Cowfeathers Farm to Foxcroft Farm: OSU Football. Down the rabbit hole.

I have lived in Ohio, or for this particular blog, "O-H"..."I-O", for more than a decade. And, in this area of central Ohio, at least, there is a deep seated enthusiasm for Ohio State University football. All year 'round, in fact, you can expect that at least a third of the folks you encounter in any given day will be sporting some piece of Ohio State enthusiasm. The expected ball cap, or the "Block O" sweatshirt. But in the fall, this business of dressing up for football gets a bit, well, Seussian. Grown women in sweaters, knit with cartoon renderings of "Brutus Buckeye", the football mascot. Business men in bright red ties with the marijuana doppelganger, the Buckeye leaf, in repeat patterns. Ohio State Crocs- a travesty on so many levels? Large brown nuts interspersed with gray and red plastic beads as necklace wear- not for 5 year old girls, but layers of them on the long term faithful.
Although I do not understand the compulsion to dress thus, I have grown accustomed to the principle. You are outwardly showing your enthusiasm for your school? or at least favorite sports team, by outfitting yourself in a scarlet and gray..... sweatsuit/jacket/hat/sweater/tee/shoe/tie/glove/necklace/manicure/croc/pant/bikini/pajama. As the majority of society can turn up like this on any fall Saturday at work, the mall, the dog park etc. I should have been prepared for the game! I was not.
I should think this small piece of Lewis Carroll's narrative would help;
"Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end! `I wonder how many miles I've fallen by this time?' she said aloud. `I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, I think--' (for, you see, Alice had learnt several things of this sort in her lessons in the schoolroom, and though this was not a very good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over) `--yes, that's about the right distance--but then I wonder what Latitude or Longitude I've got to?' (Alice had no idea what Latitude was, or Longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words to say.)
Presently she began again. `I wonder if I shall fall right through the earth! How funny it'll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downward! The Antipathies, I think--' (she was rather glad there was no one listening, this time, as it didn't sound at all the right word) `--but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country is, you know. Please, Ma'am, is this New Zealand or Australia?' (and she tried to curtsey as she spoke--fancy curtseying as you're falling through the air! Do you think you could manage it?) `And what an ignorant little girl she'll think me for asking! No, it'll never do to ask: perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere.' "
So, we left our little Cowfeathers farm, Huz and I, and headed for the rabbit hole. For me, this began just after leaving the somewhat familiar road of 315N. Then, down, down, I fell, four thousand miles down, I think. Landing amongst the Antipathies, I decided to not inquire as to where I'd landed, as it was written up everywhere. Buckeyes, as the Antipathies are really called. Buckeyes were everywhere. It is very unusual to wear an old green waxed Barbour rain coat and stand out. It is serious blending wear. But here, I felt like Alice after she'd swallowed the cake that made her grow huge. People don't go to these things without the outward declaration of affinity; I was not in scarlet, gray, or even the navy of the Nittany Lions. At the same time, I felt like Alice after she'd drank the bottle of liquid and shrank to only inches tall. We were surrounded by a crush of Buckeyes. A sea of scarlet red. I clung tightly to Huz's hand, for he was the rabbit. He was not lost, he was not overwhelmed by the mass o'Bucks.....he was in red. Block "O" hat, scarlet red OSU sweatshirt. He was with his peeps, these Antipathies, and had brought me along.
A few notes on Tail Gating.
Note 1. When I was a youngster, we would pack the family up in the Country Squire station wagon, and drive to West Point, N.Y. to watch Army play football. We would tail gate. This meant putting the tail gate down on the station wagon and having a warm chili supper in the frosty fall sunshine.
Tail Gating, Note 2
At University, I went to University of Richmond, followed by North Carolina State University, I went tail gating, mostly at UR. This was driving to the Spider's "Stadium" (akin to an average Ohio high school amenity) and standing around in the parking lot, dressed in pearls and Ray Bans, Benetton sweaters and low heels, boys in khakis and ties, drinking cheap beer out of plastic cups.
Tail Gating Note 3.
That is not Tail Gating at OSU. This is a whole new ballgame. I realize this after passing through parking lot after parking lot jammed with scarlet and gray painted school buses, massive motor palaces and acres of tents, all with huge flat screen TV's outside showing football games, tables with huge buffet spreads of high cholesterol foods and liquor bottles ripe for the mixmaster to fix up your poison. Nary a Country Squire nor a Benetton sweater in sight.
As we neared the stadium, as the crowd thickened, we heard TBDBITL. Actually, pronounced as "tibidill", this is the moniker given to the Ohio State Marching Band. It stands for "The Best Damn Band In The Land". And, in my opinion, is a well deserved, if strange, name. They were marching into the stadium, playing as they went. Absolute precision in everything they do. We got as close as we could to the band, me jumping up and down to try and see, just like a little kid at a parade. We spotted Sarah, a euphonium player, one band member friend, but couldn't find Ben, who plays trombone. Then, my rabbit Huz grabbed my hand tightly and off we raced (okay, careened off the mass of red humanity) around the stadium to our gate so we could be in our seats for pregame. This is one of the showcases for the band.
Well, let me tell you, 106,000 people dressed in red(minus me and the hand full of sad, but faithful Penn Staters) is very red. Really. This is not a cheap way to spend your afternoon. Each of our tickets was $70.00. I bought a $4.00 bottle of water, and if Huz hadn't been one of the Antipathies, and had a parking permit, we would've paid $15.00 to park. Dinner afterwards, and without even being one of the people with a school bus painted with "Woody Mobile" and a likeness of the long dead coach on it, we had spent several hundred dollars on our date. Where do all these people come from????

The band was amazing. They did the traditional "Script Ohio", which is so fun to watch, and for the first time ever, they did it twice, as during half time, they performed in honor of the retiring band director, Dr. John Woods who has just finished his 28th year as band director of TBDBITL. The big honor in script Ohio is the person who gets to "dot the 'i'". This is a sousaphone player, led by the drum major. But for the special performance of script Ohio at half time, Dr. Woods dotted the "i". They played Carmen Ohio, which is the alma mater, Hang on Sloopy (I'm not sure I can adequately explain this one. It just is.) and the Star Spangled Banner.... all wonderful. They also had a whole show and drill at half time of some old rock standards. They do this thing every time they turn a corner, where they pop their head, neck and instrument backwards as they turn. I watched fascinated. Whip lash. How do they not get whip lash? I'll have to ask Sarah or Ben next time I see them.
The football was pretty good football. Both OSU and Penn State have had a difficult season, OSU all along, and Penn State recently, and they seemed to acknowledge this at the start of the game when the teams sort of spontaneously met in the center of the field, and gave each other back slaps and hand shakes. I take it from the crowd reaction, which was surprise at first, then applause, that that was not the usual start to a game. Still, the teams played it pretty tight, and OSU had a chance to win. They did not. But, it seemed to daunt only a few of the spectators. They were there for the last whistle.
After the game, the band came out again to thrill the stragglers as we wended our way out of the stands.
Now, I have been to an OSU game.

This is during pregame, after the famed "ramp entrance" of the OSU Marching Band

The start of "Script Ohio" begins with the band marching in a spiral, in the shape of a block, then you can see the band peeling off the spiral to the right of the block....

They continue to peel off, then all march through the shape of the script "O", then the "h", "i" and lastly the "o". This is the "O" and the bulk of the "h".... looking at it from above the word.