For those of you, like me, who thought that the Schottenstein Center was bad enough, now we have ‘Across the Field’ for a Whopper.This fall Burger King has been running commercials using the fight songs of the top college football programs to promote a Whopper meal deal.Michigan, Penn State, Notre Dame, Northwestern and Florida State, among others, have sold the rights to their fight songs to Burger King for these commercials.All season I had not heard one of Ohio State’s fight songs used to sing the praises of that flame broiled slab of beef, the Whopper. I criticized those other universities for selling out their tradition for a few dollars, safe in my assumption that OSU would never stoop that low.Our venerable administration, led so admirably by E. Gordon Gee and Andy Geiger, would not tarnish the decades of tradition that our forebearers had worked so hard to build.They could not sell ‘Carmen Ohio,’ ‘Buckeye Battle Cry,’ or ‘Across the Field’ to anyone, let alone a fast food restaurant.Then Monday, during the ESPN replay of the OSU-Illinois game, I saw it. A big, steaming Whooper with a large fry and medium coke was on the screen and that familiar tune I’ve heard the last three seasons in Ohio stadium came into my ears.’Fight the team across the field.’NO, NO, NO !!!’Show them Ohio’s here.’I was devastated, my beloved Ohio State fight song had been sold to Burger King. I sat on my couch in disbelief.Maybe, just maybe, I thought it was some seldom heard fight song from that perennial college powerhouse, Ohio University.Yes, that was it. The Bobcats, in their season of football resurrection, had sold their fight song to Burger King after their glorious victories over Hawaii, Bowling Green, and Kent State.As the commercial went on, I knew it wasn’t any Bobcat song, but ‘Across the Field.’ I had held OSU so far above those other programs, I knew that we never would sell out our song. Boy, was I wrong.Whoever was responsible for this assault on Buckeye tradition, this sell-out, is no real Buckeye. They just want to line the coffer with a few more dollars. $10,000 to be exact. That’s what Burger King paid OSU for the rights to use ‘Across the Field’ in advertisements during the football season, said Rick Van Brimmer, Assistant Director of Trademark and Licensing Services. Today, college football is a big business. Everything from bowl games to stadiums and arenas are being named after corporations. I still haven’t figured out who plays in the Poulan Weed Eater Bowl or where it is.The administration at OSU is selling our tradition for the almighty dollar, plain and simple. We already have Nike uniforms and shoes, and a Schottenstein Center. Soon we could have The Hooked-On Phonics School of Linguistics, The Exxon Oil School of Environmental Sciences, or The National Enquirer School of Journalism.If our fight songs can be used to advertise hamburgers, what’s stopping the administration from selling the rest of Ohio State? Jeff Forward is a senior majoring in journalism.