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GMAC Bowl 2007: Escaping the OSU hype

The article below was written on Monday on a plane back from the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Alabama.

I grew up in Columbus, Ohio; home of the Buckeyes some would say. In Columbus there is one thing that seems to pull most everyone together. Ohio State football. As a huge sports fan since I was a child, it was never a possibility to ignore OSU football, but I somehow feel that am fortunate to not have been sucked in by the OSU brainwashing. If you have never lived in Columbus or have never been there for an extended period of time then I guess you cannot fully grasp what it is like in Ohio’s capitol city. From what I hear it is rather similar out in Nebraska, where the entire state is made up of die-hard Cornhusker fans. But it is that same kind of statement that bothers me. When I tell someone I am from Ohio, and even more specifically from Columbus, it is expected that I am a die-hard Buckeye fan.

Each fall I struggle with the constant Ohio State hype from the media outlets in Ohio. When I head to Columbus to visit my parents it is unavoidable. Ohio State apparel and logos are plastered everywhere; even on the OSU hats and shirts of my family, although I must give them credit for trying not to overwhelm me with OSU logos when I am visiting. This year the hype has been even bigger as the Buckeyes have been the #1 team in the nation since the first poll of the season named them the team to beat in 2006. My mother tells me that she has never seen the media and the fans more crazy about OSU than this season; something I cringe at the thought of.

With Ohio State playing in tonight’s BCS National Championship game, the hype has been unbelievable. I live in the Cleveland area now and consistently listen to either 1100 WTAM or 850 WKNR. While 850 is a sports talk station, their insistence on obsessing on Ohio State football annoys me to the point that I have a hard time listening to them for long periods of time. If they actually spent more time talking about the professional teams in Cleveland or even a few more mentions of something other than OSU in the college world I would probably be an avid listener since I am their perfect target audience. Meanwhile WTAM is a station that does bring up OSU from time to time, but usually is not nearly as annoying (unless sports guy Mark Schwab is on the air). The problem with them is the talk-show style and random sports focus. Satellite radio is likely in my future, but for the time being I am too cheap.

So this past weekend I was able to take a trip to Mobile, Alabama, to see the 2007 GMAC Bowl game between Ohio and Southern Miss. I found Mobile to be like it’s own little world; there was almost no mention of Ohio State or the National Championship game as the focus was on the GMAC Bowl game. Billboards along the highways and all throughout the city of Mobile advertised Mobile’s Mardi Gras parade, held the night before the GMAC Bowl game, as well as the game itself. Despite staying about 30 minutes outside of Mobile we still saw advertisements about the game near our hotel. When the news came on the stories focused on the Bobcats and Golden Eagles; not the Buckeyes or Gators. While it only lasted a couple of short days, I was able to escape from the hype of the National Championship game and was able to see sports in a more pure form. It was clear that the locals enjoyed having the different MAC and Conference USA schools in town each year and valued the economic impact that the bowl game has on their city. They clearly did not know a lot about the Ohio Bobcats (much like the national media), but they at least knew that a green “Ohio Football” shirt had absolutely nothing to do with Ohio State. I found all of this extremely refreshing.

So now we head home and the OSU hype is slowly creeping back into my life. Walking through the airport in Pensacola, Florida my wife and I got a few mean looks for our "Ohio" apparel; likely from fans who didn’t know any better. Watching CNN for just a few minutes in the Memphis airport I was also exposed to a quick story on tonight’s game. As we prepare to land in Cleveland I know that the OSU hype will be inevitable; especially if the heavily-favored Buckeyes win.

At least I was able to get away from it for a few days.