[Ed. In honor of the anniversary of Team One Game One – a repost from last year.] Happy May 30th, the day Michigan football was born. The month of May you say? Indeed. Team 1 took the field on this day 133 ago against Racine in game played at White Stockings Park in Chicago. Fittingly May 30, 1879 is also marks the birth of, depending on your perspective, Wolverine fans getting SCREWED BY or whining about the officials. From a recap of the game as published in the Michigan Chronicle the following day: Despite the blind referee, by all accepted accounts Michigan prevailed 1-0 over Racine. To this day sources differ, however, on who scored the first touchdown and how it was scored. The feat is commonly attributed to Irving K. Pond and that will probably never change. In his autobiography Pond describes his heroic dash to the end zone and you’ve gotta love it: My touchdown was made towards the end of the first half and involved a long distance run to where the ball must be grounded directly behind and between the goal posts … To Avoid being tackled I was forced to mount the bleachers and run eastward along them until I was opposite the goal when I stopped suddenly and — fearing that a touchdown…
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2012 Season Tickets Arrive. Check your Math.
That same old maize envelope arrived again today – football season tickets have arrived. This year the artwork on the ducats honors a Michigan player (or coach, in the case of Moeller) and his team. According to the official press release: For the Wisterts, Ford, Kramer, Oosterbaan and Harmon, the ticket artwork is the official team photo from their senior or final season at U-M, while Team 115, Moeller’s 1992 Big Ten and Rose Bowl Championship team, also will be recognized. One issue here..and why I added the emphasis above. Team 115 is actually the 1994 squad, not the 1992 team. 1994 was not one Moeller’s finest, finishing 8-4 and his last at the helm. If counting at home, remember U-M didn’t play a game in 1882, so Team 4 played in 1883 and so on. You can just subtract 1879 from the season to determine the Team #, (e.g., 2012-1879 = 133). The photo on the ticket is also the 1994 team so that’s good. Perhaps the athletic department changed gears on how they wanted to honor Moeller. (Ed. And HT to @griffinhickman note that the athletic department removed the mention of the 1992 team from the online version of the release). The others look correct – they are the senior season of the player identified. Here’s a breakdown:…