You are in Buckeye Country Now

When I named this blog Becky's Buckeye Blog, it had a nice alliteration to it. Everyone had already given me their two cents on Ohio and then the big thing everyone mentioned was OSU and football. I have never gone to a "football oriented" school. My undergrad sucked a football and in vet school, maybe it was a bit more noticed and discussed, but in vet school you are in your own little world and regular campus events are not worth the time.

So here in Columbus, it is my first time being around a serious football community. And let me tell you, this place is a good one! First, there is a business with Buckeye in the title for almost every business possible. I regularly see Buckeye plumbing, Buckeye tree removal service and Buckeye auto detailing trunks around town. And this is above and beyond the usual smattering of business that around campus, this is everywhere in the greater Columbus area. I am 20 minutes from downtown and campus and still the Buckeye is everywhere. At first, it was a fun game of spot the Buckeye while driving around town. Justin and I have now lost track of points as it is too much! And did I mention work? I routinely have at least one patient named Buckeye each week! (commonly yellow labs but this week it is a little doxie). There are too many Buckeye's in the computer to count. I am sure that I haven't seen any name as frequently in CA. I mean, you don't meet a lot of Friscos, or Giants or anything like that.

And now, the kids have gone back to school and the college football season is upon us. First, at work I listen to everyone analyzing the players, the new freshman, the old favorites, who is hurt, who is starting this game etc. Than the same discussion is performed for the opposing team. OHh, I also feel that this is a good point to mention that people at work wear OSU scrubs. Not just black or red scrubs with OSU logo on the breast pocket (although those are seen too). The scrubs which I refer to are actually made of a print fabric that is OSU logos covering it. It makes you a bit dizzy to look at too long.

The weekend of the first game of the season (against a nothing school apparently) , the ER service was demonstratively slower than it was the rest of the day. As soon as 4pm rolled around, all the sudden there was 6 people waiting when earlier, during the game, I saw 1 case in 3 hours! The second game of the season, Justin and I went to Costco. This is Costco on a Saturday afternoon, a time to eat, browse and buy large quantities of food that you will hopefully enjoy and consume before getting sick of it. The store was pratically empty! We actually didn't have to elbow anyone to get to the cheesecake samples, there should have been a crowd 3-people deep for those things! Employees are actually allowed to wear their OSU, Buckeye gear on game days, also readily noted on most of the customers as well. Then they all walk around saying "Go Bucks!" to each other. It is like some secret fraternity or something. Again, when 330pm came around, the store got busier, we stood in line (there had been no line when we arrived), paid and left.

This past weekend though was THE BIG GAME. Unbeknownst to me when I moved to Buckeye territory, OSU is a huge rival of USC (my Dad's alumni). And this weekend was the big game. Everyone at work discussed not only the above points, but the crucial decisions of where to watch the game since it was in LA, where to pre-game drink and then where to party afterwards. I am not even sure if un-sports bars are open on these game nights. Various bars, theaters and houses were discussed. One of the other surgery residents finally volunteered his place as the site of the beerdrinking and gamewatching. Being that my Dad was cheering for USC, he couldn't resist sending me a USC t-shirt. I wore the t-shirt to work on Friday. I honestly have never been booed, glared at, flipped off or otherwise harassed as much as in the 5 hours that I was at the hospital with my USC pride displayed. People were down-right angry at my shirt and team choice. (Apparently USC stands for U suck Cock). I went to pick up lunch and zipped up my sweatshirt so that they wouldn't spit in my food (I was warned it was possible) . And it wasn't just people at work, the general public was wearing hats, jerseys and other gear on Friday. It still boggles my mind.

I have yet to even mention the stuff. If you email me and ask for anything with OSU on it, I am pretty sure I can find it, although I have yet to see papertowels or TP, almost everything else is fair game. And it isn't as if I am in the campus book store, this is in the local grocery stores, Target, Costco, wherever. Krogers (the grocery store) practically has a whole aisle to OSU tailgating supplies and such. This would include red OSU plastic cups, plastic cutlery, tablecloths, Buckeye Bites, aka tortilla chips, BBQ tools, matching OSU BBQ cover and the flags. Not just regular size flags but GARAGE DOOR sized OSU flags to hang on game weekends. Also random stuff like pet food mats, salt and pepper shakers and fly swatters. Seriously, I am pretty sure I could find anything.

With all the build up, I was a bit excited to watch the football team in action. However, if anyone out there follows college football, you will know that USC kicked ass this weekend (35 to 3). The announcer said that it was like watching JV play varsity. After getting trounced the first half, many of the true fans gave up and went home or continued to drink their sorrows away. A surgeon at work actually saw a neighbor burning a jersey in his front yard. Yes it is true they aren't as good this season, and maybe the Buckeyes won't make it to Nationals this year, but I ask you, do true fans stop watching at halftime? One of the most vocal OSU fans explained to me that it was just too painful to watch them get beat so badly, everyone is so emotionally invested in the team. But everyone will probably continue to support the team this year, even if they are a bit over-rated, after all, they already have the Buckeye salt and pepper shakers!!