Columbus Trip Report

Thank you for traveling and supporting the team!

Glad you had a good time and things went well. Kudos for supporting the team and I am sure you are glad you went with the outcome of the game

Let me tell you right now, I'm from Ohio and it will be very different at the football game.

where'd you end up eating?

I'm guessing most are not afraid of getting yelled at. If they're like me, all I see happening is my group/me getting into a fight. I don't see any other outcome, whether Michigan wins or loses.

@Monkey House -  most osu fans are complete douche bags. When I lived there I'd take my young son to the games and they were totally out of control. Expect nothing less come this November as losing will only make it worse. 

Go Blue!

I say again, it's pleasant to play a team that has, y'know, just opponents, and not a jerk coach or dirty players. 

P.S. Attending the He-Was-Short game, I didn't care about the "Fuck Michigan" words, it was fear for my safety that got me.

Went to the matchup in the 2012-13 season when Michigan came in as the last undefeated team in the country, had Burke, THJ, Stauskas, the whole crew. Sat in the student section, which was probably my first mistake, but a friend of a friend got us the tickets so I wasn’t in a position to complain. Didn’t have too many problems surprisingly. Just a few “are you fucking kidding me’s?” as we got to our seats, but no direct confrontations

Gotta tell you, that first half was reeeeeeal uncomfortable, because OSU went up big to start the half and was running Michigan out of the gym. Michigan clawed it’s way back but OSU still pulled it out in the end, with of course plenty of “just like football” chants coming from the stands. Got stopped by one older OSU fan on my way out who said “you guys have got a hell of a team.”

Only ever went to one football game, and it was the 2014 Brady Hoke Swann Song. Sat nowhere near the student section but got no crap whatsoever, but I’m pretty sure that’s because most fans didn’t hate Michigan then. They just pitied Michigan.

Football games (when we are beating them) average a "fuck you/fuck Michigan" about every 10 seconds. However, the part that you seemed to miss at a basketball game is the mob of violent drunks looking to fight.

Football is different

That's why they call them rivalries. It's cool until it isn't. How we handle the heat is the measure our character.  Great job!  Go Blue!!

Not thread worthy, but in hockey Ohio is losing to PSU, also in cooler-pooperville, 1-0 toward the end of the 2nd

ND beat Wisconsin 4-2, so the fig things advance 

Nice work benvom 💪🏾 

I hope you take a cleansing shower once you get home - enjoy the sweet victory that you earned in enemy territory as a courageous fan. 

My mom and dad are from Cleveland, and so I have a fair amount of OSU fans in my family. So I say this with great caution, but Columbus OH is POS town full of POS people who are going after a second rate education. Once I accepted this reality, the ingrate behavior out of Columbus is no longer a surprise, it is to be expected in fact. 

I've been to several at OSU football games in the last 20 yrs, never been to an OSU hoops game. The older I get the less I'm willing to be in that nasty vile environment. The football games have ranged to feeling in danger to just fun and games. The Constant fuck you'd get tiring especially when alot of the times you feel the OSU fans are not playing nice. 

@WindyCityBlue - your assessment is spot on!

Also not thread worthy, but this Iowa Illini hoops game is enjoyable .  4 pt Illini lead, 3 minutes left

Been to the football game down there two or three times and also been to a hockey game and honestly never had much of a problem. I don't doubt the authenticity of other people's horror stories, and maybe part of that it was being in the middle of their streak instead of in the middle of our streak, but I can only judge based on my own experiences. Hitting up eateries around town wearing Michigan stuff never produced any problems either, either during a gameday or any other time I happened to be there. If anything, it usually started decent conversations about sports. Also had very friendly interactions with the OSU fans I end up next to at Michigan Stadium.

Never had a problem at other venues either. Notre Dame fans that actually go to their games are SO nice that it actually felt awkward. Purdue was fine. East Lansing is definitely where I've gotten the most verbal abuse, but I've never felt particularly threatened, and of course we usually travel well enough there that it isn't like help is far off it were necessary.

I will say that while my experience at Camp Randall itself was pretty tame, my worst experiences with enemy fans has been Wisconsin people literally anywhere else. Other than a couple I was next two a few years ago, I think every opposing Wisconsin fan I've run into at the Big House was in an insufferable shitbag. I've also had people roll down their window and yell at me in Madison when I happen to be there and we were not even playing them in anything.

The same Buckeye fan is a much different person when it comes to football.

Basketball is a sport to them. Football is their identity.

@XM     Iowa missed 4 of 5 FT's on their last 2 trips down the floor

FYI for people here coming to Columbus to dump off poopy coolers...

While it's not a worldclass food town, it's a somewhat underrated food town.  The main issue is that the great places are spread all over the place and you gotta know where to look (also my restaurant knowledge is quite out of date because pandemic)

As you might imagine none of the places near campus are stellar, they are mostly standard campus fare.  If you go south on Olentangy River, there are some nice upscale places around Grandview Yard.  Can't vouch for these but it's a pretty nice area of town, thouugh traffic might be a bear.  There should be a few good places to take a family.  You could also go up north on High to Clintonville, about a 10 minute drive from campus - there are a few places I like, including the famous Jeni's Ice Cream, Hot Chicken Takeover, and Northstar Cafe.  Those are mostly counter service places, so might not be what tlyou want if you've family in tow, but theyr all nice enough.

Venturing further afield the Bethel/Henderson corridor in the NW part of town has several excellent strip mall Asian restaurants, including Belles Bread which is a well-known Japanese bakery.  There are also several African restaurants on the NE side along Morse Rd. as we have a sizable Somali population.

We also have several well regarded brewpubs like Hoof Hearted and Wolf Ridge around the gentrified 4th street area just northeast of downtown, though I have never been to either.  (Also, FYI. Downtown itself tends to be a ghost town on weekday nights and weekends)

Fun fact: if you want a taste of home, there is a Cottage Inn Pizza on campus, and a Sweetwater's Cafe in the suburb of Dublin. Lastly. Don't listen to anyone in Columbus who raves about Katzingers Deli which totally didn't rip off Zingermans -  as with Script Ohio and academic rankings, it is a pale imitation of the much better original from Ann Arbor)

@lakewylie

for no articulable reason I’m pulling for Iowa but time and momentum not on their side

2 pt game, 1 min left

We own OSU!

I've accepted that their vocabulary is very thin, maybe attending football games in a toilet bowl all these years got them to that point. I don't know. 

I find it humorous that a username of WindyCityBlue calls Columbus a piece of shit town full of POS people. You apparently have never walked downtown to go to work. 

Sounds, just a little bit, like the reception a Yankees cap gets at Fenway. Or a Red Sox garbed fan gets in The Bronx. 

I've developed the habit of not wearing the colors to some of the more "tightly wound" venues. :-)

@ The Deer Hunter (one of my favorite movies by the way):

No reason to rag on Chicago. I love that city. Haven't been there for years but I can't wait to go there for a conference at the beginning of April.

And I will say that I had a great time on my one visit to Columbus. It had a good bar scene, from what I can remember anyway... 😊

I was at the The Game, football edition, in Columbus for the Harbaugh "Guarantee Game" and had a beer keg thrown at me from a second floor apartment window.  It wasn't even empty. 

Welcome to "Benvom's Only Net Positive Point Post."

I keed!

I’m afraid your trip in November is going to be much, much different than the one you just took. Those will be the worst fans any of you will ever see because of last year.

I've been there for a half dozen games, the football crowd will be far more drunk and far meaner. No comparison. Vandalism to your vehicle and threats of physical violence are definitely on the menu. It is a small minority but enough to make a difference. As far as purely verbal abuse, MSU fans are worse.

Ready for a trip to Columbus after studying stoicism.

I've been to two Michigan OSU football games in Columbus. I had similar experiences to what you describe. People yelled at me. If you ignore them or respond calmly (wave, say hi, etc.) nothing more has ever happened to me. I have no doubt that if you got aggressive with people yelling at you that you could get into trouble but that is true any where.

I personally would not wear my Michigan gear to anything but the game itself because I don't need the hassle of people yelling at me when I am just trying to eat but its not like it is dangerous to do so. 

Just be calm and avoid confrontation and everything will be fine. No one wants to miss the game sitting in a police station. 

Since I live close to Columbus, I can absolutely assure you that your football experience will be a complete 180. Buckeye fans don't seem to care as much about basketball(at least in my experience). I can't even go to the gym without hearing "Michigan Sucks". To which I "politely" reply 42-27. Expect the worst and you will not be disappointed in the reception you will no doubt receive.

It's always been my impression in this rivalry that both sides reserve the true depth of their emotions for football.

Champaign is worse than Columbus for basketball, not so "welcoming" for football either. Evanston is the best/nicest ( it doesn't hurt that many UM alums live in the Loop or Northshore).

MSU is by far our biggest hoops rivalry and after some creative ribbing there thankfully isn't much of a fan safety issue.  

I went to the game too - sat half court but at the very top - two rows from the roof.  Had a great time and had zero issues with anybody.  We pre-gamed at the Varsity Club (only bar open) which is about 300 yards from the arena.  Wore all Michigan gear and hat and got no blow-back, no comments, no nothing from anybody.   Everyone was very nice to be honest.

At some point during the game someone near me made a "Michigan sucks" yell (not directed at anyone in particular) and I responded "42-27 baby" and nobody said a word.   

Post gamed at a bar near the arena and was treated the same.  No shit from anyone.  Had a blast.

Recently walked into the Diamond Cellar in columbus, (a good friend of mine is a salesman there).  Wearing my Big 10 championship hat.  The lady at the door says, "oh, i don't know, this one is wearing a Michigan hat".   I said, "That's fine, if you don't want my business I'll gladly go shop somewhere else."   She got super nice very quickly.  she said she has a lot of respect for Michigan, its an 'elite educational institution'.   I actually enjoyed watching her backtrack as quickly as she could.

i went down to indy for the women's tournament this weekend, which i highly recommend.  one neat thing about it is that you see every school's gear everywhere, and most of the interactions are pretty fun, without the sort of aggression you sometimes see for the men's game or at a football saturday.

we went down friday morning and paid for two nights' hotel - i wasn't super-confident for the friday game vs nebraska, but we decided to make a weekend of it win or lose.  so we lost, and saturday morning we were wandering around downtown, just shopping and getting a bite to eat.  we were passing a couple of older women wearing ohio state gear, and when i smiled a semi-hello to a fellow women's hoops fan, one of the women very clearly said "fuck you, fuck michigan" as they passed.

i like to sometimes say that most fans of other schools are just like we are.  but that's not really true.  there's a much MUCH higher concentration of pure screaming shitheads coming out of columbus than literally anywhere else.  it will always and ever be a shithole, populated by the absolute dregs of the earth.

as i've shared many times.... my #2 ex wife is from columbus and went to osu.... having spent way too much time down there, over a 6 year span, i'm convinced somewhere between 50 and 75% of their fanbase are classless haters.   

My only time spent in Columbus is on my way to Legend Valley. Now that is one special place, Ohio or not.