To All Ohio State Fans, especially those going to the game next Saturday:
Some have observed that, given their reputation, Wisconsin fans will be merciless toward Penn State and their fans on the final Saturday of the regular season. I do not doubt this. The person posting it did not act as if they were going out on a limb. They were simply stating something that we all accept as fact.
No one will be thinking about that this weekend. That game is 2 weeks away. The Buckeyes' own game against the Nits is still 9 days in the future. Our thoughts are on vengeance for our last trip to West Lafayette. That is where our TV sets will be tuned at Noon on Saturday. That is what we care most about, and rightly so.
Later in the day however, our thoughts and our TV sets will turn toward Happy Valley, to the replay of what happened there. What happened there may put the Buckeyes in firm control of their own destiny in the Leaders Division. That may not be what the announcers talk about; but it will be what matters to us, and rightly so.
Whether it is during that telecast or during replays of the riot that occurred last night; our ears will, no doubt, be assaulted with the 2nd most annoying chant in all of college football. When you hear it; I implore you to hear something else. While they lay proud claim to who they are, let it remind you of who we are not. Our cheer this weekend is, "We Are - Not Them!".
No, I am not saying that we are not Penn State. While this is true, and while we can be grateful for it, it is not where our focus should be. The point of all this is, "We Are - NOT WISCONSIN!".
We are not drunken, bottle-throwing fools who delight in other peoples' misfortune and publicly disgrace ourselves. We are not classless simpletons who parade classless banners before television cameras, bringing shame on our university. We are not them, Columbus is not Madison, The Ohio State University is not Wisconsin.
If we were to behave like Wisconsin fans when Penn State rolls into town, the Blue & White clad visitors would leave feeling defensive and self-righteous. If we behave like true Buckeyes and show the visitors cordial hospitality, if we act like we are reasonable enough to realize that they are NOT (for the most part) the same people who rioted last night and that they had nothing to do with the failure to protect the innocence of the innocents; then the visitors will return to Pennsylvania thinking not about how they were treated, but about how their own university has been utterly disgraced, and rightly so.
Let the disney channel say what they will. Let them make all the comparisons they want. Let them disgrace themselves. But do not let them compare our behavior to that of the Happy Valley rioters. I harbor no illusions about Buckeye fans doing anything that would actually be as deplorable as much of what was seen last night. None of us however, harbor any illusions about the mickey mouse club portraying ANY misbehavior on our part as being just as bad if not worse.
If we behave like true Buckeyes, if we cheer our Seniors (ALL of our Seniors) on Senior Day and cheer the team during and after the game, if we leave everything else out of it; then nothing ESPN says will matter. At the end of that game every viewer will be thinking that Ohio State is a better place than Penn State (and Madison). And rightly so.
). More than likely will end up watching the game either somewhere close to campus, or out at Dave & Buster's after the Skull Session.
