How early did I get up this morning? NPR was still playing jazz, that's how early I got up this morning.

I made the long, immutable drive back to my alma mater today, and witnessed this exchange:

Guy standing on patio: Hey, guess what?!
Guy in car: What?!
Guy standing on patio: FUCK MICHIGAN!!!
Guy in car: Hey, yeah, man, FUCK MICHIGAN!!!
Guy standing on patio: Whoooo!
Guy in car: Whoooo!
Light changes, car drives off.

Generally I'm mildly annoyed by drunken yelling, but something about this was heartwarming. I grew up where I had no reason to prefer either of the rival teams, and when asked to state a preference for the fiftieth time, believe I made my decision on the basis of the prettier school colors. My family-honed loyalty was to a team that I wasn't ever asked about. If I'd grown up where I eventually went to school, I probably would've grown so sick of hearing about it that I'd hate the team, but it seems that exactly the right circumstances came about to make me actually have, if not team spirit (I don't "watch the games" or anything), a deep-seated loyalty.

At least the drunks there can agree on something.

And, get this - I was walking toward this guy (a student) on the sidewalk and had to walk a bit in front of him to get to my car, and he moved the same way that I needed to move and we almost crashed into each other. And guess what he said? He said, excuse me. And I said it too. That's big-city living for you.