The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - 9

The spring game needs to become a tradition

n the spring of 2007, so
many red-and-white-clad
fans packed into Alabama's
Bryant-Denny Stadium that some
attendees had to sit on the steps
or stand on tip-
toes in section
entrances to
get a glimpse at
the field.
It was Nick
Saban's first
spring game
in Tusca-
loosa, and fans ANDY
overflowed REID
the stadium's
92,138-person
capacity to see it.
Selling out a spring game is a
completely foreign idea at Michi-
gan Stadium.
When I was a kid, my parents
and I would wake up super early
one Saturday each spring to make
the three-hour drive to Ann Arbor
for the spring game. It was one of
my favorite weekends of the year
- I remember snagging Anthony
Thomas's autograph and almost
catching Sam Sword's glove when
he tossed it to a group of awe-
struck l0-year-olds.
I remember rooting for the
blue team to beat the white
team. Whichever squad won was
rewarded with a steak dinner

while the losers ate soggy hot
dogs.
The Big House crowds weren't
exactly large, but that's what I
expected from spring games -
maybe 15,000 fans crowding the
lowest bleachers of the stadium.
But as I got older and passed
the age where autograph hoard-
ing was fun, I had much less of a
desire to go. Watching the team go
through a half hour of stretching
followed by nothing more intense
than pregame warmups didn't
really appeal to me.
Let's face it. Michigan's actual
spring "game" - which is basi-
cally a stylized walk-through 'is
pretty boring. That's why the
stands aren't filled here. But they
are in other places.
Just look at some of these
spring-game attendance numbers
from last year:
Nebraska: 80,149.
Ohio State: 76,346.
Penn State: 73,000.
Florida: 61,000.
Hell, even Michigan State
attracted 27,000 fans last season.
Of all the spring games I've been
to at Michigan, 27,000 would
easily rank at the top of the
attendance list. Other teams give
their fans something to see - live
action, real tackles. You know,
football.

Rich Rodriguez is doing all he
can to raise excitement around
the game, adding an alumni flag
football game, a locker room tour
and other gimmicks to the fes-
tivities. He wants to see at least
40,000 fans show up. His even-
tual goal is to break Alabama's
attendance record, and if Rodri-
guez wants that, the on-the-field
product in the spring must be
enticing enough to keep fans com-
ing every year.
And if the Athletic Department
could convince 100,000 people to
show up to the spring game every
season, it could do a whole lot of
good for the program. A packed
house could impress recruits,
convince boosters to donate more
money and make fans feel more
connected with the steep Michi-
gan tradition. It's a win-win sce-
nario no matter how you look at it.
The hardest part will be getting
fans to Michigan Stadium in the
first place.
Lloyd Carr's super-conserva-
tive approach to the spring game
(the last one I went to was basi-
cally just a practice - they didn't
even keep score) gave Michigan
fans a bad perception of the annu-
al event, set for April 11 at noon
this season.
And last season's closed-to-
the-public edition in Rodriguez's

SAID ALSALAH/Daily
Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez has worked with the Athletic Department to make the spring game more "fan-friendly" this year.
first year turned off many of the tradition, the spring game needs fans. Why should the Wolverines
remaining pro-spring game strag- to be something fans get excited be any different?
glers. about. All the elite programs
Although there's always a huge around the country are consis- - Reid can be reached at
revolt against change in Michigan tently pulling in at least 50,000 andyreid@umich.edu.

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