Tomorrow should have been game day for the Michigan Wolverines' football program, with the club originally slated to open the year in Seattle to take on the Washington Huskies (or Purdue at home once the revised schedule came out).
Instead, we're left without Big Ten football as most of the other conferences around the nation begin to kick off their seasons over the next few weeks.
On Wednesday, we gave readers a behind-the-scenes look at what all occurs at TheWolverine.com on game weeks leading up to kickoff, and today we're providing an in-depth look at what occurs on game day itself.
We always arrive at the Michigan press box at least one hour before kickoff, in order to get settled in, eat and post any interesting pregame observations we see during on-field warmups on the website.
Our former Ann Arbor office on State Street was the perfect location to park for games, as we'd leave our cars there for free and make an enjoyable 25-minute (or so) walk under beautiful autumn skies and foliage to the stadium.
It's always fun to stop at a few tailgates prior to kickoff as well, especially if Michigan isn't kicking off until either 3:30 or at night. Regardless of the week, there is always a tailgate to attend, whether it be one hosted by friends and family, co-workers or even subscribers on The Fort.
Walking through the golf course and seeing the hundreds of different tailgates is a spectacle in itself, with the array of foods and decor some people enjoy truly a sight to see.
Upon arriving at the stadium, our bags are inspected each week by police dogs before we're let into the building. If the dogs don't find anything illegal or dangerous on us, we then take an elevator up to the press box, with a well-known media figure almost always riding along.
Michigan football radio announcers Jim Brandstatter and Dan Dierdorf are regulars, as are the TV crew that is calling the game that week. FOX play-by-play man Gus Johnson, for example, rode up with me one week last year, and filled me in on how much he enjoyed playing hockey in Michigan as a kid.
