“Great moments are born from great opportunity.”

I’ve written a great number of things over my years at the UofM.
I bluffed my way through a Moby Dick essay (at least I HAD read the Cliff’s Notes version) in an American Studies classroom.
I composed a few test questions in the equipment room for a class I guest lectured at years ago.
I helped write the mission statement for the athletic department in a conference room at the Bierman Building back when stuff like that was in vogue.

Today I write something far more important in the U hospital, bedside in the ICU, on my phone.

A man who has done so much for me over the years lies stricken and the only thing I can do is spend some time here, recount the memories with him, and try, in some way to say thanks, as he drifts in and out of consciousness.

So here goes.

Matts,
One of your old partners in crime, Herb Brooks famously said,

“Great moments are born from great opportunity.”

Legend has it that back in the day the two of you liked to tear it up well into the evening.
As the story goes it is a good thing that the wives, Lu Mattson and Patti Brooks, never got together to compare notes because Herb used to blame Matts and Matts used to scapegoat Herb, and allegedly the wives were never the wiser. That’s probably what they wanted you to believe.

I mention Herb and that particular quote because when recalling the impact you’ve had on my life there are so many moments and opportunities that come rushing forth.

We’ve stood together and stared down the Wolverines from the visitor’s sideline at The Big House in Ann Arbor.
We’ve sloppily slouched together holding up a lamppost on Bourbon Street in New Orleans at an equipment managers convention.
We even worked the connections together and had the time of our lives with family and friends in a Metrodome suite when Mick, Keef, Charlie, Ronnie, and Bill, were in town for the Rolling Stones' Steel Wheels tour.

All of those moments, and so many more, happened only because you let me into the equipment room, tucked me under your wing, and took me along for the ride.

Over the years we’ve shared wins, loses, elation, and heartbreak, with thousands of student athletes, coaches, and staff.

We’ve met some characters along the way, and if you ask around you’ll undoubtedly hear that we’ve BEEN characters along the way too.

We set up locker rooms, moved teams across the country and done tons (yes, literally tons) of laundry.
We’ve done the crappiest of chores that made up the worst job that anyone ever loved.

In the time we’ve known each other we’ve both married, had kids, and grandkids.
We’ve come to the conclusion that we’re better grandfathers than we have been husbands or fathers.
Not sure why it worked out that way, but it is what it is.

We’ve both loved and we’ve lost loved ones.
We’ve laughed and cried together.

We’ve grown a lot and matured a little.
We’ve drifted apart, came back together, and recovered.

And now what remains are the memories we created with all of those opportunities.

Perhaps the best memory of them all for me remains the bond of brotherhood, trust and love that has been proven with the football yardstick that you mentioned so often over the years;

“Every Saturday in the fall, when the ball is in the air, who can you count on to be there with you in the trenches?.

It’s been my honor to be in the trenches with ya Matty. I’ve honestly loved every minute of it.