Time Has Come Today...

we'll miss you bo.

GO BLUE.

O Captain! My Captain!

ah but the popular words spoken by 'john keating' or more accurately, written by whitman (regarding lincoln), may be lost on the readers of today. ok so they also reference it in The Family Guy if that helps. i digress all too early.

The Week has begun. The Game is this saturday. the hype is bigger than that of any other meeting of the greatest rivalry in all of sports...and i'm not even overhyping like i have been known to do...with just about everything.

a weekend ago at the last michigan home game (which was not quite as frigid cold as the NWestern game, but still not optimal), i was reading the program during half time as the marching band played themes from various action television shows...The A-team, Mission Impossible, etc. as they were transitioning into their next number, all the students around me started standing up and there was a dull roar of a building cheer...i was curious as to what was going on, so i stood up to check things out.

the announcer said that the next number the band would perform would be the theme to Star Trek: The Next Generation. i thought this was pretty cool (even if only for nostalgic purposes) since i used to watch the show back when it was on. the band was moving into the familiar arrowhead-like symbol of the show, but i still couldnt quite figure out why people were cheering so much. sure, star trek, whether you like it or not or just like to make fun of it, has been a big part of pop culture since the 70s, but i didnt think this many students would be into the music being played...and then i looked at the conductor of the band...

...i must have been zoning out while they announced it (i can't quite remember), but atop that conductor's ladder and leading the big blue band was none other than patrick stewart (aka Captain Picard)!!! i joined in with the hysteria and started cheering as well (no, no vulcan hand gestures or anything extremely nerdy like that). he was clad in maize and blue and they showed him on the big screen as well. the stadium was all up and cheering (or at least the student section definitely was).

after the number was done, the crowd was still cheering; but then the announcer silenced the crowd as he asked a question:
"Captain, do you have anything to say to the Wolverines about the big game coming up in Columbus?"

very brief silence as stewart goes for the dramatic pause...before responding with:

"I would say: To Boldly Go...and BEAT THE BUCKEYES!!!"

the entire stadium. goes. crazy.

stewart raises his hand to silence the crowd once more and finishes with:

"Make it so...Number One"

crowd crazy. again. this time louder.

the captain (no, not captain morgan...) then conducted the band playing The Victors and the halftime show concluded to thunderous applause and cheer from the crowd of over 110,000.

stewart is one of my favorite actors by far, and is clearly well-respected. it was something special to have him there at the game...and definitely crowd-inspiring to have him talk about the Wolverines and The Game. sure, he obviously had some idea of what he would be asked when he got up there, but it was a spectacle to behold nevertheless.

i eventually told my whole family about the excitement (not to detract from the -closer-than-it-should-have-been football game), but made sure to tell my dad (fellow fan of the show, but a buckeye by himself in our family)...if we have Captain Picard on our side...well, you get the idea. if anyone, i think the buckeyes have one of those ensigns with the red shirts.

this week work productivity will severely drop (can you have negative production? because that's what it will be like for me), ESPN.com-SI.com-FoxSports.com will all be checked religiously every day (maybe every hour?), and the hype for the biggest game in the history of sports' greatest rivalry will build to gargantuan proportions before 3:30pm this saturday.

GO BLUE!!!

<:><

music:

"Lights Out" - P.O.D.

"Show Me What You Got" - Jay-Z

pics:

Patrick Stewart conducts the Michigan Marching Band (photo ESPN.com)