I know I am not the only blog follower who has done hard time in Ohio.  Mine was from birth until the summer following my freshmen year at Michigan.  Then I got out.
(Needless to say, that was the summer of '98, when I had National Championship hangover.  it was a good time to say goodbye)

I think people have touched upon various aspects of Ohio State fandom, and have gotten their aspects quite correct.  As Brian notes, most fans resemble Woody Hayes, and can condone a childish immaturity and subsequent disrespect.  

Others have noted the lack of anything else notable in the Ohio sports world.  The repeated failure of Cleveland area professional sports teams - and the lack of one in Columbus.

Some say that it is a lack of more than one rivalry game.  While Michigan has bitter tests against MSU and ND as well, OSU has only the game.  Obviously, their focus remains exclusively on their one bitter enemy - not divided among three.

Yes, these are all contributing factors.  But the weirdest thing to me involves the role of non-student fandom in Ohio.  I have actually met few Ohio State student fans.  And those I have met, were mostly reasonable.  But there is something weird about the condition of being an Ohioan that forces one to irrationality.

1) Thanksgiving, 1998.
    I was at a party reunion over Thanksgiving with my high school class.  None of them went one to OSU.  My high school was a big funnel to Miami U (Not that Miami), and Ohio University (it was a private high school, and most kids were too smart to go to OSU).  We had just lost 31-16 in Columbus.  I arrived to the party to a chorus of jeering.  None of these kids went to OSU, but felt compelled to act as if they did.  When I called them out on it, all I got in return was "Fuck Michigan".  

2) Thanksgiving, 2000.
    My parents made a tradition of flying a Michigan flag over my childhood home for every football game, and every time I visited, a tradition they kept until they moved 2 years ago.  We won, 38-26 in Columbus.  I was working that weekend in Ann Arbor, and was watching the game at a friend's in Troy.  The neighbors ingrate children chalked some derogatory messages on their sidewalk - "Fuck Michigan" and "Michigan Fags".  My parents witnessed the chalking and confronted the parents.  But the parents shrugged it off, saying it was part of the rivalry, and giving tacit approval that semi-hate speech, if against Michigan fans, is OK.  BTW, the parents were not OSU graduates, nor did their children end up attending OSU either.   

3) Octoberish, 2000, The game 1997, and some random party 2005.
    In short, the three different episodes of substance I have had with OSU fans.  In 2000, I was part of the Michigan Big Ten Bass Fishing Team (Big Ten Champions).  We invited the lone OSU fisherman over for beers and had a reasonable evening with them before kicking their ass on the lake the next day.  
    In 1997, I was a freshman in Alice Lloyd.  I was coming home from a party several sheets to the wind in the early morning hours when I saw a DPS officer telling three OSU students they couldn't sleep in their car on Observatory.  I let them into the lounge on my floor and gave them a bathroom key, telling them that they were in Michigan now, and something about hospitality.
    During a party in grad school at Michigan Tech, some kid walks into my house in an OSU hat.  After engaging him in conversation, I find out that he is not only not an OSU alum, but only lived in Columbus for a short time.  I go out of my way to keep his glass full and introduce him to girls.  Point blank, I ask him if he would ever show the same hospitality to a Michigan fan.  "No."  was the answer.

Somehow, as great as the University of Michigan is, it does not inspire devotion to its residents.  The most vocal part of the fan base is its students and alumni.  In Ohio, every resident non-alum seems to display some sort of rabid, irrational defense of the football program.  The students, who have actually seen a bit of education, are not as bad (usually).  But what explains it?

Just Woody?  No.  He has been too dead and too irrelevant for too long.

No other game in town?  Yeah, OSU has been good.  But they have provided one National title, and a lot of tooth gnashing since. 

Lack of a rivalry?  Maybe some.  But in recent years OSU has done a good job of scheduling respectable non-conference home and home series.  It takes the early season focus off, at least.

So, yes, these initial 3 reason play a small role.  But unless you have done hard time in Ohio, you may not be able to quite put your fingers on its pulse.  

Ohio sucks.

Cedar Point if as far north as it could get away.  It's a state that struggles for a motto.  While the cradle of presidents and coaches, it also nurses a historical abundance of serial killers.  

It's a place with a huge inferiority complex.

Ohio knows it didn't deserve the rock and roll hall of fame.  But they will defend it in Cleveland, as they still smart from their burning river and giving birth to the modern environmental movement.  

Ohio still feels wounds from losing the Browns.  The state supported building a new stadium before fixing the crumbling school system.  Their reward?  Mediocrity.  And the Bengals.

But instead of the sports metropolis's of Cincinnati and Cleveland pulling the state apart, they are instead galvanized over the central location and figurehead that is tOSU Buckeyes.  

It is my belief that a state with an identity crisis follows basic psychology, and has turned itself inward.  They can circle the wagons around the scrap of identity that is OSU, and epitomized by a horseshoe.  Yes, Cincinnati may be good now, but it is a fad that Ohioans know will pass, like Drew Carey and Skyline chili.

So with every punch thrown, 'Fuck Michigan' shirt sold, and blogosphere comment submitted, Ohio fans are treading a simple line: that college football proves the worth and relevance of their state and lives.

As I said, I got out.  But I did some hard time.  

Michigan football means a lot to me.  But it is not my seasonal crutch to ameliorate my crappy life in a terrible state.

Go Blue!