Hail to this T-shirt collection

What in the world, you might ask, is going on in this post? Well, it's like a page from one of those kids' books we're reading Will nowadays: what do these three pictures have in common?

That's right: kid-friendly Bucky Badger is wearing T-shirts commemorating the teams that have beaten Michigan in non-conference play in the past two seasons. All courtesy of Jana's Uncle John.

You'll remember that John gave me the Appalachian State T-shirt last year at around Thanksgiving. The Oregon shirt (and that Wolverine loss was almost as fun, as humiliated as they were by Dennis Dixon and friends) was a gift this summer.

Yet for some reason I didn't expect to receive any new clothing after Michigan lost its opener — at home again — to Utah. But there it was in the mail earlier this week. At first I thought it was a Badger shirt from someone, but when I realized what it was and its significance, big laughs.

Michigan plays Notre Dame on Saturday, and it's anyone's game, two proud programs in a bit of a rebuilding mode. I'm pulling for the Fighting Irish in this one, but I'm wondering if Uncle John is; as a Lansing native and lifelong Michigan State fan, he still harbors ill feelings from the infamous 1966 State-Notre Dame tie game in which Ara Parseghian elected to run out the clock and take the tie. We'll see if Unc can bring himself to buy a Notre Dame shirt for the purpose of ribbing his golf buddy.

And I also hope this is strictly a deal for non-conference Michigan conquerors. It will be a cold day in hell when I put an Ohio State shirt on Bucky Badger.