Why We Watch
Who knew Columbus Day would be celebrated in January?
The reason we watch football was underlined Friday night.
Two cohorts and I were huddled around a black-and-white TV
set without cable reception (kids, ask your parents) and still enjoyed the game.
The Ohio State University won the national championship of college football. They did it in fine heartland style: No glitz, no blitz, just in-your-face smashmouth football, a yard at a
time. The way Woody Hayes woulda done it and did do it the last time a Big Ten team won the national title a generation ago.
The vanquished foe, mighty Miami, was a hurricane full of hot air. And itself.
The better team won, no matter what you might have read or heard elsewhere. It�s why they play the games and why we watch.
Across the country, we watched.
My Uncle Bill lives in Columbus. He had called me one late night last week to ask my sportswriters� opinion on the game. I said they could win, not because that is what he wanted to hear. But because I always believe in the right of the underdog to have a chance.
National Championships are no longer voted by goofs like me or coaches. The games are won on the field of play.
My uncle told his barmates in Columbus on game night that his nephew � make that favorite nephew � in Indiana had predicted a win. Not exactly. But good enough for legendary status now.
In my own little hometown, there is a family who flies an Ohio State flag every day. Probably just my imagination, but it seemed to be a little bigger and a little higher on the flagpole come Saturday morning. I don�t know them but I am happy for their rewarded loyalty
One of the names on the top of this page, Terri Dearth, the publisher, was home in Miamisburg, a suburb of Dayton, on game night.
As the lights and thunder of approval roared through town post-midnight Saturday, her son�s high school football team assembled on her porch to whoop and holler.
She EMailed me a few hours later to say they had all moved to the family room and now were examining the game, play by play, on tape.
Another name on our masthead, Maggie Rollins, has a special affinity for Columbus. She�s another Ohio girl, as she would say.
We had her on speakerphone as the game wound down. The winning expletive was printable as time ran out.
A good friend of mine is now the Voice of the Vols, the official radio and TV voice of the University of Tennessee. But he is a Kettering man (another Dayton suburb) and an Ohio State man and his nickname is Buckeye Bob.
His father was once the drum major for Ohio State, the one who high steps the tuba player out to dot the I in the famed script Ohio.
The Boomer replicated the step even with the alumni band in the Horseshoe. The Boomer died early last year.
But I am sure Bob and he were watching the same game Friday night, sons of Ohio still.
In the desert, running back Maurice Claret was getting some personal attention and from more than the Miami defenders.
Millionaire professional players had journeyed to the sidelines. Eddie George and others helped Maurice Claret by counseling him after every series.
Run like you�ve been running, they told him. Shoulders in, head up. Don�t complain, just do it
So what if he only had 47 yards. The last five were the touchdown run which won it all, a rush into history.
When you�re 19 and pros are personally pulling for you, it has to have impact.
George did more. He also led cheers with the famous Best Damn Band In The Land. Afterwards, he said he felt as tired as if he had played. A good tired. Other OSU alumni were on the sidelines, from Mike Tomczak (Class of �84)through last year�s graduates. Once a Buckeye, always a Buckeye, no matter your point of origination.
Back at the shop, my usually intelligent sports editor, Ron, opined he would go for two if he were coaching the Buckeyes and they scored to tie it at the end of overtime.
I disagreed, saying if you�ve not missed a point after touchdown kick all season, why divert from the known (the kick) to the unknown (a two-point try)? Ohio State made 45 of 46 extra-point kicks all season, including the two in overtime. They had tried one by running and missed it and one by passing and made it all season. The odds were in their favor by kicking it. Stay with what you know and rely on your defense.
It worked out that way.
The point is, from the desert to back home in Ohio to Buckeyes in Indiana, Tennessee and beyond, this game was worth the focus.
An instant classic. Whether on the sidelines or huddled around a black and white perched on a newsroom desk, it�s why they play and why we watch.
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