Want to know what they charge for football parking next to Michigan Stadium? $40. Yep, that’s not a misprint: $40. Only a fool would pay that, so I parked on the street along downtown Ann Arbor. For free.

It was a pleasant, fall afternoon, so I enjoyed the 25-minute walk from downtown to 110,000-seat Michigan Stadium, passing by a number of frat houses along the way, one of which nearly convinced me to try an enormous beer bong. My sanity prevailed, no thanks, dude.

The Wolverines were hosting Purdue, and the Boilermakers could have used alum and former Chargers quarterback, Drew Brees. Purdue had butterfingers all game, and Michigan clobbered their guests. Much to my surprise, there were pockets of empty seats throughout the stadium, and I sincerely doubted the announced crowd of more than 110,000 was truly accurate. Still, the student section continued their rich tradition of hoisting fellow students up every time Michigan scored, much to the chagrin of security.

Hockeytown not sold out. Michigan Stadium not sold out. Now, that’s bad.

The Michigan game kicked off at noon while Michigan State would be kicking off up in East Lansing at 7 p.m. against Indiana. I needed only to drive about 70 miles to park near Spartan Stadium but, surprisingly, I would need loads of patience and some luck to actually get into the stadium.

Of all the college football games I’ve seen on this trip, Michigan State-Indiana wasn’t exactly a heart stopper. After all, neither team is ranked even remotely close to the Top 25. Both are basketball schools, not football schools. Well, whatever, I’ve never had a harder time finding a ticket in my life!

Perhaps because it was State’s homecoming or the 7 p.m. kickoff, or both, but capitalism 101 was at work outside the stadium and for once I wanted to be a communist. There were lots of interested buyers but few sellers. Nothing personal against Michigan State or Indiana, but I wasn’t going to pay $40, even if Elvis was promoted to come back to life as the halftime entertainment. Fortunately, the football gods must have been with me: a late arriving, season-ticket holder slipped me a free ticket and I was finally inside.

73,000 in the Spartans house as they rolled to victory, and much to my surprise, empty pockets of seats, too.

I’m sure glad I’m making my way through a lot of the sporting hot spots in the Great Lakes States before November because I’ve already felt the chill and it’s only October!

After a visit to Michigan State hockey on Oct. 9, I headed south for warmer weather and more puck. I was out of luck on the thermometer getting warmer but I did see some good hockey in Columbus as the Blue Jackets shut out “The Great One,” Wayne Gretzky and the Coyotes. No. 99 should have laced on the skates! The next day, before heading up to Cleveland, I stopped at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The highlight for a first time visitor to the hall is the “Game Day Experience” video, which takes fans from training camp through the Super Bowl, backed by the famous NFL voice of John Facenda. There was also some new material on display, including gear from LaDainian Tomlinson’s record-breaking season a year ago, and the football thrown by Brett Favre earlier this season to become the all-time touchdown passes leader. For more cool nuggets, visit http://www.profootballhof.com/.

The lime green renewable energy machine, also known as a 1984 German-manufactured Mercedes, rolled into the environs of the Motor City of Detroit a couple days later. I couldn’t help but notice a bumper sticker outside Motown that read: “Want to keep your job? Then stop buying foreign!” I almost felt like creating my own bumper sticker: “Want to keep your job? Make better cars.”

Metro Detroit and all of the State of Michigan is in an economic tailspin, and that was reflected in my sporting event visits across the Wolverine State. The big three American automakers, GM, Ford and Chrysler – all based in Detroit – continue to lose market share and revenues to Japanese and other foreign-based automakers, particularly Toyota.

How bad is it? Well, for starters, Chrysler went on strike last week; can’t make more bad cars if there’s no one on the assembly line. What’s more, there are now plenty of seats available for games in “Hockeytown” at historic Joe Louis Arena where the National Hockey League Red Wings play. Yet it gets worse. I got into Michigan’s football home game against Purdue last Saturday for $5. Yep, that’s not a misprint: $5. And the face value for the ticket I bought was $55! You want perspective? I paid $5 more for a Red Wings game than a Michigan football game.