CHICAGO — Street merchants lined up along Waveland Avenue behind Wrigley Field’s left-field bleachers, selling navy-colored sweatshirts with an outline of the iconic baseball venue accompanied by a maize-colored block “M.”
Michigan fans scooped up the attire in waves early Saturday morning, and many kept walking toward Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff” set, constructed where Waveland intersects with Sheffield Avenue. They packed the blocked-off streets, filled the rooftops of legendary sports bar Murphy’s Bleachers, booed former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer and took pictures in front of longtime Cubs play-by-play man Harry Caray’s statue — all before 10 a.m. After a last-second 24-22 win against Northwestern, fans left Wrigley chanting, “It’s great … to be … a Michigan Wolverine.”
“Michigan football is very rich with tradition, and obviously the Cubs, same thing,” said Matthew Miller, a Wolverines fan from Dayton, Ohio. “And they’re combining on a beautiful fall Saturday. That’s what we live for.”
“This has been a bucket list to come to Wrigley Field,” said Sean Elliott, who hails from Belleville, Mich. “I’ll say this: I’m a huge football fan, but I grew up as a baseball fan first. This is the legendary place for me.”
The Wolverines played Northwestern at Wrigley Field on a day Norman Rockwell couldn’t have painted more vividly. It was 66 degrees with a slight breeze — by Chicago standards — blowing out to right field, where Michigan kicker Dominic Zvada connected on a game-winning 31-yard field goal as time expired. There was no cloud cover, the famed ivy on the outfield wall was brown and crisp, trees still held on to a few leaves and Lake Michigan was visible from Wrigley’s upper deck.
For most of the Big Ten’s old guard, Chicago serves as the conference’s capital. Alums graduate from neighboring states and take jobs in the Windy City. When their alma maters play Northwestern in Evanston, they drive up the North Shore and bring a vocal visiting presence to Wildcats games. But when Northwestern shifts its home games to Wrigley, as the school is doing twice this month while completing construction on the new Ryan Field, it becomes a communal experience that belongs to everybody. On Saturday, it was Michigan’s turn, and the fans ate it up.
Fans in maize and blue significantly outnumbered those of the home team on the streets and in the stands. Ten minutes before kickoff, Wolverines fans belted out “The Victors” in unison without Michigan’s band in attendance. Later in the first quarter, they sang along with “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers, which has turned into a Big House tradition between the third and fourth quarters. The celebratory vibe throughout Wrigleyville continued throughout the game.
Melissa Kirkey and her friend Brandy Soloranzo flew in from Georgia. It was their “one-a-year game.”
“Instead of the Big House, we’re doing this one,” Kirkey said. “I’m a huge Michigan fan. My mom graduated from there, and so I was raised to bleed maize and blue. It’s my first time in Chicago. We’re in Big Ten country.”
There were split-allegiance families like Northwestern graduates Bill and Peggy Marte, whose sons, Peter and Steve, are Michigan alums. Bill Marte wore a hat with logos from both schools, while Peggy stuck with purple attire.
“We win today either way,” she said.
The statue of Harry Caray was a popular attraction for Michigan fans on hand for Saturday’s game. (Scott Dochterman for The Athletic)
The festive mood belied the friction between the University of Michigan and the Big Ten, an off-field confrontation that became even more public within the last week. The league has reached an agreement with UC Investments to secure a $2.4 billion investment that would be distributed among its 18 members. Michigan is in line to receive about $190 million as part of the top tier of Big Ten recipients. But without a president, the university’s board of trustees has made clear its dissatisfaction with the deal, including the 10-year extension of the Big Ten’s grant of rights the conference is pushing all members to approve, keeping the league together through 2046. The rhetoric has ramped up considerably, as The Athletic reported this week.
“I appreciate that many people say we’re stronger together as a conference to navigate the storm we’re in. I’m not sure that’s true,” Mark Bernstein, chairman of the Michigan board of regents, said this week. “The extension of rights, which is a critically important part of this deal, in this environment feels reckless.”
Michigan fans stand behind the university and still harbor resentment over the conference-imposed penalties from the sign-stealing scheme perpetrated by staffer Connor Stalions under former coach Jim Harbaugh. The scandal has led to a suspension for coach Sherrone Moore, a multiyear show-cause penalty for Harbaugh — who now coaches the Los Angeles Chargers — and an NCAA-imposed $30 million department fine.
“No matter what people will say, Michigan is the brand behind the Big Ten,” Elliott said. “Ohio State is up there, but without Michigan, you lose the credibility. And if Michigan walks away, it’s going to hurt the Big Ten.”
“Free Harbaugh all day,” Kirkey said.
But the prevailing mood in Wrigleyville made the Big Ten-Michigan saga feel like a footnote. Nobody wants a divorce. Michigan became a charter conference member in 1895, withdrew in 1908 and then rejoined in 1917. Michigan’s culture is embedded so deeply in the Big Ten’s reputation as the oldest, most prestigious athletic-academic conference that to extract the school at any point beyond 2036, when the current grant of rights runs out, would lessen both entities.
“We’re just too rich with tradition,” Miller said. “I mean, 100-plus years of Michigan football in the Big Ten.”
Miller, Elliott and Jeff Dorfmeister from Toledo, Ohio, built a friendship sitting next to each other in the Big House. When Northwestern announced it would play Michigan at Wrigley Field, they decided to attend the game together, along with Elliott’s son, Seth.
Michigan alum Ben Vaughn, who lives in the Chicago suburb of Libertyville, was decked out with a maize-colored bucket hat, a Michigan scarf and sweater, coupled with a block “M” chain. Vaughn walked up and down Waveland holding a drawing of the Blues Brothers that read “Go Blue!” To Vaughn, Chicago is just as much Michigan as any city within its borders.
Ben Vaughn was among the many Michigan alums who didn’t have to travel far for Saturday’s game. (Scott Dochterman for The Athletic)
“Chicago’s almost right next to Michigan,” Vaughn said. “It’s like the big city of Michigan, bigger than Detroit. More important than Detroit, maybe, for Michigan fans.
“There’s so many people that are Michigan alumni here. You can’t go 10 feet or whatever without running into a fellow Michigan alumni.”
Chicago. Michigan football. Wrigley Field. The Big Ten Conference. It was the first and only time all four would intersect, yet it was as perfect a fit as the skyline hugging the North Side and as pristine as the old scoreboard overlooking center field. Somewhere, there’s a “W” flag for that — no matter the shade of blue.
