To the Seniors: ~-ee team national championships, 24 Big Ten Championships and a life- time of memories - congratulations on quite a run. ORTS michigandaily.com /sports THURSDAY APRIL 13, 2000 5B Class of Champions Celebratbzg I the street: my college memork's still remember my first weeks at ichigan like they were yesterday. I remember the late night walks with a caravan of newfound friends to sweltering frat parties for cheap beer and that first hook-up. I remember peering into that first Psych I11 lec- ture and thinking "Wow, I really am just a number." But most importantly, I remember watching my first football game as a student and the absolute ' that accompa- the celebra- tion after theg game. Already two weeks into the col- lege football sea- CHRIS son I anxiously GRANISTAFF awaited the kickoff of the Wolverines The Grand Scheme 1996 campaign at Wrado. Just two years before I had witnessed firsthand Kordell Stewart's 64-yard miracle connection with Michael Westbrook and I couldn't wait to see the maize and blue exact revenge. But the game unfolded just as I had feared. With just seconds remaining, and the Wolverines holding onto a 20- 13 advantage, Michigan turned the ball over on downs. Just 37 yards away frcf yet another heart stopping finish, c rado quarterback Koy Detmer rolled out in a frighteningly familiar way. I couldn't watch. I nervously circled the basement lounge of West Quad's Michigan House hoping against hope that history would not repeat itself. It didn't, and when Rae "I-killed- my-girlfriend" Curruth's diving attempt for the ball fell short I bolted cide to celebrate the exorcism of Stewart's toss from above. And to my surprise I wasn't the only one. Within minutes South University was flooded with Wolverine fans from every corner of campus - celebrating as if we had won the national champi- onship. We raced down to Touchdown's, and then ran right back to where we had started, banging on every car that passed all they way to the steps of the ident's house for a chorus of The ftctors. We positioned ourselves on opposite ends of State Street right in front of the Union with one side yelling "GO!" and the other "BLUE!" It was bliss, but it would get better. Two months later we stormed the streets again after an upset of No. 2 Ohio State in Columbus. A year after that, the ultimate cele- tion - a 34-8 domination of No. I iEn State on "Judgment Day" en route to a national championship - a win so big that we danced on the tables of the Law Library while screaming "The Victors," and even President Bollinger invited us in to party. But the past two years have been devoid of celebration. With no major championships, and with every worth- while win coming either during vaca- tion or in the stands themselves we VVn't had a reason. 's unlikely that the freshman and sophomore classes will be given a chance to experience the glory and absolute celebration of both a hockey and football national championship in the same year, but I hope you at least get a chance to run around like fools in the streets. Michigan athletics are the ultimate bond at this university. They bring so y of us together and create memo- ries that will last a lifetime. I will never forget that kick return by Charles against the Bucks, that night the sun set over the mountains of southern California and we were named national champions, that missed kick at the dawn of the millenium in Miami or '98 team claims Rose Bowl Editor's Note: This article originally appeaed in the Jan. 7. 1998 issue of The Michigan Daily By Nicholas J. Cotsonika Daily Sports Editor PASADENA, Calif. - Long after the trophy has tarnished and this newspaper has yellowed, tales will be told with chest-bursting pride of these Michigan Wolverines and this Rose Bowl, of this team's character and its come- backs, of the emotional energy shared by those lucky enough to behold the marvelous magic made on New Year's Day. The greatest football season in school histo- ry ended here as the rosy twilight gleamed off the San Gabriel foothills. Michigan's 118th team won the 84th Rose Bowl, 21-16, and fin- ished No. 1. Nothing can spoil it. Not a con- troversy about how the game ended, with Washington State begging for one more sec- ond, one more play and one more gasp of life. Not a split decision among the voters, who awarded half of the national championship to Nebraska by a miniscule margin. No, nothing can spoil this. Nothing can top this. Nothing could quell the crowd's cheers, even a half-hour after the game, when the fans were still chanting with the band, "WE'RE NO. 1#!" "I will cherish this game, this university, for the rest of my life," said senior quarterback Brian Griese, who was named the game's most valuable player. "You have opportunities in life, and those who stand out are the ones who take advantage of those opportunities. It's just sweet for us to capitalize on an opportunity.to make history." The Wolverines are the winningest program in the NCAA and won their 32nd Big Ten c'hampionship this season, but they finished 12-0 for the first time ever to win their first national championship since 1948. They con- sider it their I Ilth national championship; time may consider it their most unlikely. When this season began, the Wolverines were ranked 14th, and recovering from four consecutive four-loss seasons seemed daunting enough. An unblemished record and a national championship weren't in the picture. "If you would have told me then," defensive end Glen Steele said, "I would have laughed." After all, Michigan didn't win a national championship in coaching legend Bo Schembechler's 21-year era of eminence. Bo never went 12-0. Though coach 'Lloyd Carr ended up emerg- ing from Schembechler's shadow, standing alone in the bright, California sun as the win- ner of four of the five major coach of the year awards, Carr's mission simply had been to silence the critics who had hounded him since his hiring three years ago. "Nobody gave us a chance to be in the Rose Bowl, let alone win the national title," said all- purpose star Charles Woodson, the Wolverines' game-breaker who this season became the first primarily defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy. "Everybody thought we were going to go 8-4 again. We played hard every week to get to this position. We all felt we could go unde- feated; we just had to go out and do it." They went out and did it the way they had all autumn - by doing what no one but them- selves thought they could. Griese, a one-time walk-on who had lost his starting job and rode the bench a year ago, threw his longest two passes of the season for touchdowns. Both were to wide receiver Tai Streets, who hadn't caught a ball in three of his last four games because his fingers, two of which were dislo- cated, wouldn't let him. And when it was over, they knew it would never be this good again. They walked off the field, their faces flickering in front of flash bulbs, glimmering with triumphant tears. Having overcome so much, emotion overcame them. "We won all the major awards, the Heisman Trophy, coach of the year," said senior co-cap- tain Eric Mayes, whose knee injury ended his career in October but couldn't keep him out of uniform for his final game - and his finest hour - as a Wolverine. "We're undefeated, ranked No. I ... this may be the single greatest season ever - in college football history." FILE PHOTO Lloyd Carr's smile encompassed the moment, and so did his famous words in the lockerroom soon after: "You've just won the national championship." WHO COVERED THREE MICHIGAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONS DURING YOUR COLLEGE DAYS? ANSWER: A) DAILY SPORTS We have the perfect gill! Air conditioning YOU! No-hassle,. no-haggle leasing Three-coat, chip- resistant paint job Saturn SL 100-horsepower SOHC engine Long-lasting steel timing chain 27/38 gas mileage Stainless steel exhaust 26 psi of fresh Tennessee air Four-wheel independent suspension Steel spaceframe with crumple zones Smart automatic transmission Dent-resistant polymer bodyside panels I a e a k .. ,s z VOTED "CHIGANDAIL #. TEST po 991 Classes are -- .. rr _ _ M (FLY'S EP r ONLY $194/MoNTH1* 39 month lease " $194 due at signing SATURN ,-% A T T A I 6 iiEXIT N-M + 1c69 M-14 r I I t I