Back in January of 2007, I watched in horror as my beloved Buckeyes were crushed 41-14 in the National Championship game. It was awful in every way imaginable. The next day, I went to work to visit a couple of friends and I was wearing my Antonio Pittman jersey. They immediately mocked me for it and asked “why on earth I would wear that?”.
The answer was simple to me. They are my team, win or lose. There is no shame, no retreat. I love them regardless of the result.
I told them that if I went to see my daughter in a spelling bee and she lost on her first word, I wouldn’t deny that she was my kid. I stand by her side, tell her I love her and she’ll do better next time. Same thing goes for my Buckeyes.
Yesterday during the FOX Sports Ohio/Buckeye Bloggers live chat, I noticed a lot of fans’ frustration, but there was no quit in the majority of Ohio State fans. Oh, sure, there were the fans who wanted to bitch about every little detail, but you’re going to have that with any fan base. There were over 120 readers on the chat, and most of us just ignored the one or two that whined about everything.
This is our team, win or lose, and the fans behaved in such a manner. Even as our National Championship hopes were fading away, the prevailing attitude was that we were two or three mistakes away from winning that game, and we were just outplayed by a fired-up Wisconsin team. When the Badgers took the victory formation, the conversation turned towards Purdue, and didn’t launch into the ridiculous “fire Tressel” tirade that some fans often revert to.
This morning, the same attitude took hold. I’m proud of my Buckeyes and I’m impressed with the way they fought back.
I’m equally as impressed with my fellow Buckeye fans, who still show pride and say “it’s a good day to be a Buckeye” because it’s ALWAYS a good day to be a Buckeye. When other teams lose like we did, they panic and freak out all over their message boards or they make their websites disappear completely. Not us. We’re proud and we’re here, no matter what.
Yes, I’m disappointed in the loss, but guess where I’ll be next Saturday?
I’ll be at Ohio Stadium, cheering them on in the next spelling bee.
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