I live in Columbus, Ohio, home of The Ohio State University. Not surprising, I have been an Ohio State University football fan since before I can remember. Given that I am 67 years old, that would place the beginning of my fandom in the 1950s somewhere. I've never been a crazed fan, but I've always been a fan.
The Team won their game today against Michigan, their archrival. They were not favored but they won handily 62-39. They may have a shot at playing for the national title.
This reminds me a lot of the 1968 season. I was a high school senior then. They beat #1 ranked Purdue earlier in the season and if they beat Michigan, they would be ranked #1 and as I recall, be in line for the national title.
When they defeated Michigan that Saturday afternoon in 1968, I went down on campus to what I figured would be a massive celebration. A pretty good celebration broke out after the Purdue game so I figured the Michigan celebration would be that much better. The Ohio State campus is situated on High Street, which is a four lane, high traffic street. For about a half mile one side of the street is the campus, the other side consists of various eateries and bars. That's the way it is now and that's pretty much the way it was then.
It was a great celebration in 1968. High Street was flooded with students and revelry. They closed the street to traffic. Kids were sharing alcoholic beverages. I was spontaneously kissed by a pretty girl or two and maybe one or two more that weren't so pretty. I didn't care. I received piggyback rides from strangers and sang the team song, Hang On Sloopy, in unison with other intoxicated kids I had never seen before and would never see again. I was 17 years old, drinking Colt 45 Malt Liquor, among other beverages and was in the middle of the biggest mass party in the history of The Ohio State University.
That was 50 years ago. In fact, it was 50 years ago the day before the publishing of this blog entry. I went down to the shindig with two high school classmates. One of them I now see only every 5 years at class reunions. The other one died a few years ago. I had seen him only about 2 or 3 times in the last 30 years.
This evening I drove down to High Street on campus, to the site of that grand celebration 5 decades ago. It was purely a case of sentimentality, of "old times' sake", with perhaps a dash of simple curiousity. This time around High Street was not blocked off to traffic. Students were walking down the sidewalks. There seemed to be a fair number of kids out and about but I didn't see any overt celebrating. It is probably best that everything was under control, but I can't help thinking that they are missing out. That was one helluva party in 1968. I should know, I was definitely there.
