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The Buck stops here: Fans better behave
UNION-TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICES September 23, 2006
Ohio State is encouraging its fans to behave.
The initiative to remind fans to be respectful is called ?Best Fans in the Land.? It includes newspaper and scoreboard ads, along with e-mail messages to students, faculty and staff from football coach Jim Tressel.
?We're really only talking about 1 percent that we're trying to get to,? Athletic Director Gene Smith said in yesterday's Columbus Dispatch.
Police arrested 17 people, including five charged with arson, after top-ranked Ohio State beat Texas 24-7 on Sept. 9. About 40 fires, started on couches, mattresses and trash bins, were set in student neighborhoods, police said.
After last year's game at Ohio State, school officials sent e-mails to Texas fans who complained about how they were treated while in Columbus. And victories in big games in previous years have been marred by disturbances, including an off-campus riot after the Buckeyes beat Michigan in November 2002.
The new program is meant to encourage law-abiding fans to keep watch over troublemakers and alert authorities quickly if there are problems.
The Buck stops here: Fans better behave
UNION-TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICES September 23, 2006
Ohio State is encouraging its fans to behave.
The initiative to remind fans to be respectful is called ?Best Fans in the Land.? It includes newspaper and scoreboard ads, along with e-mail messages to students, faculty and staff from football coach Jim Tressel.
?We're really only talking about 1 percent that we're trying to get to,? Athletic Director Gene Smith said in yesterday's Columbus Dispatch.
Police arrested 17 people, including five charged with arson, after top-ranked Ohio State beat Texas 24-7 on Sept. 9. About 40 fires, started on couches, mattresses and trash bins, were set in student neighborhoods, police said.
After last year's game at Ohio State, school officials sent e-mails to Texas fans who complained about how they were treated while in Columbus. And victories in big games in previous years have been marred by disturbances, including an off-campus riot after the Buckeyes beat Michigan in November 2002.
The new program is meant to encourage law-abiding fans to keep watch over troublemakers and alert authorities quickly if there are problems.
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Dispatch
A few Buckeyes fans ? but not all ? show sympathy for UM man?s plight
Sunday, October 15, 2006
RAY STEIN
Ray: Sorry to read that Bill Cosgrove (Mailbox, last Sunday) feels terrorized as a UM fan living in central Ohio. In his name, I have forwarded the amount of his loss to the UM Children?s Hospital Fund. It won?t return his flags, but it may be a better use of the money, considering he doesn?t seem to have a safe place to fly them, anyway.
Hope this helps him feel a little better about his OSU neighbors, as well. Go Bucks, always. Go Blue, every day but one.
?Bob
Stiles,
Columbus
Bob: You win the Mailbox Citizen of the Week Award. In fact, we may just rename it in your honor.
Editor: I am a Columbus native and a lifelong Buckeye football fan. One of my most treasured childhood memories is when I met Woody Hayes at the Jai Lai and got to shake his hand. My father worked at the university, as I do now. Carmen Ohio makes me cry. The sight of maize and blue makes me ill.
But please forward my contact information to the gentleman whose Michigan flags were taken from his home. Tell him I feel far more kinship to him than to those who stole them. And tell him I?d be happy to purchase a replacement.
? Michael McLeod
Columbus
Michael: Thank you (and others) for bringing a speck of decorum to this flag flap.
Ray: Why is it that folks like Mr. Cosgrove don?t get it? This is not Ann Arbor, South Bend, or State College. We live in the heart of Buckeye Country. You fly Scum flags at your own risk. I for one am not ashamed at how fanatical our fan base is. We are a passionate, dedicated and loyal Buckeye Nation. Please stop printing all these wieners? complaints about the way we react to outsiders.
If they want to live in a neutral college sports environment, they should leave C-bus. This is a scarlet and gray town, baby!
? Keith B. Whittington
Columbus
Keith: Thank you (and others) for, uh, taking the time to share your views. And a Jim Rome reference, to boot.
Ray: Last week I wrote to you because on consecutive Friday evenings my Michigan flags were stolen. Update: I got one back! When I awoke (last Saturday) I found that the criminals had returned again to spread my flag on my driveway.
It was cut, tattered, defaced with various pro-Buckeye, anti-Michigan verbiage and stained thoroughly by a white substance. I?ve taken a couple of photos that I will e-mail to you once I figure out how I do that. Any help your pages can give in order to stop this nonsense will be appreciated. ?
Bill Cosgrove, Columbus
Bill: White substance? Is it possible that you?re being besieged by evil pigeons rather than OSU zealots?
Ray: I?m sick and tired of having Buckeye football shoved down my throat 24/7 by the local media, each one trying to outdo one another. We have to watch the same plays over and over and listen to them interviewing kids every night. Who cares what they have to say? There are other sports besides Buckeye football. The game is over, they won ? get on with your life. There will be another game next week.
Channel 6 even gives us a Christmas present by showing the national championship game, which was given to Ohio State by the referees. If you want to give me a Christmas present, show Miracle on 34 th Street. If fans can?t get enough football, let them subscribe to the Lantern or go to some other Red and White Web site. Her loyal sons go marching onward ? well, everyone knows the rest. Go Irish.
? John Burns, Pickerington
John: Red and white ? that?s classic. And I?m not Dale Carnegie, but this is no way to make new friends.
Ray: As an Ohio University grad, it would?ve been nice to read about the Ohio vs. Western Michigan football game in (last) Sunday?s Sports section. I found nothing more than a box score. The same could be said about all of the Mid-American (Conference) games. Did you forget something?
You can place an article on the team in the paper when they have some problems but not when they win. It would be nice if the paper in Ohio?s capital city would cover Ohio sports.
? Jeff Chambers, Westerville
Jeff: My apologies to you and all other MAC fans. For one week, anyway, our left hand simply didn?t know what our right hand was doing.
Editor: I attended the Blue Jackets? opening game and was disgusted and disappointed ? by the score, but also because of a new and unsavory change.
Before this year, we had the scantily clad "Pepsi Girls" running around doing whatever they do. Now, in addition, we have the "Mountain Dew Girls," who are even more scantily clad, skating the ice during timeouts scooping up ice around the goals. We used to have a couple men doing this job. Now, unfortunately, we have young girls doing it 10 times a game ? not because it needs done but for the benefit of male fans and players.
Haven?t the CBJ touted itself to be a family sporting event? There is a significant female and child fan base that attends each game. I don?t want to see this! All it does is induce cat-calls, hoots and whistles. Are we at a peep show or an NHL game? It?s degrading to women and difficult to explain to a child why young women are skating around the ice with hardly any clothes on. Show some class, Jackets.
? Lanell Hall, Hilliard
Lanell: For better or worse, that?s pro sports in this day and age. I suspect the Jackets are following rather than leading on that front. In the interest of equal time, they should at least consider a George Matthews beefcake calendar.
Editor: The gnashing of teeth over the OSU-Indiana game not being televised (locally) is deafening. Did no one else grow up listening to the radio? In the days before cable television, the Michigan game was televised and maybe one or two others. I grew up in a household where autumn Saturday afternoons were never without a radio tuned to the OSU game.
Slow down, relax, make a pot of chili and enjoy the game. Besides, it gives us a break from Brent Musburger.
? Brad McCloud
Reynoldsburg
Editor: It stinks about the Indiana game telecast. But I have to admit, it brings a smile to my face to see how upset people get when they have to leave their suburban houses and flat-screen TVs and actually interact with other human beings. My advice: Find a bar, shell out two bucks for a beer, and have fun!
? Jeff Brinkman, Pittsburgh
Brad, Jeff: Excellent ideas all around, especially the chili and the beer. Shame I have to work.
Editor: Lest Blue Jackets fans become overly excited with their current lofty position and start burning couches and set fires in Dumpsters, we must remember what my old pappy use to say: "Do not enumerate your offspring prior to the completion of the incubation period," which is April 7, 2007.
? Mark Passmore, Circleville
Mark: Dude, your daddy was a chicken? Cool.
Write me at 34 S. 3 rd St., Columbus, 43215, or e-mail [email protected]. Include your name, hometown and phone number.
Ray Stein is sports editor of The Dispatch.
[email protected]
A few Buckeyes fans ? but not all ? show sympathy for UM man?s plight
Sunday, October 15, 2006
RAY STEIN
Ray: Sorry to read that Bill Cosgrove (Mailbox, last Sunday) feels terrorized as a UM fan living in central Ohio. In his name, I have forwarded the amount of his loss to the UM Children?s Hospital Fund. It won?t return his flags, but it may be a better use of the money, considering he doesn?t seem to have a safe place to fly them, anyway.
Hope this helps him feel a little better about his OSU neighbors, as well. Go Bucks, always. Go Blue, every day but one.
?Bob
Stiles,
Columbus
Bob: You win the Mailbox Citizen of the Week Award. In fact, we may just rename it in your honor.
Editor: I am a Columbus native and a lifelong Buckeye football fan. One of my most treasured childhood memories is when I met Woody Hayes at the Jai Lai and got to shake his hand. My father worked at the university, as I do now. Carmen Ohio makes me cry. The sight of maize and blue makes me ill.
But please forward my contact information to the gentleman whose Michigan flags were taken from his home. Tell him I feel far more kinship to him than to those who stole them. And tell him I?d be happy to purchase a replacement.
? Michael McLeod
Columbus
Michael: Thank you (and others) for bringing a speck of decorum to this flag flap.
Ray: Why is it that folks like Mr. Cosgrove don?t get it? This is not Ann Arbor, South Bend, or State College. We live in the heart of Buckeye Country. You fly Scum flags at your own risk. I for one am not ashamed at how fanatical our fan base is. We are a passionate, dedicated and loyal Buckeye Nation. Please stop printing all these wieners? complaints about the way we react to outsiders.
If they want to live in a neutral college sports environment, they should leave C-bus. This is a scarlet and gray town, baby!
? Keith B. Whittington
Columbus
Keith: Thank you (and others) for, uh, taking the time to share your views. And a Jim Rome reference, to boot.
Ray: Last week I wrote to you because on consecutive Friday evenings my Michigan flags were stolen. Update: I got one back! When I awoke (last Saturday) I found that the criminals had returned again to spread my flag on my driveway.
It was cut, tattered, defaced with various pro-Buckeye, anti-Michigan verbiage and stained thoroughly by a white substance. I?ve taken a couple of photos that I will e-mail to you once I figure out how I do that. Any help your pages can give in order to stop this nonsense will be appreciated. ?
Bill Cosgrove, Columbus
Bill: White substance? Is it possible that you?re being besieged by evil pigeons rather than OSU zealots?
Ray: I?m sick and tired of having Buckeye football shoved down my throat 24/7 by the local media, each one trying to outdo one another. We have to watch the same plays over and over and listen to them interviewing kids every night. Who cares what they have to say? There are other sports besides Buckeye football. The game is over, they won ? get on with your life. There will be another game next week.
Channel 6 even gives us a Christmas present by showing the national championship game, which was given to Ohio State by the referees. If you want to give me a Christmas present, show Miracle on 34 th Street. If fans can?t get enough football, let them subscribe to the Lantern or go to some other Red and White Web site. Her loyal sons go marching onward ? well, everyone knows the rest. Go Irish.
? John Burns, Pickerington
John: Red and white ? that?s classic. And I?m not Dale Carnegie, but this is no way to make new friends.
Ray: As an Ohio University grad, it would?ve been nice to read about the Ohio vs. Western Michigan football game in (last) Sunday?s Sports section. I found nothing more than a box score. The same could be said about all of the Mid-American (Conference) games. Did you forget something?
You can place an article on the team in the paper when they have some problems but not when they win. It would be nice if the paper in Ohio?s capital city would cover Ohio sports.
? Jeff Chambers, Westerville
Jeff: My apologies to you and all other MAC fans. For one week, anyway, our left hand simply didn?t know what our right hand was doing.
Editor: I attended the Blue Jackets? opening game and was disgusted and disappointed ? by the score, but also because of a new and unsavory change.
Before this year, we had the scantily clad "Pepsi Girls" running around doing whatever they do. Now, in addition, we have the "Mountain Dew Girls," who are even more scantily clad, skating the ice during timeouts scooping up ice around the goals. We used to have a couple men doing this job. Now, unfortunately, we have young girls doing it 10 times a game ? not because it needs done but for the benefit of male fans and players.
Haven?t the CBJ touted itself to be a family sporting event? There is a significant female and child fan base that attends each game. I don?t want to see this! All it does is induce cat-calls, hoots and whistles. Are we at a peep show or an NHL game? It?s degrading to women and difficult to explain to a child why young women are skating around the ice with hardly any clothes on. Show some class, Jackets.
? Lanell Hall, Hilliard
Lanell: For better or worse, that?s pro sports in this day and age. I suspect the Jackets are following rather than leading on that front. In the interest of equal time, they should at least consider a George Matthews beefcake calendar.
Editor: The gnashing of teeth over the OSU-Indiana game not being televised (locally) is deafening. Did no one else grow up listening to the radio? In the days before cable television, the Michigan game was televised and maybe one or two others. I grew up in a household where autumn Saturday afternoons were never without a radio tuned to the OSU game.
Slow down, relax, make a pot of chili and enjoy the game. Besides, it gives us a break from Brent Musburger.
? Brad McCloud
Reynoldsburg
Editor: It stinks about the Indiana game telecast. But I have to admit, it brings a smile to my face to see how upset people get when they have to leave their suburban houses and flat-screen TVs and actually interact with other human beings. My advice: Find a bar, shell out two bucks for a beer, and have fun!
? Jeff Brinkman, Pittsburgh
Brad, Jeff: Excellent ideas all around, especially the chili and the beer. Shame I have to work.
Editor: Lest Blue Jackets fans become overly excited with their current lofty position and start burning couches and set fires in Dumpsters, we must remember what my old pappy use to say: "Do not enumerate your offspring prior to the completion of the incubation period," which is April 7, 2007.
? Mark Passmore, Circleville
Mark: Dude, your daddy was a chicken? Cool.
Write me at 34 S. 3 rd St., Columbus, 43215, or e-mail [email protected]. Include your name, hometown and phone number.
Ray Stein is sports editor of The Dispatch.
[email protected]
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ekeen
Banned
I have been to many campuses and don' think our fan base is particularly worse than others. When I was in E Lansing yesterday we were taunted quite a bit but tell you truth I didn't care because I knew we'd roll.
The only person who has made our fan behavior a focus is Karen Holbrook, one of the most unpopular OSU President's in years past.
The only person who has made our fan behavior a focus is Karen Holbrook, one of the most unpopular OSU President's in years past.
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ekeen;634475; said:
Sorry, but that is not true, no matter how much fans dislike Holbrook.
Rioting Ohio State fans have appeared on television around the world, even in South Africa, with harmful effects on the University's international reputation and on the desirability of Columbus as an international business destination, despite its centrality and good location.
If you analyze why the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State ranks behind the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business in the Financial Times Top 100 business school rankings (the most accepted global ranking), you will see it is because of the lack of diversity in the classroom and faculty. The last thing we need is for Ohio State and Columbus to look like a place inhabited by British soccer thugs, which is how these scenes are interpreted internationally.
I think Holbrook's retirement is coming at a very good time for a lot of us but riots after games and other foolishness belong at 'da U', not at Ohio State. Just one riot can undermine years of hard work by those of us in other countries who work to help Ohio State.
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tibor75;634486; said:
Most people are bright enough to read the article anyway...sorry I assumed you were one of those people.
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ekeen
Banned
Steve19;634509; said:
I respectfully disagree with you Steve. These kinds of riots have been going on at places like Maryland, Michigan State and countless other campuses after sporting events.
Nobody likes to see this stuff on TV but where does Holbrook get off apologizing for the student body when 4 or 5 students out of hundreds get arrested? ...and then the Texas game last year? I saw some heckling going on but if you would have read the paper the next day you would have thought every Texas fan left the Shoe in mental distress. Hell, in Austin there were several comments made about 'how bad our fans are'.
Some of my relatives now think that OSU has the worst fan base in the country? Why.....because Karen Holbrook said so and let the 'genie out of the bottle'. Heck, the kids at MSU were saying it last week and were acting just as bad as some of the bad fans I have seen at the shoe.
Word around the campfire is that Holbrook's finger pointing didn't stop after the ballgames.....she has clearly pissed off some of the trustees or they would be begging for her to stay. I don't care how Holbrooks supporters spin this......she was not going to be given any contract extensions (even if she wanted one.)
Not sure what comparison you are making to the business school and a few of the unfortunate riots. Was USC ever dinged because of the riots that have occurred in some of those rough neighborhoods surrounding campus? I don't know if that was a good comparison but Columbus, OH is relatively safe and has a fantastic cost of living to go with it, unlike some of the 'snooty' schools.
Steve, just my .02. Still respect your global perspective.
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SanClementeBuck
Heisman
I think Steve19 makes a valid point. He sees the publicity from SAfrica. I think it's a damned shame we have a relatively small number of numbskulls, mostly drinking to excess, who swear at and pour beer on visiting fans. It's childish or worse, doesn't add a speck to the gala of gameday or gamenight, and always works against the good rep. of Ohio State.
I'm not against alcohol, just those who can't handle it.
I'm not against alcohol, just those who can't handle it.
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ekeen;634859; said:I respectfully disagree with you Steve. These kinds of riots have been going on at places like Maryland, Michigan State and countless other campuses after sporting events.
Nobody likes to see this stuff on TV but where does Holbrook get off apologizing for the student body when 4 or 5 students out of hundreds get arrested? ...and then the Texas game last year? I saw some heckling going on but if you would have read the paper the next day you would have thought every Texas fan left the Shoe in mental distress. Hell, in Austin there were several comments made about 'how bad our fans are'.
Some of my relatives now think that OSU has the worst fan base in the country? Why.....because Karen Holbrook said so and let the 'genie out of the bottle'. Heck, the kids at MSU were saying it last week and were acting just as bad as some of the bad fans I have seen at the shoe.
Word around the campfire is that Holbrook's finger pointing didn't stop after the ballgames.....she has clearly pissed off some of the trustees or they would be begging for her to stay. I don't care how Holbrooks supporters spin this......she was not going to be given any contract extensions (even if she wanted one.)
Not sure what comparison you are making to the business school and a few of the unfortunate riots. Was USC ever dinged because of the riots that have occurred in some of those rough neighborhoods surrounding campus? I don't know if that was a good comparison but Columbus, OH is relatively safe and has a fantastic cost of living to go with it, unlike some of the 'snooty' schools.
Steve, just my .02. Still respect your global perspective.
And it is just that, the impression of someone who loves Columbus and Ohio State but lives in South Africa! So, I certainly have no monopoly on truth!
I do want to share a few thoughts after reading your posts.
Let me first say that I am not a supporter or detractor of Holbrook. Under her leadership, Ohio State has made great strides in climbing the international and national rankings. Research and endowments are at an all time high. I also read that some of the posters here think that research excellence has fuelled worse teaching. And one can figure out that she is very much disliked by football fans who like to tailgate!
You make a good point in that the riots off campus have been mainly non-student fans. There have been some nasty riots after games in recent years, but Ohio State riots get more attention because it is the largest campus in America and our teams generally have won or lost a big game when they happen.
I have never seen a riot at another University on South African TV. I have seen ours.
Concerning our fans. They are not the worst by far but neither are they without sin.
Opposing fans do get harrassed from time to time and heckling can get way out of hand. The last two games I attended, albeit five years ago, Ohio State fans taunted visitors, threw food on them and tried to instigate a fight and the other guys weren't doing anything except cheerng for their team. IN one of those cases, a Buckeye fan actually stood up and tried to duke it out with a TSUN fan who was really minding his own business. I might add that the Buckeye fan got knocked on his backside, by another Buckeye fan.
This kind of thing goes on elsewhere I know, but it shouldn't be going on anywhere, Ohio State included.
I spend a lot of time promoting Columbus and have lead trade missions to the US. I don't really want to get into that part of my life but Columbus is not the attractive destination it once was and I think people in Columbus need to frankly assess why that is. Some of it is complacency. For those of us who love Columbus, we see only its good side. But when I take people there they see another side. An inner city around the campus area, Cleveland Avenue and etc that looks like everywhere else in the Rust Belt. And a soaring crime rate. Once the second leading internet hub in the world, it has lost major business overseas and to other American cities. Remember Compuserv, the Banc One Visa card processing operation, Federated Department Stores, Management Horizons, etc, etc. We've lost a lot of good businesses in recent years. The city school system is in a shambles.
I am afraid the days of low crime have been gone a long time too. The crime index in Columbus is now virtually the same as Cleveland and Cincinnatti, more than 50% higher than LA, twice the national average and nearly three times as high as New York City. http://www.city-data.com/city/Columbus-Ohio.html. So, why locate a business there if you can have New York? It's not the easy sell it once was and for those of us trying to help Ohio State and Columbus, the last thing we need is bad press.
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This is what is needed. Fans keeping perspective and policing the unruly.Steve19 said:
Just cheer and say "welcome to our house"
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