So I know I haven’t been around in a while, at least on the internets. But it’s hard to get writing again when you have no passion to put the pen to paper. In the current post grad life depression that is also known as the “getting a real job and grinding out long weeks in the office” there isn’t much exciting material. I could write about how I have a headset at work now, or that my latest trip to meijer resulted in the most pathetic bag of groceries ever seen in the hand of a 23 year old male. Don’t worry, we won’t see any of that because it is BEAT MICHIGAN WEEK!
And if there is one thing to draw someone out of a writing slump it’s Ohio State – Michigan. I started thinking about this post a couple days before the Wisconsin game but once I realized we were playing in Camp Randall at night and have set a precedent that we generally prefer not to win football games in those conditions, I gave it no more thought. But then Wisconsin’s coach Bret Beliema pulled a classic Wisconsin coaching performance and let us sneak out of Madison with a win in overtime. I am still convinced Tressel was sneaking in plays over the head set somewhere after seeing the same 3 plays in rotation the entire regulation period but gave it no more thought after the W. And as Bill Wadley would say,
“A win’s a win’s a win!” – Bill Wadley
So suddenly this idea can come to fruition. It’s a pretty simple idea actually. Every day this week, I am going to chronicle in countdown fashion one of the top 5 Ohio State-Michigan games in my lifetime. I was born in 1989, but I don’t remember watching an Ohio State v. Michigan game until 1997, an absolutely terrible year to begin watching The Game as an 8 year old Buckeye. I can remember it clear as day, my mother dragging my siblings and I to the grocery store on a Saturday afternoon DURING THE GAME! Even as an 8 year old I knew this was ridiculous and on my very first step inside I sprinted toward the big screen TVs, where I knew there would at least be a couple other scarlet and gray clad kids my age there. Turns out there were none and I would later get spanked for my “insubordination,” but sadly those were the least of my problems.
Five minutes later I watched Ohio State gain possession and punt the ball away. Charles Woodson grabbed it somewhere around the 20, and proceeded to fly past any potential tackler and scamper into the end zone. Ohio State would go on to lose the game and 8 year old me sat slumped in front of the tv completely dejected.
I was a victim, as were many others, of the John Cooper era. During John Cooper’s tenure at OSU, he amassed exactly two, you read that right, two victories against michigan. 2-10-1. And speaking of ties another Bill Wadley quote,
“A tie! Itai! You know what they say, Itai’s like kissing your sister!” – Bill Wadley
Fortunately for me, I only suffered through three more Cooper coached games and the Jim Tressel era began. I still wonder how Cooper kept his job that long without winning a national title or beating michigan, but that’s neither here nor there.
I’m not really sure I can put into words how I feel about this rivalry. It’s the most important game of the year, every year, for my favorite sporting team. My high school senior year recruiting trip was to the The Game. I get harassed or relentlessly tease my uncle and nephew (who are inexplicably michigan fans) every Thanksgiving over the outcome. I could go on but the truth is that my story isn’t any different from any other die hard Ohio State football fan. It’s a bigger than life experience. Bigger than you, bigger than me, bigger than the massive stadiums the games are held in.
This year’s storyline of “The Game” is certainly an interesting one; NCAA sanctions, dual quarterbacks from ann arbor, Urban’s first michigan game, michigan coming off it’s first win in the series in close to a decade, OSU preserving an undefeated season, and a rivalry that seemed to have lost its spark in the late 2000s is back and just as fierce as it was before.
If you’re a Buckeye fan and you aren’t fired up yet, this should do the trick:
Let the countdown begin.
Buckeye Til I Die,
The Keef
keeferskorner 