Prepare to Enjoy College Football Game Better Than a Billionaire

Good morning, Fantastic Football Fans!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

Do you enjoy college football?

Do you like having new football watching experiences?

Are you able to travel on Saturdays?

If you answered "yes" to these questions, you've come to the right blog post.

Today, we'll look at how you can prepare to enjoy a college football game better than a billionaire. I'll share my preparations for this week's Michigan-Penn State game as a potential model for you.

On August 31, I wrote a blog post entitled Rah! Rah! Siss Boom Bah! -- Are You Ready for a Great College Football Season? See http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_31_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html

Item five on that post was a suggestion to go to a game for a top team you've never seen in person before. Soon thereafter, Kevin Hill who is in my Mastermind Group from Jack Canfield's Breakthrough to Success seminar invited me to visit him in Ann Arbor to take in a University of Michigan game. I'm very fond of Ann Arbor, but have never attended a game there. Naturally, as a Patriots fan I'm also very grateful for Michigan's gift of Tom Brady to the football world. We checked schedules and the Penn State game worked well for both of us. On Saturday, we'll join the throngs pouring into Michigan Stadium. For more information on the stadium go to http://www.mgoblue.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=3052/.
You can also read about the stadium's history at http://www.umich.edu/~bhl/stadium/.

I've been preparing for the game for several weeks now. Let me share with you some of the many steps I've taken to get ready.

1. I went to a Harvard home game.

Although I am a graduate of Harvard, I seldom attend the games. When I was a student, the quality of the play was often inferior that what my old high school in California produced. Over the years, I didn't notice much improvement.

My wife and I agreed that a warm, sunny day would be nice and we picked a non-league game with Lehigh. Harvard usually loses those games big, and that happened again. But I was pleased to see that the caliber of play had improved quite a lot since my undergraduate days.

The band used to be the big draw when I was young. I was sorry to see that its size and quality of humor had deteriorated.

I wanted this experience so that I could have baseline for comparison to a Big Ten game.

2. I started following the Michigan and Penn State games.

Neither team is likely to lead the headlines in the Boston Globe's sports section. This led me to watch highlights on ESPN and read about the games on the team's Web sites.

The Michigan Web site is http://www.mgoblue.com/section_display.cfm?section_id=185&top=2&level=2/.
There, I learned that I was being asked to wear yellow for the game. This will give me an excuse to buy a souvenir for the game. I don't think I own a single item of yellow clothing. Michigan is not having one of its greatest seasons so facing Penn State will be a challenge.

The Penn State Web site is http://www.gopsusports.com/Football/home.cfm/. This is mostly press releases about the Nittany Lions' great season. They are 6-0 and are ranked number 8 in the country after beating Ohio State last week 17-10 in what sounds like a very exciting game.

3. I checked the kick-off time.

Knowing this was likely to be a televised game, I knew that the kick-off might not be at mid-day. Since I would be coming in from Boston, I needed to know what kind of viewing conditions I might experience. From the Michigan Web site, I learned that this will be a regionally televised game and will start at 3:30 p.m.

4. Wanting to know more about the weather, I looked at the long-term forecast for game time.

At www.weather.com, I got the game-time forecast and saw that there's a 40% chance of rain and an expectation of 24 mile per hour winds. The temperature for the day will be between 57 and 40. Sunset will be at 6:54 p.m. so it will probably feel like around 30 degrees with the wind chill by the end of the game.

Since we've been basking in Indian summer weather in Boston until this week, I'll need to dress very warmly and in a way that will help me keep dry.

5. I checked out the size of the stadium to see if I need field glasses.

While at the Harvard game, I had seats on the 40 yard line that were less than 30 yards from the field. At Michigan I'll be joining over 100,000 other people. I think I'll bring my most powerful pair just like I would for a professional game.

6. I visited www.rivals.com to get the statistics on the two teams and the players.

Michigan seems to be doing well with its offense. The team is averaging almost 30 points a game. Both the passing and running games are solid. Quarterback Chad Henne has a rating of 127.4, has thrown for 11 touchdowns in 6 games and only 3 interceptions. His favorite target is Jason Avant who is averaging 13 yards a completion. Henne will have to spread it around more against Penn State's tough defense. Michigan has a trio of talented rushers averaging 4 yards or better a carry headed by Mike Hart who has averaged 4.8 yards.

Although Michigan is 3-3, the Blue have outscored their opponents on average by a wide margin. The problem has come with Big 10 games, where Michigan is 1-2.

By comparison, Penn State has both a better offense and defense to date, scoring more points and allowing fewer than Michigan has. The statistics on passing and rushing per attempt are also better. Penn State is 3-0 in Big Ten games.

Quarterback Michael Robinson has thrown for 9 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. His ability to avoid interceptions is important to Penn State's chances. Robinson is also Penn State's second leading rusher which makes the task of containing him very challenging for Michigan. When Robinson isn't running, Tony Hunt is averaging 6.3 yards a carry. That's a tough combination to stop for any defense.

Bettors will be favoring Penn State. Can the home crowd help Michigan to pull off an upset?

7. I arranged my schedule to enjoy pre-game activities on campus.

I've never been one to show up at the last minute for football games. I like to drink in the atmosphere and observe the local traditions. As a result, I'll be spending some time seeing the academic side of Michigan before being pulled into the football pre-game frenzy.

8. I bought my tickets, hotel and rental car well in advance at a discount from www.priceline.com.

As a result, the trip is quite inexpensive. After the first night, Kevin will be putting me up at his cottage. We'll be spending a lot of time together so I'm sure to get the benefit of his local knowledge.

9. I know the Ann Arbor area pretty well, so I didn't have to do much research on what else to visit.

From years of having clients in town and staying in Ann Arbor during the prior Super Bowl in Michigan, I think I know what else I want to see. If I hadn't had that knowledge, I would have checked out local sights as well.

I feel like I'm ready for some football. Can any billionaire do better? I think not!

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N.B. As you can tell, I'm experimenting with color. Let me know what you like and what I should change about my use of color. Many thanks to Linda Grace for her suggestions which I am following!

Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

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If you are visiting today because someone invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

Remember to also visit

Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Be More Successful than a Billionaire at http://bemoresuccessfulthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/, and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on living better than a billionaire on five dollars extra a day, creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment. For information, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell