We start in May with the spring game. All summer we watch the news for the scoop on the players and the practices. We plan our Saturdays around each game starting in August and we don't quit until January. We yell out "O-H!" even in church and somebody will answer "I-O!" Our newscasters wear Scarlet and Gray. Entire cities are familiar with such characters as "The Neutron Man" and "Buckeye Man". Grown men who are famous for little more than being awesome football fans.
Nobody here ever wonders who Sloopy is. Bands and Rappers make the beginnings of careers with songs taunting the opposition "Michigan Who?". TBDBITL makes little kids WANT to sign up for marching band. We BELIEVE in the killer nut-ness of Brutus Buckeye, possibly the goofiest and least intimidating mascot in the history of sports. We are a city, a state and a nation (don't laugh we Buckeyes are EVERYWHERE) united in our love for a team, a tradition and a perfectly coiffed man in a sweater vest. I really do miss Ohio :(
