Yeah. So that just happened. After nine months of planning and build-up and excitement, I emerged from Columbus emotionally drained and exhausted. It wasn't just that Miami lost. Teams can recover from one loss. It was also how we were treated. I've never met a group of fans more petty, rude, inappropriate and just downright mean in my life.
Friday evening we put on our Miami gear and went to a Miami party at Buffalo Wild Wings near campus (I think, though really, I came away none the wiser on the layout). BWW eventually got too crowded so we headed to Brothers and it was there that I started to see the nastiness seeping out of the C-Average Ohio residents who couldn't get in anywhere else. And the worst part was, it was unprovoked. I was at the bar getting drinks and some girl was like, "You just need to leave, you'll see what we're going to do to you tomorrow." I wanted to point out that she looked like a low class hooker but I was so taken aback I think I literally just stared at her for a minute and then said, "whatever." Some other dude told me (again, when I was getting drinks) that he felt so bad for us and our impending loss that he wanted to buy me a shot - so I let him, because who am I to turn down a free shot, right?
We tried killing them with kindness to show we were the classier fan base, but that honestly did nothing. When I told people I wasn't there to talk shit and just wanted to see a good game, they mocked me. When I said nothing, they mocked me. When Mary and I went back to the car during the 4th quarter to get a head start on leaving and avoid the riots (you stay classy, OSU), they mocked us. And as Patrick said to me later, "there's nothing worse than a sore loser." And it's true. They had already won, why add nastiness to it? Mary, coming in to this, had the most bad experiences with Florida fans and said OSU fans made Gators look classy. And that's saying something.
The rest of the night was spent in the hotel so that one or both of us didn't wind up in jail or the ER (kidding...sort of). But I think we were both too upset to go out anyway.
The one positive that came out of the weekend was the tailgate - the tailgate was downright amazing. And I met some great people. We got up at 4:45 on two hours sleep to get ready and there by 5:45. Yes in the morning. For a while it was just Mary, Paul, Sarah and I, but they were all a lot of fun. And as it got later our group kept growing. So from, 6am-3pm we tailgated (okay, fine, I napped a bit in the car, I'm not going to lie) and went into the Horseshoe happy and excited and optimistic and came out battered and bruised.
Now don't get me wrong, I am all about good-natured smack talking, when it's fun and everyone can just laugh it off. There was no laughing off with these jackholes and their odd superiority complex considering their school has rock-bottom admission standards and Columbus is a shit hole - what, exactly, is there to be superior about? Your coach who pays off the refs? Maurice Clarett who went to jail?
And also, maybe I need a thicker skin or whatever, because I know these people didn't even know me, so I couldn't take it personally, but such genuine antagonism makes me sad. Didn't your mother teach you to be nice to people? Geez.
I know this is the part where people will swoop in and start telling me Miami has the same problems, but Randy Shannon has really turned the program around and has been great about discipline - he has zero tolerance, the players know it, and they know he's serious. Now we're graduating players more than we used to. Now we have a team full of players with talent and academic success. I doubt Jim Tressel can say the same.
I will end my obvious whining with one final thought: Before the 2009 Final Four game vs. UNC, one of the CBSSports.com columnists wrote that Villanova had absolutely no chance to beat UNC - that they COULD NOT win. To my SHOCK, UNC fans lit up the message boards urging people not to count out Villanova, that they knew we were competitive and that they were not taking this game lightly. I was honestly humbled, since I assumed UNC fans were like snotty Duke fans and they turned out to be the opposite. I was impressed with their class, and the class 'Nova fans showed back.
It would have been great if our experience in Columbus could have been similar. But it wasn't. And I'm never going back there, or giving another OSU fan the benefit of the doubt (minus the one or two I knew prior to this - this only applies to people in Columbus). I would like to not wish OSU fans good luck in football but rather good luck in life. They'll need it.
