Merry Uber Christmas

Blogger Babe and Friend of SYLG Uber is requesting Best Christmas Memories to post over at her place. The following is my story.

How I Became A Michigan Wolverines Fan

Since I was a little gunfighter, every Christmas at Casa de Earp included great presents (read: toys) and okay presents (read: clothes). Ma and Pa Earp were pretty adept at keeping the great presents pile taller, and almost always chose our gifts wisely. Sometimes, though, my brother and I had issues (read: fights) over who received which gift. When I was in grade school, I always wanted the Millennium Falcon for my Star Wars action figures. My brother ended up getting it, while I got the Death Star. I was not amused.

A year or so later, my brother and I were opening gifts from the okay pile, when we simultaneously unwrapped a pair of sweatpants. My brother is taller than me, and we wore about the same size at the time, despite the three year age difference. My brother opened his box and saw a pair of blue sweatpants with “Michigan” written down the side of one leg in yellow. I opened a box and saw a pair of green sweatpants with “Notre Dame” written down the side of one leg in gold. Although I was a pre-teen, I knew enough that Notre Dame sucks. There was no way in hell I was ever going to wear these pants. I didn’t want to disappoint my parents, so my brother and I played Monty Hall.

I turned to him and said, “These are the same size. Would you mind taking these off my hands?” Thankfully, he said it wouldn’t be a problem, and right there in the living room, in front of our parents who spent their time and energy picking out these pants, we swapped gifts. I started following Michigan football ever since.