Ah yes, summertime is dwindling down, and autumn is upon us.

The Tigers are recovering from a 5-game losing streak by beating up on Sox of a different color. Last night, Bonderman, Ledezma, Rodney, and Jones combined to allow just two runs, then went out and beat up some smaaart kids at a Haaavard Bar. Might have lost Placido in the process though...

Things are in full fall swing at Camp Shembechler, and if you don't know Terrance Taylor, you will soon enough. Meanwhile, Michigan is going from crap to underrated to dark horse to everybody's secret pick so fast that the AP might have us in the top-10. How can we surprise anyone if everybody knows we are coming? Sports Illustrated online featured us, and Sportcenter's Championship Series just showed us moving up to #8 after knocking off Notre Dame. They do a week from the season each day at 6pm on Sportscenter, and I've got this funny feeling they're going to ride us out as long as possible, pissing off the football powers that be at every step.

But alas, today is not about today, it's about yesterday. It's Way Back When-sday, and today we travel back to one of the early tailgates in UMTailgate.com history...

It was September 29th, 2001, and just to put into perspective how long ago that is, Michigan was about to face Illinois...and Illinois was ranked #22. Crazier still, we had not knocked off the Illini in the Big house since 1996. Wow.

Michigan put a hurting on Illinois on this day, winning 45-20. It came at the hands of unbelievably creative playcalling, which included a 51-yard pass from Marquise Walker TO Jermaine Gonzalez, and a 21-yard touchdown pass by Walter Cross. Yes, you just read that correctly. Maybe it would be more believable if I told you that our regular QB was John Navarre? The day also included a completion from Navarre to TE Bill Seymour, and a reverse for a touchdown by Calvin Bell. Christ, how did we win any games that year? Well, we did get crushed in the Citrus Bowl by Tennessee 45-17.

But the game was not the big story. Captain Michigan retired his leg wrestling championship belt on this day, and became the first person inducted into the UMTailgate.com Hall of Fame. His name was etched into history on the UMTailgate.com flag, which was unveiled by Bubba for the first time in front of a capacity tailgate crowd.

See the original post here, the pictures here, and share your memories of this special day below.

Scheduling note: Michigan Fan Day has been officially scheduled for August 26th.

17 days? You're not ready.