Buckeye in Exile

My football team these days is the South Carolina Gamecocks. How that came to be is a long story which starts in the fall of 1987.

I was a junior at Ohio State (back then we didn't bother with the "The") and Earl Bruce was the coach of the Buckeyes. The Bucks were having a very mediocre year by Ohio State standards and the wolves were at the door howling for Bruce's head. There had been for some time a camp that wanted Bruce gone. It actually went back to the Woody Hayes days. Earl Bruce was a Woody Hayes prodigy and there had always been a camp that wanted to bring the curtain down on the Woody Hayes era. People just don't like the old three yards in a cloud of dust thing even if that's what wins. So the people who wanted Bruce gone saw their chance and ran him off. The new guy John Cooper flew in from Arizona, announced a new era, and started selling his cooper towels at the local grocery store. We were instructed to yell Coooop Coooop at the games. Thousands of Buckeye fans said "what a jerk" in unison and left in exile. I was one of them.

Forward to Jan 1, 2001. I'm living in South Carolina. Coaching legend Lou Holtz, another Woody Hayes guy, is in his second year of coaching the Gamecocks. They've played their way to a spot in the Outback Bowl in Tampa against Ohio State. I've been explaining to people for years that I'll root for the Buckeyes when they fire that asshat John Cooper. I'm rooting for the Gamecocks. Go Cocks! The icing on the cake is that Ohio's 1998 Mr. Football is playing for the Gamecocks. John Cooper thought he was too small, but Holtz was happy to put him to work. Go Cocks! My team wins. Cooper gets fired when he touches down in Columbus. Finally, there is some justice. The forces that tried to bury Woody Hayes have egg on their faces and the pendullum swings. The next coach is an Ohio boy. Somebody who gets the Buckeye tradition of football and glory of the Ohio State vs. Michigan game.

I suppose I could have gotten excited about becoming a Buckeye fan again. But too much time had passed. I was now invested in the Gamecocks. And I had married a Carolina girl by this time. And they're the home team. And I like the colors and the mascot and the whole vibe.

I've stuck with Carolina and now I'm watching them close out a pummeling of Southern Miss in their season opener. Pretty cool stuff. I'm rooting for the home team this year. My team. If "The Ohio State" ever goes back to being "Ohio State", maybe I'll take another look. But probably not. I'm a homer, and that's just not home anymore.