With the addition of three more UM venues, technically item #22 – to see six sports in six new venues – is complete. However, given that this task has taken on a life of its own to include ALL UofM home varsity sports venues – much work in Ann Arbor remains to be done. But, it’s fun to cross things off the list at any rate.

And John C. and I attended four sports in seven days… Wrestling and Women’s Tennis on Sunday, with Men’s Lacrosse and Men’s Swimming on the following Saturday.

Wrestling was in Cliff Keen Arena, home to Men’s Gymnastics and (Women’s) Volleyball, so it didn’t count as a new venue per se, but the place was packed for a senior day contest with Michigan State.

Click here for a larger, interactive panorama. Pretty cool stuff.

The Wolverines defeated the Spartans by a score of 26 to 9.  Never having attended a wrestling match before, there was a bit of a learning curve, but the announcer was good at explaining things as they went on and we got to see an overtime match and a six-point fall, which equates to the grand slam of wrestling.  Impressive.

And you thought football referees had a lot to do...

Then it was on to Women’s Tennis (indoor, of course) vs. Yale. We watched a match won by a UM junior who was the Big Ten freshman of the year a couple of years ago. The crowd was sparse, but enthusiastic – mostly parents and friends.

Games take a while 'cause the players have to chase down balls themselves. No ball kids here.

On Saturday we were treated to a massacre in the pool.  The UM-MSU dual meet (dual means both swimming AND diving) was a one-sided affair, with Michigan taking all 16 contested events.  It was the 35th year in a row that Michigan has beaten MSU in swimming. Curious how the newspapers never bring this up when Rivalry Week rolls around each year.

Filtered a bit with Instagram

Finally, Lacrosse, which moves from a club sport to a full-fledged varsity sport in 2012. The women start varsity play next year. This was an exhibition match against Denison (Ohio), and while the regular season games will be held in Michigan Stadium, this match was held inside Oosterbaan Fieldhouse ’cause 1) it’s an exhibition and 2) it’s early February. But that made it all the more exciting, as we were standing literally on the sidelines with some 850 other curious onlookers. And the action is really like hockey without ice.  I’m sure we’ll check out a regular-season game in April on a nice spring day, but for now… consider this a preview.

If you thought I was ignorant about other sports... I have a lot to learn about Lacrosse. Like, what's this scrum-type thing at the face-off?

And here’s another cool panorama. See the whole thing in smooth interactive goodness at this link.

One last thing… we ate at Quickie Burger in A2, so that’s another new Michigan restaurant for me.