During a 2011 press conference, Michigan’s Ryan Van Bergen talked about The Little Brown Jug and joked, “I don’t think you’d want to drink any water out of that.” True, but even if you wanted to take a drink you’d be hard-pressed to make that happen. When I did my jug research a couple of years ago it was easy to notice that the top is sealed off: There used to be a cap and some ribbons affixed to the top, but at some point, they were removed (and from the looks of it, torn off). I asked Jon Falk about it –he’s not sure when exactly that happened. It’ll take a flathead screwdriver and some pliers to get that top off. You have to want it. Why Michigan Bought A JugSo obviously at one point, this jug did carry water for the team, but the truth of how and why it ended up on the U-M sideline in 1903 has shifted a bit over the decades. In the early days of the Jug rivalry, it was widely believed that Michigan brought the jug & water from Ann Arbor, and further, some suggested it was because Yost feared the Gophers would attempt to spike/poison their water. Of course, years later Tommy Roberts revealed that he simply bought the jug in Minneapolis before…
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Jug 401: Did Yost really want the Little Brown Jug returned?
In this short video, I take a look at the origin story involving Michigan's coach Fielding H. Yost asking for the return of the jug after the 1903 game. I also take a look at the alleged the response from Minnesota that he and Michigan would need "to WIN it back." This story is important to origin story of college football oldest rivalry trophy tradition, but is it really what happened? I examine some of the problems with and much more in this video.
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The Poison Water Myth
The next nugget of Jug Lore gets into why U-M bought the jug in the first place. Did Michigan and Fielding H. Yost actually fear that Minnesota might taint or poison the Wolverine water supply? Is that really why they bought the jug – to control the source of Willie Heston’s water? Let’s examine this: If you dig this videos, like/subscribe/share/comment. As always, get all of your Little Brown Jug Lore here…
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Jug Stolen! On Michigan’s Watch (1931-1933)
Latest from the socially distant MVictors History Show, a short video about the when the Little Brown Jug went missing in 1931: If you dig this videos, like/subscribe/share/comment. As always, get all of your Little Brown Jug Lore here…
