Mayor Bee
Registered User
- Dec 29, 2008
- 18,087
- 535
I would, but he'd just ignore me since he has no idea who Jared Boll is.
Print this off and give it to him.
I would, but he'd just ignore me since he has no idea who Jared Boll is.
Print this off and give it to him.
Your friend is an idiot.
I wish this board had a like button for posts so I could like this a million times. His attitude is one of ignorance. Ohio State elitists are one of the things I hate more than anything. I don't follow Ohio State football because of them. I did not attend school there so I have no vested interest in why the city treats them like gods.
There are morons in Southern California that would say something similar about the Kings and Ducks - that all that matter is the Lakers or Dodgers.
The popularity of Ohio State football is incredible in Columbus. The only thing in SoCal that might be comparable is the Lakers in the playoffs.
The Jackets obviously don't have that type of popularity. They get ignored in Columbus by some.
I flew in to Columbus last summer to attend a funeral in the Dayton area and stopped at a sporting good store on the way there, hoping to pick up some Jackets and Buckeye t-shirts, and there was barely anything Jackets related at all. Most all OSU stuff and a small amount of Reds merchandise.
When the Jackets start winning more consistently, they'll get more recognition within Columbus. But that doesn't mean there aren't fans. Attendance was considerably higher the first five seasons. The support was there in the beginning, fans just got tired of paying to see the team lose.
I was surprised by how little attention the Kings got winning the Stanley Cup in SoCal. And the local news has to cover Kobe stubbing his toe over the Kings, just like some people in Columbus care more about what Braxton Miller had for breakfast than what the Jackets are doing.
It's insane. The local media's constant fellating of the Lakers has actually helped in souring my overall distaste with the NBA (the on-court product helps that too). The only thing I ask is for a little respect and recognition. I guess that's too much to ask.
I was born and raised in Youngstown, so I was exposed to the Penguins from the time I was born. I experienced their "glory" years in the early 90s with Mario. I watched but never was a fan. Never received any CBJ games on TV due to dumb TV blackout rules; still don't to this day in Youngstown.
I moved to Columbus in 2004 to attend OSU and I've been here ever since. When I saw my first CBJ game on TV in 2005 or early 2006, I felt attached. Hard to explain, but I felt an immediate attraction to the franchise. Way more than I ever felt with the Pens.
If the CBJ had been perennial playoff contenders since the inception, I feel this would be a different story. But alas, it is what it is. As a HUGE fan of both OSU and the CBJ, I feel myself "siding" with the CBJ in terms of amount of media coverage. Everywhere you turn, look, or read, OSU football or basketball is in your face about the previous opponent or the next game. With the CBJ, there are limited resources devoted to covering hockey in our great city. I guess with the overload of OSU coverage, I always find myself trying to read as much as I can about the Blue Jackets, which is always hard to do.
Overall, I guess the "average" fan in Columbus is a diehard OSU fan and casual CBJ fan by default (aka waiting for more to come). The 2 can definitely co-exist, which is proven by many on this board. In terms of "competition", I go to more CBJ games than OSU basketball games in the winter. Actually, if my financial situation steadies the course, I will be investing in CBJ season tickets; which is a no-brainer decision for me "if" I has to chose between the CBJ and OSU.
Sorry for the long rant yins.
When my other buddies and I were watching the NCAA championship game on Monday, he went on a bit of a rant on the other Big 10 schools. The funniest one to me was when he was making fun of Purdue because their mascot was a train. I wanted to answer back that the Buckeyes are named after a plant. I didn't though because I didn't want to piss him off.
I was born and raised in Youngstown, so I was exposed to the Penguins from the time I was born. I experienced their "glory" years in the early 90s with Mario. I watched but never was a fan. Never received any CBJ games on TV due to dumb TV blackout rules; still don't to this day in Youngstown.
I moved to Columbus in 2004 to attend OSU and I've been here ever since. When I saw my first CBJ game on TV in 2005 or early 2006, I felt attached. Hard to explain, but I felt an immediate attraction to the franchise. Way more than I ever felt with the Pens.
If the CBJ had been perennial playoff contenders since the inception, I feel this would be a different story. But alas, it is what it is. As a HUGE fan of both OSU and the CBJ, I feel myself "siding" with the CBJ in terms of amount of media coverage. Everywhere you turn, look, or read, OSU football or basketball is in your face about the previous opponent or the next game. With the CBJ, there are limited resources devoted to covering hockey in our great city. I guess with the overload of OSU coverage, I always find myself trying to read as much as I can about the Blue Jackets, which is always hard to do.
Overall, I guess the "average" fan in Columbus is a diehard OSU fan and casual CBJ fan by default (aka waiting for more to come). The 2 can definitely co-exist, which is proven by many on this board. In terms of "competition", I go to more CBJ games than OSU basketball games in the winter. Actually, if my financial situation steadies the course, I will be investing in CBJ season tickets; which is a no-brainer decision for me "if" I has to chose between the CBJ and OSU.
Sorry for the long rant yins.
Now this is a story all about how Steeltown Jacket's life got flip turned upside down
All I need is a minute if that's okay, I'll tell you how he became a fan of both OSU and CBJ
Up north there in Youngstown, born and raised, at the ice rink was where he spent most of his days
Chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool, playing ice hockey before and after school
When a couple of Goons, I think they played for the Blues
started making trouble whenever they would lose
He got in one little fight and his mom got a premonition
"You're gonna go to OSU in Columbus, and I'll pay the tuition"
He whistled for a cab but none were around
he said, oh yeah, that's cause I'm still in ****ing Youngstown
Everyone knows that cabs here are rare
So he bought a plane ticket and flew through the air!
He got his college education in an extra year or two
And that's why he now loves the OSU
He looked at their kingdom, and started to think
"I love the CBJ too, cause of my days at the rink."
Sounds like an elitist Buckeye fan. I support both passionately. The team has been horrible for most of its existence and that has driven a lot of people away. There was standing room only and a loud as hell building for the only 2 playoff games ever played at Nationwide Arena.
ps. Skyline is a delicious place for those with good taste and a refined palette. Some yokel hicks in towns like Dayton may not enjoy it, though.
From Dayton, where we have many lovely Skyline Chili restaurants, more so than Columbus.
OP: Try to go easy on your OSU friend's cultic behavior. It's really a sad disease that inflicts too many Ohioans. In Ohio, grade school students are subjected to indoctrination.
Grade schoolers are expected to dress in OSU garb on Fridays in the Fall. They are ridiculed if they support another college team. However, this form of bullying is acceptable and expected.
Woody Hayes impersonators travel the circuit telling students that if they ever run out of gas in Michigan, they should push their cars to Toledo.
No music student shall be permitted to graduate High School without learning how to perform "Hang-on Sloopy". National signing day is a state holiday. There are only two dates known by these fans, the last time OSU beat Michigan, and the next time they will beat Michigan.
Many of these fans are able to break their affliction by going to college and learning more about the world they live in. Even OSU graduates seem to have more awareness of a greater world than a game that happens once a year in November. However, not everyone has that priviledge and their H.S. degree and Walmart OSU wardrobe help them get through the day.
Your friend sounds like a particularly tough case. Lived in heart of OSU country until age of 18. Born around late 1980's (you mentioned he's about 26 year's old), he's lived through a very, very dark age for Ohio professional sports. The Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore when he was 9 or 10. The Cincinnati Bengals only made the playoffs in 1990 when he was a couple years old, then never again until he departed Ohio. The Cleveland Indians had some playoff appearances when he was 8-10 years old, but often lost gloriously (see Marlins 1997), then faded into mediocrity in his teen years. He wouldn't remember the Cincinnati Reds 1990 World Series, and they only made one other playoff appearance in his years as an Ohioan. His life revolves around the one "winner" in his life, the OSU Buckeyes. To be associated with any other sports organization in Ohio is to be perceived as a loser and something he cannot accept.
Buy him a beer the next time you see him and try to cheer him up by asking him about the 1992 game versus Michigan in which a tie became "one of OSU's greatest wins ever".