The BIG Game

One sure way to know that Thanksgiving is just around the corner is that time honored tradition known as the Ohio State - Michigan football game. The Buckeyes vs. the Wolverines. Shouldn't be much of a contest, huh, considering one is a nut and the other a beastly animal that rips flesh from the bone. But the buckeye is poisonous, so I suppose that helps even the playing field...so to speak. This year's game will take place in Columbus and the kick off is at noon at the "Horseshoe" on the Ohio State campus. They pack 100,000 people (more or less) in that place...which is both fascinating and scary at the same time.

Anyway, I almost forgot about the game today, which is tantamount to sacrilege in my family. I don't know why, really. I mean, none of my immediate family went to school there. Well, my nephew Chad did for one semester, but that's it. I am, in fact, a Bobcat not a Buckeye. Nevertheless, one would think we were all alumni given the number of OSU sweatshirts, jerseys, hats, blankets, and other assorted paraphernalia that finds its way under our Christmas Trees each year.

I have to admit that I get caught up in the hoop-la surrounding the "big game" as well as its storied past. Names such as Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler, and Archie Griffin come to mind, and what Ohioan worth his/her salt doesn't get a little "verklempt" watching the "Best Damn Band In The Land" perform "Script Ohio?" I still remember the first time I saw it performed in person.

It was 1976, a Sunday night at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was, in fact, prior to a World Series game between the Reds and Yankees. (The Reds swept 'em in four that year, but I digress.) The grounds crew laid down big strips of white tape on the astroturf to mark off the lines and, when they announced what was about to happen, the crowd went WILD. It...was...great! I have had the pleasure to witness it firsthand several times since then, but one never forgets one's first time.

So, in just a few minutes, the competition that is billed as "the greatest rivalry in sports" will begin. I truly do not care who wins...I just hope it's a good game. One thing is an absolute certainty...emotions will be running high on both sides of the line of scrimmage...it should be a good one.

I found a couple of YouTube videos to "commemorate" the event, including the aforementioned Script Ohio. It is worth watching. I'll just end with these parting refrains of the Ohio State Fight Song:

"Slash through to victory,
we cheer you as you go.
Our honor defend,
we will fight to the end
for O-HI-O!"

Script Ohio

Posted by crashoveride1288.

A Little Trash Talk

Posted by Luv2BDiffrnt.