In regard to your article "Michigan fans claim UW students grossly inappropriate at game," I must say that I am dismayed by the bellyaching of Michigan fans about their alleged mistreatment at the hands of zealous Badger fans. I am a Michigan alumnus and a current UW graduate student, and I had ten friends from my undergraduate days up to Madison for the game. They all enjoyed themselves immensely.

When you are a visiting fan at another school, it is up to you to take the initiative and endear yourself to the home crowd. Some of my friends trolled Breese Terrace and, despite carrying stuffed badgers in nooses with them, used their outgoing personalities to make friends among the Badger faithful. The rest of us sat in the student section and met some very cool freshmen in Section N. It's the visitor's job to show they've traveled to have a good time with the locals!

The only aspect of the night that I found idiotic was the fans' apparent focus on Michigan's loss after the game instead of Wisconsin's win, and the preponderance of anti-Michigan t-shirts in the crowd where pro-Wisconsin t-shirts should have been. Football is about cheering FOR your team, not AGAINST the other team. But even this is somewhat excusable, considering most of the students at the game were less than 10 years old the last time the Badgers beat Michigan.

Michigan fans ought to be used to a little abuse. Playing the Wolverines is generally the biggest game of the year for every opponent, and every Big Ten school considers us a rival, even when the feeling isn't mutual. The fans who came here and were disappointed in the conduct of Wisconsin students need to get thicker skin and suck it up.

I hope a lot of Wisconsin students make the trip to Ann Arbor next fall for the game at the Big House, and I hope they're treated as well by the Michigan faithful as my friends and I were here. Thanks again for a great time, UW students, and good luck with the rest of the season!

Robert Shereda is a graduate student in biomolecular chemistry.