This weekend is going to be confusing.

Ohio State football has been a huge part of my life. I went to my first game when I was eight. There been just one season since when I haven’t attended at least one game in person, and my excuse for that one was pretty good — I was in Army basic training in Kentucky.

People who see the Ohio State gear I wear assume OSU is my Alma mater. My desk is covered with Ohio State buttons and pennants, and I have old newspaper pages featuring national championships and wins over Michigan tacked up on the cubicle walls.

And there’s the problem — with the exception of a summertime art class when I was about 10, I didn’t take a single class at Ohio State.

I am a proud graduate of Ohio University. And on Saturday, OU plays in Ohio Stadium in Columbus for just the second time in my 41 years.

The Wife and I are Ohio State season ticket holders. If you were able to watch us in action on a typical Saturday, you’d think we’re two more devoted alumni of Ohio’s largest university.

And you’d be wrong — we’re semi-devoted alumni of Ohio’s oldest university.

So on Saturday, we’ll be wearing green and white as we sit in our seats in Ohio State’s stadium. We’re not expecting much of a football game — and to be honest, neither of us really want to see OU win this one — but we’re happy for a chance to see OU’s band, the Marching 110, and the fun stuff they do on the field.

Besides the clothing, we don’t actually have to change much. The O-H I-O stuff we can do, because, duh, that’s the name of our school too (I am so going to have fun with that one). I have green Chucks to wear in place of the scarlet and gray ones I broke out for the first time a week ago. We’ll have the same beer, the same food, the same people.

Just a different football team. For one day.

7 Comments

  2. You need your sewing machine to make one of those 1/2 and 1/2 tees.

    Nah! Be true to your school.

    Go Buckeyes!

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  4. ooh! I, too, am an Ohio University grad who is an Ohio State fan! No one ever went to watch the football team at OU when I was there. If they went, it was for the band! Please take many pictures!!!

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  5. HP: Yeah, says the graduate of the school with too many nicknames to remember. Redhawks? Redskins? Skinhawks? What is it these days?

    E: I’ll have enough of my normal gameday gear on that I’ll have both bases covered.

    Woy: In 1999 — the last time OU played in Columbus — The Wife and I actually got heckled a little bit, because the score was tied at halftime. I don’t think this game will be nearly as close, but I’ll be curious to see the reaction of our new seatmates.

    PRA: That was the case when we were in school — the student section always emptied right after halftime. It’s been better recently, though, as the actual football has improved a bit. When were you in Athens?

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  6. HP’s and my alma matter is now officially known as – ‘The School who used to be known as Prince’ –

    When we were seniors, our team was 0-11 going into the last game, against the second worst team in the MAC – we had a chance to go defeated for the season – it ended up a tie game – we couldn’t even lose well.

    Have fun – Go Cats / Bucks / Bats? Rufus and Brutus are not that dis-similar names, you know.

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  7. I’ve been giving some thought to how you think I’m disloyal to the school from which I received two degrees. That’s all I’m sayin’.

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