When did the hatred begin?
No special reason to throw this out there right now other than my own curiosity, but I have a question: does anyone know when Michigan-OSU became a true rivalry?
I imagine that there must have been a time when Michigan-OSU was just another game on the schedule. I'm wondering when (and why) it became a Catyclysmic Confrontation Between Good and Evil (which it now undoubtedly is).
Anyone?
...OSU Libraries have a joint project on the history of the rivalry here. It's a great resource.
1835. Hated them before but that's a good date to start from
This is very good if you haven't seen it - by HBO. I know a number of people with no interest in either side who really liked it. If you didn't know the history of the rivalry this explains very well why there is really nothing else in college sports with this kind of history.
If you are ever in Ohio try to find the sports radio station. It's ridiculous no matter what time of the year it is they are talking smack about us whether a reason to has come up or not.
Our sports radio will be talking about the Red Wings, Pistons, Tigers, or the Lions with the NFL Draft and Ohio will be talking about how terrible Michigan is.
I think it slants towards OSU. For example, our National Title barely gets a mention, while theirs is some grand reemergence of the program. When they premiered it at the Michigan Theater to Michigan VIPs, it got lukewarm reviews. It wasn't hardly up to the quality ESPN has recently produced.
They also made a huge deal about the culture of OSU football - but didn't say anything about Michigan except "they win and they're arrogant." And they made OSU's terrible reputation as fans out to be a good thing. I honestly don't think they mentioned our 1997 title at all.
But I still thought it was a pretty well done job of recapping the rivalry - despite its Ohio lean.
I was three years old when this happened: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xIV4OVADDA. My family had a "Best of Bob Ufer" 8-track tape that we would listen to while driving to Ann Arbor for games. I'll never forget the section where Ufer went freaking crazy when they did that to the banner, and rightly so. When I think of Michigan football, I think of The Victors, the helmets, and the team bursting forth from the tunnel and sprinting under the banner. Those are uniquely "Michigan". For osu to attack our banner, it would be similar to our team attacking their stupid tuba player dotting the i.
Let's just take a look at the rivalry for a moment. We gave them the script ohio thing. Pretty classy in my book. Their fans gave Tom Harmon a standing ovation. So there was some respect in the rivalry. But three things have happened since then that turned this from a rivalry into a hatefest. First was when Woody went for 2 to make it 50-14 in '68. Two was the banner, and three was when Tressell had his rent-a-cops search our team bus with bomb-sniffing dogs. Real classy Jim. You'll notice that all three were shitty things that osu did to us. I don't remember us doing anything of the like to them. That's because we're better than them, and they can't take it.
Here's the Buckeye reaction to the 3-3 tie with Michigan in 1910 via the Michigan Daily:
“When the timer’s whistle made it certain that Michigan had indeed been tied, the Ohio rooters, who packed the stands, rushed onto the field and danced madly while their band played and the student clowns capered about “Berky” the mule, that was advertised as ‘having Michigan’s goat’. Factory whistles screamed and cannons boomed in honor of what the Ohio backers felt to be a triumph.”
...game program of the 1910 edition of The Game.
Origins of O$U?
This very poster is on display at bookstores throughout campus. I guess osu fans' disdain for their on-the-field performance of this era does not stretch to the program art.