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Lisa Ermak
I thought that when I was accepted to MSU and right away decided to make my new home in East Lansing that my mom, a CMU alumnus, would be the outcast of the family. My brother Jeff decided on the maize and blue pathway and my dad graduated a Spartan with the class of 1974. But I was very wrong. Not only is Mom in safe waters because she’s not from a Big Ten school like us, but her loyalty for the rival schools doesn’t run as deep as it does for us. She can root for both of our teams and wear a “U of M Mom” button on her Spartan green fleece without getting hassled for it; moms can just get away with that kind of stuff. But the other three-fourths of the Ermaks don’t double dip. I considered myself a Spartan the day I received my acceptance letter, the same day that I went into my closet and ripped my Michigan T-shirt off the hanger (which I had no problem wearing when I was a high school junior and Jeff could still use me as his walking billboard) and told my mom to get it out of my sight forever. So that’s why we now have a split U of M-MSU flag hanging on our basement wall reading “A House Divided.” And that also explains the numerous voicemails I receive from Jeff annually, right around football season, taunting and teasing my team, which is why I now refrain from picking up my phone when it’s a Saturday afternoon and he’s calling. As football season was wrapping up Coach Dantonio lead the Spartans to the Champs Sports Bowl, while U of M lost their chance at the Rose Bowl to Ohio State but made it to the Capital One Bowl for New Year’s Day. It turned out that both bowl games were in Orlando and my dad thought it would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience to go to Florida and see both teams. So once I packed up all my MSU apparel and my green foam finger we headed down south. I must say that when I was boarding the plane out of Flint I wasn’t expecting to see what I did. All that was in my line of sight was green. I didn’t see any Wolverines, except for Jeff, who was wearing a blue polo and his Michigan hat and was definitely looking like a stranger in enemy territory. I was starting to feel more and more at home as I looked around and saw familiar MSU football shirts peeking out between the seats up in first class and the blobs of green and white walking down the aisles. I was half expecting the pilot to start singing the fight song over the intercom. My dad was loving it, too – I think he even got a kick out of the fact that an alumnus sitting next to him mistook him for an ex Spartan football player. Ha! All over Orlando, Dad and I saw our Spartans not only at the airport but at the restaurants we went to, walking around Downtown Disney and on the elevator at our hotel. And as it got closer and closer to game time more Spartans emerged, coming from near and far. After Jeff got harassed and mocked the whole walk to the stadium for wearing his U of M hat, I think he decided to lay low for awhile, have a few beers and save all his energy for the Capital One Bowl. To him this game was nothing, not even close to the match up that U of M would have with Florida. But for me it was the most energizing, spirited and fun MSU football game I’ve ever been to. Although we lost a close game of 24-21 to Boston College, Dad and I never stopped cheering for our green team and walked away glad we got to see out Spartans put up a good fight. I should have known that my comfort would be short lived. As the week went on and it got closer and closer to New Year’s Day, my beloved Spartans were nowhere to be seen as Michigan fans started taking their places. The tables had turned and Jeff was starting to get really pumped. He started pointing out his fellow Wolverines everywhere we went. He was so excited the night before the game he could barely even sit still; I ended up accompanying him to the hotel weight room while he worked off his energy by lifting weights and I started my New Year’s Resolution a few hours early. When game day finally rolled around it only got worse. When my dad jokingly asked me if I wanted to sell my ticket to one of the gung ho Florida fans standing outside the stadium begging for tickets, I seriously thought twice. I would have felt bad because my dad bought the tickets, and sitting in the car alone for three hours wasn’t exactly my idea of a good time. I had never been to a game where I was expected to cheer for U of M rather than the other team. So I literally had to mentally prepare myself to be surrounded by Michigan fans. I decided if I got too annoyed, I would just sit back and bask in the Florida sun. If I had to be outside for that long, I might as well work on my tan. Dad was a brave soul and wore his Michigan State hat and T-shirt, while I decided to go neutral so that I wouldn’t be picked on. I had no idea how brutal the fans would be, and I was definitely not in a fighting mood. U of M ended up beating Florida 41-35. Jeff was ecstatic and couldn’t stop talking about the game for the rest of the day. He even accused us of leaving early just because Mom, Dad and I didn’t stay in the stadium to watch every last drop of Gatorade trickle off of Lloyd Carr’s body. The whole night we heard about how sluggish and lame Florida’s quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner, Tim Tebow, was. But I couldn’t blame Jeff. It was exciting for him. And I understood. Once the games were over things didn’t change as I thought they would. I never thought the same, deep rooted school spirit could emanate from a 55-year-old father the same way it would from a 19- or 21-year-old student. But I realized your college experience is something you hold onto forever. And I knew there would be many more goosebump-inducing neck-and-neck football games in my time at MSU. But for Jeff it was his last official football game of his college career and a time to celebrate the culmination of the best years of his life. And for Mom and Dad it was a time to relive and remember their college experiences. Although we were so distinctly divided by fights songs and school colors all week, somehow our “divided household” felt closer than ever at the end of it all. Questions or Comments? Email Lisa Ermak at ermaklis@msu.edu |
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