Visiting Madison

So yesterday marked the second straight year I trekked it to Michigan’s final warm-up game of the season (aka not OSU). Last year was Bloomington and Indianapolis, this year it was Madison. And even though we walked out of the stadium with one more loss, I was still in a great mood.

There were a few reasons why this loss didn’t bother me too much.

1. This game really didn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. Yes, an undefeated Big Ten season would’ve been great, but let’s not forget that since the early two losses, this team has talked about one thing: Winning the Big Ten. This loss doesn’t deter that mission. Earlier in the week the legendary email chain debated this and we were all in agreement that this game wasn’t a season-ender.
2. Lloyd saved the H’s and rested them up. By pulling Henne out after the first drive and keeping Hart out of this completely, we should be even more rested and prepared for OSU. It was a smart move since these two are the most important players on the team, by far. Sit them for the one that counts.
3. This is probably the main reason I was so happy: Madison is an AMAZING college town. As I can describe it, it’s a mixture of Ann Arbor and DC. It’s similar to Ann Arbor in the “feel” of the town. I’ve been to Notre Dame, Michigan State, Indiana, Evanston, etc and this was the closest to Ann Arbor by far. The college atmosphere, the house architecture, hell even the road system. The only real similarities to DC are in the downtown area where the capitol is. It’s dead at night (except for the couple bars we went to) and reminds of DC’s downtown.
   
   One thing not equatable to anywhere I’ve been was the friendliness of the people. Damn, they are great. They made the weekend. Everyone was so personable and even in our UM gear would walk by and tell us “Good game Blue” and they actually meant it! By the end of the day, I was wishing them luck in their bowl game and they were all telling us to get out there next week and beat OSU (It seems to be universally accepted in the Big Ten that OSU is the most hated school. In fact, there wasn’t one person in all of Madison that I talked to that wanted OSU to win… and these people hate Michigan too!).

All in all, I was extremely impressed by Madison. It had surpassed any and all expectations that I had - which was hard to do since I’ve never heard a bad thing about the city. It was great. Thanks for being so hospitable, Madison.