Great Days of Sports

One thing that's great about sports: you never know, at the beginning of any game, whether you're about to see a mundane, run-of-the-mill contest, or a few hours that will go down in history. Who goes to a baseball game expecting a no-hitter? No one, but it sure must be cool to have "been there" yesterday to see a kid with the last name Buchholz throw one for the Red Sox. Last January I almost went to bed, but decided to stay up for the entirety of the Boise State - Oklahoma Fiesta Bowl spectacular. I'm glad I did. Certainly, no one expected much out of the Appalachian State - Michigan game Saturday afternoon. If you somehow haven't heard, here:

Each year high-powered college football teams start their season by paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to probable cream-puffs to come to their stadium and get killed (see Oklahoma 79, North Texas 10). Appalachian State was to be Michigan's victim Saturday, but instead U-M paid $400,000 to be the loser in one of the greatest upsets of all time, 34-32, when App State blocked a potential game-winning field goal on the last play, only seconds after they made a field goal to take the lead. We were busy watching Notre Dame get embarrassed by Georgia Tech, so we didn't see it, but then You Tube came roaring to the cause:

First, highlights from the last few minutes of the game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_LnLiv99Ys

Reaction from an Appalachian State family at the game. The kid's face is priceless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDFxzAp1Lf8

Following the game, some students and fans from App State back in Boone, N.C. went to the empty football stadium, climbed a fence, tore down the goal posts, carried them to the chancellor's house, and laid them in his driveway. College football is awesome:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-1MOFOYolw&NR=1

Rivalries what they are, many fans from other schools took joy in watching U-M go down. Here's the scene among a group of Ohio State and Penn State fans during the last few significant plays of the game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOBjdka9uEw

Next week my Irish, who looked pathetic against Georgia Tech, get to go to Ann Arbor to play a certainly ticked off Michigan team. I'm not expecting much.

Here's one more that has nothing to do with the U-M game. It's the greatest football game prank I've ever heard of. The visiting crowd was told that they would spell out "Go Darby" all together. They didn't. Go look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtuLwWJGnn4