933 S. State Street

933 South State Street in Ann Arbor was the center of my college experience. This is the story of that house and my time there.
 
The house was built around 1910. For the first few decades of its existence, it looked right over the entrance to Ferry Field. Sitting on the front porch it would have been possible to hear the crowd cheer as Jesse Owens broke 4 world records in the span of 45 minutes in 1935.

This picture would have been from the driveway

1940 Census shows the house was occupied by the famed artist Carleton Angell who created many sculptures on campus and around Ann Arbor, including the famous Pumas flanking the entrance to the Ruthven Museum. He lived in the house with his wife Gladys and their three children.

A parade during WWI turning in front of the house

1950 Census lists Reuben Hartman, a bricklayer tender and his wife Gertrude, a waitress, as the occupants, along with 8 lodgers.
 
Sometime in the decades that followed the house began being rented exclusively to students. One time some guys from the class of 1982 came by and said they had lived there.
 
In 2001 a group of friends who lived there began the infamous BOX house along with some friends in nearby houses. The BOX house was founded on the principals of friendship and novelty. Very soon after the house earned a reputation on campus, which lead to ESPN the magazine including a write-up of the BOX house's famous keg rolling across State St. during football tailgates. The house was then passed down to new generations of BOX house inhabitants along with the traditions, stories and lore.

By the time I encountered the house it had been student-proofed. The original hardwood floors were replaced by white tile on the first floor and berber carpet upstairs. The kitchen had been renovated with builder-grade finishes. What originally was likely a single bathroom on the second floor was split in two and several vanities (pee sinks) added to bedrooms. The siding was white vinyl and the doors were hollow. Any trace of craftmanship was eliminated. The house itself was a dump, but the things that occurred there were the stuff of legend.

My first encounter with the house was at a party during my Freshmen orientation when I got so drunk on the front porch on a warm June night that I slept on a bathroom floor and missed signing up for classes the next day. When I came back to Ann Arbor in the fall I knew exactly where I would tailgate. While my dorm roommate spent his freshmen year football Saturdays as a servant to fraternity brothers that he was desperate to impress, I was immediately accepted in a wide friend circle, no doubt thanks to my older sister who was friends with everyone there.
 

Freshmen Orientation

During my sophomore year I lived in a house 2 blocks away from the BOX house. We would always tailgate at the BOX house, and during that fall the guys living in the house told me I should put together a group to rent the house since they were planning to graduate in the spring. So a few of my roommates and I put together a bit of a ragtag group to rent the house for my Junior year.
 

Tailgates are better with live music

In August 2007 I moved into 933 S. State Street and became part of the next generation to carry on the BOX house tradition. I lived in the back room on the third floor, and upgraded the futon I had my sophomore year for an actual bed. We had 6 guys and 2 girls in the house. Halfway through the year we picked up two more roommates when Brick and Andy were thrown out of their frat and moved into tents in the unfinished basement.

6 of 8 of the 2007 crew before Brick and Andy moved in

The following year was my senior year and the two girls and two of the guys moved out. The two basement dwellers moved into rooms and Paul, Matt and Zola moved in. Zola did a "pledge semester" in the basement, and then moved into a room for winter semester. Matt dropped out of college in the fall and for most of the year we had 9 guys and one hamster inhabiting the house. It was a raucous environment where people would just show up to hang out at any given time. The tailgates that fall were some of the most fun days of my life.

The house oozed patriotism

Living at the BOX House carried with it a certain cachet on campus. Most of the student body was aware of the house and our tailgates. I’d say that more than once I told a girl that I live in the BOX House and she suddenly found me more interesting and/or disgusting. It seemed like everyone had a story about the house.

We may have made this one up

If they hadn’t been there personally they may read about the house as we were mentioned on MGoBlog, College Humor, and a write-up in the Michigan Daily. After I moved out in the summer of 2009 the City Attorney for Ann Arbor sent us a Cease and Desist letter to the house to try and stop the tailgating that they said had gotten out of hand. This lead to some bemoaning in the media and student led protests of the city’s attempts to limit tailgating.
 
While my time in the house had ended, several of the underclassmen roommates continued to live at 933 and then next door at 1001. The BOX house carried on until eventually there was no one left to carry on the tradition and the house reverted back to a regular student house. With that, the BOX house was no more, but the physical house remained.

The house in 2018

When would think about the things I would do if I won the lottery, I always liked to daydream about buying the BOX house and turning it into the most incredible student house. I’d open up the first floor to a big open space with couches and TVs, I’d build bigger porch and 2^nd story deck above, install a great sound system and generally nicer finishes. I’d then rent it out way below market value on the condition that they always host a great tailgate that me and my friends could join in at. That was my dream, but it will never happen.

The house is now fenced off and slated for demolition along with the houses to the north up to Packard. The city has approved a 14-story high-rise between State and Packard and these houses are all being demolished. The front porch where I spent so many hours will be gone, the living room where I watched countless hours of Gettysburg will be no more, the bedroom where I studied and had other significant life experiences will also disappear. In its place only the memories will remain until they too will be forgotten.

The house prior to demolition

 
But I’ll cherish the memories, and wanted to write down some of my favorites since that will leave this on a happier note:
 
Favorite Tailgate Traditions:
Du Hast
We would always start a tailgate Saturday by setting the house sound system (my childhood Gateway computer with WinAmp connected to speakers) to play Du Hast at 5:30 in the morning to wake up the residents, any overnight female guests and half the neighborhood.

Tailgate

Thunderstruck
I think this has gained in popularity in the past 15 years, but the BOX house was well known for circling up when Thunderstruck came on to take turns drinking at each mention of the word “Thunder”.
 
Keg Laps
Typically the Keg was on the porch, so a common game was to drink directly from the key and then run across State St., then across Hoover Ave., and then back across State St before running up the steps and kicking the keg. Miraculously I never saw anyone get hit by a car, but there were some very close calls.

Ann Arbor's finest multi-level tailgate

The Field Goal
Another fun tradition was going out in the street during a tailgate and trying to kick a field over the metal arm holding up the traffic lights. I usually was the holder, and then a few students would be on the other side of the light to return the kick. If it went over the metal arm the whole street would cheer the successful kick. An important thing to note is that we did this in traffic, usually before the cops would come and start directing traffic around 10am.
 
Keg Rolling
Only the most skilled could logroll their keg across State Street, turn it around and roll it back without falling off. I could never do it, but damn if I didn’t try. By the end of tailgate season we would have 20ish empty kegs in the basement so there were plenty of opportunities.
 

Keg Rolling

Favorite non-tailgate traditions:
Fall Foliage Month
During the fall, I think usually in September someone would declare that it was Fall Foliage Month and then we would go out and collect leaves and branches and in one case an entire tree and drag them into the living room. It really spruced up the place for a few weeks.

Fruit in the Street
This was one of the best activities in the house. We would take all the rotten, uneaten fruit from the kitchen/fridge and put it in the middle of State Street. Then we’d sit on the porch and wait for cars to hit it. It was truly joyful game. Eventually the game branched out and the definition of fruit expanded to any food or destroyable items. When the question of “wanna play fruit in the street?” was raised, I never recall anyone ever saying no.
 
Gettysburg
The movie Gettysburg played on constant repeat in the house on a TV dedicated to playing Gettysburg.

Your intrepid author

Hey Ya!
Anytime the song Hey Ya! came on during a party or tailgate everyone in the house would run out to the street for an impromptu street dance party.

Drunkest Man in America
At any given time, someone holds the title of Drunkest Man in America, there was a good chance that man resided in the BOX house, so after a trip to Goodwill there was always someone in possession or challenging for the title of Drunkest Man in America. When the trophy would inevitably get destroyed, we would take another trip to Goodwill.

A typical representation of earning the DMIA title

The Masters/Old Crow Challenge
During the Masters the house would hold an annual beer can golf tournament and try to drink as much Old Crow as possible. There was probably more to it than that, but I was pretty drunk for the whole thing on account of the Old Crow.
 
Friendsgiving
Each fall before departing Ann Arbor to return to our families for Thanksgiving we would host a Thanksgiving dinner for all our friends. We would dress up, and people actually worked hard to prepare a legitimate Thanksgiving feast. It might have been the most “real-life” think we did. But it was always fun and probably the classiest think that we would do.

Christmas Party
The BOX House Christmas Party was always a great way to end the Fall Semester. Besides tailgates, it was probably the most packed the house would get. When Zola lived in the basement he reported that the floor joists would bend and creek with the weight of 100 people on the first floor.
 

All dressed up

Christmas Party

Etcetera
So many little memories. Playing drinking games, Paul’s feud with the street sweeper, watching girls come down the stairs on a Sunday morning looking very confused, Paul’s eating challenges, the house hamster, drinking challenges, and playing through. Many of those small memories are documented by the BOX House blog at https://boxhouse933.blogspot.com/

I'll miss this shithole deeply

Homelessness

With the end of my domestic travels and my international travels about to begin, I have found myself in a rare position for me. I am somewhat homeless. My lease in Ann Arbor ended August 24th, and I don't leave for Europe for another two weeks. My permanent address is still in Washington, but I've found myself shuttling back and forth between my parents house and Ann Arbor where I squat in places friendly to my low income lifestyle.

Luckily over the course of the summer I've become close with my summer housemate's group of friends. One of the nicest feelings I've ever gotten was when my roommates said they wished I could keep living with them, and that I was an upgrade over their friend I was sub-letting from. As a stranger to the group only 3 months ago, this was a pretty nice compliment.

So I've been staying at home for the beginning of the week and then traveling up to Ann Arbor for the weekends. Last weekend was the first football game so I was also lucky to have some of my friends come into town. I also stayed with my buddy Alex who I've known since freshmen year. He has a house at Stadium and Main which is across the street from the Stadium and an ideal tailgate location.

On Thursday night I met up with my new friends and did the traditional 'Welcome Week' thing. We went to the Greenwood block party which was broken up within 10 minutes of us getting there - just like old times. I also told my story of the time Gabe Watson drove his Hummer H2 down Greenwood during the block party many years ago (which is a great story). Then we went and played some drinking games and did shots of vodka from a plastic handle. There was dancing, yelling, a girl crying, playing cards everywhere and a guy talking about what a great taste in music he has. It was a interesting reminder of some of the good and bad things about college life.

Greenwood Block Party

On Friday, I complied with my usual routine for Ann Arbor of going to the UGLi and spending all day trying to find a job that I actually want. Something involving mystique and intrigue while also paying well and supporting my all leisure lifestyle. That evening I found myself out with a couple of my longtime Michigan friends from the dorms. It was another classic college night which involved bars, cabs, house parties, a frat, back to the bars and a bus ride home. I got to sleep around 2am.

Around 6am I awoke to strange noises. I looked out the window and to my amazement saw people setting up tailgates for the 3:30 game. I put my hungover head on the pillow and fell back to sleep knowing it was finally gameday in Ann Arbor. At 9 am I arose for good and started my day off with two cups of coffee and a BITS (beer in the shower).

My gameday consisted of playing drinking games, walking to State street, walking back to Main Street to see an old Box guy, walking back to State Street, walking to Rub Pub BBQ, walking halfway back to the stadium, seeing friends and then walking back to State St, walking over to Oakland to get a ticket to the game for $10, walking back to State Street, walking to the game, standing for 4 hours at the game, walking back to the house I was staying at.

On the porch at the old house

After the game I needed to lie down for an hour, but then I got a second wind and walked over to State Street and pre-gamed while playing Mario Tennis, from there I walked to The Brown Jug to meet up with my college friends, after a great time at the jug we walked over to Skeeps (this is where I started openly complaining about my ass chafage), after many beers and some shame at Skeeps it was time to go home.

At this point I was completely unwilling to walk all the way back to the Stadium from downtown, so two of us tried to get a cab, but at 2am on Saturday that is easier said than done. So after a few frustrating minutes, I just decided to hitchhike. While I'm a big fan of hitchhiking, getting into someones car at 2am might have not been my greatest idea. To my surprise the very first vehicle stopped for us, it was a van with two black dudes in it blasting a song that did not present white people in the best light. But the guys were totally cool and gave us a ride all the way down State street. So another point in my personal log of hitchhiking success stories (which I'm up to about 10 or 11).

Sunday I went back to the library for a bit to use the computers before driving home to my parents house to unwind for a few days. On Thursday I'm heading back up to AA to partake in a fantasy draft for a fantasy football league the guys I lived with have (proof they must actually have liked me). Then everyone comes into town for the Notre Dame game which I hope is just as fun as the last ND-Michigan game which is one of my favorite games of all time.

Perhaps I'll write more next week!

Night Moves

Whenever I come back into Ann Arbor I like to listen to a couple of my favorite tracks that remind me of Ann Arbor. Usually I listen to some Postal Service because it takes me back to my days in Markley Hall, Timaland's Apologize reminds me of Sophomore year living at 510 Benjamin, some Since U Been Gone takes me back to the wild tailgate days, and I usually listen to some Bob Seger because I'm pretty sure all his songs are about being an adolescent in Ann Arbor.

So with those songs playing on my ipod I flew back to Ann Arbor on the red eye Thursday night. The music really didn't matter much though because I had taken an Ambien before the flight immediately passed out until I was awoken by the stewardess violently shaking me in an attempt to wake me a few minutes before landing. It was 6 AM EDT, 3 AM PDT. A few hours later I would finally get someone to come pick me up at the airport and take me back to Ann Arbor.

I dropped my stuff off at the apartment I was crashing at and along with the 5 that flew in the day before did the most logical thing possible: go straight to Benny's. Benny's was the hungover diner of choice during my last two years of college and you'd be surprised how many people you would see at Rick's at 2 AM and then back at Benny's around 11. Being us, we were immediately seated at the corner booth (Campus Legend). I obligatorily ordered a Coney Dog and a Saganaki. It was good to be back home.

That afternoon I went to meet up with two of my former box house brethren. On the way there I noticed something amazing. There is now Buffalo Wild Wings on State Street and Washington. I have no idea when it was put in, but I sure wish it was there when I was a student! It's amazing how somethings change so quickly. I'm pretty sure it was an Olga's kitchen when I went to school.

It appeared that every grad from the last 5 years was back in town for the game. That is, except my intrepid co-worker who got to the airport and realized that he had booked flights for the wrong weekend. We decided to get to the bars early because of how many people were back for the game. Zola and I showed up at Charley's and were immediately offered the lounge (Campus Legend). We eventually moved to a regular table and spent most of the eve of the first night game in Michigan Stadium history doing shots and chugging brews. Conversing about the good times, and the better times.

I woke up on the floor of the apartment on Saturday morning at the ridiculous early hour of 8AM. But it was gameday and we had tailgating to do. Fortunately our buddies had spent the previous week planning a perfect tailgate. 15 pounds of pulled pork, 100 burgers and dogs, a sound system, generators, a tent, multiple beer pong tables, cornhole, a television, 6 coolers, they even managed to get their hands on an Excursion for transportation purposes. Unfortunately, our planned tailgate location - the U of M golf course - would not be opened on account of heavy rains. As a resourceful campus legend, I made a call and secured a tailgate location at my younger sister's house at Benjamin and Packard. A much better tailgating locale if you ask me. The girls at the house had heard some of the stories from the box house and requested that no pizza's get nailed to the wall like they did at the box house. We agreed.

We got to the house and set up shop around 10AM and soon after went to go pick up some kegs. I walked into Campus Corner and the first thing I hear is "Brian!". It was the owner of the liquor store that I had befriended in college and apparently as a Campus Legend, I had not been forgotten despite not living in Ann Arbor for 2 years. This wouldn't be the only time this would happen on the trip. Several people came up to me and said they recognized me from my wild college days.

The tailgate was a wild blur. Lot's of drinking. Playing beer pong and corn hole. Doing several rounds of Thunderstruck and generally doing all the things we did on gameday when we were undergrads. But this time it was spread out over 10 hours. It was something that was foreign to all of us, and no one really seemed to know if it was possible to pace ourselves for a game like this. I spent some time going to other tailgates. I think I ran into 8 people from my high school. Because we had plenty of beer and food, eventually most of our friends ended up at our tailgate. Kegs were tapped and new ones were rolled back in recycle bins from campus corner.

The tailgate, with my old house in the background.

At one point all the Russell kids were there and we took our annual Christmas card photo. This wasn't it.

The hours rolled on. Things like this started to happen.

That's why they call him Bodyshot!

Before the game we decided to take a quick group picture with our hostess.

Before the game we all slapped the bag and chugged Andre. We got our last cups of keg beer and cleaned up a little. Then it was gametime.

On the walk to the stadium I somehow struck of a conversation with the Mayor of South Lyon. Our topic was Mr. Dave Brandon, who just happened to grow up with and still talk to Mr. Mayor. It was by far one of the most interesting conversation I had during the weekend. We made it into the stadium and down to our seats and got checked out our view.

The game experience was unreal. It was nothing like any game I had been to at the Big House before. The fans just seemed so much more into the game. The best part is that we were right in the endzone that Michigan was driving towards during the 4th quarter and all those touchdowns were right in front of us. For the game, I can't do it justice, but I'm sure this video can.

The game was so crazy that after the final TD the man in front of us cheered so intensely that his wedding ring flew off his finger and landed a few rows away. Only in Tuscaloosa after the Iron Bowl had I seen fan wait in their seats so long after a game had ended. It was like no one had anywhere to go, and why would they, because the party was here anyways. It was mayhem.

I don't think this will go down as the best game I've ever seen in the Big House, but it will go down as the most exciting. I'm thinking a ranking might be a good next blog post. I loved every minute of it, except for, you know, the first 3 quarters. But deep down I always knew we would come back and make a game out of it.

It was 1 AM by the time we left the stadium, too late to go to the bars. Everyone was amped up from the win but at the same time exhausted from the extensive tailgating and emotional game. It was a weird feeling. We went back to my sisters house to drink some of the last keg and try to rally. The climax of the rally was us all walking to Packard Pub and then deciding we would rather get some Jimmy John's. Half of us passed out on the ride home.

Sunday morning everyone woke up and asked "did that really happen?" Most of our voices were hoarse and we all looked like garbage. We watched some of the Gameday that we had recorded and then decided to get some food. Early in the afternoon my Sisters picked me up to go meet with Grandma Sunshine. We had a nice lunch before Julie and I flew home. On the way to the airport I reached in my bag and felt something unusual. It was a small knife that I had put in for my camping trip to eastern Washington the weekend before. I had been very close to unknowingly trying to sneak a knife onto a plane on the 10th anniversary of September 11th. I'm sure it wouldn't have helped out when they found it right next to the book on the Taliban that I was reading. I left it with my sister to mail back to me, but the really scary part is that I had flown out to A2 with it in my bag. It didn't do much to inspire confidence in the abilities of the TSA.

After a long trip I made it home and went to bed at midnight. It was 6 hours before my alarm clock was set to go off. But as I lay in bed, I figured that there was nothing that would make me not want to go back to the only place I've ever felt truly at home.

My Triumphant Return to A2

I just got back from a week long trip back to Ann Arbor. The purpose of the trip was to attend

the career fair and recruit some talented engineers, but in many ways it was more than that.

Friday:

I chose to take a vacation day and fly out early to A2 last Friday. When I got to A2 I went right to some friends house after picking up BTB and a Four Loko that my sister had given me. Four Loko is like sparks on steroids. Then I went to my old roommates house for a quick Wimmy session, because no trip to A2 is complete without a Wimmy in the basement of 1001 state street. Then I went to the house of one of the kids I lived in the dorms with. He had a little pre-funk and before I knew it my fifth of Cuervo was empty. A couple of rounds at Charleys later, I found myself back at my sisters place getting messy with a Vito from Jimmy John's.

Saturday:

I woke up and went to go tailgate. My old roommates have apparently spent the last year and a half tailgating with a homeless man. They justify it by saying that he protects them from other bums, but when one showed up our "protection" looked like this.

I met some of the guys who now live at the Box house. I was content to let it die, but if these kids are going to try to be Box they need to step it up. Their tailgate was pretty weaksauce, but I blame the cops for some of that. I did get my lunch from the guy who let me haggle the price of a burger after I got kicked out of Michigan Stadium 3 years ago. I like that guy.

I went to the game and was impressed with the expanded stadium. The one negative is that they removed the troughs from the mens bathroom. Never again will I be able to partake in the walking pee that occasionally happened.

Saturday afternoon I watched Night at the Roxbury (a terrific cinematic masterpiece) and eating Mr. Spots. Saturday night we started off at Charley's before making our way to Rick's. As we walked up I realized that I knew the doorman, who was a kid I met because he used to come over and hangout at 510 Benjamin with Jake. It felt good to still have a good connection in Ann Arbor. I met up with some lady-friends at Rick's. At one point me and these three girls were getting some shots and one of them mentioned "Bruss, you know you've hooked up with all three of us during college"? I found that amusing.

Sunday

I woke up Sunday at like 1PM. Then I went out to lunch at Noodles with my sister and her boyfriend. After that we walked everywhere looking for a gift for my dad for his birthday. I got to check out the new North Quad which is very much "the shit". It's really nice in there. We walked all around the city and eventually got my dad some birthday crap. We met up with the 'rents and our grandma at Pizza house. Afterwards I went back to my old roommates place and watched Boardwalk Empire and Swamp People. I came away equally impressed with both. Then I couple of us dudes checked out Packard Pub. Decent bar, but not the most lively. We were the only patrons, but it was 1AM on Sunday night.

Monday

Monday was the day I was supposed to fly in to town but since I was already there I really didn't have much to do. I spent the morning talking to my lawyer, Gail "The Hailstorm" Lawyerlady. I'm still in court with my landlord from 2009. I gave Al my power of attorney so things probably won't go well for me. We also talked about how the guys who lived in the house last year are being sued for $19,000. Glad that's not me.

I then rode the bus for a bit to catch up on my bus driver gossip. After that I had a date I made a few nights prior. Zola and I were going to go to CIAYCELB for lunch Monday. We rode the AATA route 36 there and back. I scarfed down 7 slices and got a Zola Salad (just meats, cheese and dressing - no lettuce). After that I spent all afternoon in the fishbowl snickering at the idiots who were still in college and had to do work.

That evening the manager who was doing the career fair with me flew in. I met up with him and we went to The Jug for dinner. We ended up playing some trivia and then going to Charleys. Nothing too epic.

Tuesday

We worked the career fair. Talking to potential candidates and explaining that we don't take interns and we do not sponsor visas. It was a lot of standing and talking, but overall wasn't bad. That night I went out to Grizzly Peak with a friend and then met up with a guy who was also in town recruiting. We drank a few rounds, but I had to get back to the hotel early (1 am) because I had interviews the next day.

Wednesday

We spent most of the day conducting interviews. I did college recruiting last year and enjoyed it. Going from the interviewee to the interviewer is really interesting. Getting to ask good questions and seeing how the people respond is great. Also, as a note to my large undergraduate readership: GPA isn't as important as you think it is. Being personable, interested and eager go farther than a few points on the 4.0 scale. I took my manager to Za's for lunch, where no other than Rashad himself was working. It's like even after I leave I still have connections.

That night we went back to Pizza House for dinner before meeting up with my friends at Charley's. We started doing rounds off the Charley's shooters list and got really, really drunk. It was just like the old times, a few of the faces were different but the result was the same.

Today I flew home after a mammoth trip, and now I counting down the 15 days until I go back to A2 for the Iowa game.

LOL

There is a lot to lol at today.

LoL @ me texting stadium staff "I'm afraid I might poop myself".

LoL @ Al in a Bear Suit on national TV.

LoL @ my first hate comments on my blog. I guess this means I've made it in the world of blogging. Next, I need to start a flame war with some Tally Hall fans.

LoL @ our tailgate being considered with the frats as the best tailgate, by a blog that I openly hate.

Back to the Heartland

Yesterday morning I got back from a weekend trip to Iowa City for the Iowa - Iowa State game. It was my 5th trip in the past year and a half. I went with Mark, Mike and John. We drove 18 hours for what boiled down to a 36 hour bender. Since people are never impressed with how much others claim to have drank, I will instead impress you with the amount of trash food that I ate.

We left Friday at noon, but left Mike P. in Ann Arbor to to finish a lab report. He ended up driving out solo later that day. I brought 2 Michigan shirts and one Iowa shirt. Along the way I got a few Whopper Jr's, O-Rings and Beef Jerky. We got there at five and started drinking at 5:10. We went out to dinner with Mark's parents, I had a dozen wings a few beers and a side of 'slaw. Then we went back to Mark's gf, Val's apartment where we continued to drink. Staying there with the 4 of us was Val's little brother and Val's roommate's friend from Iowa State. We kept drinking and then we hit the town. As per every Iowa post I must comment about the gnarliness of Iowa City's bar scene. A 3 by 3 block area with about 30 very large bars within it.

Saturday morning we woke up at 7 to tailgate. I ditched the guys and went with Val and her roommate to a true Iowa tailgate. Once you get a few blocks from the stadium the cops stop enforcing the open intoxicant laws. The tailgate was pretty good, but it is such a culture shock to have to pay 5$ to go to a tailgate. The coolest thing there was a paint can that had a gallon of mojito in it. I really hope they cleaned the paint out of it first. Maybe it was because I was still drunk, or maybe it was because I have been to Iowa enough, but I seemed to know about half of the people there. After awhile I went to Mark's parents tailgate because I had gotten a little too drunk at the other one. I scarfed down some brownies and eggs and washed it all down with a few Michelob Ultra's (the cans are ribbed for your pleasure).

The game was utterly boring. I stayed for the first quarter plus some. It was raining and I was about to crash for the past 7 hours of driving, 14 hours of drinking and 4 hours of sleeping. I went back to pass out for the rest of the game and on the way bought a porkburger for 1$. The power nap worked out really well because I was refreshed for the start of the Michigan-ND game at 2:30. We went to my favorite bar in IC, The Fieldhouse, to watch the Michigan game. While the game was depressing, I did get to preform the first original telling of the never released, best blog post ever. After the game we went back to Val's to watch Legally Blonde 1 & 2, and selected parts of Bring It On Again. We ordered Gumby's Pizza which is terrible, terrible food. It was about this time that the heartburn started to kick in. Also the farts. I put my ass literally on marks face and ripped one. He then punched me really hard in the hip (the hip?) which still hurts. I guess everyone else was too exhausted from the past 24 hours of drinking to go out. Except John, because we went out big. We met up with Val's very cute roommate McKaylee (I like that name) and some of her friends at one of the bars. We had a rackin' time out at the bars and didn't make it back until way late. I slept on the floor and am pretty sure that Mark got me back for that fart earlier, because when I woke up I had pink eye. The contents of my stomach at that point were so violate that I almost refused a IHOP trip. I went anyway but only got the carafe of cranberry juice and the fruit salad.

We left IC around 2 pm which was 4 hours after Mike and John had left to go home. Due to flooding from Hurricane Ike, I-94 was closed in Indiana. Right as we were entering the traffic backup, Mike and John were getting out of it, and despite leaving 4 hours before us, they were only 25 miles ahead of us. But it also took us about 4 hours (plus another 2 Whopper Jr's) to get through it and we didn't make it home until 1:30 AM. Since I pissed off my boss a few weeks back, I of course had to work Monday morning at 5:30. Which was nice.

The entire trip to was an excercise in novelty, and I can confidently say that for the roughly 2 days I was there my BAC probably didn't drop below .06. Also I've only averaged 4.5 hours a sleep for each of the past 3 nights. I have pink eye, my hip hurts, I have a cold, I am 150$ poorer and twice as likely to die before the age of 65. I can't wait till my next trip out to Iowa City.

BOX house, were big in Print Media

Well its a football Saturday and I don't have much time to blog because its in the middle of a tailgate. Bit I need to get this out of the way so I can blog about better things tomorrow (such as the drinking game I made up today).

Yesterday a picture of BOX made the front cover of the Daily. It was pretty cool. Vickery, Warlick, and Al were easy to distinguish. They were talking about corporate sponsorship of tailgates. They failed to mention Miller Light, Monster, Voodoo Night Club (F'ing Canadia), and AXE body spray. You can see the article and picture here.

We're really cool. Please date me.