"The reason I'm hooked on UM football"

The last few days have been absolutely hectic for me. And it's got nothing to do with school, work, my family and friends or my health.

Well, maybe my mental health.

Chaos has overcome me because I have been frantically searching for a way to watch the UM-Ohio State game tomorrow from here in Sydney (game time will be 7:30 a.m. Sunday morning).

I realized around Wednesday afternoon - while I was at my work desk, not doing work - that no bars show college football here. None. So my search became relegated to the Internet.

Finally, yesterday I bought a service that allows you to watch American TV on your computer, only to find out that ABC wasn't one of the channels. I could watch Fox News no problem (yeah, right), but when it came to ABC - one of America's most-watched stations - I was flat out of luck.

To finish off this short anecdote and get to the real point of this column, the website is going to post a way to watch ABC, so I should - emphasis on should - be able to watch The Game.

But I'm still holding my breath.

Unfortunately, Bo Schembechler, Michigan's legendary coach from 1969-1989, has no breaths remaining. Schembechler collapsed suddenly Friday morning after taping a television show (a preview of the game) and died of terminal heart failure.

It was an evil fate for the 77-year-old who, I'm sure, would have died happily had he stayed alive 36 more hours and witnessed a Michigan victory.

Schembechler is a big reason why I'm such a huge Michigan fan. If not for him, the last few days might have been normal for me. If not for him, I might not be worried about missing The Game.

Thanks to Bo, I have a strong passion for Michigan football which, in turn, has helped feed my overall marriage to sports.

Schembechler took over a program that had suffered an unheard-of six losing seasons in 11 years and had been to just one Rose Bowl in 19 years. Basically, he took the reigns of a Michigan program that had lost its identity. It was no longer among college football's elite.

Bo changed that. Right away.

In his first season he led the Wolverines to an 8-3 record - tied for first in the Big Ten - and a birth in the Rose Bowl. He would go on to either win or share the Big Ten title in 13 of his 21 seasons. He finished his coaching career at Michigan with an incredible .796 regular-season winning percentage and he took 17 teams to bowl games - an impressive feat, considering there were far less bowls back then.

Schembechler won seven Big Ten Coach of the Year awards and held a 194-48-5 record at Michigan.

He didn't win a national title and his teams struggled in bowls - going 5-12 and 2-8 in Rose Bowls - but he brought respect back to a drowning program.

And he beat Ohio State.

Bo's teams went 11-9-1 against the Buckeyes, including 5-4-1 when his nemesis - and friend - Woody Hayes led OSU.

By the time Bo stepped down from coaching in 1989, Michigan's program was no longer treading water, and I was becoming a fan.

When I moved to Spring Street in 1994, I was just a mile away from the Big House. My family never had tickets, but on Saturday afternoons I'd hop on my bike and ride down to the stadium to scalp tickets.

I've never made it to a UM-Ohio State game, but I'll never forget the Iowa game in 1997 – the year Michigan went undefeated and won the national title (the Wolverines "technically" shared it with Nebraska, which somehow got crowned in the coach's poll in the last pre-BCS year).

The mid-October clash with the Hawkeyes was Michigan's biggest scare of the season. Michigan trailed 21-7 at the half, but stormed back to grab the lead in the final minutes, and an interception by Sam Sword closed the deal.

I'll never forget that day, or many of the other afternoons I've spent in the Big House cheering on the Wolverines. I'll also never rue how every Sunday morning I'd wake up to check the “Ann Arbor News” sports section, carefully studying all of the top teams' results and schedules and trying to figure out how UM could make the championship game - even if it had one or two losses.

In the early '90s, right after Bo stopped coaching, I became a UM fan. And with the team's success each year, I've become an even bigger fan. Even after the 7-5 record last season, because of UM's tradition I knew this team could be special.

There aren't a lot of programs like that.

Bo won't be watching tomorrow. But thousands of die-hard Wolverines fans all over the world will be. Some are long-time fans - people who've been around since the Fritz Crisler and Benny Oosterbaan days, back before the team's pre-Bo struggles. Others hopped on the train during Bo's coaching days. And then there are fans like myself, who were too young to pay great attention when Bo was on the sideline, but became enamored with UM football soon afterward.

As long as there’s no more chaos, I'll be watching tomorrow afternoon, cheering on the Maize and Blue, but - simultaneously - also not forgetting why Michigan football is such a big part of my life.