Buckeye Blogger NetworkWhat a long and full day of excitement. Nothing will ever replace or beat my experiences in 2002(I don’t think), but this came very close to being as enjoyble.
There was so much happening after THE Game in 2002 that really the best part that I remember is being on the field with 100,000 screaming fans. I still look at the picture from time to time to play Where’s Waldo and find me. Yesterday will go down as the best day for THE Game because I got to spend it with some good friends and some awesome fans in my section.
Being two hours away and knowing the traffic would be ridiculous, I had to get up at 4:45 to head to meet Gary, Robby and Jerry in Zanesville. We got to our usual lot without any fanfare but we just missed the mayhem. We walked over to Lane Avenue as we usually do to pick up some drinks and a snack or two and saw this ugly thing on the way.
Stink Weasels Equipment truck
I gave our fearless leader (Mali) a call to see where he was and as fate would have it, he was only about a block away so we met up with him for a few minutes. After seeing him for the first time ever, we went into the 7/11 and got drinks for the brunch that we have with other ushers on D-Deck before the last game of the season. It’s always good food and fun. We headed up the avenue to see Roy and Maurice and check out the DRIVEN tent and see how things were going. Ran into Mali again with his wife, brother Scott, and a friend.
Roy Hall, Scott, Maurice Clarett and Mali
Heading back to the stadium for the brunch and to man our posts, I must say I was not surprised with the traffic but was surprised the area between St. Johns and the Shoe was like a ghost town. Very few booths set up and not at all very many people. The line had started for the Skull session but that was the extent of the crowd around 9am. Read More
Huge and wonderful American Flag
No company with me on the drive up and the chance to think long and hard about just how much I despise the Illini brought back some bad memories. Mostly it’s just the fans and some past players but specifically it was the happenings after they upset us in 2007.
We were the #1 team in the country and were rolling through the season when Juice came to town and wrecked the season. At the end of that game after having a day to forget on offense, the Illini went to the center of the field and danced on the Block O. A fight ensued and it made a bad night worse.
Saturday, all I could think about was beating them to a pulp and washing that nasty taste out of our mouths and moving on in convincing fashion. I got there early enough to swing by and say hello to all of the wonderful people that work the DRIVEN tent at every home game and head back to the stadium to assume my post.
The day was also going to be boring because neither Gary or his brother in law Rob would be there to joke around with and enjoy the sights. As I walked into the stadium I got to see the huge American Flag that they were going to use during the Star Spangled Banner. An amazing flag, you can see it takes up quite a bit of the field!
The Buckeyes struggled through the first quarter just as we all have become accustomed to. I am of the belief now that it is simply that this team doesn’t mind giving it’s prey what amounts to a five second head start. We are starting to see that there may not be a better one-two punch in the B1G than Braxton Miller and Carlos Hyde and they are the top of the list nationally.
Prior to halftime, I had been joking around with tBBC creator about how warm he was in the press box and he joked back that I forgot to mention the free McFlurry’s he gets as well. I waited until the right opportunity to butt in on one of his other conversations and said “I guess this means you won’t bring me a free McFlurry?” LOL
As i was immersed into something interesting on my phone I saw out of the corner of my eye that someone had approached me and was waiting for me to look up. As I did look up I saw this . . .
Thank you for the McFlurry Jeff!!!
Thank you to Jeff for giving me my best laugh of the day. It also made me realize that I should be very careful of the way I challenge him as well!
The free McFlurry was the second best part of the day as the Buckeyes rolled over the Illini, and for all intents and purposes, Coach Meyer was sending his good friend a message when he sent Kenny G in to run the O. They are going to score with their back -ups in and ‘it’s nothing personal Coach Beckman’.
I have to take my hat off to Coach Beckman, he handled the press conference pretty well. He was comlimentary to the Buckeyes and how special Braxton Miller is. He also went a long way in convincing his fans he is the right man for the job because he knows what the future holds for his team. If he can get through the season and survive, he will build a nice program over in Champaign.
The Buckeyes won by 30 yesterday and did a lot of good things to help me forget about 2007. Here’s to a week off and then off to Madison to kick some more Badger tail! Go Bucks!
It’s amazing isn’t it? That in the history of the stadium, and all of the great match-ups that have taken place there, it took the last time we’ll see Nebraska until 2017 to set a new attendance record over the likes of TTUN, Texas and USC. I am sure homecoming and the fact that there were a lot of former players in attendance made the difference for this game between two of college football’s most storied programs peeked their interest.
I have always enjoyed the night games in Ohio Stadium and have always had a good time being there all day for them. I didn’t have to be in the stadium until 5:00pm this time and was bringing my son Philip with me so I took the opportunity to help out at the Driven Foundation tent.
While there I had the chance to hang out with and talk to Roy Hall and Maurice Clarett again. We had some awesome visitors on the day and met some wonderfully giving people who have become good friends of the foundation now. The future of Ohio State football’s backfield happened by in Ezekiel Elliot and he and Maurice gave me a great past and future photo op.
Future star Ezekiel Elliot and past star Maurice Clarett
While we are on the subject of past Buckeyes, Stanley Jackson stopped by for a good while and it gave me a chance to get my wife a great gift in an autographed #8 jersey and to get a picture for her. Stanley is a great guy and spent a good part of the afternoon texting with my wife on my phone! He was recently appointed to the State Board of Education by the Governer and I wish him the best of luck in his new job. Read More
The day started off great getting an opportunity to meet up with Roy Hall again and bringing Gary Russell with me. This time I made sure that we got a picture worth displaying as my Twitter AVI. Big thank you to Roy for humoring us and taking part in O-H-I-O. Gary, Rob, and I have taken opps to get some neat ones and this might be our favorite.
Robby - Roy Hall - myself and Gary Russell
Spent the bigger part of the morning watching videos and talking with some fans and ultimately getting chastised by tBBC’s own Eric for saying the videos were the best part of pregame. He said it was a fail because everyone knows that TBDBITL is the best part of pregame and I recovered nicely by pointing out the videos were the best part before the Alumni version of TBDBITL hit the field. I jokingly said 1,000 strong and it appeared I wasn’t far off.
500 plus of TBDBITL and Alumni
There isn’t a whole lot more that I can say about the days events that hasn’t been said by the “experts” but here I go. Each of the first four teams that we have played spent an obvious large amount of time preparing for the Buckeyes. At one point and time I tweeted a pic of the strange defense the Blazers were running.
It appears they were running a wide spread three man front and at times the ends were standing up . They pretty much brought the house each time to try and get the Buckeyes into throwing the ball more. As fate would have it the Buckeyes needed a great drive to go up by two scores and win the game.
Funky three man front D by the Blazers
Not that my opinion is of any great value, but it appears to me that Coach Meyer has kept his offense and defense very vanilla in an attempt to challenge his team even more before the B1G starts. In three straight games now we have seen the team just flip a switch (Braxton) and move right down the field and score. Today they made the one series look very effortless and undefendable.
I for one and pleased with the results thus far and am excited for the start of the conference slate. For a couple weeks I don’t have to worry about getting to bed late from officiating on Friday and getting up at 5 a.m. to get to Columbus. The Buckeyes are on the road against Sparty next week in a 3:30 affair and the following week the Cornhuskers come to town in a nighttime match-up.
Have a great week! Go Bucks!
The life of an Ohio Stadium Usher can be interesting to say the least, especially for someone like me who lives two hours away. Due to being a high school football official and working all over the state, I can get home pretty late on Fridays, only to get up at 5:30am to head to the Shoe. This wasn’t the case this past weekend as I had a very close to home game at my alma mater and was in bed and asleep by 11:30!
I had my reservations about the game but not the day as me, my daughter Kristiana and those with me were going to try to get to the Driven tent on Lane Avenue and meet the man that provides me with daily inspiration. Roy Hall is doing some amazing things with the foundation that he has built with former Buckeye walk-on then starter Antonio Smith. Please click the link to their foundation on our homepage and see what you can do to help.
One of my favorite moments as a Buckeye fan
Roy and former Buckeye Maurice Clarett have forged a friendship that is paying huge dividends for the foundation and for their lives. Maurice was in town shooting the ESPN special 30 in 30 and has been hanging out at the tent and signing autographs with Roy. I could not pass up the chance to meet them both on Saturday and it turned into one of my favorite moments in meeting former Buckeyes. Both were gracious in meeting me and it’s clear that their faith is what carries them now. It was a great time for me meeting them face to face and I am sure to never forget it. There are some great things on the horizon that I am involved in helping Driven and I hope you’ll join me!
Spent a good portion of Saturday’s pregame hanging out with my middle child Kristiana, giver her a follow plz. She is a huge Ohio State fan and is currently working her bottom off to get to Columbus and go to school. She and I have always had a great sports relationship as she has always been very athletic. She plays basketball and runs track in club sports at her current school of WVU-Parkersburg and need to stay active as I believe it’s what has kept her healthy over the years. If you don’t know me well then you don’t know that she has Cystic Fibrosis and has been amazingly well. God has taken wonderful care of her. That and my son’s conviction has contributed to my faith greatly over the years. Read More
Growing up a Buckeye fan was one of the few things my dad and I had in common. We watched every game on TV or listen to it on the radio. Whether it was on TV or radio, we did whatever it took to make sure we caught the game. Unfortunately, I never got to experience and game at THE Shoe with my dad before he passed away. After all those years of watching and listening to the games and dreaming of how great THE Shoe must be, I never thought I would be able to get to see it in person.
My first game at THE Shoe was versus Penn State in the infamous game where the Buckeyes won and the only touchdown was Ted Ginn’s punt return. Then five years ago, after being on a waiting list for 6 years, I was chosen to be an usher. I went from not knowing if I would ever see a game live to being able to see EVERY game and I still don’t think it has sunk in yet. Today I would like to step in for WVaBuckeye and give you my view from section 15 on the D Deck.
TBDBITL
Being the band geek that I am, of course I have to start with The Best Damn Band in the Land. The Ohio State Marching Band is almost as famous as the football team itself, and every week they come down that ramp in the North stands to a standing ovation to 105,000 of its dearest fans. And every week the Silver Bullets charge on the field through the band’s tunnel, but this year is a little different as they spell out “OHIO” in a very classy diamond formation and then the team charges through that. Read More
I was lucky (or unlucky…However you want to look at it) to be able to attend the game this past Saturday. “Shots” has mostly been a basketball feature, but figured since I was in attendance, why not…
Good view, terrible game
We continue our overview of Buckeye spring practice with Joe’s look across the positions. As always HUGE thank you to Josh Winslow for his photos- be sure check out all of his Spring Game shots.
The Future? or The Present?
QB’s- IMHO the position should go to Braxton Miller for the first 5 games. He finished off an up and down spring with a great showing in the spring game. He can make all the throws, has escapability and the ability to get some first downs with his legs. Obviously he is the youngest but him graduating HS early and coming in for the spring was a great decision.
Taylor Graham, Kenny Guiton, and Joe Bauserman all had their moments this spring. Bauserman makes a great backup with the ability to save a game for us if the starter goes down. Graham and Guiton will have their say come fall, but Graham lacks the ability to win with his legs, and Guiton doesn’t provide the greatest ability with his legs.
I really like what was said about Pryor and him stepping up and being a leader/coach for the 4 QB’s vying for the starting job.
RB’s- Talk about an embarrassment of riches with Hall, Berry, Smith, Hyde, and Herron.
The best thing about the news out of spring and the spring game was not the number of rushing attempts these guys got or the talent they all have running the ball, but the number of receptions they received out of the backfield. Hall and Berry split out provides the offense a lot of versatility.
Look for Berry to continue to be explosive in the return game as well.
FB’s- Zach Boren is one of the best all around fullbacks we have seen at Ohio State, and David Durham transition to the position adds a great player for the future.
