So after the spring game this year we had a little get-together of MGoReaders to benefit Marlin Jackson's excellent Fight for Life Foundation, which gives underprivileged kids educational opportunities, afterschool programs, access to athletic teams, and can help get them back on track when circumstances cause them to fall behind. Former players Donovan Warren and John Duerr, and a couple of current players also came. At the end we were universally like "Let's do this again!" Except with a date that a lot more people can come…
What about the night before the Notre Dame game?
You mean on FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6th, 7pm to 10pm (Marlin will arrive at 8)? Perfect. But this time we ought to have more former players come…
CHRIS PERRY and BRANDON WILLIAMS said they'd be there.
(Still reaching out to some other guys about it.)
And we should do it outside, you know, at like the most the most Jedi tailgate spot ever. I mean like the kind of place that comes fully loaded and which you'd usually book to impress the hell out of your biggest client—we should do it there.
MGOPATIO is donating the use of their Jedi Tailgate House and Patio!
(which is at 312 Berkley Ave., the second house on Berkeley from Main, two blocks north of Stadium. You know what's on the other side of Main, don't you?)
Okay…wow…you are good at this, bolded subconscious genie. What about…free beer?
Don't push.
Sorry.
JUST KIDDING I TOTALLY GOT YOU FREE BEER!!!
Piss beer I bet.
No I mean BEER-flavored beer! WOLVERINE STATE BREWING CO. beer!
Dude…
LAGER REVOLUTION!
Dude!
Thank the Beer Wench.
Okay what's the catch?
No catch.
What do I gotta pay to come?
It's free.
Really?
Okay so we suggest you give a donation to Marlin Jackson's FIGHT FOR LIFE FOUNDATION:
We're going to have to give some details.
JUMP!
The Foundation
Fight for Life runs three programs: Field of Dreams (link) is an in-school and after school program that basically helps get the kids back up to speed with their classmates. Seal the Deal (hyperlink)is a series of leagues and football camps for youth through high school with an educational/character-building component. R.A.P. (reach out and access your peers – url) is an SEL* program that gets kids to open up through, e.g. a discussion of their future aspirations or by presenting a paper on their favorite song lyrics. They need to raise about $200k per year to fund these programs and are about a quarter of the way there.
* Social and Emotional Learning, the spread offense of education. Full context is linked above but you may cognate as learning that's the opposite of 'Another Brick in the Wall.'
Fight For Life Foundation Inc.
1427 W. 86th St. Suite 216
Indianapolis, IN 46260
P: 317-578-5499 Ext. 1
The Venue: MGoPatio
Owner Martin (who in his day job is one of the best photographers to ever point a lens at a Michigan athlete, according to both of our photographers) built the MGoPatio to be an epic rental space for tailgates (Akron, Minnesota, Nebraska, OSU, and Winter Classic dates all still open as of this writing). The two-level (garage downstairs, studio-kitchen upstairs) indoor space is heated/air conditioned, has multiple HDTV flat-screens, and half the garage is a sound system. It has grills, coolers, tables & chairs, and will let you store stuff the night before.
Second house on the right on Berkley Ave. Park on the street, come behind the house.
Visit the MGoPatio Facebook page for info and photos https://www.facebook.com/MGoPatio
The Lager Revolution
Wolverine State Brewing Co. are a local microbrew who go against the typical micro-grain by focusing on Lagers.
Read up on them at http://wolverinebeer.com/ and vote your beer selection in the comments.
Wanna Help?
We're still talking to some folks about food, if you have a place that can offer food. Also I'm not thrilled with our speaker/microphone (as of now we're doing it from the garage from his system) if you have access to band equipment and want to bring a speaker and mic setup. And we have a few things (including a signed LaMarr Woodley jersey) to give away in a raffle or online auction next week if you know how to organize that.