OT - Second Columbus trip
I recently received the opportunity to get a ticket to the Ohio State-Penn State football game for $100.. I'm taking my friend up on the offer at the last minute. It's a night game, for chrissakes, which I haven't ever gone to.
This will be my second trip to Columbus, my first being the #1 vs #2 showdown in 2006. I was with fellow Michigan fans then so I didn't get to see as much of Columbus and the Buckeyes as I expect to see this time around. What else do I need to be aware of, besides angry Buckeye fans frothing at the mouth at the sight of a block M? Mostly, I stuck around with fellow Michigan fans at the official tailgate, but this time I'll be right in the thick of things by Value City Arena. At least I'll be able to follow the UM-MSU game on one of the plasma TVs at the tailgate I'll be going to..
Obviously, I will not be rooting for Ohio State. That's like a UNC fan rooting for Duke or vice versa, or a Cal fan rooting for Stanford. Just not going to happen. However, I am more partial to Penn State as I interviewed at their medical school at Hershey back in September and liked it a lot. Is it douche to show up decked in borrowed PSU gear (I do have a PSU Medicine tshirt), or should I stick with wearing my Red Wings Stanley Cup championship tshirt, so that I might placate my hosts by not fucking up their... Sea of Scarlet or Red Sea or Red-Out or whatever they call it?
Or do I just say fuck it, and toss on my Chuck Woodson throwback and get ready for some love?
What say you?
October 24th, 2008 at 2:50 PM ^
October 24th, 2008 at 2:57 PM ^
I wouldn't wear the U of M jersey. Its not worth it. I think you would get shit for wearing the PSU jersery, but not nearly as much as for UM.
I guess it depends on how much you want to just enjoy the experience vs. piss off OSU people and maybe get in a fight. If it were me, I would wear the Red Wings jersey, but I am a huge Wings fan, and a little bit anti-confrontational.
October 24th, 2008 at 2:57 PM ^
October 24th, 2008 at 3:03 PM ^
Leaning towards the Red Wings stuff, as I'm also a big fan. I think I was a Red Wings fan before I became a Wolverines fan (i.e. learned the game of football). Though that's basically 4th grade vs 6th grade.. not that big of a difference in the scheme of things.
Thanks for the suggestions. I'm out to just enjoy the spectacle of 2 Top 10 teams duking it out at night, even if its at the Goatshoe... again.
October 24th, 2008 at 3:21 PM ^
October 24th, 2008 at 3:29 PM ^
October 24th, 2008 at 3:49 PM ^
October 24th, 2008 at 3:57 PM ^
If the worst you got was "Fuck you!" or "you're at the wrong game" or someone telling you how bad they think Michigan sucks this year, it's worth wearing the jersey.
However, I don't think that would be the worst you would get. In my experience dealing with Ohio State fans (I lived in Ohio for a little while after undergrad) you very well may get something thrown at you or dumped on you that you wouldn't like. When I was living in Cincinnati, I was wearing a Michigan t-shirt the Friday before we played OSU, and while at lunch with friends three guys dumped their left-over Panda Express on my lap. Just an FYI.
October 24th, 2008 at 9:18 PM ^
October 24th, 2008 at 11:02 PM ^
October 25th, 2008 at 9:59 AM ^
October 26th, 2008 at 1:12 PM ^
October 27th, 2008 at 4:10 PM ^
This time, without having to be on guard for random Buckeye molesters, i.e. being in enemy territory, it felt like I had diplomatic immunity walking around with friends who are Buckeyes and tailgating with my friend's classmate's family. It helped that I wasn't out to antagonize anyone, though I got a few comments asking about the Red Wings shirt I was wearing (i.e. why are you wearing that, You don't have any red OSU stuff?, Red Wings suck, etc). But generally now that I was considered a human being, the experience was way better than the first (though that might be because we lost that game).
The night game atmosphere is a lot of fun. I think Michigan should do more of those. Also, I think that the Block O in the Ohio Stadium is responsible for a lot of the noise that they make, and leading the cheers. I never really felt the same way in Michigan Stadium. As I understand it, to be in the Block O, you have to be an undergraduate, and you have to go to these 'training' sessions to learn how to lead cheers in unison, and you can't leave the game early (you might think that's not a bad thing, but what about the blowouts?). So basically they get the more hardcore students, teach them how to lead the cheers, give them towels and choreograph the gear so that the Block O shows up.
Continuing on that tack, I think that that group sets the example. When I was at The Game in 2006, I was in the visitor's section in 28AA, with a pretty good view of the Block O. I didn't know how that worked then, but I remembered that a lot of the noise started from there. And then, being in 38B, just behind the Block O, I could really hear and feel the noise. My thinking is that these groups set the example, and lead the O-H-I-O cheers, and all of that stuff. Is there no group like that at UM? I know there's usually the guy with the cowbell, and the student section is usually quite loud. I haven't had to sit in the other sections of the stadium so I don't know how things are. But those were my thoughts while I was at the game. Don't blame the acoustics, or the old people (OSU has their fair share of the elders)- we need some way to help direct the energy. If we don't have these tacky NBA arena animations on a giant TV-like board that OSU has (i.e. Laurinaitis waving his arms up and down with the giant red letters "GET LOUDER!!!" or marquee "LETS... GO... BUCKS!!" messages scrolling across, and Brutus jumping around and making the "no-good" signal, fake decibel graphs, etc.) then we can at least have a specific part of the stadium lead the cheers. It's not the acoustics - we just don't have the direction. That's just my thought on the issue; I haven't been back to the Big House since '06 Iowa so it's been a while.
What are your thoughts on the sound issue? I'm told that Beaver Stadium can get even more rockin', but I haven't had the opportunity to go yet - I'm looking into going for the Michigan State game. Another opportunity to root against Sparty.
Anyway, Blue Balls - yeah, I liked Hershey a lot. I've been in Philadelphia for 2 years now, and I'm ready for a change that's more metropolitan.. even if Hershey is a bit more rural than I'm used to. Good place to study medicine, is the way I see it.