Some Thoughts From Ohio State-Michigan Week

I must confess, it snuck up on me this year. The highlight of my Sports Watching Year, the Ohio State versus Michigan game, is this weekend. I feel a bit unprepared this time around. It doesn't seem like it's quite time for it yet. Maybe it's the weather. After all, it's pretty difficult to think about a late season rivalry game when I'm still rocking flip flops on most days. Maybe it's the fact that the Buckeyes have broken my heart each of the last two seasons and I've cared a little less this year than I usually do. Maybe it's that Michigan is having the worst season ever in the history of the school. Maybe it's that Texas Tech, my first college football priority, is having their best season ever and have overshadowed another ho-hum 11-2 OSU season.

Regardless of the reason, I haven't gotten ready for this year's game the way I usually do. I haven't worn a different Ohio State t-shirt every day of the week. I haven't called my buddy Jeff who happens to be the biggest Michigan fan south of the Mason-Dixon. Usually we speak on, say, Monday to talk a little good hearted smack and then don't talk again until after Thanksgiving when the loser (which, let's face it, has usually been him) has had time to cool down. I haven't convinced myself that if we can just win THIS season, I'll feel okay about losing the next year, only to run through the act again during said next year. The truth is, I expect a win and I'd be embarrassed if they were to lose to the worst excuse for a football team Big Blue has ever thrown on the field. (BTW, if you've got a decent arm and have college eligibility left, you might head up to Columbus this weekend. There's a good chance you might be able to suit up at quarterback for the Wolverines.) But after the deflating way this season started, following the two most kick-in-the-pants losses I've ever experienced in back-to-back championship games, I find myself just not quite as invested as I usually am. We better win, and I think we will, but the truth of the matter is, I'll be much more interested in Tech-Oklahoma than I will be in OSU-Michigan. (I've already started my bargaining with the football gods and I'm trying to let my fingernails grow a little so I won't have to resort to gnawing on my fingers as the game gets inevitably tighter.)

With all that said, this is the best rivalry in college football. Even when one team is terrible and the other has just been plain disappointing, exciting things are bound to happen. Perhaps Michigan's players treat this as the Bowl Game they won't be seeing after the year's over and play their scrappy little hearts out. Perhaps Beanie Wells, sensing he could be the number one pick in the NFL Draft, will put a couple hundred yards rushing on the board. Perhaps Coach Tressel and Coach Rodriguez get into a fist fight at midfield. Maybe the Buckeye fans, even after the win, will riot through the streets of Columbus (it's happened before). Who knows. The point is, it's a huge game and you never know what will happen and it's always worth the watch (even if your mind is preoccupied by another game).

Oh, and while I'm on the subject, check this out auction on eBay. Hilarious. I'm wondering how much I can get for my Raider fandom. But more on that later.