U-M Gladiator?

I just heard that Russell Crowe was in town last week to support the Wolverines. How did I miss that? I watched the game against Notre Dame. No mention of Crowe on the sidelines. Check this out from the Detroit Free Press:

Hollywood star Russell Crowe cheers friend Carr, U-M
September 16, 2007
By Mark Snyder
Free Press Sports Writer

When most football coaches are under fire, they turn to their family and staff. Lloyd Carr received a different kind of support.

Movie star Russell Crowe, whom Carr befriended after splicing "Cinderella Man" movie clips into last season's game preparation, flew in from Washington with a few friends to attend Saturday's game and watch from the U-M sideline.
"Just because of the way the season started, I could sense through what I was watching on TV that my friend was in pain," Crowe said when meeting with the media after Saturday's game. "I just thought I would take his mind off things and I started teasing him about it and he said 'Get up here.' "

Crowe owns a rugby team in Australia called the South Sydney Rabbitohs and had Carr come down to Sydney to give his coach and players a few lessons of leadership in May.

On Saturday, the movie star had a chance to return the favor, speaking to the Wolverines before the game.
"It was an incredible privilege to be part of being here today and the atmosphere," Crowe said. "I think that's the largest sporting event I've ever attended in terms of numbers in the crowd. I had a little chat with the boys to start with and the response was pretty good. I could hear a click. They were dead serious they were going to do something different this week than they did last week."

Carr brought Crowe, who was wearing a U-M hat, to his postgame news conference and shared the podium with him, smiling and laughing with every story Crowe told.

"He said, 'You need a rabbit,' " Carr said.

Crowe said rugby and football have similarities and, asked if he'd prefer Mike Hart or Shawn Crable, he went off the board. "I want Jake," he said of Jake Long, U-M's 6-foot-7, 313-pound offensive tackle.

Though Crowe insists he'll be back for another game, he wasn't sure how long he'd stay in Ann Arbor.

"I want to have a couple of beers with Lloyd," he said.