This article was originally published in November 1998. Keith Jackson, who ended up retiring in 2006, died on Friday at 89.
Look around the Big House in the early morn, Keith Jackson said. Feel its emptiness. Then hunker down a while, watch the crowd fill Michigan Stadium, a sea of maize and blue washing over 92 rows of backless benches. Watch the players burst ebulliently from the tunnel. Watch the Michigan Marching Band warm up. They’ve got mommas and daddies as proud as if they were Big Uglies opening holes for scatbacks. Listen to them belt out “Hail!