0 0 10B- Kickoff - Friday, September 5, 2008 Michigan 130hSeasonQ Depth Chart Gt50% Off Ticket~s vs. for the exdusive US presentation oftheworkthat Miami (Ohio) Friday, September 5, 2008 - Kickoff - 3B Big House fans can take comfort in story ofBrazils Maracana DEFENSE DE NT 1. B. Graham 2. R. Van Bergen 1. T. Taylor 2. M. Martin IW.Johnson 2 R Sagesse RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Michigan Sta- dium is The Big House. It's a fitting title for the now106,201-seat cathedral of college football. Double that capacity, and you have the Mara- cana. Rio's stadium once held more than 200,000 fans, but renovations to fit standards for inter- national competition have eliminated a Michi- gan Stadium worth of fans. The most recent construc tion, which ended in 2007, dropped the capacity to 95,000. Wolverine fans, with their similarly iconic stadium under construe- tion,musttoofacethe pres- sures of modern athletics. The capacity constraints IAN haven't bothered soccer ROBINSON, fans in Rio. They still act as if their stadium is the big- gest and best in the world, speaking about it the same way they recall their first love - and for many, theyare one and the same. "Even if it isn't the biggest anymore, it was once," said Adriano Albuquerque, a sports writ- er in Rio. "And since most of the structure is still the same, fans still feel like, if we just squeezed everybody in it, we could probably get 200,000 inside again. The way it echoes and rocks when at full capacity also makes Brazilians feel like it couldn't happen like that in any other stadium in the world." Brazil, the world's fifth-largest country, is famous for samba, beaches and Carnival. But nothing unites Brazilians like soccer. And the most famous and beloved shrine of the game is Maracana. Originally built fox the 1950 World Cup final and set to host the final again in 2014, it has hosted Pele, Pope John Paul II, Paul Mceartney and The Police - and those are just the Ps. Before the modernizations, every seat at Maracana was a bleacher. In a country with some of the widest economic inequality in the world, soccer fans were proud of the equality they represented. "It is the most democratic place in the city," Albuquerque said. "You'll find a wide range of characters, from rich guys, to the poorest men, to women, to children in the bleachers." Now, backed seats have replaced all the bleachers. Suites circle the top of the stadium. 5, R A massive press box dominates one side of the field. And the areas behind the goals, where hooligans essentially had free reign, have been removed. Though other stadiums have knocked Mara- cana from its place as the largest stadium in the world,"they haven't altered how Brazilians think of their stadium. Albuquerque remembers when, as a 10-year old, he had the opportunity to walk on to the field before a game. It was the first time he saw it full. "The crowd partying loudly as the team walked toward midfield to salute the fans, it was wild," he said. "Heart racing, the green- est of grass, sun in the sky, lots of cut-up paper and rolls of paper being thrown to the air in the stands, lots of flags waving, colored smoke. I could barely look at the camera of my mom's friend as he tried to register the moment in pho- tos. And that stadium, from the ground, looks even more gigantic - imagine from the per- spective of aio-year old." TOP: COURTE$Y OF GUIGO VILHENA, BOTTOM: IAN ROBINSON/Daily Michigan Stadium holdsa similar place in Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil used to pack in 200,000 people. Now, it See ROBINSON, Page 9B holds just 95,000. Even with the changes, the atmosphere and status haven't changed. DE 1. T. Jamison 2. G. Banks 1. J. Mouton . WL 2. M. Evans M L B 1. 0. Ezeh 2. J. Thompson SLB LCB FS 1. J. Thompson or M. Evans 1. M. Trent 2. T. Woolfolk 1. S. Brown 2. M. Williams . Threet 1. B. Harrison 4. Sheridan . 2. C. Stewart McGuffie RCB 1 D. Waren A. Shaw 2. B. Cissoko . Minor . Grady . Brown SPECIAL TEAMS P KR PR 1. Z. Mesko 1. B. Harrison 1. D. Warren 2. B. Wright or M. Shaw 2. M. Odoms or D. Stonum WANT TO WORK FOR THE DAILY? COME TO ONE OF OUR MASS MEETINGS 420 MAYNARD ST., JUST NORTHWEST OF THE UNION MONDAY, SEPT. 8 - WED., SEPT. 17 8 P.M. Note: Depth chart as predicted by Daily football writers.