Fans On The Field!!

My old high school classmate Bob has a souvenir of a big football win from when he attended Michigan State University as a student over 25 years ago.

It was the year that MSU toppled Ohio State, a victory as unlikely a quarter century ago as it is now. After the final gun sounded, Bob said "see ya later" to his girlfriend and charged the field to celebrate.

During the raucous post-game revelries, the goal posts came down in Spartan stadium. Bob and others walked out carrying a large piece of history, later cut into smaller pieces for each of them to cherish.

I thought about that while I attended a University of Michigan football game this past week in Ann Arbor. Late in the game, I walked from section to section, taking pictures as The Big House is soon to be renovated. At each entrance to the stadium, I noticed that police had joined the ushers.

Any spectator now passing through any of the 44 section entrances passed by at least one officer, it seemed. Why were they there now? They weren't there before. To keep the fans off the field when the game ended would be my guess.

When our local high school team won a big see-saw football game that went right down to the last play, their fellow student fans charged the field to embrace their heroes. There's nothing like watching the collective spirit of our sons and daughters cheering together in a unique display of school pride.

But I read in the newspaper this week that one local football league has banned fans from the field, period, after one particularly successful football team made a point to routinely invite their fans into the on-field, post-game huddle. And the fans obey the new rule, standing behind a chain link fence now as their team huddles after the game.

We're becoming a nation of sheep, I fear. We pay taxes, obey the laws, leash our dogs, tolerate spam, put up with crooked politicans and greedy oil companies, watch our savings dwindle with the high price of health care and prescription drugs . . . where will it end?

I envy Bob his trophy. Some day I hope I have the courage to celebrate some personal victory in a way that I'll remember the rest of my life, legal or not. But Bob also needs to be careful with his partisanship. If he needles my University of Michigan boosterism too much, I'll rat him out to the authorities at Michigan State.