OSU's Image Outside of Ohio

[Bestbuck36]

Thats not a true Buckeye fan writing that article either! We love our Bucks, but true fans don't discount any game at any time until the game is played. Stupid article. Someone see if he's really a Cardinal fan trying to rile them all up.

[BuckeyeBill]

If both tOSU and Louisville win out, then I would have to say that anyone that discounts Louisville is an idiot. Teams have a tendency to rise (or fall) to the level of their competition. We would be facing a confident, jacked up, disrespected team with absolutely nothing to lose. While I believe we have the far better team, momentum plays as much a role as talent. One or two bad breaks, and and we could have a game we might not be ready emotionally for. Fortunately, we have JT. But its college football, anything can happen.

[DaddyBigBucks]

One sign of a programs profile is which screen they are shown on at the local sports bar. At the Buffalo Wild Wings here in Tallahassee there are two big screens and numerous small ones. OSU was shown on one big screen and TSUN was shown on the other. But it was the audio of the OSU game that played loudly over the sound system.

And then there was the cheering; not for Ohio State, but for Troy Smith. Every time Troy made one of his highlight reel plays today, fans of many different teams cheered loudly.

The TSUN fan sitting near me was pretty quiet during those plays though...

[BB73]

Originally Posted by DaddyBigBucks

One sign of a programs profile is which screen they are shown on at the local sports bar. At the Buffalo Wild Wings here in Tallahassee there are two big screens and numerous small ones. OSU was shown on one big screen and TSUN was shown on the other. But it was the audio of the OSU game that played loudly over the sound system.

And then there was the cheering; not for Ohio State, but for Troy Smith. Every time Troy made one of his highlight reel plays today, fans of many different teams cheered loudly.

The TSUN fan sitting near me was pretty quiet during those plays though...

I hope the stench didn't ruin your wings.

[DaddyBigBucks]

Just resurrecting this thread to make a point...

Most people around the country don't even remember how they viewed Ohio State just a year and a half ago. Florida fans were respectful for the most part leading up to the game against the Gators. They expected a good game, many of them even expected a loss and said so.

Now, people are acting like OSU fans were the only ones who ever believed the hype about Ohio State.

The truth is, Buckeye Football circa November 2006 was very good. It just wasn't quite as good as many thought. It was not invulnerable to the distractions and frictions of any other team in the position they found themselves.

Add to that the fact that our conference was weak both in '06 and '07, thus not providing us with enough resistance against which we could "sharpen our axe"; and you end up with a perfect recipe for being despised. We end up in a championship game that many people believe we didn't belong in. Twice.

Now, people hate us. Anyone on the board who lives outside of Ohio can tell you; people hate us with a passion that makes them believe they always hated us. They don't even remember the respect they had for the program just a year and a half ago. They believe we got something we didn't deserve (twice), and they resent it.

Go ahead people. Read the first couple of pages of this thread again. Remember what it was like when the world believed that the Buckeyes were in a class by themselves. We weren't quite as good as they thought then; but we're much, much better than they think we are now.

They think we're slow and talentless. The truth is that NFL scouts believe that a record number of Buckeyes may be drafted next year. It is simply an objective fact that the talent level on this team is on a par with anyone. And that talent is more experienced than any Ohio State team has been in a long, long time. I can't even remember when OSU had so many starters back, and had so much experience returning for most of the 'holes' left by those who departed.

This much talent, plus this much experience is plenty of reason to expect that this team will win the National Championship. It is plenty of reason to think of anything less as a disappointment.

The rest of the world may be surprised. They may think we "got lucky again". They may think of it as a one time thing. Some may be generous enough to think that the Buckeyes are back.

But the truth is: we never went anywhere. This is a better team than they showed the past couple of Januaries. Maybe people will acknowledge it, maybe they won't.

If I learned anything since I started this thread; I've learned that it doesn't matter. Sure it was nice to have people outside of the program saying such nice things about it. But when they prove as fickle and short sighted (to say nothing of their short memories) as they've been; they lose the right to affect my state of mind.

Give me the Crystal Football. Collective opinion be damned.

[mross34]

Originally Posted by DaddyBigBucks

Just resurrecting this thread to make a point...

Most people around the country don't even remember how they viewed Ohio State just a year and a half ago. Florida fans were respectful for the most part leading up to the game against the Gators. They expected a good game, many of them even expected a loss and said so.

Now, people are acting like OSU fans were the only ones who ever believed the hype about Ohio State.

The truth is, Buckeye Football circa November 2006 was very good. It just wasn't quite as good as many thought. It was not invulnerable to the distractions and frictions of any other team in the position they found themselves.

Add to that the fact that our conference was weak both in '06 and '07, thus not providing us with enough resistance against which we could "sharpen our axe"; and you end up with a perfect recipe for being despised. We end up in a championship game that many people believe we didn't belong in. Twice.

Now, people hate us. Anyone on the board who lives outside of Ohio can tell you; people hate us with a passion that makes them believe they always hated us. They don't even remember the respect they had for the program just a year and a half ago. They believe we got something we didn't deserve (twice), and they resent it.

Go ahead people. Read the first couple of pages of this thread again. Remember what it was like when the world believed that the Buckeyes were in a class by themselves. We weren't quite as good as they thought then; but we're much, much better than they think we are now.

They think we're slow and talentless. The truth is that NFL scouts believe that a record number of Buckeyes may be drafted next year. It is simply an objective fact that the talent level on this team is on a par with anyone. And that talent is more experienced than any Ohio State team has been in a long, long time. I can't even remember when OSU had so many starters back, and had so much experience returning for most of the 'holes' left by those who departed.

This much talent, plus this much experience is plenty of reason to expect that this team will win the National Championship. It is plenty of reason to think of anything less as a disappointment.

The rest of the world may be surprised. They may think we "got lucky again". They may think of it as a one time thing. Some may be generous enough to think that the Buckeyes are back.

But the truth is: we never went anywhere. This is a better team than they showed the past couple of Januaries. Maybe people will acknowledge it, maybe they won't.

If I learned anything since I started this thread; I've learned that it doesn't matter. Sure it was nice to have people outside of the program saying such nice things about it. But when they prove as fickle and short sighted (to say nothing of their short memories) as they've been; they lose the right to affect my state of mind.

Give me the Crystal Football. Collective opinion be damned.

Reading this well-written post, one thing in particular caught my attention.

Thank you for showing me how to pluralize January, DBB.

[rocketman]

The team has the talent, the coaching, the "fierce urgency of now," and the galvanizing motivation that comes from everyone doubting you. The question of the season will be, can these guys take all the success and crushing disappointment, all the doubt and fear... set all that aside each and every Saturday, and just play ball?

[TheIronColonel]

In a way, this is a great object lesson for kids - athletes or not. It's a story of a team with the world in their hand and too much smoke up their asses. I don't have kids yet, but when I do I'm going to use this to remind them that they have to be humble, respect competitors, and never believe they are above defeat and failure. No person or team is immortal, whether in sports or any other field.

If only Hosius were alive to write a nice little memento mori to the team back in December '06...

[BuckyBalls]

Originally Posted by mross34

Reading this well-written post, one thing in particular caught my attention.

Thank you for showing me how to pluralize January, DBB.

Yep, Januaries '07, '08, AND '09. If I may be so blunt in forecasting the future.

[DaddyBigBucks]

The history books will, no doubt, be kinder to the Buckeyes than most people would believe.

If not for the disaster of 2004, our current run beginning in 2002 is very similar to the Seminoles of 93 to 99. Of course, the Seminole run had NC bookends on each end of that run. To make the comparison complete we'd need to win the NC in 2008.

The locals here tell me that the Seminoles of 99 had a similarly stacked class returning from a team that had a near miss. They looked forward to 99 expecting nothing less than undefeated national champs, and that's what they got. IIRC it was Bowden's only undefeated season in Tallahassee.

If the Buckeye's (sort of) replay that history, it won't be Tressel's only undefeated season; but that would be ok with me.

[Shivvy77]

Superb post by Big Daddy Bucks.

I live in New York City so have some perspective on the National "attitude" towards Ohio State. I feel all of the OSU backlash from posts and the various media outlets. However, NYC is a bastion of Buckeye supporters or at least non-haters. I think that it is more objective in NYC b/c there are no big regional rooting interests for college football in the New York or across most of the northeast. The 3 most popular teams in New York are probably 1) Notre Dame, 2) Penn State and 3) Ohio State.

If anything, the Clarett saga weighs us down more than losing to 2 high quality SEC opponents.

[Taosman]

Laying the big one on national tv against Florida did most of the damage.
Remember when everyone believed Bob Stoops and Oklahoma were the next great thing? Look what happened to Stoops and his most recent teams.
And mighty USC lost to a dreadful Stanford team on tv. But, clearly the media are in love with USC and Carrol. What happens when the Reggie Bush stuff hits the fan, finally?


Winning cures everything!

[BuckeyeCrazy107]

I wish I had the same experience out here in SoCal. Of course there are many TOSU fans out here and I get the occasional OH! or Go Bucks! shouted at me. But the rest of the people are brutal. As many of you know USC is the absolute media darling. I have to bear complete BS 24/7 in the LA Times about USC's "greatness." The Big Ten and Ohio State in particular do not get much love from these Pac 10 fans. I just hope that after September 13 the fans will be a bit humbled.

[BuckeyeBreeder]

Being that I have lived here in South Florida for the majority of my life ( 20 yrs) , there are alot of Buckeye fans down here. Even though this is Gator/Hurricane/ Seminole coountry, Ohio State has no problem representing down here. We will take over the Orange Bowl ( Dolphins Stadium) if we get to the big game again this yr. That would be great......

As far as the National perception goes, I could care less. Last yr. teams played thier way out of the big game, plain and simple. I mean we played our way out of the game by losing to Illinois , and then teams lost ahead of us AGAIN......which landed us in New Orleans. The season before we played three #2 ranked teams that yr ( Texas, Michigan, Forida) losing of course to Florida. But ya know what we are in the hunt every yr, and Tressel replaces talent , like I will replace my empty beer coozie with a full one here soon. Everyone can hate, and throw one-liners about us all they want. But one thing is definately for certain..........we are always in the thick of things .

Go Bucks!!

[jwinslow]

Remember when everyone believed Bob Stoops and Oklahoma were the next great thing? Look what happened to Stoops and his most recent teams.

Funny, they are one of the 'more deserving' teams rattled off by most during 'OSU doesn't deserve it' whining.

And mighty USC lost to a dreadful Stanford team on tv. But, clearly the media are in love with USC and Carrol. What happens when the Reggie Bush stuff hits the fan, finally?

Nothing. It hit the fans a long time ago. Nobody cares.