic soccer jersey (which consists of green and white stripes),
and dressed like a Notre Dame student with my really white skin and
reddish blondish hair. For the most part, it worked. A number of
girls yelled “Go Irish!” at me, and one guy even wanted
to have his picture taken with me. Another guy came up asking for a
hug. I accidentally tackled him into the ground. Suckers.

• On the night before the game, we space wanted to
experience the life on campus. We got there and saw little, until
we heard lots of drumming in the distance. We then sprinted to find
a secret ritual-style pep rally in the middle of campus. About
1,000 students encircled the Notre Dame drum corps cheering and
dancing like they had watched the game tape from last year’s
Michigan-Oregon game before heading over. All I could think of was,
do they do this before the Navy game? It was one of the most
cultish public rituals I have ever seen.

• All of us figured that the student body would go out to
party in anticipation of the next day’s game. How about
everyone doing 38 shots of beer? We found no such activity. Three
of us tried to enter a dorm to see what it was like. We entered an
all-girls dorm, in which we were asked for our name, the girl we
were visiting and identification. While one entered with under name
“Andy Chen,” who was with “Monica,” others
had no such luck. Nothing was going on anyway.

• As for the stadium experience, you could definitely tell
that you were at a Catholic school. There was also the most
coordinated student section I have ever seen. But overall, people
were very nice and respectful. Even people who knew I was from
Michigan. I won’t get that in Columbus.

— Bob Hunt can be reached at
“mailto:bobhunt@umich.edu”>bobhunt@umich.edu