San Diego University of Michigan Alumni mixers…

The San Diego University of Michigan Alumni Club proudly proclaims that they represent “4,000 Wolverines in Paradise!”

The calendar shows that it’s football weather back in Ann Arbor.  In San Diego, The University of Michigan Alumni meet in T-shirts and flip flops at The Pacific Beach Bar and Grill on football Saturdays.  To be a part of several hundred transplanted Michigan Grads on a sunny Saturday is one of the pinch me moments of relocating to America’s finest city.

It’s not like being at “The Big House,” University of Michigan Stadium with 111,000 fans, but distance seems to make the heart grow fonder.  U of M San Diego Alumni Association members wear their best Maize and Blue for their weekly get togethers.  We scream raucously over good plays and curse bitterly the turnovers and wasted opportunities.  How different it is from the Schembechler years when winning less than 12 games was a disappointing season!

There seem to be more alum from the Bo years than the more recent Rich Rodriguez campaigns.  Does it make me sound old and bitter to say that perhaps students stopped going to football games during the RichRod years?

University of Michigan Alumni in San Diego

On a typical PB Bar and Grill Saturday, between 200 and 400 alums gather.  PB Bar and Grill is located on Garnett–3 blocks before the Crystal Pier.  Parking is free during football games at the Home Bank across the street–IF you have a Michigan license plate frame or put some type of U of M regalia on your dashboard.  One of our members grew up to become the president of the bank!

Other options to meet up with Wolverines in Paradise

The U of M Club also watches football at The Encinitas Tavern at The Lumberyard .  There is also a monthly happy hour mixer at The Rock Bottom Brewery on La Jolla Village Drive. 

To avoid the perception that University of Michigan Alumni in San Diego get together only at bars, the group annually sponsors a picnic for students leaving in the fall to attend school in Ann Arbor.  I just have one question.  Why would a kid smart enough to get into U of M want to leave San Diego?

Life’s mysteries?  If you’d like to get together for a football game and a beer, get in touch.  david.manes@welcometosandiego.com.  Or call 858-432-3203.

Go Blue!