ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The task was easy: Find the one who would get the very best tattoo to have fun Michigan's 2023 national championship.
Not surprisingly, there have been many candidates. Michigan fans are a passionate bunch and greater than a number of of them wanted an indelible reminder of the Wolverines' perfect season tattooed on their skin. A tattoo spotted in an Instagram post tagged Ann Arbor's Lucky Monkey Tattoo Parlor stood out from the remaining. It was clear that this story wouldn't be complete without chatting with the person who had the cartoon drawing of Jim Harbaugh holding a chicken and drinking a glass of milk on his calf.
That can be Jimmy McLaughlin, a 36-year-old nurse from Toledo, Ohio. Over the course of reporting on this story, it became apparent that the Harbaugh tattoo was not the fanciest piece of body art McLaughlin acquired within the wake of the Michigan championship.
“Plus a wolverine goes to the bathroom on a horseshoe shaped toilet lol,” McLaughlin wrote in a text message.
“I always thought the Horseshoe looked like a toilet,” McLaughlin explained over the phone. “I had this idea while cooking for ten years, but I had to wait to make it happen. You can’t get a tattoo like that on a 10-year losing streak.”
The tattoo is just about exactly as McLaughlin described it: colourful, campy and intensely on-brand for considered one of college football's craziest rivalries. McLaughlin lives in Toledo, a number of miles south of the Michigan state line, and is surrounded by fans of each teams. Encouraged by Michigan's three-year winning streak against the Buckeyes, he put into motion his plan to have Ohio Stadium tattooed on his thigh in the form of a porcelain dresser.
Something like this looks as if an amazing idea when your team is 15-0 and basking within the afterglow of a national championship. But what in case your team is a 6-5, 21-point underdog within the stadium you mocked in your leg? That's a rather different story.
After chatting with proud tattoo owners before the season, I reached out to them again this week to see how they're holding up in Michigan's difficult season. A tattoo is a lifelong commitment, something that lasts through thick and thin – identical to the fans who show it off. Even though McLaughlin has experienced some pain from Ohio State fans throughout his life, he isn’t discouraged. His annual tally features a natty, two recent tattoos and nil regrets.
“We’re still state champions until we’re not,” he said. “By the time the clock hits zero, expect every Ohio State fan in the area to hear about it.”
Another one that probably doesn't regret his national championship tattoo is Harbaugh, whose Los Angeles Chargers played John Harbaugh's Baltimore Ravens on Monday night. Under Harbaugh's Chargers hoodie, He had a Skinny M tattoo on his shoulder Michigan's 15-0 record is the results of a promise he made to his players.
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Stephen Bateman, the Grand Rapids-based artist who did Harbaugh's tattoo, has tattooed NFL cornerback Jalen Ramsey, NBA player Andre Drummond and several other former Michigan players. One of his regular customers is Braiden McGregor, the previous Michigan defensive end and current New York Jet, who has much of his body covered in tattoos.
After the season, McGregor visited Bateman to have a rose and a College Football Playoff trophy hung from the block M on his shoulder. The topic of Harbaugh's tattoo promise got here up, and McGregor made sure Bateman did the honors when members of the championship team met in Ann Arbor for Michigan's spring game. The design wasn't technically demanding, but tattooing a famous football coach in front of the team was a bit stressful.
“They all had their phones out, probably about 20 of them,” Bateman said. “He just bent over backwards and said he was immune to pain.”
Bateman got several other championship tattoos, including one for Dillon Gates, a 32-year-old Michigan fan from Grand Rapids. Gates' arm is roofed from elbow to shoulder with a scene of Tom Brady, JJ McCarthy, Blake Corum and other Michigan greats walking up the stadium tunnel. According to Gates, the tattoo took 30 hours to finish, spread over three sessions.
Gates has cousins in Columbus who’re Ohio State fans, but even they’d to confess the tattoo was a formidable murals. Gates received similar reactions when he traveled around Big Ten country buying used musical instruments for his job.
“I was actually in Pennsylvania, and a guy at the front desk of the hotel asked me to hold up my arm,” Gates said. “He said, 'Dude, I don't even like Michigan, but that's a great tattoo.' Most of the time it’s like a badge of honor for me.”
Gates got the tattoo as part of a pact with a friend, Michigan fan Patrick Coleman. Coleman has a scene on his arm of McCarthy, Corum, Will Johnson and Donovan Edwards celebrating in front of the CFP trophy. When thinking about how to celebrate the national championship, Coleman decided that a tattoo was the most enduring symbol.
“I got all the memorabilia,” Coleman said. “I received posters and flags. I got the t-shirts. Given all the hard times we had to go through to finally get to the top, you have to write it on your skin so you can always remember it.”
(Courtesy of Stephen Bateman)
When it involves creativity, McLaughlin's tattoos are hard to beat. He wanted something nobody else would have, something that captured a novel aspect of Michigan's season. Harbaugh often spoke concerning the chickens he raised in his backyard, and the concept of him holding a bird under his arm seemed a fitting tribute.
This tattoo receives many comments as McLaughlin meets other Michigan fans. Someone spotted the tattoo as McLaughlin walked through the parking zone before the Michigan-Oregon game a number of weeks ago and before he knew it, he was getting free food and beer at a tailgate.
“Almost everyone reacts the same way,” McLaughlin said. “Everyone starts laughing. A lot of people are like, 'What's wrong with the chicken?' I have to explain it and they're like, 'Okay, that's pretty funny.'”
Life after the national championship wasn't exactly rosy for Michigan. The Wolverines have suffered five regular-season losses for the first time since 2014 and are three touchdown underdogs heading into Saturday's game against the Buckeyes. For fans like McLaughlin, that meant hearing more trash talk from rival fans who couldn't say much as Michigan dominated the Big Ten.
McLaughlin said he handled the season with flying colors. His group chats got going last week when Michigan signed five-star quarterback Bryce Underwood, and excitement for the future is already building. As for Saturday, McLaughlin plans to watch the game from his garage instead of showing off the toilet bowl tattoo in Columbus. The season didn't go as planned, but if he could turn back time, McLaughlin wouldn't change a thing.
“For me it’s not a regret at all,” McLaughlin said. “I went to the Rose Bowl. I celebrated after the natty. Nothing will ever take that feeling away from me.”
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