THIS DATE IN chUMp HISTORY: NOVEMBER 26, 1885

While the Michigan football team prepares to be hammered like a nail by Ohio STATE this weekend, Wolverine fans everywhere are heading for the hills, selling their game tickets, and calling for the heads of coaches, players, and administrators. In other words, "It's a great day to be a Michigan Wolverine!"

At least that's what I heard their young fans singing about after the 2007 game at Spartan Stadium. Singing very loud, I might add. Right at us, as we left the upper deck, all the way down to ground level and off into the night. Little did we know that little Mike Hart was crowing about "little brother" at the same time in the post-game press conference.

Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end...BUT THEY DID END. And now the shoes are on the other feet. Blue and yellow shoes, about to be stomped into the ground by Scarlet and Gray feet. Here come the Buckeyes, ready to work on an "Urban Renewal Project" in Michigan Stadium.

So the Bluebloods are a bit depressed right now. If you know any of them, we have a way you can cheer them up! You can remind them of past history, you know, like "yesteryear" and old newsreels and such. And we all know how much they love to live in the past.

Just tell them about this date in history, in 1885, when the UM Rugby team scored a great victory over the "Peninsular Cricket Club". That's right, a rugby team played a cricket team and four score and seven years later, they relabeled it "football" as part of a promotional t-shirt campaign that never seems to end.

We're talking about the so-called "All-Time Wins Record" for college football, the main claim to fame by fans of Michigan football. They have counted up some seventeen-quadra-zillion "wins" in their history, and are all too willing to remind anybody within earshot just whatever their current number happens to be at the time.

And they're counting the big win over the "Peninsular Cricket Club" right there with any wins against Ohio State, Notre Dame, and their "number three rival", Michigan State University. It must have been quite a game.

The UM rugby players scored two "rouges" to go along with their touchdowns and field-goals for a 42-0 win over the boys from Detroit who reportedly had never practiced the new sport. The PCC specialized in baseball, tennis, and bicycling, and later became the Detroit Athletic Club.

Nobody led the team in tackles, as they were not allowed. Nobody led the team in forward passing, as those were not legal. No coach got credit for the win, because there was no coach. After the season, the UM student newspaper criticized the team for playing low-quality opponents. But hey, a win is a win, and it capped-off one of those "undefeated seasons" after two wins against Windsor earlier in the month.

So when Brutus rips the snot out of the Wolverines on Saturday, you can still cheer up your Michigan fan friends by raising a toast to that great win over the cricket-playing Detroiters in 1885!




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