Michigan football fans braved the soaring temperatures Saturday, standing in the snow along State Street, all to cheer on the university's new national champion team at a parade in Ann Arbor.
An estimated 50,000 students and fans stood along the parade route and outside the UM president's home on South University Avenue wearing hats, blue scarves and hats to protect them from the blustery and windy conditions.
The parade began at 4 p.m. outside the President's House and extended about three-quarters of a mile, ending in Schembechler Hall.
The Wolverines on Monday defeated the University of Washington Huskies 34-13 in the College Football Playoff national championship game in Houston to capture UM's first national title since 1997.
Similar to the 1997 team's parade (held in January 1998), fans braved the frigid conditions. A Detroit Free Press story of January 11, 1998 said that a crowd estimated at 100,000 or more “shrugged off temperatures in the mid-20s to cheer on the Wolverines as they made their way through downtown Ann Arbor and the heart of their campus.”
On Saturday, a crowd about half that size, according to an estimate provided by the University of Michigan Police Department, braved temperatures in the mid-20s but looked more like the single digits.
more:Michigan Football Championship Parade details: Where you should be on Saturday
After the show, fans were scheduled to meet the team for a celebration at 7 p.m. at the Chrysler Center indoor arena next to Michigan Stadium.
Here are some excerpts of what Free Press reporters and photographers saw along the parade route:
Fans want 'one more year' for coach Harbaugh
The crowd went crazy when head coach Jim Harbaugh arrived at the end of the show in a red fire truck. Fans took to the streets chanting “One more year.” Fans followed the truck as far as they could before it veered off State Street. -Christina Hall
Generations of Michigan fans celebrate the football players
Wynalda's family watched from Ann Arbor as the parade approached. Taylor, 30, and her husband, Mike, 31, met at the University of Michigan in 2014. He was a swimmer. They brought their 2-year-old daughter, Dawson, to the show.
They are here to celebrate the players.
“These student-athletes are very special,” Taylor said.
Her entire family is UM fans, as her grandparents met on campus in 1939, she said.
“We celebrate everyone,” Taylor said. “It's a team.” -Christina Hall
Thousands cheer and chant “Let's go blue!”
The parade kicked off with a semi-truck pulling a trailer bearing the Michigan logo, with a color guard and marching band behind it. Thousands cheered from the sidewalks along the road. Fans chanted “Let's Go Blue” and many cell phones were down as fans got photos and videos of the show. A few brought chairs but most were standing trying to get the best look. The back of the display, which lasted about 20 minutes, featured a red fire truck carrying Jim Harbaugh and the University of Michigan football players onto the bed of the truck. – J.C. Rendell and Christina Hall
Meanwhile… Harbaugh “thinks” he's interviewed with the LA Chargers
Before the show began, NFL.com reported that the architect of Michigan football's success, head coach Jim Harbaugh, was “believed” to interview with the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers next week. -Andrew Burkle
More about Harbaugh:Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh is reportedly scheduled to meet with the Los Angeles Chargers next week
Fans wear their lucky gear
Raafat Mustafa, 42 years old, from Dearborn Heights; His daughter Maya, 19, and son Nael, 11, stood near Schembechler Hall at the end of the parade route. Raafat Mustafa had one cornball on each side of his head under his hood. They were good luck balls from the University of Michigan vs. Ohio State University game that he said he attended with his sister.
“We don’t know how many more times we’re going to experience this atmosphere,” he said as a sea of maize-and-blue-clad fans lined the sidewalks. “We don't know when we will see a championship next. We want that experience.”
He said the last time he attended a show like this was when the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup. -Christina Hall
Fans, no matter the weather
Season ticket holders Jim and Sally Tamm, in their 60s from Ann Arbor, lined up along South University, where the show was scheduled to begin. They just got back from the national championship game in Houston.
When asked why they braved the cold to watch the team celebrate, Sally Tam said: “We were here in 1997 and saw the parade (in January 1998) and wanted to see it this year too.”
“It doesn't matter, we're not fans of fair weather,” her husband, Jim, said of the cold. -J.C. Rendell
“Ann Arbor is a frozen area!” Who is cooler than us? no one!'
Sarah Friedman, 38, of Ann Arbor, stood on State Street holding a yellow sign with blue letters that said: “Ann Arbor is freezing! Who's colder than us? Nobody!”
Friedman said she grew up on Dewey Street in Ann Arbor and immersed herself at the University of Michigan. She went to the last show in 1998 with her mother, Jane Dearing, a UM graduate.
When they lived in Dewey, she said she would sell donuts before football games and her brother would sell parking lots at their house.
“I've waited 26 years,” she said. “I watch every game. I'm really proud of this team.”
Wearing an “M” necklace, a mask and a Michigan hat, Friedman said she was excited, not cold, while waiting for the show to start. She said she arrived here around 2:30 p.m., and expected to see more people, as the sidewalk began to fill up.
“The extremists will come out,” she said. -Christina Hall
Some fans brave the cold, while others gear up (inside)
About an hour and a half before the show was scheduled to start, a few fans found spots near the start of the show at Southern University. Moises Rodriguez, 31, was shivering even though he was wearing many layers and was tucked under a blanket. Rodriguez left his home in Ottawa, Ohio, at 6 a.m. and his chair was set up outside at 10:30 a.m. Ten of his friends were supposed to join him but they all backed out due to the weather. However, for him, the cold weather and drive were a small price to pay for what the University of Michigan football team gave him and other fans.
“Let's hope people come,” Rodriguez said. “I hope we can pay them back.”
Vincent Jacobson, 22, wouldn't describe himself as a bigger Michigan football buddy than some of his friends, but he found a spot near a tree just off South University Avenue at 1 p.m. so he could get a good view of the club. procession.
“It's once in a lifetime,” Jacobson said.
In the few hours before the game, many fans seemed to have found a different, warmer place to congregate: The M Den, the official merchandise retailer of the Michigan Athletics on South State Street, where the checkout line begins on the second floor and weaves down the stairs and across Store to cash registers in front. -Adrian Roberts
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