A must win game or at least for my sake

Submitted by cargo on

Growing up I was an airforce brat, living in multiple places until my dad finally got out and we moved to Ohio right outside of Columbus. I was in 4th grade it was the year after Michigan won its national championship. All the friends who i thought were cool liked michigan and being an outsider to the rivalry made my choice to root for the maize and blue. Even though I had a love of football i didnt get hardcore into til my later years. My first game i remember watching was John Cooper's last, and watching some of the next season when we were left with a young John Navarre. Oh the horror the 2001 and 2002 OSU Michigan game was, but then things were changed I watched all of the 2003 season every game from Chris Perry being the workhorse against MSU, to him leading us to a victory against OSU the first in 2 years, to the USC game which i could tell would be bad as soon as the ball hit Braylons ankle and the usc defender intercepted it. From 2003 season on I was hooked, I would wake up and watch game day, watch all the other games until michigan played and watch the ones after. Living in college my entire life and knowing i could not afford out of state tuition i was in a bind.

The bind was this should i choose not as good of an education to avoid going to Ohio State or should i go and just deal with it. I choose to go to Ohio State where as all my die hard OSU fans didnt. I was lucky in my first year in that my roommates were all friends and one of them happened to be a Michigan fan too. The year was memorable i got to see Guttierez get hurt the week before the first game and see Chad Henne grow, and Mike Hart just straight up dominate. Michigan ended up losing to OSU but still ended in the Rose Bowl facing Texas. Just the thought of the game and how if only the partially blocked field goal could have been fully blocked used to make me sad. As you all know the past 3 seasons with all the promise and losses to Ohio State and In all bowls except for the great dismantle of the SEC powerhouse Florida, were getting depressing. As a michigan fan i suffer through buckeye pride that is seen every where. I get shit talked consistently by my friends since they are the few who know i like michigan and pretty much get laughed at everytime michigan loses to osu. I have never been to an OSU game yet an OSU Michigan game, I regret not going to the #1 vs #2 game but hey i didnt need to be laughed while i sobbed during the late hit crable gave. This year however is different my friends/girlfriend convinced me to go to the 4 season ticket games. I probably wont enjoy the first 3 since i'll have to record michigan games and miss all the other great stuff, like flipping through the games or watching the highlights of games for the tenth time. But I will enjoy the last game when Michigan comes down, I'll be wearing all the Maize and Blue I own cheering for my team. So for the first Michigan game I'll ever go to I would love for it to be a victory, so for once i can rub in my college friends who never knew me when Michigan last one, that Michigan was the better team.

 

Comments

WolvinLA

July 2nd, 2008 at 5:44 PM ^

You shoulda gone to Miami. It's a better school and, oh yeah, it's not Ohio State. Plus the girls are hotter. There's still time to transfer.

Thrillhouse

July 2nd, 2008 at 6:23 PM ^

but from that post, i seriously doubt you could have gotten into michigan! seriously though, i thought a troll wrote this when i read the name 'mike heart'.

Blue Durham

July 2nd, 2008 at 6:26 PM ^

Well, I am going to get a bit of abuse for this, but here goes. I am originally from NJ and attended UM from '79 through '91, receiving both undergraduate and graduate degrees. During this time, my younger brother came out for a few games, strongly rooting for UM. He ended up attending OSU - thank God because the only other school he got accepted to was Mississippi State (Mississippi State!!!). By the way, the greatest game, of any type (and this includes game 6 NBA finals in '80 when Magic Johnson played center in place of injured Jabbar and beat the Sixers in Philly to win the championship), I ever attended was Harbaugh's guarenteed win in Columbus in '86. Go to the shoe. Root for the Bucks. It is a great environment. Great team, great tradition (how can you not admire a team that has had a Heisman trophy winner with the name "Hop-a-long Cassidy"). And from what I understand, due to the changes in the state university system, now an excellent school (my younger brother, now living in Cincinnati, says that he would no longer get addmitted, not even close). Fine, root for Michigan in their games; I root for OSU in all of their games but 1. By the end of the year you will be hooked and a fan, and maybe even (mildly) root for OSU in THE GAME - and that's OK. It is a great rivaly; the best in sports.

Thrillhouse

July 2nd, 2008 at 6:32 PM ^

Ohio State is not as bad as it used to be. Infact, it's engineering school is top notch.  One company I worked for had like 80 asian PhDs from OSU. All were incredibly smart people, and surprisingly for nerdy asian PhDs, they could talk football pretty well.

That being said - fuck OSU, fuck Jim Tressel, fuck the city of Columbus, fuck the state of Ohio.

truferblue22

July 2nd, 2008 at 7:37 PM ^

I think you are asking to be abused. I'm not a dick, so i'm not going to be too rough...but wtf?...are u a michigan man or not? I don't think I have ever, or will ever, tell someone to like a team full of as many hillbillies and white-trash people as osu. I have never met a classy osu fan -- if this kid wants to root for michigan let him...esp. on a u-m blog...the more we have working from the inside the better :)

 

GO BLUE! 

WolvinLA

July 2nd, 2008 at 8:05 PM ^

You're retarded.  I'm probably more of a dick than the other guy, which in this case it totally deserved.  I lived in Ohio for about a year and it only made me hate Ohio State more.  You've got something really f-ed upstairs if you consider yourself a UM fan and think it's OK to cheer for OSU in THE GAME. 

And "excellent school?"  Please. There are very few things "excellent" about Ohio, and education is not on that list.  That's like saying Indiana has an "excellent" football program (am I giving OSU too much credit?).

Blue Durham

July 2nd, 2008 at 11:39 PM ^

Um, yeah, I do think its OK for an OSU student to root for OSU during THE GAME.  From my post, that should have been abundantly clear.  And no, as a UM alum and fan, I do NOT cheer for OSU during the game, however relevant that is.  And yeah, I understand that all things Michigan are excellent (you know, like Harvard being the Michigan of the east and all that) and all things Ohio suck.  And gee, I must be a troll since I don't adhere to that dogma.

 I do suspect that "cargo", by adhering to a past loyalty to Michigan, is losing out on a lot of good times at OSU (yeah, yeah, I know, "good times" and Columbus are mutually exclusive) by remaining a Michigan fan.  My point was my younger brother was a Michigan fan in his youth, ended up a student, alum (and thus fan) of OSU, and had great experiences because of it.  Do you really think that your experience as a student at Michigan would have been as good if you arrived and remained an OSU fan?  Oh, that's right, you would have then recognized that there are very few things in Ohio are excellent and how superior Michigan is in all things and switched allegiances. 

But I am sure that "cargo" appreciates your assessment of Ohio's educational system.  That should no doubt dispell the reputation for arrogance that Michigan students and alums have.

 

chitownblue (not verified)

July 2nd, 2008 at 8:13 PM ^

I am a MICHIGAN MAN. I am utterly convinced of my superiority over other people because, some time, years ago, a school decided to accept me based on how I did on a 3 hour test. Now I lord it over people, convinced of my own awesomeness, ignoring the fact that I'm a total fucking douche. Seriously. I went to Michigan. I loved it. If you think people are inferior to you because they went to OSU, or may even like them, you're completely nuts.

a non emu

July 3rd, 2008 at 2:27 PM ^

OSU's engineering school IS really good. One of my best friends growing up ended up going to OSU for a MechE grad degree. He had admits from pretty much every school in the top 10 including Michigan. He went there because they gave him a hefty fellowship. And I know a lot of kids there and they are all really smart and are doing some really interesting research. Maybe their undergrad education isn't so hot, but their grad degrees are definitely not worthless.