COLUMBUS, Ohio, 21 November 2006 — ESPN called it the No. 1 sports rivalry of the 20th century. Zaki, (who’s personalized number plates read, bki4evr-buckeye forever) left his car at a public parking lot and trudged a mile and a half in the cold, with his three children, aged 3 to 9, to catch glimpses and sounds of the game from outside the Ohio State University, Horse Shoe (stadium). Around 400 die- hard Buckeye fans were already gathered there, watching the game on big screen televisions in their recreational vehicles (RVs).
This was no ordinary game; this was Ohio State University playing archrivals, Michigan State University. Their rivalry dates back to 1897! $29 student tickets were resold for $400-$500 apiece, whereas prime seats went for as much as $3,200. Average tickets on ticketsnow.com sold for $835, surpassing the price of tickets sold for Super Bowl 2006 this year. The average Super Bowl ticket sold for $612 on the web. This also drew the highest TV audience for a college game in 13 years — 21.77 million people watched the match on television.
There was so much hype about the game that people in Columbus started wearing red shirts (the color of the football team) a week before the match. The game was termed merchandising heaven. There was a 25 percent increase in vendor license for the horse-shoe (OSU stadium) Cashing in on the buckeye fever, merchandising went into overdrive. Buckeye tattoos, decals, sold like hot cakes and so did anything, which read, “Beat them blue. Even people who live near the stadium rented out their garages and driveways for parking at $50 per car.
Offices were decorated with OSU flags and signs. At a dentist’s office, oral hygienists were seen wearing OSU (fake) tattoos on their cheeks, they also gave out, ‘buckeye cookies’ to patients. Families, right down to the babies in strollers were all dressed in buckeye hats or red OSU jacket and so were their pet dogs! On the day of the game, traffic started thinning and came to a standstill virtually at 3.30 when the game started. The malls were practically empty. A manager at a department store who was glued to the television in the electronic section said a lot of the employees had called in sick, but that was something that is expected for such big games around here.
Matt 21, told Arab News, “I hope we beat Michigan, that’s all I care about. If OSU was to win only one game, and it was against the Wolverines, that to me would be like winning all the bowls.” Patel, an 18 year old told Arab News, “I didn’t want to work today and told my supervisor to give me the day off or I would call in sick. She gave me half a day, so here I am missing part of the game... and guess who called in sick? My supervisor!”
Busload of people came from around Ohio to see the match. The stadium has a capacity of seating around 102,000 people. The rest of the fans either parked around the stadium paying $50 per car or watched the game in sports bars.
A manager at Target said she and her husband had bought a $100,000 RV (recreation vehicle) only to take it to the OSU games. “We’ve never been out of town on our RV. But we pack our kids and park outside the horse shoe (OSU stadium at $50 per night) and have a great time barbecuing and partying and sharing our food and spirit of the game with other RV owners.
Security was tight. Past traditions have been setting things on fire and overturning cars and destroying property around the stadium. This year no one was allowed to carry trashcans or any inflammable material. Students were strictly warned that they would be expelled if they were caught in any illegal activities.
Both sides went into the match undefeated, having won every single of their last 11 matches. Rank wise, OSU (Buckeyes) was No. 1 and Michigan, state (wolverines 2, but the blues were very confident of winning, because the statistics were in their favor 57-39-6. Also the ‘blue’ team wanted to win this one for one of their most famous and former coach, Bo Schembechler, who had died the night before at age 77.
But much to the delight of the local crowd, OSU won the match 42-39. Michigan fought back valiantly, but was never really in the game. And in spite of tight security, according to Columbus police fans started forty fires, overturned a few cars and 40 students were arrested. Some Michigan fans who wore their teams team’s blue and yellow jersey had a tough time walking back to their cars as they were jeered and taunted by Ohio fans. When one of them complained to a nearby policeman, he simply said, “Yeah, you know I didn’t pick your outfit.” Now the Buckeyes are headed to Glendale Arizona where they will play the final match for national championship in January. One couple is waiting for that day.....Rick Fultz an OSU fan and fanatic wants to marry fiancée Debbie at the University of Phoenix stadium before the game....He has applied for permission, if it is denied, he has a plan B... He has four parking tickets and will tie the knot tailgaiting fashion!
