It sure got messed up, didn’t it? I’m talking about the brief history of the Little Brown Jug. Here’s a download of information to set you straight:
This Week in Michigan Football History appears live on the WTKA 1050AM (and WWWW 102.9FM) Countdown to Kickoff approximately two hours before kickoff.
Script:
This week we start off with a salute to a modern U of M legend, born on this day in 1976 – so happy birthday to Charles Woodson, Michigan’s third Heisman winner and still, the only defensive player to take home the coveted award.
Oh yes, today we face off with the Gophers for a tangible piece of College Football history – the Little Brown Jug. You have to go back 120 years ago to 1903 to find the roots of this classic college football tradition. Most fans know the basic jug story. Before the 1903 game between the two schools in Minneapolis, Fielding Yost dispatched U-M equipment manager Tommy Roberts to purchase a five gallon Red Wing water jug which cost 30 cents. After the brutally fought game of the undefeated teams ended in a 6-6 tie, Minnesota’s found the jug and decided to keep it as a souvenir. When the Wolverines returned to Minnesota in 1909 the teams agreed that the winner should take the jug—and the victor of the game has retained the precious crock ever since.
That part of the story is pretty well established. But outside of that, there are still many misconceptions about the history of the jug and the rivalry that persist today.
- For starters, you’ll commonly hear, that Minnesota actually stole the jug from Michigan in 1903. The reality is that the Wolverines simply left it in the locker room after the game because…well, it was a 30 cent water jug and a pain in the butt to lug home!
- Common lore also suggests that U-M bought the jug because they feared Minnesota would try to “taint” or poison Michigan’s water supply. This is also a myth – while the rivalry was real, the notion that the Gophers would poison us just doesn’t, ahem, hold water.
- Another myth suggests that once Fielding Yost found out he left the team’s water jug behind in Minnesota after the 1903 game, he wrote the Gophers demanding its return. Yost was promptly told he’d have to “win it back”. Also not true. The teams simply decided it would be cool to give the jug to the winner when the teams meet again in 1909 – sorry!
The biggest question out there remains – Has the original 1903 jug survived all these years? Given that we’re talking about a fragile piece of pottery that has been toted back and forth between the schools dozens of times, it would seem very possible that the jug hasn’t always made it back in one piece. Having done a CSI-style analysis of the crock I have good news: there’s a very good chance the jug has indeed survived all these years, and if not, at least dates to the 1920s.
Either way, let’s PROTECT the JUG – remember, it’s ours, we bought it – I’m not a lawyer but I’m pretty sure that makes it property of the Michigan athletic department!!
Go Blue!! Beat the Gophers! And For more, checkout WTKA.com and MVictors.com – for the Keybank Countdown to kickoff this is the Professor, Greg Dooley
