Michigan v ohio: Fan perspective/treatment

Submitted by Dubs on

Perhaps I'll be lampooned, but I figured I'd try to get some discussion on a slow day/week/month/summer...

Background:

I live in Columbus.  Therefore, I am subject to ridicule from ohio fans.  Recently, a mutual friend (who apparently has family in Michigan) claims the rivalry is "much worse" in Ann Arbor and cites being picked on and "having an ohio yard ornament/floaty shot with a shotgun in his front yard."  Perhaps the latter was embellished a bit, but this leads me to my...

 

Question:

For those that live in Michigan or, better yet, Ann Arbor, how have you viewed the treatment of ohio fans in a hostile environment?  If possible, what is the HARSHEST treatment you've seen an ohio fan experience?

 

Perhaps a "cool story, bro" lead-in, but I was interested in some shared insight on an ohio fan in Michigan, seeing as my role is reversed.

MichFan1997

August 13th, 2012 at 7:36 PM ^

say to you? Does he brag about being within 6 points of us last year? Or does he brag about Tressel being fired? Or better yet, does he talk about how much better of a bowl they will make than our team this year?

Dubs

August 13th, 2012 at 7:39 PM ^

Don't know the extent of his fandom, to be honest.  I know plenty who would say "nice job beating a shitty OSU team!" But I also know a few who thought Pryor was a moron from the start and felt Tressel was an idiot for recruiting those types of players.

pug150

August 13th, 2012 at 9:04 PM ^

do Ohio fans conveniently forget the John Cooper era which resulted in a 10-2-1 record for us? None of their fans think The Game was even played before 2000...and let's not forget that we destroyed undefeated seasons for them in 1993, 1995 and 1996...some of the most talented teams Ohio has ever had as far as NFL talent.

Wolverine Devotee

August 13th, 2012 at 7:40 PM ^

All I hear from those mouth-breathing idiots is how last year was their worst team in years.

Yeah and whose fault was that? YOUR OWN FOR HAVING A DIRT PROGRAM.

How did they react when we said that to them in 2008? Sucks when shoe (no pun intended) is on the other foot, doesn't it ohio?

WolverineHistorian

August 13th, 2012 at 8:01 PM ^

I've never been to an OSU game in Ann Arbor so I can't comment on what I have seen in person. But you can remind your friend that it's not just Michigan being in town that causes Buckeye fans to act like jackasses. Or listen to opposing fans that have been subjected to them in bowl games.

Texas fans were treated so horribly in Columbus in 2005 that the following year in Austin, Texas' president sent emails to the entire student body to not give them the same treatment, to set an example and not stoop to OSU fans level.

lakeside

August 13th, 2012 at 8:10 PM ^

and via my job with UM I work with a number of profs and grad students from tOSU. I've noticed two things. First, the longer I remain in Ann Arbor and the more attention I pay to football the harder it is to remain unbiased toward them. Second, I've tried a few times to throw casual Ohio jokes at them and they always fail - just not a laughing matter.

sedieso

August 13th, 2012 at 8:06 PM ^

Socrates once said, "An Ohio fan is treated much the same as an employee is by their employer. A Michigan fan is treated much the same way as an employer is by their employees." 

ohio

August 13th, 2012 at 8:37 PM ^

Dubs, I was born and raised in C-bus as well and only recently moved as far away from the nuts around whom I've been forced to grow up watching the rivalry. As several commentors have stated above, the biggest excuse I get is we (team 132 that is, not us fans literally) 'barely' beat a 'weak' ohio team. Everything else being equal, the only real substantive 'weakness' on the team was starting a true freshman at QB. By game 12, the absence of Tressel has been thorughly mitigated. Ohio beat Wiscy, lost by 3 at home to the other B1G Title game participant, and if their frosh QB doesn't twist his ankle, pull out a win at Nebraska that they led by 21 points in the 2nd half. There was a ton of top ten recruitng class depth stored up on that roster that made THE GAME a competitive game. Of course none of these excuses apply for less touted freshman QB's Tate and Denard in their respective debut campaigns as starter at QB. All 3 QB's in this analysis ended up with pretty much equally uninspiring .500ish records. It just so happens now the leverage is on the UM side in terms of experience.....and now we play defense again like a Michigan D and appears like we will for years to come.

I for one have always assumed there is no way it could be as bad for a fan of Ohio to live in A2 as it is for our type. The fact that the board hasn't responded with much in terms of examples is reinforcing that perception.

oriental andrew

August 13th, 2012 at 8:37 PM ^

My sister was spit on, had water thrown on her, and cursed at The Game in cbus.  And she's 5'1" and barely 100lbs.  Imagine what they do to dudes.  

My brother-in-law, who has no Big Ten allegiances (he attended MIT), lived in cbus (with my sis, of course) for several years.  He says Michigan fans are arrogant about their school (true) and that buckeyes are equally loyal to their schools, but more rude, violent, and disgusting. 

ohio

August 13th, 2012 at 8:43 PM ^

I think this perception makes it a reality that Mich is a prestigious academic university ergo the 'arrogant' stereotype. Living in Columbus, I have always embraced this idea in defending my disdaind for most buckeye fans, even though the fact is that I am in no way intimately acquainted the Michigan prestige...I just bleed blue. That and I am definitely acquainted with said rude, violent, disgusting behavior of the locals in Columbus.

stephenrjking

August 13th, 2012 at 8:58 PM ^

They treat "dudes" according to the perceived level of threat. At the three UM-OSU games I attended in Columbus I received plenty of verbal taunts, but the closer someone approached my 6'5 frame the less belligerent they became.

In 2000, my friend and I stood on the top row of the metal bleachers (think of softball field bleachers) that they had set up between the two columns at the apex of the horseshoe. Behind us we could look down and see the plaza that leads up to the rotunda, and beyond that the old fieldhouse. In front of us we saw Drew Henson and company achieve what is still Michigan's last victory in the shoe. There was a section of students in this area, and they were all slobbering drunk and unhappy because they were suffering through the Cooper-Steve Bellisari era. When they figured out my friend and I were Michigan fans, they taunted us, exposed themselves, and generally lived down to every expectation we had of drunk Ohio student behavior.

But late in the game, as it became clear that Michigan probably wouldn't blow this particular 18-point lead, an interloper from another part of the stadium visited his friends for a shot of whatever was hidden inside one of their coats. He was informed that there were Michigan fans in the section. and he exploded in (somewhat) mock rage. "MICHIGAN FANS???" he declared in a loud, unavoidable voice. He then turned and began to stomp up the emptied bleachers toward us.

"MICHIGAN FANS! THERE'S NO WAY THEY'RE WALKING OUT OF HERE! I'M PUSHING THEM OUT OVER THE TOP!" His bluster grew with each stomp of a bleacher, until his last one--when he finally reached the bleacher below me. He stared up at my 6'0 friend and, in particular, up at my scruffy, stoney face 6'5 plus row height above him, hands concealed under a coat that added bulk to my appearance. His face melted.

"Hey," he said, trying to force a placating smile. "You're a big guy," he said as he patted my sides with his hands, "And I'm not. I was, uh, just kidding about all that. I'll go back down to my seat now." 

My friend and I still get a laugh out of this. And we sang "Hail to the Victors" all the way back to our car.

I'm hoping Denard makes that game the second-to-last Michigan win there this year.

xcrunner1617

August 13th, 2012 at 8:45 PM ^

Honestly, never been to Columbus but I can almost guarantee being in East Lansing the past couple of years has been worse.  The amount of hate that fan base has towards Michigan is incredible.