This past weekend I visited Ann Arbor for the first time in three and a half years. The last visit there involved a car ride from Chicago to see Michigan take on Michigan State in 2012. Michigan won, 12-10, its first defeat of the Spartans since 2007, my first year at Michigan. All I remember about that 2012 game -- a largely forgettable one if it weren't for the teams involved -- is field goals and a defense that held.
Of course, things have changed a lot since then. Things have changed a lot in Ann Arbor, generally, since I graduated.
I returned this past weekend to find a Walgreens where Book and Supply once stood. Like Shaman Drum -- or as my mind remembers it, the Hottest Place on Earth -- Book and Supply is a place that now only exists in the pages of my memory. That, and an old wallet, which I lost a while back ... and with it, somehow, my old Book and Supply card.
A pizza place now sits at that corner of State and Packard, across from Bell's, a location with more turnover than the Michigan offense in 2008 at Notre Dame, a spot that that has seen Packard Pub, then R.U.B. BBQ Pub, and, now, Happy's Pizza come through.
Middle Earth, a store I walked by probably hundreds of time, closed its doors.
Blimpy Burger is no longer in the endearingly low-key spot it was before on Division -- I've yet to frequent the new spot. I hope they're still rude.
Ocker Field on State Street has gotten quite the makeover; an Astroturf sea of blue, calm southern Ann Arbor waters.
Also, this, which I hadn't seen in person until Saturday, on a morning run around town.
Bo, headset in hand, in front of the building bearing his name.
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