Obviously I'm writting this AFTER the game so you'll understand if I'm a little short with my summary of the day. All three ohio state travel bugs (Ohio State/Notre Dame Championship Challenge, Buck, and Buckeye Bug) were with me all day long on Monday. To back up for a moment on Sunday, I took the 5 guys that were staying at my place out to the Superstition Mountains for a little hiking. We hiked a good 4+ miles but saw some of the beauty of Arizona. Check out the picture of 3 of us incorporating Weaver's Needle into spelling out O-H-I-O.
Day of the game we loaded up the coolers with plenty of spirits, grabbed some grub and arrived at the stadium shortly after 1:00pm. While making a trip closer to the stadium to buy our programs I received a call from a friend that I was able to help out with a ticket. Somehow he and his friends had scored "Media Passes" to the huge Westgate Party that was going on before and after the game. After spending a little more time at our own party we headed up to Westgate and bypassed the $20 entry fee by using our newly acquired Media Passes. Not only did the media passes get us into the party for free but they could also get us into any of the other bars and restaurants for free. We decided to take full advantage of the media passes and quickly headed upstairs to the media lounge where we could watch all of the Westgate festivities upstairs on the large balcony. We enjoyed free food and drinks and watched some of ESPN Gameday while waiting for game time to approach.
About 5:00pm or so we made our way down to the stadium where after a long security line, we got to our seats in the endzone (Sec 144 Row 59 Seat 21). The first 16 seconds of the game were amazing! Hopes were high and all that talk of a 51 day layoff seemed like nothing but talk. And then it all fell apart. Never in the Tressel era of football have I seen a worse game. And never have I seen worse fans than the majority of Florida Gators fans. I know we aren't all respectful and courteous like we should be, but never have I (or any other buckeye fans that I associate with) celebrate a huge victory by verbally assaulting and taunting the other teams fans. To their credit there were a few Gators who knew how to act and tried their best to calm their idiotic counterparts and I thanked them. Still, any desire to stick around after the game and watch a justly deserving team accept their reward was tarnished by the large number of disrespectful fans who obviously don't know how to enjoy a victory. Cheer with your friends, sing your alma mater and act like you've been there. Don't shake your keys in front of a crying girls face and tell her to "Go Home" or taunt fans with "Where are you going, you're only 4 touchdowns away from being back in the game!" Ohio State vs Michigan is the greatest rivalry in all of sports and even the Michigan fans know how to celebrate a win with class.
All in all it was a good weekend. Our Buckeyes are the Big Ten Conference Champs and made it to the big show. Something that 117 other schools didn't have the honor of doing. I got to spend the weekend with 5 great guys from the Buckeye state and a number of other fans (both in orange and scarlet) along the way. If I would have known the outcome prior to the game, I still would have bought a ticket. But I might have left after the third quarter.
Ohio State in 2007
Go Bucks!
Jared