The Little Brown Jug…

This past weekend, I went with my good friend JP to the Michigan game. As a Wisconsin Badger alum, it was a bit strange to walk into a sea of 100,000 blue and maize fans, when “red and white” feels much more at home to me. Nonetheless, it was a terrific game against Minnesota, and now as an official Michigander, I found myself rooting for the home team.

The sad part for Michigan, was that they lost on a final second field goal. The rivalry between Michigan and Minnesota centers around… a little brown jug. As I understand it, about 100 years ago, Michigan and Minnesota played each other and Minnesota left their little brown water jug at Michigan by mistake. They asked for it back, and Michigan said that they only way they could get it back would be when they won the annual football game. The battle for the jug has raged ever since. And, for the lat 16 years (since the late 80’s!), Michigan has had the jug… until this weekend.

When the clock ran out, there was a mad dash by the Minnesota players to the Michigan sidelines to reclaim the jug. The team and the 50 Minnesota fans… silenced the blue and maize masses. It was quite a site.