Spirituality & Sports

dannienm
Oct 10, 2024
8 min read

Updated: Oct 23, 2024

Saturday, September 28th was one of my best days of the year, the last 5 years, my life?! I had this intense desire to go to the Michigan football game. I wanted to be there so badly, but I wasn't sure why. I hadn’t been to a Michigan game in fifteen years, but for some reason I was drawn to the game.

I had the opportunity to go in 2022 when I was in town for Mimi's "celebration of life" services, but opted out. I loved being at the tailgate, but didn’t feel drawn to attend the actual game, and preferred staying home with my dog. Over the last 3-4 years, I have been incredibly committed to my spiritual journey, and have therefore been pushing sports down pretty significantly. I had read a lot about the dangers of sports because they create an us vs. them mentality - if there's a "bad guy" or an enemy we can all agree upon, then there's opportunity for hate, anger and aggression. And, I definitely agree, and have experienced it myself.

In 2009, I tore tendons in my foot, rolling off a curb during Welcome Week my sophomore year at Michigan, and was in a temporary boot. I couldn't waitress at Buffalo Wild Wings, so my Dad took me to the Notre Dame game and we had a BLAST. Dad convinced me that it was perfectly fine to bring one crutch to the game but not two. Walking around, people kept stopping me to say, “you’re wearing the wrong boot and shouldn't be walking without the medically correct one.” Where was I going to get a non-temporary boot at the Big House? So, I survived cheering the Wolverines on to victory in a temporary boot, making positive long-lasting memories with my Dad.

And, that was the last time I attended a Michigan football game, fifteen years ago.

Even though I had this strong desire to attend the 2024 Minnesota home game (the 99th competition for the Brown Jug), it wasn't easily lining up… I wanted to go to the game with my dad’s best friend from college, a season ticket holder, but he wasn’t going to be in town. He and his wife are so amazing, super fun, and I happen to be named after him (Dan-O). Plus, the String Cheese Incident was playing the night before in Cleveland and that's where many friends would be, meaning of course, amazing music and a chance to dance my heart out! Most deterring for me though, was that I couldn't find anyone to go with me.

THE Brown Jug!! In person!!

Despite the seemingly difficult circumstances, my gut was still telling me to go to the game. Once I said, "yep - I'm going" everything just fell into place. Dan-O wasn't going to be in town, but he did transfer me his tickets… which was an incredible gift - for reasons I didn't even realize yet. Boom - two tickets in my Apple wallet! When I woke up the morning of the game, in the loving home of my very dear friends who I met in college (who were in Cleveland for SCI), I was absolutely stoked for the 99th Brown Jug Championship game.

I did my normal morning routine:

Enjoyed my coffee / cocoa powder French press
Wrote out my affirmations
Took the dogs for a short walk

Then, I headed out for the game. At first, I wasn't quite sure how I'd get to the stadium, but when I pulled up the map, I realized the tailgate was only 1.5 miles from me! Mind you, I didn't know anyone at the tailgate… my brother sent me to Dan-O's tailgate. Only a 35 minute walk? To one of the busiest areas that can be hard to get to? Perfect! I'll walk! And, it was a beautiful rainy walk.

By the time I found the tailgate I was soaked, and instantly regretted not wearing my hiking boots. I just kind of told myself, "this is going to be a rainy wet day - you're just going to be wet - deal with it." I started introducing myself to some of the guys there as the "I have Dan-O's tickets, oh and I'm named after him" girl. They all looked at me kind of funny… then I realized I could probably introduce myself as Eric Miller's daughter…. Since I'm also that. And that solved their puzzled looks. They were so excited!

Tailgate photos!

Apparently I had met one of them while I was only 2 years old! He was so excited to share stories about me as a baby. Also, while Dad was a senior he hazed the crap out of one of them, but it benefitted me because I got a beer out of it. I drank my beer, caught up with them, tried to convince ANYONE to come with me and use the extra ticket I had… nope. Oh, well - I'm headed to the Big House - ALL BY MYSELF!!!!

Walking in was so easy, since they have a strict no bag rule. Once I got my ticket scanned, I looked to see what section I was in. Before college, I had gone to 1-3 games every football season since I was about 2 years old. I can find any section - I can almost picture where they are in my head based off my Grandpa's season tickets in section 19. But, I had no fucking clue where this section was… 418E….? What? I ended up going to the information booth to ask for directions to find my section. "You see this tower here?" I turned around and saw the tower - I nodded. "This is the west tower, you want to go to the east one." "Will I pass a bathroom on the way?" "I'd go to the bathroom in the club." … Excuse me, club?

I found the East tower, showed my ticket to the person at the base of the tower and was ushered up the elevator to the 4th floor. A second employee scanned my ticket when I got upstairs and then I realized I had just walked into one of those Heaven-on-Earth situations. Plushy padded seats, covered from the nonstop rain, cup holders, seat backs, what? This isn't a cold hard bench! I'm not constantly wet! There are private bathrooms and concessions! Am I a Queen right now? Where am I? Who am I?

So dry... so happy... feeling like a Queen!

I ended up leaving my seat pretty quickly and found the funnest-seeming people nearby: An awesome woman named Crystal who was sitting next to her son, her son's stepmom / ex-husband's wife, and her very soon-to-be husband. They were a blast. Her son had graduated in 2024 and was working in finance in Chicago. He was in the front row at a lot of games last year. I had the best time - watching the game, the dancers, the cheerleaders, the band, the people, chatting with Crystal, and my other neighbors. So many big easy smiles. There was so much fun, amazing energy to soak in. Crystal was also cracking me up. We were trying so hard to get on the big screen, to no avail. I made a comment, "they won't show us! We're dry - they don't want all these soaking wet cold people to see how dry we are!" Then, she says "dry lives matter!" 😂

Hail to the Victors! GO BLUE!

Being a lifelong college football fan, I’ve seen a lot of projected hate that is incredibly low-vibe, harmful, and not okay. I have even experienced personal attacks of hate. During middle school, I was obviously a Michigan fan, but living in Columbus, OH. I had students spit on me, throw things at me, and was forced to sit in a corner listening to the OSU marching band CD during class - all while I was only 12-14 years old! After reading various spiritual books and articles (A New Earth stands out the most) about the dangers of splitting us all into groups that have reasons to hate each other, I really stopped paying attention or caring about any sporting event.

But, again - for some inexplicable reason, I was called to this game. Something deep inside me told me I needed to be there. And I experienced exceptionally high vibrational emotions. There was a true sense of community, friendship, and unity between the fans. We all shared the same love for Michigan football and all of the long-standing traditions. It really was magical. I could certainly do without the booing, especially when the other team came running out at the beginning of the game. There were some awesome Minnesota fans I talked to - I am (almost) always kind to strangers. It made me realize that if sports fans can lean into the positivity and connection between their own fans, but ignore the fact that there's even an opponent to hate, that would change spiritual leaders’ arguments about why sports can be detrimental.

Also, feeling sad, angry, disappointed, upset, or any other low vibrational emotion if "your" team loses the game is to be avoided. To let the outcome of people running around a field dictate your happiness is an interesting choice. Frankly, I'd recommend a different one.

Imagine if everyone could leave the stadium having just had so much fun! Wouldn't that be a good thing for humanity? Isn't that something we'd all benefit from? The game I went to had over 110,000 people attending. Imagine if every single person there left with a smile and joy, it would multiply so quickly! If going to a sporting event could be high-vibrational for everyone I actually think sports and spirituality can go hand-in-hand. It takes a conscious effort from the people there. Thankfully, those are the kind of people I was surrounded by. Even down to the onside kick in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, spirits remained high. It was fun every second; it never felt hurtful or unkind.

The game ended… Michigan won… and everyone left. I just sat in my seat bawling. Every time I heard myself sob, the noise made me laugh, and then I'd start cracking up! So I was having these laugh sobbing convulsions. SO. MUCH. BLISS. Truly, one of the biggest states of joy I've experienced. I was so happy, feeling all the emotions from the years of growing up at that stadium. Throughout my entire life, I've had so many magical experiences at the Big House. Core memories came rushing back, I could even feel other fans' memories and emotions. I experienced collegiate pride for the first time in well over a decade. So much raw energy was coursing through me.

Photo evidence of laugh sobbing.

As I was exiting the stadium, I heard the Michigan marching band and boogied my way around the giant stadium ring (on the inside) to see the band face-on for their final 4 songs. It was so fantastic. During the alumni song I started bawling again. It felt so good to experience such a fantastic release. All that pent up energy and tension needed to dissipate. And I felt so good - so much gratitude, so much happiness.

I did this for me. I went to the game because I wanted to - that's where I was being called to. Not only did I have so much fun, experienced so much pride, and so much joy (especially because Michigan did win!) - but I had a big epiphany about how sports and spirituality can go together. Since the game, I've been paying more attention to college football, the NFL, and playoff baseball. If you're a fan of sports, are you able to stay high vibrational during the games? Is it FUN? Are you ever stressed, angry, upset, or full of hate? I encourage all of us to dig deep and work on eliminating associating those feelings with sports or for the "other" team. Instead, if we can remain positive, hopeful, and happy during the games, then we can really spread a lot of joy and love - one of my biggest lifelong goals.