Fiesta Bowl brought out many emotions

Although I am now in my third year at Ohio State, I never considered myself a diehard Buckeye fan. That’s not saying I root against the Buckeyes because I never do that.

But in my lifetime, I’ve never considered myself a diehard fan of anything. I’ve always cheered on the Cubs and Bears, but I don’t have one room of my house devoted solely to Ryne Sandberg or Mike Ditka. I have never painted my face or entire body the two colors of my favorite team and don’t see that happening in the near future.

Instead, I usually prefer to just enjoy the sport itself, no matter which teams are playing. I can watch Ball St. battle Western Michigan or Florida-Georgia and find the same enjoyment.

But that all changed at the Fiesta Bowl. They say the first step is admitting your problem, so I’m going to publicly do it. My name’s Matt Duval and I’m an Buckeyeaholic.

While I still refuse to dress up as Captain Buckeye because I’ll be the first to admit I don’t have the body for it, I will always cheer on the scarlet and gray, no matter where I’m at. Even among the 20 Illinois fans in my family, I have no problem expressing my support for Ward Cleaver, I mean Jim Tressel.

But as a working member of the media in Tempe, I found it awfully hard to control my emotions. However, I felt I did a good job of keeping my loyalties hidden. . . for the first three and a half quarters.

It wasn’t until I reached the Buckeye sideline with six minutes remaining in the game did I show a little emotion. While I might not have been jumping up and down like former OSU players Eddie George and Keith Byars, I pumped my fist after an OSU first down and groaned when the Hurricanes began moving the ball down the field.

I and almost every other Buckeye fan in attendance felt their hearts drop when Craig Krenzel’s fourth-and-goal pass fell incomplete in the first overtime and then immediate joy when the official finally threw his penalty flag.

It wasn’t until the second overtime when Ken Dorsey’s pass fell to the turf did I fully realize how diehard I truly was. Never before had I felt so relieved and excited. I went onto the field with the rest of the players and began taking pictures of players embracing each other and donning their new national championship hats.

But probably the most gratifying moment of Friday night came long after the game was over. Sitting in my hotel room, I realized that somewhere on a desolate farm in Nebraska, ESPN analyst Trev Alberts is crying in his Iowa Hawkeye towel.