In the past semester I have attended two live athletic sporting events: a University of Michigan soccer game against a top-ranked Notre Dame and a high-school Catholic league championship between Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice and Orchard Lake Saint Mary’s. Both events turned out to be great matches.
The University of Michigan soccer team preparing for their match.
Source- http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/mich/sports/m-soccer/auto_responsive_bsi/10409803.jpeg
The Michigan and Notre Dame soccer game was a thrilling match which led to a 3-2 Michigan upset. Also, the Brother Rice and St. Mary’s game was concluded by a 2 minute final drive for the comeback win by Brother Rice. Upon reading Where are the Jocks for Justice by Kelly Candaele and Peter Dreier, I was stuck with the idea of athletes speaking up. In this reading, Candaele and Dreier go into the idea of speaking up about issues in our world. It is a very controversial idea because many athletes have contracts with companies that partake in questionable things such as Nike. This controversy seems similar to the controversy of Catholic league teams such as Brother Rice. Brother Rice is my alma mater and is small, Catholic school in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Bloomfield Hills is a very affluent community and is consistently ranked as one of the top 5 wealthiest cities in the United States. Bloomfield hills also is 89% caucasian. These statistics cause a lot of controversy when outsiders look at Brother Rice. Brother receives a lot of criticism from opposing schools when they see African-American athletes at Brother Rice. Brother Rice’s football team has been ranked in the top 25 many times in the past few years. Rice also produces many caucasian and African-American D-1 athletes. However, for some reason, many parents and outsiders whose sons do not attend Brother Rice always question the school for recruiting from inner Detroit. It is true, we do have students who travel from Detroit, and even a student from Canada, but in no way are these students treated differently. The students from Detroit may pay less due to their financial situations, but this is not something obscure at Rice. I was friends with many of the students from Detroit and they would become offended whenever they questioned about being ‘recruited’. However, none of these students would ever speak out about these issues because I believe that they felt it wasn’t their place to say anything. These atheletes were fully aware of the stigma attached to them but never did anything. Very similar to the athletes mentioned in Candaele and Dreier’s article.
My Father enjoying the Catholic League championship match at Ford Field
The next aspect that I want to bring up is keeping the tradition in University of Michigan sports. As said earlier, I attended the Notre Dame and Michigan soccer game this past semester. I was originally drawn to this match because one of my close friends from high school currently plays for Notre Dame. While watching the game, I was very impressed with the show that the U of M players put on for the students and the crowd. In the past, I have never really heard of many people going to soccer games, but this game had the stands packed and had a raging student section. This reminded me greatly of the show that the Michigan football team has been known for putting on in the past and the tradition that is associated with this great school. Edmund Burke in his Reflections On The Revolution In France, constantly hammers the idea of adherence to past traditions and cultures. I think the University of Michigan soccer team is living this idea greatly. I have played competitive soccer my whole life so I know firsthand the amount of exposure soccer teams receive. It is no lie that the football team has more fans and gets more attention when they have games. However, the soccer team does not let the idea of being a less popular sport affect their love for the traditions of Michigan. I truly thought the players were playing for more than themselves, they were playing for the University of Michigan. The ultimate proof of their love for the school was shown when they screamed the fight song, “Hail To The Victors”, at the end of their game following a massive upset against a top-ranked Notre Dame. It was a great event to be apart of and one of those times when I felt proud to attend this prestigious university.
Michigan fans showcasing their love for the school.
Source- http://photos.mycapture.com/DETN/1560405/44578431E.jpg
Touchdown Theory 
Like how you wrote about soccer, we need more attention on that pronto :) But in the context of this class and Burke, this seems to be a bit of a stretch left unexplored. A vast majority of this blog was about soccer which I enjoy immensely and try going to every match for, but I can’t really see much in-depth argument relating Burke’s ideas with Umich sports fervor. Were you arguing that the same Umich spirit is carried over to the soccer field from the football stadium? Spirit, isn’t really tradition in Burke’s sense -it is more the tradition of have great sports spirit. Overall, it seemed like Burke was just thrown in on the end to meet the context of this blog, I just wish you could’ve gone further in connecting Burke with Umich traditions at sports games. The Victor’s chant is a good one but I would love to see more :) Go Blue whoop whoop
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I do not really understand your comment. I thought it was pretty clear that I was showcasing how the Michigan soccer team carries on the tradition of having pride and spirit for your team. The Michigan football team is a storied program. They have been known for always filling up the Big House and any player can attest to the honor they have for playing for such a program. I was showing how that same kind of attitude was shown with the soccer team. I do not appreciate you saying that I just threw in something at the end of a blog, maybe you should reconsider your blogging etiquette.
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