Big 10 football begins this weekend! Albeit a late start due to this pandemic, but it’ll still be college football, specifically Ohio State football. Throughout all of this pandemic stuff, watching the Buckeyes play would’ve been the one thing I’d missed the most if they cancelled the season. College football has got to be the best reality TV out there. No matter what the projections are, anything can happen, it’s anyone’s game, which makes it so fricken exciting. I grew up watching football every weekend – the Buckeyes on Saturdays and then the Cleveland Browns on Sundays.

Unfortunately, I don’t watch the Browns play anymore. Ever since Art Modell moved the team (not the name) to Baltimore, Browns football for me was never the same. So instead I hold on to the memories of watching betamax tapes of Brian Sipe and the Kardiac Kids, cheering for Bernie Kosar, Ozzie Newsome, Clay Mathews, and lovin’ that Dawg Pound. I remember tailgating in the parking lot of the old Cleveland Stadium with my dad and siblings, freezing our butts off even though we wore layers upon layers to keep us warm. (That wind off of Lake Erie was so fricken cold.) And when we’d watch the Browns on TV, was it going to be on regular TV or fuzz? Fuzz meant my dad and brothers would spend about 30 minutes finagling the big-ass antennae on the roof so we could tune in channel 11, a Toledo channel. No cable back then. The screen would be mostly snow but the sound was great. I found if I blinked a lot, I might get a clear moment on the screen.

Buckeye football is all I’m interested in now. I didn’t go to Ohio State myself (that’s a story for another day), but nine of my family members have attended, three generations, including a niece who just started this fall on a full scholarship. I’m so proud of her! So for over 40 years my Fall Saturdays have been planned around the OSU football schedule. Growing up a Buckeye fan in Michigan was annoying at times. Early on I got a lot of “Oh how I hate Ohio State” or, “You’re a Buckeye fan? I’m sorry.” But that only toughened my skin. Later in my early twenties I dated a guy who didn’t watch football at all. He’d actually get mad at me because I was watching the game or wouldn’t hang out because the Buckeyes were playing that night. “What do you mean you have to watch football?” He’d ask me. I’d just shake my head. He didn’t last long. My first husband enjoyed watching college football but was a graduate of the University of Michigan. Unfortunately UM was/is our biggest rival, aka the enemy. Boo. The last game of the season (OSU vs UM) had to be watched separately from my family. They weren’t as tolerant of UM football as I tried to be. And believe me, I really did try. When we divorced, I was very relieved to not have to pretend anymore. My husband now not only likes to watch college football, he’s happy to root for the Buckeyes. In fact, he fully embraced being a Buckeye fan. Fate really smiled upon me this time. And I couldn’t be happier.

OSU takes on Nebraska tomorrow at the Shoe to kick off the 2020 season. WOOHOO! So get out the chips, prep those wings and dips! OSU football is back baby! GO BUCKS!!!