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
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
We’re excited to welcome Janelle to tBBC family- she’ll serve as our ‘on campus’ correspondent, and starts her official tenure off with some pre-season news.
For those of you who don’t know, I recently transferred to OSU and have been taking advantage of all the free events there are here for students- including last night’s Buckeye Kickoff, a student-only event put together by the Department of Athletics and Block “O” our official student section. It was great to be back in the ‘Shoe again, and now, I really need Saturday to get here so we can see some football.
The event began with a tailgate outside the ‘Shoe by Buckeye Grove. Each of Block “O”‘s affiliates (i.e. The NutHouse, The Knucklebucks, etc.) had a table at the event, and a few thousand students gathered to see just how they can get involved in the organization and the sports it supports (or maybe it was the free food that drew them in…put an event together for college students, say you’ll have free food, and you are sure to get a crowd).
Corn?
*Side note* The free food last night was interesting to say the least. It was the debut of the “Ohio” dog (pictured), which had onions, BBQ sauce, mashed potatoes, shredded cheddar, bacon, and corn on it. Honestly, when I eat a hot dog, I don’t want all sorts of crazy toppings on it, but that’s just me. I would have much rather preferred the free Cane’s chicken that was at last year’s event…and I’m actually quite annoyed it wasn’t an option (Cane’s is one of my favorites).
After the tailgate, we proceeded to go into the ‘Shoe to take our seats. The program began with a few games involving students on the field, and then, Coach Fickell and our five football captains took a few minutes to speak to us. Each captain told us what his favorite new tradition is this year and while I don’t remember all five, the following two stuck out to me. John Simon told us that his favorite tradition is the Champions’ Dinner, where after so much time, the players who have gone to every workout and achieved every goal they set for themselves get to go and have a dinner with steak, lobster, and all sorts of wonderful food while the others have to go eat hot dogs and hamburgers. Etienne Sabino got up to tell us about the concept and new tradition of “JUICE.” Now, for those of you who will be in the ‘Shoe this season for games, whenever the players make a hand motion like they’re turning the volume dial up on a stereo, get loud….in other words….”TURN UP!” Read More
Bumped back a day to cover today’s press access- one more day means even more news, notes, and inanity.
Would look great in the man cave- and Father's Day is coming up...
Buckeye 411
There was no NCAA violation. If you could bold and underline that for me, please.
Done and done, coach.
Scoping it out...
No press conference this week, but we do have Tress’ thoughts from after The Game and so forth
Buckeye 411
Michigan is among the elite programs and will be and their record will reflect that in the course of time but, you know, we all have our ups and downs in a period and so forth and it’s highly competitive. It’s going to become more competitive because we’re adding Nebraska. The world changed when we added Penn State. The world changes even more when we add Nebraska. The world changed when Dano (Dantonio) went over to Michigan State. There’s constantly changes, but Michigan will be back, we don’t have to worry about that.
REPORTER: Jim, obviously you talk all the time about you want to get better over the course of a year. To be 11-1, where do you feel like this team is in achieving this goal and just how good of a team do you think you are at 11-1 at the end of the season?
COACH TRESSEL: Not good enough to be the outright Big Ten champions and automatic bid to the Rose Bowl and all those things that you shoot for, but we’re pretty fair, and I believe we’re a top ten football team and probably going to get to play a top ten football team and see if we’re allowed to stay in the top ten is what I would guess, but I think it goes beyond that.
Sometimes the ball bounces funny and you end up undefeated or you end up losing however many, and our guys just kept working and whatever came their way, they handled it and pressed on and handled adversity and handled success as it came. They need a little break and they need to take a deep breath and then they need to think about playing against one of the top teams in the nation wherever we play, whoever it is. We’ve had — really we’ve had 13 games in 2010. We played a pretty good Oregon team on the first day of the year, so it’s been a lot of fun.
But who cares what I think. See ya
Lots of folks are talking about the comments today from a Florida writer that The Horseshoe isn’t a hostile environment, but none have done so better than Spencer Hall at EDSBS. We’d link him anyway, if only for this photo and caption:
Mr. Hall also reminds us that other Big T1e1n stadia have “interesting” ways of creating atmosphere. A billion cocktails to you, Orson.
Here are actual quotes from actual Hurricane players- Read More
