In Episode 11 of Season 5 Mike introduces the listeners to a first time guest to the podcast, “Positive” Greg Shuraleff, to talk through Michigan football’s first true test of the 2023 season: the Penn State Nittany Lions. The guys talk Beaver Stadium architecture, awkward Air Bnb’s, (Bill) Pickles and a weekend in State College, PA they’ll never forget.

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Email the podcast at talkingfriendship@gmail.com

Key moments from the pod:

0:30: Mike welcomes listeners to S5E11 featuring Mike’s Wolverine buddy Greg Shuraleff.

2:00: Next up is the traditional corrections segment, where Mike corrects the driving time from Ann Arbor to East Lansing, an apology to Scottish listeners, and finally a miscalculation of the number of times Michigan football has played on NBC Saturday night football.

4:20: What’s going on with Mike D, which includes a 2nd annual Kalamazoo day trip via the train and live roller derby (shout out to Skinny Minnie).

7:20: Mike then sets the table for the dramatic weekend in Happy Valley that is the subject of this episode, including an encounter with the Michigan football team at the State College Regional Airport and a galvanizing rallying cry born from that moment.

9:45: Mike and the staff then play a smidge of a track that best exemplified the vibes of that weekend in State College vis a vis the Michigan football team.

14:00: Mike welcomes Greg Shuraleff into the virtual podcast studio.

15:40: Greg then tells his entire life story for the listeners and it’s quite the tale (including how he was NOT originally a Michigan fan as a kid and a transfer averted).

18:00: The guys then trace the origins of their friendship in Chicago and a mutual love of the State of Michigan sports and then discuss the last time they saw each other in person (which was in Pasadena, CA).

23:30: Greg tells the listeners who his longest running friend is and why that friendship has remained so strong (and how it started when we had to switch schools as a kid).

26:50: The guys then talk about their thoughts on the state of Michigan football coming into the season and this critical Penn State game.

31:15: Next up the guys talk about the Friday night and Saturday morning in State College leading up to the game itself, including the challenges of actually getting there and finding lodging close to campus, posting up at the legendary Bill Pickles Tap Room, an awkward AirBnB, Greg’s pre-game ritual at road games, an Uber situation that almost ended a friendship, and finding a Michigan-friendly tailgate very close to Beaver Stadium.

44:45: Mike and Greg then break down the epic highs and lows (mostly highs) of Michigan’s win over Penn State, including the architectural “charm” of Beaver Stadium.

59:00: The guys start wrapping things up by talking about Interim Coach Sherrone Moore’s legendary post-game interview, the team’s celebration and how they capped off their trip in Happy Valley.

1:03:00: Greg then caps the episode by talking about what Michigan football means to him.

In Episode 10 of Season 5 Mike welcomes Eric Wobser, the pride of both Michigan law and city of Sandusky, OH to talk all things regional and local development focused as well as the Michigan v Purdue football game from the 2023 Season.

Follow the podcast on Twitter/X: @friendsofmiked

Email the podcast at talkingfriendship@gmail.com

Key moments from the pod:

0:30: Mike welcomes listeners to S5E10 featuring Mike’s legal and regional development-focused sports buddy Eric Wobser.

2:05: Mike then corrects some major mistakes from past episodes, including an embarrassing omission from Season 5 Episode 7 (the Bob Stinchcombe/Minnesota game episode) related to the movie Spaceballs.

4:20: Next up is the classic “What’s Going on with Mike D” segment which includes some soccer (both in Detroit and Germany) and a new mystery novel (or at least new to him) from Canadian author Louise Penny.

6:00: Mike then pays tribute to the city he most associates with Eric in the form of both fun facts and song: Cleveland, OH.

14:00: Mike welcomes Eric Wobser onto the podcast where Mike gives Eric the opportunity to tell his entire life story and Eric accepts (and shares how an Ohio boy ended up at law school at the University of Michigan).

19:00: The guys then talk about meeting at Michigan Law School on an iconic Ann Arbor patio known formally as Wonderful Times Charles.

22:00: Eric breaks down his love of the sport of wrestling (real and “real”) and how the cities of Cleveland and Detroit are kindred spirits

27:00: Eric then talks about how his son has made Mike his role model in life (only behind Eric).

28:30: The guys then lay out the plan for the rest of the episode, starting with Eric talking about his longest running friend in his life and how he thinks about friends as “layers on a tree”.

31:00: Eric shares where he was with Michigan football coming into this season, including what it’s been like as a Michigan fan living in Ohio.

32:30: Mike and Eric set the table for this Michigan/Purdue game, including the outbreak of the Sign-Gate “scandal” (aka a big nothingburger), including the tailgate.

37:00: The guys then go through the many highs (and very few lows from a Michigan perspective) of this game.

44:30: Eric shares what it is that motivates him to stay connected to the Michigan football program.

In Episode 9 of Season 5 Mike welcomes Mike “Fulk” Fulkerson, MTE (master tailgate extraordinaire) to talk about how he became one of the top tailgaters in all of Michigan Wolverine nation and then break down the Michigan v Michigan State football game from the 2023 Season in all of its rivalry glory.

Follow the pdcast on Twitter/X: @friendsofmiked

Email the podcast at talkingfriendship@gmail.com

Key moments from the pod:

0:30: Mike welcomes listeners to S5E9 featuring Mike’s tailgating role model Mike “Fulk” Fulkerson.

2:00: Mike quotes the late, great Jerry Orbach and admits some embarrassing mistakes, including a mistake within a mistake related to S5E5 (The Rutgers episode featuring Fletcher Walters) and S5E8’s (the Indiana episode featuring the Bibbys) failure to reference the greatest TV-based romance in Canadian history.

5:10: Mike then breaks down what’s been going on with him, including a trip up to Traverse City for a Pure Michigan weekend with Ann Arbor Mug Club and prepping to play possibly the biggest pub quiz game of his life, along with his strategies for a successful pub quiz night.

12:00: Mike finishes off the opening segment with a tribute to the Michigan/Michigan State rivalry and extends a musical olive branch to his Spartan friends and listeners.

17:20: Mike welcomes Mike Fulkerson into the podcast studio.

18:20: Mike Fulkerson then tells his entire life story and the story of the Plymouth Canton/Salem/Plymouth High Schools, which is a multi-campus adventure for the students who come through there.

21:10: Next up the guys talk about the last time they saw each other in person at the famed Houston NRG Wyndham for a new infamous “lobby tailgate”.

24:20: Fulk talks about who his longest running friend is and how that friendship has lasted all of these years.

28:15: Mike D then asks Fulk about how his legendary Michigan football tailgates have evolved over the years at Ann Arbor Golf and Outing (as great tailgates do).

36:30: The guys then talk about how they first met…..at a Michigan tailgate in Bloomington, IN and then again in Lincoln, NE.

41:00: A prank gets played on Mike D by Fulk and their friends “Fun” Ron and Strikeout and Mike doesn’t get mad at all.

44:00: Fulk talks about his thoughts about the 2023 Michigan football team coming into the season and how the season had gone so far in his mind.

47:00: The guys then touch on the emergence of the Conor Stalions backstory for Michigan football.

49:20: How tailgating at Michigan State differs from tailgating at Michigan and an audio picture of the Michigan/Michigan State game as told by Mike and Mike.

1:03:30: Mike F then talks about whether this game changed his opinion of Michigan’s chances the rest of the season as well as why Michigan football has remained a priority for him in his life.

In Episode 8 of Season 5 Mike welcomes two of his closest and most spirited friends in Andrea and Jason “Jay": Bibby aka the Bibbys to the podcast to talk about how their friendship started over a Canadian TV show about real life issues and only grew due to a shared love of Michigan football. The “KLA Crew”, as they’re known, then break down the Michigan v Indiana Hoosiers football game from the 2023 Season in all of its dramatic glory.

Follow the podcast on Twitter/X: @friendsofmiked

Email the podcast at talkingfriendship@gmail.com

Key moments from the pod:

0:30: Mike welcomes listeners to S5E8 featuring Mike’s all time dear friends Andrea and Jay Bibby.

1:45: Mike then corrects a massive mistake from S5E7 (The Minnesota Game episode featuring Bob Stinchombe about when Mike actually moved back to the state of Michigan from California.

2:50: Mike talks about what’s been going on with him, including volunteering with an amazing organization named Food Gatherer’s (foodgatherers.org) and checking out the action smash film Furiosa.

5:20: Mike then gives some background on this episode’s two guests (Andrea and Jay Bibby), including a shared passion for music with Andrea and a shared love of all things Windsor, Canada with Jay, including Mike’s favorite memories of Windsor as a kid.

12:20: Then comes a deep dive of one of Andrea, Jay and Mike’s all time favorite Canadian exports and that’s Degrassi. To quote the Zit Remedy: Everybody Wants Something!!!

14:45: Mike then counts down his 5 favorite Degrassi characters!

25:00: Mike then welcomes Andrea and Jay Bibby to the podcast and has them tell their life stories in grave detail.

31:00: Jay tells the story of how he and Andrea reconnected for good at a Michigan football game through Andrea’s mom having a keen eye.

33:00: The crew then talk about their initial group friendship “meet cute” in Dexter and how a Canadian teen dramedy drew them together instantly and also how each of their homes was designed by a legendary builder and now feature iconic basement pubs/bars.

36:40: Next up is a discussion of the last time the crew saw each other, which was less than 24 hours prior to recording this episode and involved ribs and “sauce toss”

38:30: Jay and Andrea then talk about their respective longest running friends and what’s kept their friendships going all of these years as well as a discussion of a marital agreement around Don Cherry and the magic of “Windsor Pizza”.

47:50: Mike then asks about Jay and Andrea’s thoughts on Michigan football coming into the 2023 season.

51:20: Andrea then shares her family’s rich history about tailgating for Michigan football.

57:30: The crew then talks about the Indiana game tailgate and what tailgating in Ann Arbor is really like.

1:02:00: Next up is a detailed breakdown of the dramatic Michigan/Indiana 2023 football showdown.

1:08:00: The crew shares their thoughts coming out of the big Michigan 52-7 win and what Michigan football means to the Bibbys.

In Episode 7 of Season 5 Mike welcomes a true friend of his from childhood, Robert “Bob” Stinchcombe to the pod to talk not only about the introduction of camcorder technology to homework assignments in the 1990’s but also the 2023 Michigan football game against the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Follow the podcast on Twitter/X: @friendsofmiked

Email the podcast at talkingfriendship@gmail.com

Key moments from the pod:

0:30: Mike welcomes listeners to S5E7 featuring Mike’s multi-decade friend Bob Stinchcombe.

1:50: Mike then corrects some seriously embarrassing errors, including continuing to reference Google as an option for podcast listening, a missed scarlet fever reference, and an explanation why there was no sultry sax in the Nebraska (S5E6) episode intro.

4:45: Mike talks about what’s been going with him recently, including what Mike’s new favorite burger in all of Michigan has in common with his favorite burger of all time from Au Cheval in Chicago, another example of how Mike is a man of the people (as is this episode’s guest Bob Stinchcombe).

8:00: Mike gets into why he loves Minneapolis, the importance of rocking the best gear possible when attending a road game, a Warehouse District brewery tour, waking up early to watch Tottenham with Minneapolis Spurs, and a musical tribute to one of Minnesota’s greatest musical sons.

17:00: Mike welcomes Cabrini legend Bob Stinchcombe onto the podcast and Bob shares some basics about himself.

19:00: Bob then retraces literally every single important moment of his life for the listeners and why he enjoys the city of Minneapolis.

22:30: Bob then talks about his family’s love of the Detroit Tigers.

24:15: The guys then talk about the new movie about Mother Cabrini (the namesake of their school from growing up).

25:30: Next up is when the guys go deep on using digital video to do homework and how it springboarded their academic careers to success.

29:30: The guys then talk about the Thunderdome-like environment at Cabrini High School’s “Open” Campus during the 90’s.

34:30: Mike and Bob go over the last time they saw each other and then Bob talks about which friend of his he’s been friends with the longest (spoiler alert: it’s a former guest of the podcast who’s name rhymes with Lyle Burek).

37:20: The guys shift to Michigan football where Bob talks about his feelings on the 2023 Michigan football team coming into the season as well as how they’d been performing coming into the Minnesota game (cue the classic boa constrictor analogy!).

42:25: Next up is a full recap of the Michigan/Minnesota game from 2023, including Bob (not) attempting to break down what Ski-U-Mah means.

55:00: The guys finish up talking about their thoughts on Michigan coming out of the game (including why the Brown Jug is still a great trophy) with Bob sharing why he still cares so much about Michigan football at this point in his life.

In Episode 6 of Season 5 Mike welcomes long time listener favorite John Baker back to the pod to go DEEP on the 2023 Michigan football game against Nebraska as well as a tribute to, in my Mike’s opinion, the greatest movie ever made about downhill skiing: Better Off Dead.

Follow the podcast on Twitter/X: @friendsofmiked

Email the podcast at talkingfriendship@gmail.com

Key moments from the pod:

0:30: Mike welcomes listeners to S5E6 featuring Mike’s dear old friend John Baker.

1:50: Mike corrects some horrible mistakes from the Rutgers/Fletcher Walters episode (S5E5) including a hugely embarrassing verbal faux pas by Mike as well as Mike and Fletcher not being able to bend the space/time continuum with the NFL Draft.

4:40: Mike then updates the listeners on what has been going on with him, including attending a live to tape show of Wheel of Fortune from the beautiful Fisher Theater in Detroit.

8:45: Mike then transitions to a tribute to this episode’s guest’s current place of residence and a leisure activity that occurs there, along with his favorite movies about said leisure activity (I want my $2!!!).

17:30: Mike welcomes John Baker BACK into the Podcast Studio and John provides an update on what’s been going on with him in Denver, including a lot of skiing.

22:00: The guys talk about the last time they saw each other in person, which was at another Michigan football game from the 2023 season, a fairly big one at that.

24:10: Mike sets the table for the rest of the episode about the Michigan/Nebraska game from 2023, as well as where John was coming into the 2023 Michigan football season on his expectations for the team.

29:00: The guys then talk about how they’d felt the season had gone to date and then reminisce about attending the 2021 Michigan/Nebraska game in Lincoln how it impacted their thinking coming into this game.

32:00: Next up is a deep dive recap of the game before the game (aka the tailgate) and the palpable “Nebraska niceness” on display throughout the day, including from mascot Lil’ Red (warning: there’s a second Uncle Rico reference in three episodes in there at some point).

38:00: A surprise guest (and his iconic trophy) shows up to the tailgate!

48:10: The guys then break down the Michigan/Nebraska game in vivid detail, including the etiquette that should be considered when sitting in a visiting section.

1:00:00: The game ends with a complete performance for Michigan and the guys talk about their feelings about the game itself and where this team was heading.

1:05:00: John then explains what it is about this Michigan football program that keeps him coming back year after year as a life priority.

In Episode 5 of Season 5 Mike welcomes Fletcher Walters to the pod to go DEEP on the 2023 Michigan football game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights as well as provides a musical homage to the great state of New Jersey and also putting out a “call to friendship” about the sport of pickleball.

Follow the podcast on Twitter/X: @friendsofmiked

Email the podcast at talkingfriendship@gmail.com

Key moments from the pod:

0:30: Mike welcomes listeners to S5E5 featuring Mike’s good friend Fletcher Walters.

1:55: Mike corrects some massive errors from S5E3 (the UNLV episode featuring the Lawrence-Luptons), including an apology to the Lawrence-Lupton cat Dobby.

3:10: Mike then updates the listeners on what’s been going on with him, including an amazing day trip to Ypsilanti (Transit Center to Transit Center).

5:15: Mike talks about dabbling with the sport of pickleball and just wants someone to offer to play with him as the podcast staff refuses to play.

7:25: Mike pays tribute to the great state of New Jersey and gives some history on Rutgers, including giving it props as the birthplace of college football.

13:30: Mike then takes that Jersey tribute up a notch or 10 with a musical nod.

19:40: Mike welcomes Fletcher Walters into the virtual podcast studio.

20:30: The guys trace the origins of their friendship including Fletcher keeping Mike’s now iconic nickname of “Neighbor Mike” going. Fletcher then tells his entire life story in a few minutes. It’s a rollercoaster.

22:30: Fletcher goes over his legendary college crew from Amherst College and talks about his experience playing pro basketball in Europe as well as his two oldest friends and what keeps their friendship (and all of his friendships) going at this point in life. Spoiler alert: it involves FGAs.

31:25: The guys talk briefly about the last time they hung out in person at the famed LIttle Caesars Arena in Detroit (there’s a D2A2 shout out in there as well!).

33:20: Next up the guys shift into talking about the 2023 Michigan football team, with Fletcher going over his thoughts on the team coming into the season and his unwavering belief in Michigan QB JJ McCarthy.

38:40: The guys then break down the Rutgers game in vivid and beautiful detail, including how critical #0 Mike “Mikey” Sainistrill was to the Michigan defense.

49:10: Fletcher and Mike then talk about how he was feeling coming out of this 31-7 Michigan win over Rutgers.

52:30: Fletcher then explains why Michigan football holds such a special place in his heart and a proud “Walmart Wolverine”.

In Episode 4 of Season 5 Mike welcomes back a listener favorite from all the way back in Season 1 (episode 3) in Megan Mazurek and her husband Kyle for a neighborly discussion of the 2023 Michigan v Bowling Green Falcons game. Not only do Mike, Kyle and Megan break down the game itself but also talk about how it fits in the “big picture” of Michigan’s legendary 2023 season. What a discussion it is!

Follow the podcast on Twitter/X: @friendsofmiked

Email the podcast at talkingfriendship@gmail.com

Key moments from the pod:

0:30: Mike welcomes listeners to S5E4 and breaks down the plan for the episode.

2:05: Mike corrects a huge omission from S5E2 (the East Carolina episode) about the ranch from the hit Nickelodeon show Hey Dude! and podcast guest Kelly Worman.

3:10: Mike then updates the listeners about what’s been going on with him, including going to see AFC Ann Arbor soccer live and how that in NO way conflicts with his love of Detroit City FC.

5:15: Mike introduces the theme of this episode, including how the concept of being a neighbor comes into play as well as a classic and in no way awkward song about his guests for the pod.

16:15: Mike welcomes Kyle and Megan Mazurek, his former neighbors and current good friends, to the podcast.

17:30: The crew trace the origins of their friendship.

19:40: Kyle gives some critical background information on his life and does not hold back.

21:20: The Mazureks share their passion for another Michigan sport: hockey while Mike brings up the pathetic pizza at Yost Ice Arena (Buddy’s Pizza: you’re officially on blast!)

24:50: The crew talks about the last time they saw each other in person and how they established a friendship with Michigan hoops great Caris LaVert.

26:50: Kyle and Megan share how they were feeling coming into the 2023 Michigan Football season.

29:50: Next up: a discussion of the pre-game tailgating approach for this Bowling Green game given it was a night game, including the famous snack Megan likes to bring and Kyle’s exotic craft beer cooler, Megan’s mom Nancy, the #1 ranked usher at Michigan Stadium and Megan’s dad Geoff’s biking gear.

33:00: Mike sets the table for the Bowling Green game, including reminiscing about the first Michigan football night game in Michigan football history (the 2011 win over Notre Dame). There’s also a story of touching the Butts in this segment.

35:00: Mike breaks down what happened in this historic game.

43:00: Mike, Megan and Kyle talk about how they were feeling about Michigan’s chances for the rest of the year coming out of the BG game.

45:40: The Mazureks then explain why they bleed maize and blue.