There are moments at Ohio State that are paramount to being a Buckeye.
There’s the visit that first makes the campus feel like home. During Welcome Week, walking into the Schottenstein Center for Convocation with your class of thousands is an unparalleled experience. One night in November, there’s the tradition of duct-taping flip flops to your feet, decking yourself out in scarlet and gray and taking an icy plunge into Mirror Lake in the name of beating that team up north.
So many OSU traditions stem from what is perhaps our most beloved asset, our football team. Buckeye football compels dads to text their OSU-student daughters “O-H!” every game day. It is what makes even the most sleep-deprived students wake up before 10 a.m. on a Saturday.
And perhaps the epitome of celebrating Buckeye football is attending an OSU-Michigan game in the Horseshoe. Saturday was my first experience at The Game.
The walk to the stadium was an ongoing banter between Buckeyes and Wolverines, with fans in scarlet and gray leading the majority of the heckling. At kickoff, I participated in the streamer drop from C-deck. As I watched the black and red streamers fall over the bannister, a wave of excitement rushed over me.
Cheering on the Buckeyes among thousands of other fans, all passionately aligned in our hatred for the maize and blue, was exhilarating. The Game took me back to my first OSU game, when I witnessed the entire stadium chant “O-H-I-O,” letter by letter and section by section, wrapping around the Horseshoe with an incredibly powerful sound.
There are certain moments when feeling pride in my school is inevitable, and Saturday was one of them. Not all college students have the opportunity to attend a football game at a school where so many eyes are glued to the game. Buckeye football has a sense of importance, and I hope I always get excited to experience the highs and lows of games at the ‘Shoe.
As far as being a part of the finale to the 2012 Buckeyes’ perfect season, I will always remember singing “Carmen Ohio” with my arms around my best friends, watching fans flood the turf and singing “We Don’t Give a Damn for the Whole State of Michigan” while taking the endless flights of stairs from C-deck to the ground floor of the Horseshoe.