The Game of the Year?
After a tough few days, I feel that I’m ready to be a contributing member of society again—if I ever was in the first place—and post on my blog. It hasn’t been the greatest week, as I’ve not only gotten some sort of cold, but more importantly, its taken me a while to get over Ohio State’s recent loss to Texas. Yes, it’s sad to admit that a college football game can have such an effect on me, but unfortunately, that’s just the way I roll…
On Sunday, upon reaching my departure gate in Columbus, I found myself surrounded by burnt orange, and I’m sure this would have been the case win or lose…At one point, I ran into a friend (a lawyer who I’ve spoken to in the past about law school) who was with his son, and we talked about what a great game it was, and he then added that both teams deserved to win, but only one could come out on top in the end…I know he didn’t intend to twist the knife with that last comment, but I had to leave the conversation at that point. As I boarded the plane, he asked if I wanted to sit with him and his son, but I knew I couldn’t talk anymore about the game, which I knew would have come up. I didn’t want to talk about the law or law school either…I didn’t really want to talk period…Thus, I made up some weak, on the spot excuse that I wanted to look for a seat with more cabin space above, and then went on my way…To be honest, though, I didn't really have much of a voice left to talk anyway...
Instead, I took a seat next to a guy who was wearing a black ‘Block-O’ hat, the type of OSU hat that Woody Hayes popularized. He had the window and I had the aisle, and despite the nearly full flight, nobody ventured to sit between us. The funny thing is, though, this guy and I never said one word to each other, outside of me asking if the aisle seat was taken when I boarded, and then asking if he needed to get out when we stopped in Nashville. Looking back, though, maybe it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise that we never spoke, as we probably knew the pain and disappointment that the other was feeling, and—at least in my case—I’d already had enough of discussing the missed opportunities, dropped passes, and questionable decisions from the night before.
After stopping in Nashville on my way back to Houston, the Southwest pilot made some sort of reference to our flight being ‘Longhorn Airlines’ or something along those lines due to the sea of burnt orange on the flight. In fact, it was at that point that I realized that I was the only Buckeye fan left on the flight—or at least the only one wearing OSU gear—which shouldn’t be much of a surprise considering we were heading back to the lone star state…I guess the four or five other OSU fans I saw on the flight out of Columbus got off in Nashville, including the guy I shared a row with.
Despite the disappointment I had in the game’s eventual outcome, I’m still extremely happy that I made the trip, as I never knew when I would have such an opportunity again—the #4 team in the country hosting the #2 team in front of over 105,000 people. I’d been hoping to make this trip for over 18 months, and it didn’t become ‘official’ until less than a week before I left. For months it appeared that the ridicurous ‘market’ for tickets on ebay—not to mention the unreasonable flights in and out of Columbus at prices that never budged—were going to prevent the trip from ever happening. Yet, at the last minute we were able to make it work, and the game was truly a memorable experience…
Anyway, while looking back on the trip on my flight home, I took down a number of things I could write about after my weekend in Columbus, but it would take forever to elaborate on all of these ideas. Yet, after having a few days to reflect, I hope to share some random thoughts on the trip and the game in my next blog…No matter what, I'm sure whatever I write about next will certainly be pretty random...
On Sunday, upon reaching my departure gate in Columbus, I found myself surrounded by burnt orange, and I’m sure this would have been the case win or lose…At one point, I ran into a friend (a lawyer who I’ve spoken to in the past about law school) who was with his son, and we talked about what a great game it was, and he then added that both teams deserved to win, but only one could come out on top in the end…I know he didn’t intend to twist the knife with that last comment, but I had to leave the conversation at that point. As I boarded the plane, he asked if I wanted to sit with him and his son, but I knew I couldn’t talk anymore about the game, which I knew would have come up. I didn’t want to talk about the law or law school either…I didn’t really want to talk period…Thus, I made up some weak, on the spot excuse that I wanted to look for a seat with more cabin space above, and then went on my way…To be honest, though, I didn't really have much of a voice left to talk anyway...
Instead, I took a seat next to a guy who was wearing a black ‘Block-O’ hat, the type of OSU hat that Woody Hayes popularized. He had the window and I had the aisle, and despite the nearly full flight, nobody ventured to sit between us. The funny thing is, though, this guy and I never said one word to each other, outside of me asking if the aisle seat was taken when I boarded, and then asking if he needed to get out when we stopped in Nashville. Looking back, though, maybe it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise that we never spoke, as we probably knew the pain and disappointment that the other was feeling, and—at least in my case—I’d already had enough of discussing the missed opportunities, dropped passes, and questionable decisions from the night before.
After stopping in Nashville on my way back to Houston, the Southwest pilot made some sort of reference to our flight being ‘Longhorn Airlines’ or something along those lines due to the sea of burnt orange on the flight. In fact, it was at that point that I realized that I was the only Buckeye fan left on the flight—or at least the only one wearing OSU gear—which shouldn’t be much of a surprise considering we were heading back to the lone star state…I guess the four or five other OSU fans I saw on the flight out of Columbus got off in Nashville, including the guy I shared a row with.
Despite the disappointment I had in the game’s eventual outcome, I’m still extremely happy that I made the trip, as I never knew when I would have such an opportunity again—the #4 team in the country hosting the #2 team in front of over 105,000 people. I’d been hoping to make this trip for over 18 months, and it didn’t become ‘official’ until less than a week before I left. For months it appeared that the ridicurous ‘market’ for tickets on ebay—not to mention the unreasonable flights in and out of Columbus at prices that never budged—were going to prevent the trip from ever happening. Yet, at the last minute we were able to make it work, and the game was truly a memorable experience…
Anyway, while looking back on the trip on my flight home, I took down a number of things I could write about after my weekend in Columbus, but it would take forever to elaborate on all of these ideas. Yet, after having a few days to reflect, I hope to share some random thoughts on the trip and the game in my next blog…No matter what, I'm sure whatever I write about next will certainly be pretty random...
posted by Charles De Mar at 11:20 PM
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