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109 pages

English

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“A rough-and-tumble pop-culture look at the history of this storied game.”
--National Review Online

The 100-Yard War showcases two great football teams who want nothing more than to beat each other, celebrating their storied history and going behind the scenes with the players and the fans to reveal the bitterness, the passion, and the pride surrounding the Game. ESPN called it the number one sports rivalry of the century. It transcends the years, the standings, and all other distractions. And thanks to the countless remarkable football games between Michigan and Ohio State--and hundreds of thousands of devoted alumni and followers--the rivalry is now an enormous cultural event.

Sujets

Sport

Sports collectifs

Rugby & Football américain

Sports

Universidad de Míchigan

Michigan Wolverines football

Michigan Wolverines

Ohio State Buckeyes

History of the United States

University of Michigan

Recreation

Ohio State University

Football

Université du Michigan

Rugby

Informations

Publié par	Turner Publishing Company
Date de parution	01 août 2005
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781620459621
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0898€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

THE 100-YARD WAR
THE 100-YARD WAR
INSIDE THE 100-YEAR-OLD MICHIGAN-OHIO STATE FOOTBALL RIYALRY
GREG EMMANUEL

John Wiley Sons, Inc.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright 2004 by Greg Emmanuel. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada
Design and composition by Navta Associates, Inc.
Illustration credits: pages 132 (top), 133 (both), 134 (both), 136 (both), and 137 (top) courtesy of The Ohio State University Photo Archives; pages 132 (bottom), and 135 (both) courtesy of the Athletic Department Collection, Bentley Historical Library/University of Michigan; page 137 (bottom) photo by Brockway Sports; page 138 (top) courtesy of Molly Stevens; page 138 (bottom) courtesy of The Michigan Daily; pages 139 (top left) and 140 (top) photos by Jon Neff, courtesy of the Michiganensian; pages 139 (top right, bottom) and 140 (bottom) photos by Lauren Proux, courtesy of the Michiganensian.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the web at http://www.copyright.com . Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions .
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and the author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
For general information about our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Emmanuel, Greg.
The hundred-yard war : inside the 100-year-old Michigan-Ohio state football rivalry / Greg Emmanuel.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13 978-0-471-67552-5 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN-10 0-471-67552-0 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN-13 978-0-471-73649-3 (paper: alk. paper)
ISBN-10 0-471-73649-X (paper: alk. paper)
1. University of Michigan-Football-History. 2. Ohio State University-Football-History. 3. Michigan Wolverines (Football team)-History. 4. Ohio State Buckeyes (Football team)-History. I. Title.
GV958.U5284E45 2004
796.332 63 0977157 dc22 2004005653
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS
1 Hate: The Early Years
2 Born and Bred
3 Cold War
4 Two Men and a Rivalry
5 Boys to Men
6 Broken Hearts and Ballooning Wallets
7 Go Bucks! Go Blue!
8 Countdown
9 One Hundred
10 Post-Game

Appendix

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index

Photographs follow page 131
1
HATE: THE EARLY YEARS
It wouldn t be Ann Arbor if it weren t so freaking cold.
The calendar says November 21, 2003. Thanksgiving hasn t even arrived, but the late-night wind is making a Februarylike assault on any flesh that s foolishly been left exposed. It s a good night to be indoors, which works out well because that s where all the action is, anyway.
About halfway down a quiet street called Maynard, a bit off the beaten path and just behind the main drag, the tranquil mood changes as you approach a red brick building. It houses a bar called Scorekeepers. Even standing outside, you can hear a dull din, a hint of what s behind the wooden door.
Inside, Scorekeepers is a familiar-looking bar, with neon beer signs, watery drafts, and big TVs. In other words-if the name didn t already give it away-it s a sports bar. Just past the bouncer checking IDs up front is a large room that looks like a cross between a German beer garden and a ski lodge, with, of course, all the sports bar trappings. To the right is a bunch of small tables, and a long wooden bar abuts the wall on the left. In the back, a set of stairs leads to a second floor that has another bar and a pool table.
But you d be hard-pressed to make it that far. The place is packed and it s damn loud, thanks to the Slippery When Wet-era Bon Jovi that s being played at arena-level volume and all the sports fans trying to talk over the music. This is really nothing unusual. After all, it s Friday night, and this bar is usually crowded and noisy on Friday nights.
Yet tonight Scorekeepers feels different. It feels significant. For proof, you need look no farther than the man standing about 10 feet from the door. You can t miss him: beneath a warm, beer-fueled flush, his taut neck muscles bulge grotesquely, almost threatening to rupture. On any other night, this might indicate that something is terribly wrong. Tonight, given the circumstances, it s perfectly normal. This is what a person looks like when he is yelling, very loudly.
His rage is directed at another man standing directly in front of him. You can t miss this guy either. His lips are tightly pursed together, as if he s trying to inflate a balloon or worse, prevent his own head from exploding. The men stand just inches apart, the gap between them bridged by flying spittle and incoherent obscenities.
They look remarkably similar, though, almost as if they could be best friends or even brothers. Both are white, in their early twenties, with short-cropped, light-colored hair and muscular, athletic builds. Both are wearing blue jeans-and sweatshirts.
And in the sweatshirts lies all the difference either man-or anyone in this bar, town, and state-needs.
The neck is wearing a blue sweatshirt with yellow letters, and Mr. Lips is wearing a red sweatshirt with gray letters.
Although they d never met before this evening, their sweatshirts alone were enough to drive a permanent wedge between them. They knew when they first laid eyes on each other that they hated what the other man stood for-or, more precisely, who he rooted for.
One man is a fan of the University of Michigan Wolverines. And the other loves the Ohio State University Buckeyes.
In a little over 12 hours, these two football teams will run onto a field and, for all intents and purposes, settle the argument going on between these two fans, the gist of which is: whose team is better?
Tomorrow s contest is a regular season college football game, but the stakes are enormously high. A conference championship, a possible invitation to the national championship game and-most importantly-bragging rights are all on the line. That s why both of these men are so worked up. That s what makes one grown man get in another man s face. And that s ultimately what makes those neck muscles strain and twitch and those lips press together so severely.
But that s not even the half of it.
Arguments about sports occur every second of every day. Guys in bars yell at each other all the time. Opposing fans tell each other how much they suck and how their own team will kick the other team s ass. This is why sports bars exist in the first place-to be a venue for such behavior. And if you think about it, that s pretty much the driving force behind all spectator sports.
But there is another reason why tomorrow is not just any other game. There s history here. Lots and lots of history.
When the rivalry between the Buckeyes and the Wolverines began, the game of basketball was only six years old. The first World Series wouldn t be played until six years later. Any whisper of the NHL was still 20 years away, and the mighty NFL wouldn t come on the scene for another 24 seasons. In other words, their rivalry began in the sporting world-equivalent of the Jurassic period, and it would culminate when the teams meet tomorrow for the 100th time in 106 years. It will be the final piece in a century-sized collection of college football games, played between two perennially powerful opponents, and the renewal of the greatest rivalry in the world of sports.
How can this game make such a bold claim? Easily.
No other regularly scheduled game between any two teams in any sport is as consequential, as often. Since 1935, the year that Michigan and Ohio State moved their annual contest to the final week of the conference schedule, the Wolverines and the Buckeyes have decided the Big Ten championship between themselves-winner take all-19 times. Twenty-one other times, one of the teams going into the game had a shot for at least a share of the conference title. This means that on average, for two out of every three times that Ohio State and Michigan have faced off, the result has been huge. (Even the Yankees and the Red Sox have played some meaningless duds over the years.) And in the rare instance that one of the teams wasn t having a great season, that team relished playing the spoiler. In the last decade alone, one school has wrecked the other s championship hopes four different times.
And it s not just regional. Today the spotlight is on the Bowl Championship Series, and the OSU-UM game almost always shakes up the national standings. Since 1987, at least one (usually, both) of the teams has been ranked in the Top 15 of