Born and raised in Norwalk OH, now I reside in Toledo (due to better money and my fiance). I have been an OSU fan since I.......well I can remember. All that I know is that I watch a game being shown from the early 80's, or documentaries and still can remember the games (I was born in 1980). Growing up I would always watch the games with my father and my brother, and anyone else who wanted to watch them with us. I always dreamed of playing football for OSU, I had Buckeye wallpaper in my room when I was 6. I idolized anyone who walked on the field at OSU stadium.
I can still remember seeing Ohio Stadium for the first time. The stadium was open to the public (it was still Astroturf) and my brother and I ran around playing catch with no football (we didn't have a ball so we had to improvise), it was the coolest thing to me. For our backyard football games my brother and I would paint a big "O" in the middle of our backyard (field) sometimes to mimic The Shoe.
I played football a lot growing up, it was my life. I started at MLB and guard for 4 years in high school. I got looks from several D 1 schools and many other small schools, but no OSU. I even went to OSU's football camp hoping for a look, but no love...... I wasn't blessed with 6 "4" height or 4.4 speed, so my dream ended. So I went to play ball in D3. I played two weeks of college ball before f'ing up my shoulder and having a season ending injury as a froshy, I was finished before I ever started. I decided to quit football after that last injury, I had been injured too many times.
I now work in sales in Toledo, my fiance is finishing up her degree at the University of Toledo and will soon graduate. I'll be getting married in the summer of 2004, lord knows where she and I will end up, hopefully Columbus.
I never attended OSU, but I still consider myself a diehard Buckeye fan. They are what I grew up loving, and that love has grown more and more firm as the days pass. I guess that I just love the romance of Ohio State football. They are what every young Ohio kid grows up striving for. They are the place in which every father dreams their boy will end up playing ball for. Ohio State football unites so many different breeds of folks together with passion and excitement.
I miss football, I plan to get certified as an official soon. I want to work my way up the ranks into college football. Maybe some day I will get to be a part of Ohio State football, only it will be through a different aspect. For those that wonder.............yes, I will call holding on OSU's opponents.
