My Game Day at Michigan Stadium
9/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Josh Borson - Head Manager for Michigan football
Game day starts around 6 a.m. I'm in charge of waking up all the players at 7 a.m. I knock on doors and go into their rooms to make sure they get up. I've learned that some players are heavy sleepers, but usually the seniors are already awake and taped up at breakfast. In my four years, I've seen some players who have some interesting sleeping habits. After the wake-up routine, we have the pregame meal, usually around 8 a.m. and meetings following shortly thereafter. I usually sit tight in the hospitality room after the meetings and wait for the buses to leave. Then it's on to the Victors Walk.
I like the Victors Walk a lot. It's a great addition and it gets the fans here early and the players ready to go.
I was selected as head manager through an application and interview process. There are 20 managers under me. Once we arrive at the stadium, I make sure the sidelines are set up, the benches are in the right places and the kicking nets are up. I also make sure the players have footballs and the managers are in their positions and ready to go for the pregame walkthrough.
During the game, I shadow Coach Rodriguez. If he needs a player, I'll go get him. I'm basically Coach Rod's concierge for the duration of the game. Whatever he needs, I get.
Other managers do a variety of tasks. They script plays, handle personnel, hold helmets, answer the phones to the press box and stand on the sidelines in case anything happens. If anything's needed, they're there.
After the game, we do a quick cleanup of the sidelines and make sure everything is brought into the equipment room. Once we're done, I generally like to take a nap. It's a pretty long day for me, but if there's a good college football game on TV, I like to catch the end of it.
Being a manager is very rewarding. The Capital One Bowl was the greatest day of my life. Being in the locker room after that win was a great experience.
Keith McKendry - Owner of Mr. Spots
My game day starts at 4 a.m. on Saturday morning. I'll get to Michigan Stadium by 5 a.m. to turn on the steamers and grills and we start cooking at 5:30 a.m. for a noon kickoff. My partner Tim gets to the restaurant on State Street at 7 a.m. to open the doors at 9 a.m.
This year is unique because of the construction at the Big House. We are allowed to go into the stadium on Thursday evenings and we have until Friday night to bring our product in. Our steak and chicken is put into refrigerators on Thursday and we bring about 450 pounds of onions to the stadium on Friday, which we prep the day before. We have a charity group called Belleville Bands that serves at our stands and they bring 40 people to each game. We have three of our cooks manning the grills at three stands around the stadium. I am at the stadium all day but I don't catch any of the game because we're so busy. Our most popular item is our cheesesteaks, but we also sell a lot of chicken Phillies and nachos.
After a long day, I'll leave the stadium around 7 p.m. and go to the restaurant and help out. Hopefully I get home at 9 p.m., grab a cold one and watch the highlights on TV. On Sunday morning, I'll wake up at 6 a.m. to get all our tents out of the stadium by that night.
My Game Day:Monday
