I don’t know why I didn’t find this link sooner. I’ve been a member since the beginning of this 2004 football season. It’s been an up and down season, but right now it’s up…so I am happy.
My name is Jon and I live in Centerville, Ohio. My old Centerville High School is ranked #3 in the State and playing #1 Cincinnati-Colerain this weekend in the playoffs. The winner of this game has a good shot at winning state, and Centerville has never won state before…but they’ve sure been a great place for Ohio State to get recruits lately. Hawk and Nuge!
I went to Miami University and got my BA in political science in Dec. 2003. I am now trying to become and Minor League Baseball Umpire. I worked in the Northwoods League this summer which is for college All-Stars. The season lasted 2.5 months with only 4 days off. We had a game every night, 2 umpire crews just like minor league baseball, and traveled throughout 10 cities in the upper Midwest. The Northwoods League games averaged 2,000 a game in attendance and Madison, WI had a team that brought in 6,000 on average and 10,000 one night. The teams use old minor league ballparks.
Why am I a Buckeye fan and what kind of fan am I? Well I’ve been a Buckeye fan since before I was born, literally. I was born on February 11, 1982, but my first Ohio State football game was on September 12, 1981 as the Buckeyes beat up on Duke 34-13. Ohio State went on to beat scUM that year. And then in 1982, the year I was born, we beat scUM again!
My dad graduated from Ohio State and therefore I was raised a Buckeye.
He has season tickets in B-deck…3rd row no obstructions. And we’ve had the same seats for a while now. I think we actually moved over a few during the renovation. I love the seats because, in B-deck, most people either have to deal with a pole, or are so far back they can’t see the scoreboard or punts. Well we are far enough up we can see everything, and there is no poll…but we also get the luxury of having TV’s right in front of us that are put there for people in B-deck who can’t see. So since they put those babies up there I’ve been able to see those replays they won’t show on the scoreboard. This year I also have been able to watch instant replays before they announce them. During the Wisconsin game this year, according to replay, Anthony Davis fumbled 3 times. 2 of them were challenged. None were reversed, but they were all clear fumbles. All those TVs have done is made me more pissed off at the refs over the years.
My dad took me to a lot of games as I was growing up. Not all of them, but a lot. I really don’t know which ones I went to and which ones I didn’t, because we have ticket stubs for a lot of them. All the games until I was about 11 seem like a blur. I kind of remember the Ohio State-Michigan tie in 13-13 because it was a tie. That’s when I started to really understand The Game and get into it, which leads to the first game that really sticks out to me. When my dad and I, and 2 neighbors drove up to Ann Arbor for my first and last (until last year) Ohio State-Michigan game in TSUN. Nothing like being undefeated and losing to scUM. I remember it was cold…I think there were snowflakes in the air. I remember being amazed from the outside at how small the stadium looked because it was sunken in the ground, and I remember having to wait with my dad for a LONG LONG TIME to use the bathroom. The stadium didn’t impress me that much, but why should it have? I was used to The Shoe!
I first started REALLY following Ohio State football in 1994. Joey Galloway taught me what the Heisman was, because my dad explained to me at the beginning of the year that it would be a really big deal if Joey won the award. I started to follow the game, learn the game more, and watch the game more for the game and not for the things surrounding it, which I still love. I knew all the rules about football well before that, but it wasn’t until I was 12 until I really started living and dying with the Buckeyes. That was my Buckeye Renaissance.
1994 wasn’t the year it was hyped to be. Joey didn’t win the Heisman. (But I learned a lot more about the Heisman in 1995! Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!) We lost to Illinois, which around that time was really pissing me off, because it seemed like we could never beat Illinois. Penn State absolutely destroyed us. But we beat scUM. And wouldn’t you know…I didn’t get to go to the game. My dad took our neighbor. I don’t remember if I couldn’t go for some reason, or what the deal was. I remember being jealous I didn’t get to go. I think my dad saw how upset I was about not going to the game and realized just how important Ohio State Football had become. He told me I could always go with him to the games if I really enjoyed it that much. That’s and offer I took up with him, and I’ve been to almost every home game since.
In 1996 I got really sick with some stomach problems. I was in and out of the hospital and lost a lot of weight and wasn’t doing good. My dad had tickets to the Rose Bowl, but we had to stay home and watch it on TV because I was so sick. But one game I wasn’t going to miss, was the scUM game. I didn’t care how bad I felt that day, or how sick I was. I was going to the game. I remember it was cold, and my stomach hurt badly. I remember seeing us go up 9-0 and getting really excited. The year before we were undefeated going into the scUM game and lost. I told my dad that next year we get them at home. I’ll be there and we’ll win all our games that year. I wanted more than anything for Ohio State to win out and be #1. Up 9-0, I remember getting excited. Then I remember feeling like crap. As much as I tried, I couldn’t will the team to do anything on offense after being up 9-0. I began to HATE Stanley Jackson and still blame him for losing the game. I still wonder how he could have played so poorly. So we lose 13-9. The Rose Bowl made it a little bit better, but that was a long month.
I guess the 1998 MSU game hurt the most to me out of any game. We were the best team that year. We had scUM at home. We were better than them this year by A LOT. We were going to beat scUM, but instead of leading 24-9 against MSU, they come all the way back and silence Ohio Stadium. It was deafly silent. I remember walking out of the stadium, and nobody saying a word. I didn’t say a word until we were in the car on the way home. And I summed it up to my dad in 3 quick words… “Well that sucked!” That was the first year of the BCS. We would have beaten Tennessee. We should have been there instead of 1 loss Florida State. We were the first team robbed by the BCS, but we didn’t realize it or complain, because we went to the Rose Bowl, just like we would have before this BCS mess. But we beat scUM, but we weren’t undefeated when we did it, so I didn’t feel redeemed for 1996. But I got that redemption in 2002. That was for 1996. That win felt so damn good. Liberating! If I could have busted out of my skin, I would have. I’m still pumped about that win. I measure my Ohio State football life on scUM games. With one only 11 days away. I hope another chapter ends up being on the positive side for the Bucks.
Since 2001 my dad and I have started going to most of the road games. We haven’t been as good about it this year, only going to Northwestern. But I’ve been to almost all the Big 10 stadiums, and a few others. The Shoe is BY FAR the best out there. Well…that’s who I am and why I’m a Buckeye. The rest of my life is just details…
Here's some quick fun stats from me:
Favorite Buckeye: Eddie George
Least Favorite Buckeye: Maurice Clarett
Favorite Baseball Team: Reds then Red Sox
Favorite NFL Team: Bengals
Favorite President: William Jefferson Clinton
Political Party: Robinhoodism
That's all for now...
:gobucks3: :gobucks4:
Great game yesterday... way to go Bucks!!
