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).
*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!”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4pyS4X52-A?rel=0]
Then, it was time to get down to business and learn the Quick Cals. I wasn’t sure how they were going to go, and I was very sad initially about the fact that they will no longer do the hive before the games anymore. However, after last night, if we can get the entire stadium to do these, I think it could be really awesome. It may take some time for us all to get it in sync, but when we do, it should be great. (And side note, it’s supposed to be loud enough so that TTUN can hear us according to Mickey Marotti).
Check out the video that Block “O” took of us learning the drills:
After learning the Cal Drills, we got a performance from TBDBITL…and I’ll tell you what, they never fail to give me chills when they perform Script Ohio. There is just nothing like it anywhere else. They spent time going through our traditional cheers (for the sake of the freshmen) and also taught us some new ones, including one they call “Buckeye Swag,” which I have to believe was inspired by the swaggernaut himself, Mark Pantoni.
After their performance was the unveiling of a new banner by Block “O” which says “Making the Great State of Ohio Proud,” so for those of you who will be in the ‘Shoe this weekend, be on the lookout for it! The event ended in true Buckeye fashion, with the band forming a block O on the field which all of the students filled in for a picture to be taken before singing Carmen Ohio.
It was a great night to be a Buckeye student, and I’m so glad I went…and now I am counting down the hours until I’ll be heading for the ‘Shoe on Saturday for kickoff at noon….Go Bucks!
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