OT: Buckeyes = Rednecks

Submitted by petered0518 on

Yesterday I attended a wedding here in Ann Arbor. The bride attended Michigan as an undergrad and the groom is currently a grad student here at U of M. However, the groom grew up in Ohio as a Buckeye fan. While he isn't a huge OSU fan, a lot of his family is.

This brings us to the ceremony itself. I look around and find a peculiar sight. There is a man wearing jeans, tennis shoes, a polo shirt, and a buckeye jacket. Not only that, he had an ugly goatee that looked like he hadn't trimmed in days. He looked like he was showing up for his son's soccer game or something like that. I probably don't have to tell you, but he and his wife were significantly overweight too.

I couldn't believe it. It was all I could do to not gape at the ridiculousness of it. Maybe he is actually a very nice guy, and I don't mean to make assumptions about him as a person. But I am telling you all of this in case you weren't yet convinced of an obviously absolute truth: Buckeyes = rednecks.

Guttman

December 20th, 2009 at 3:18 PM ^

maybe that guy you're evaluating has lost a bet? It could be part of a deal, like the guy who bet his friends he'd get a fake rack for a year.

I mean, it IS possible. . .

/been shut inside for too long.

Don

December 20th, 2009 at 3:31 PM ^

or just an attendee in the crowd?

Regardless, anybody who can't be bothered to put on a decent pair of slacks and a sport coat to a goddamn wedding has stamped himself as 100% trailer trash.

petered0518

December 20th, 2009 at 3:49 PM ^

He wasn't standing up. However, the ceremony was open and the reception was invitation only, and he was invited to the ceremony. I am fairly certain that he was in fact related to the groom in some way. So yes, I agree with your analysis.

I didn't even mention that there was another guy who was there that I didn't see until the end that actually had a buckeye jersey on. I don't care what their motives are, I am at the same time angry that they didn't have the respect to dress up for their friend/family member's wedding and amused that they somehow deemed it appropriate in their heads to wear sports paraphenalia to a wedding.

bronxblue

December 20th, 2009 at 4:20 PM ^

You can probably tell how seriously the jersey guy took the event based on the name on the back of his outfit. If it is Clarett or Pryor, then he probably doesn't really care about anyone in the bridal party. But if he is wearing a A.J. Hawk, Eddie George, or Troy Smith jersey, then you know he dressed up.

clarkiefromcanada

December 20th, 2009 at 4:22 PM ^

I have a couple friends who did their doctoral work at tUofOSU and they can't go to the bathroom without saying "OH" with the other following with "IO" and that's the top end of their academic group. The rest, having visited, seem much like these people...

bronxblue

December 20th, 2009 at 4:30 PM ^

That is good stuff.

I can actually respect the passion if it wasn't tethered to the insanity and a-holeness of most OSU fans. It is telling that people commented how there really wasn't anything else to do in Columbus but eat and breath football. Th level of disdain OSU fans have for Michigan is astounding to me, and I think turns a healthy rivalry between two proud football teams into the muck we tend to see on gameday.

clarkiefromcanada

December 20th, 2009 at 5:26 PM ^

I live across the lake from Cleveland and I can tell you the sports radio from there speaks to the hatred the OSU fans have...I think we forget the Cooper era in the depths of the current Tressel streak. People at tUofOSU were scarred by those years and it plays out today with our current gameday experience of anger and arrogance.

I will say, for all their passion tUofOSU fans are the most bandwagon and quick to turn. Indeed, after the Purdue loss this year there were many calls I heard discussing the need to get rid of Tressel and find "new blood".

bronxblue

December 20th, 2009 at 5:54 PM ^

I hear ya. Those Cooper years were probably murder for that fanbase, as they clearly had superior teams during many of those years, only to see them struggle against UM. At the same time, though, most fanbases display this front-runner tendency. I live in NYC right now, and after the Yankees won this year you saw hundreds of fresh caps, jerseys, shirts, etc. being worn, even though the team has been competitive for years. People love a winner, and will jump ship as soon as the good times seem over.

Simi Maquoketa

December 20th, 2009 at 5:07 PM ^

I mean, yeah, Michigan's population SURELY sets the bar higher on the cosmopolitan scale. Probably some where between Ohio and Jersey Shore.

And it's not like Weight Watchers would lose money if they were headquartered in Michigan.

Carry on.

BlueVoix

December 20th, 2009 at 5:21 PM ^

Honestly, do you really think that Ohio State fans (remember, we're not talking states in general here) are more cosmopolitan than Michigan fans? Never mind the fact that Michigan has a huge number of out of state students coming from California, New York, Illinois, and all over the rest of the country or that academically, Michigan is in another universe from Ohio State, look at the relative game day atmosphere at the two schools. EDSBS isn't joking when they say the official currency of Columbus is Busch Light.

But hey, if you want to talk about Cadillac being less classy than Youngstown, I'm not going to disagree.

petered0518

December 21st, 2009 at 2:17 AM ^

Yeah, Blue Voix already covered this but I am comparing Universities and their fans but not states.

And yes, I would mock a Michigan fan if they did the same. But seriously, how many Michigan fans do you know that would do that?

Also, if you want a fun fact. There is a stong correlation between weight and education level in the United States. More educated populations tend to have healthier weights than lower educated populations.

Simi Maquoketa

December 21st, 2009 at 5:29 AM ^

Michigan's baby boomers are the second fattest group of baby boomer populations in the country--second to Alabama. 36% of Michigan's baby boomers are "obese"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/01/americas-fattest-states-m_n_22…

AND: Michigan comes in with a slightly higher obesity rate overall than Ohio at 28.8% to 28.6%.

http://www.examiner.com/x-2490-Endurance-Sports-Examiner~y2009m7d1-And-…

Now I ask you: You are comparing universities and their "fans"--that pretty much means the general population of any state where the university is located--the term fans is loose and generally means "people who follow a team"--pretty broad.

TPAY74

December 20th, 2009 at 6:47 PM ^

Who really cares...lol I live in Southern Ohio and pretty much all rednecks, but a lot of good people here that would give a shirt off there backs. You shouldn't down people because they wore jeans to a wedding. A real redneck would have been drinking on a 30 pack of natty, n wearing his blaze orange yelling when is this thing gonna be over, so i can get back to huntin some derrr!!!

VictorsValiant09

December 21st, 2009 at 12:50 AM ^

What did it do to this guy emotionally, considering he had to be on UM's campus?

More importantly, why did they let him into Ann Arbor?

Didn't we learn our lesson from what can happen when you let too many of them into our borders?

uminks

December 21st, 2009 at 2:14 AM ^

If you look historically, OH had a serious problem in the early 19th century with inbreeding, especially southern OH. So none of this really surprises me since their gene pool is all messed up!

Even worse, during the WI game many of their fans were wearing red snuggies...I hope that crap stays south!!!!

saveferris

December 21st, 2009 at 8:50 AM ^

What you don't realize is that these hick Buckeye guests were grumbling too each other about the all the damn Michigan folk showing up and puttin' on airs....