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Hail to the Victors!
posted on 11/16/2007
They call it the "Border Battle" around here. One of the biggest rivalries in all of College football…The Ohio State/Michigan game. The BIG game is tomorrow in Ann Arbor, about 45 minutes north from where we live in Ohio. This year we will just be watching from home, although Erik (and his parents) took me to my first Ohio State/Michigan game in Ann Arbor several years ago and I will never forget how exciting it was. I had been to Michigan games before with 100,000+ screaming fans…but never the BIG game. You see, I bleed Maize & Blue. I always have and I always will. I grew up in a small town just over the state line into Michigan. Being so close to the border of both states, everyone you met was either a diehard ”Go Blue” or “Go Bucks” fan. There is decidedly no in between. And total disdain for the “other” team is absolutely expected. Ours was a “Go Blue” household for as long as I can remember. I’ve actually only dated other Michigan fans in my life and you’d better believe “Michigan or Ohio State?” was one of the top 5 questions I asked Erik mere minutes after we first met. Thank God he enthusiastically replied, “I despise the Buckeyes.” Whew…that might have been a deal breaker!! Even though Erik grew up in Philly and went to school at the University of Arizona, one of his roommates was a Michigan fan and Erik, in turn, grew to love the Wolverines as well. Even more so as he moved to Ohio for his job and realized for himself what a nutty bunch those Buckeye fans can be!! We love everything about the University of Michigan. Ann Arbor is a very cool little town with tons of great restaurants, art galleries, bookstores and other shopping. The UM campus is amazing – the surrounding residential areas, just gorgeous. I had several friends from high school that went on to attend Michigan, a few of them even walking on to play football for the Maize & Blue. Another girl from our high school went on to be a phenomenal gymnast at UM. I know the UM baseball coach, Rich Maloney – a wonderful Christian man who spoke at one of our events when I worked for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Two young girls I knew from church growing up are currently kicking butt on the UM volleyball team right now. The University of Michigan is our team – and “Hail to the Victors” our battle cry. What is amazing to me is how you can love a University for your whole life…and then something happens that causes you to love it for so many other reasons as well. When I used to see the big block M, I would think of football, friends and fun. Now when I see that M, I think of all of the hands that tenderly cared for my little girl as she was transferred to the UM Children’s hospital just days after her birth. I think of the kind hearts of the NICU staff & the wonderful Doctors who carefully explained Ella’s condition to us in words we could understand. I think of the one resident named “Rock” who sat with us that night and broke the news that Ella’s brain was not damaged, she was not deaf, and she would not suffer from heart or kidney problems. Talk about an answer to prayer! I think of the UM Genetics team who are hard at work right now studying my family pedigree to try and determine what gene is regulating the eye development. When I see that block M, I now think of Ella’s Ocularist at the Kellogg Eye Center on campus, who has since become a great friend to our family. I think of the many hours he spent hand painting her prosthetic eyes, using the perfect combination of blues and greens, just like we had requested. I think of the Ocular Plastic Surgeon that performed Ella’s surgery to remove her cyst, and fact that she still tries to come and visit with us, each and every time we are at Kellogg. As I said before, we love everything about the University of Michigan. And whether UM or Ohio State wins the BIG game tomorrow…Michigan will continue to be the Champions in our hearts. On the football field…in the operating room…in the prosthetics lab. To our family, “Hail to the Victors – The Leaders and Best” has taken on a whole new meaning.
GO BLUE!!
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Ella Elizabeth & Chase Gregory 
Last Updated: 10/03/2009