Have you ever been to the largest football stadium in the United States? I have, the Michigan football stadium, holds over 100,000 fans, is the most for any football stadium in the U.S. I always wanted to go to the Big House (as it’s commonly called) to watch the biggest rivalry in college football and I got my chance on one day in November.

One breezy November night in 2003, my dad handed me an envelope during dinner and told me to open it. As I was tearing away at the envelope the first thing I recognized was two football tickets. At first I didn’t know what game or for which team, but then at the top I saw U of M vs. OSU. My birthday was a couple of days away; the same day as the game. I told my dad that this was going to be one of the best birthdays I ever had. That night I could not sleep at all, all that I could think about was walking into the stadium and seeing the crowd of maze and blue cheering.

The next morning, my dad came rushing through my door into my bedroom singing the Michigan fight song at the top of his lungs. He told me to wake up because we were leaving in thirty minutes. I quickly put on my number 23 Michigan jersey and got ready. As we pulled out of the driveway it was cold and the sun was just rising; but and I could tell it was going to be a great day for a football game.

The drive there felt like I was driving to Florida. It seemed to take forever. Once we finally got off the highway, I saw the greatest sight I saw in my life. We parked the car, got our tickets and headed for the Big House. As we were walking in, I heard the sound of a band. We followed the marching band along with hundreds of other U of M fans, into the stadium.

My dad and I got to our seats in the corner of the end zone, about 10 rows up, right before the kick off. My favorite player on the Michigan football team was number 23, Chris Perry. He played great throughout the game with two rushing touchdowns, the second one to put the game away. When the buzzer sounded at the end of the fourth quarter the Michigan fans cheered the loudest I have heard them cheer in my life.

After the game my dad said that he had a surprise for me. We walked out the back of stadium and there were a lot of Michigan fans standing behind a gate. I asked my dad why everyone was just standing there doing nothing. He told me to wait a couple of minutes, it would be worth it. We waited and all of a sudden the fans started cheering, I realized that the players were coming out of the stadium. Due to the fact that I was wearing his jersey, Chris Perry walked right up to me! My dad handed me a sharpie and he signed my jersey, along with other players.

As we walked to our car and began the drive home, I told my dad this was the best birthday that I could have. Once we reached our house I ran inside and told my mom all about that game and the autographs I had gotten. That night I couldn’t sleep, all I could think about was the game and couldn’t wait until next year when Michigan plays Ohio State