Why I am the way I am

I realize I am a bit fanatical when it comes to my love of the OSU Football team. Many of you have commented on it. I have heard things like "I brainwashed my wife and kids", etc. As a youngster my old man exposed me to the grandeur and pageantry that is Buckeye Nation. We would park about a mile or so away from the stadium in the Batelle parking lot and begin our walk towards football Mecca. There was always this point in the walk where we would turn the corner around this building and see it for the first time - the Horseshoe! As we would draw close to the stadium we would hear "O-H" - "I-0". There would be tailgaiting, footballs thrown around, scalpers, and plenty of scarlet & gray. 96,000 + fans (the stadium now holds 102,000) all descending to the Shoe for game day. I was lucky enough to go to games every year, including three years as season-ticket holder. I saw players like Chris Carter, Chris Speilman, Eddie George, Joey Galloway, Robert Smith, Troy Smith, James Laurinaitis, and Ted Ginn, Jr.

But today I was reminded why I am the way I am. I logged on to the good old Columbus Dispatch Sports section to read up for the OSU-USC game tonight. How many articles do you think they had about the game tonight? 10? That would be a lot, right? 10 articles about one game. 15? Seriously...that would be a lot of articles for one freakin game. 20? No way! 20 articles for one game. There had to be more going on in Columbus yesterday than to reserve that much ink for 20 articles on a football team. Well, you have to keep going up. 25? Nope. 26? 27? 28? 29? No, no, no, and no! There were 31 articles on the game today. Thirty-one articles on a football game in September. That my friends is why I am the way I am. You can't understand it unless you live there but Columbus, OH is simply obsessed with the OSU Buckeyes! It is THE culture of central Ohio. If you grow up there, you hear and see football 12 months a year. I had no chance. When Phil & Sue Miller moved to Columbus in the 1960's it was destiny for their only son to be a Buckeye. So I may have live in MN, but I can't take the Buckeye out of my soul. It follows me and I embrace it. I'm a Buckeye...for better or worse.

GO BUCKS!