Ohio State Buckeyes Fans Suffer

I grew up with a mother that was an avid loyal fan of her Kansas City Chiefs but somehow the football gene skipped me and went to my daughter. Since moving to Ohio six years ago I have been astounded by the loyalty of Ohioans to their Buckeyes. Never have I lived on a state that were such huge fans of their college football team. And my daughter who moved to be near us a year later, caught the Buckeye fever in spades.

Although I am not an avid OSU football fan, I do try to support the team and lend a sympathetic ear to my friends and family that are fans and I try to wear the appropriate colors on game days. If you live in Ohio it is just a given that you will wear red on game day even if you are just running out to Kroger to grab some chips. But then the ugliness started. Violations everywhere - a famous coach in trouble, where would it all end? It ended with a house cleaning of the Ohio State Buckeyes and their beloved coach. I knew things would not be good for the 2011 OSU Buckeye football season. To rip apart a team and lose such a popular and loved coach is very hard for a team to recover from. Especially when the issues are on-going.

Unfortunately my predictions were correct. The Buckeyes are struggling and now even more controversy, suspended players and big losses.

A few weeks ago I exhibited at a craft show and all throughout the show you could hear customers and exhibitors mumbling about the Buckeyes losing and the loss of their beloved coach Tressel. Everyone dressed in their Buckeye finest; but the normal joy and excitement just wasn't there. There was an underlying sadness and despair all day as the game continued and customers and exhibitors were updated on the score.

I remember watching the seriousness of my daughters face watching the OSU vs Michigan game. She was on the verge of tears. I told her "honey it's just a football game!" To which she replied "it's not just a football game - it's OSU vs Michigan and we can't lose to Michigan!" Sadly as everyone knows we did lose to Michigan. And now add Nebraska to the list.

One thing I do know is that the people of Ohio are not fair weather fans. They will stand by their team no matter what. And although it may take years for the OSU Buckeyes to rebound, they will eventually rebound and once again be the team to beat.