Another view of the Big Game
Hey Folks,
The game is over, Ohio State won 42-39 in a high-scoring, un-Woody-Bo type game. The insanity that hovers around OSU football is astounding to those not immured by a lifetime of proximity.
I agree with Du Bois and go further: sports are now more the opiate of the people than is religion.
In any case, the "authorities" managed to keep the Vandals & Visigoths relatively at bay. I've included part of a morning-after report by the Columbus Dispatch after The Nation article.
- Uke Man
Michigan - Ohio State Fever
The Nation
By Dave Zirin
Ohio State, Michigan! Michigan, Ohio State! The most storied rivalry in college football comes to Columbus on Saturday. This year both squads are undefeated, ranked first and second in the country. This has created an intensity so high-pitched that the cities of Columbus and Ann Arbor threaten to spontaneously combust into clouds of scarlet and gray, blue and gold.
A century ago, W.E.B. Du Bois spoke out against "king football" and its potential to cause the "vulgarization of campus life." If Du Bois were alive today, he would not be amused. OSU-Michigan rivalry transcends vulgarity: This is sports as occupier; sports as the all-consuming Moloch bent on ingesting anyone trying to read a book on the quad or toss a frisbee.
Not even the body politic is immune to this demon in a varsity T-shirt. One of the most closely watched Congressional elections in the country, between Ohio Republican Deborah Pryce and Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy, still has no declared winner. At this writing, Pryce leads by roughly 3,600 votes with 18,000 absentee and 9,000 provisional ballots still to be counted. The count was supposed to begin November 18, but that is game day, so it will be delayed until Sunday. As a Chicago Tribune headline writer noted in its coverage of the race, "No contest: It's Ohio State-Michigan in a landslide."
But Saturday's insanity is highlighted in fears that this friendly game of pigskin will end in an orgy of junior-league sectarian violence. The student newspaper The Lantern contains a plea to Ohio State students to "use your passion tactfully, not criminally, because...the Columbus and university police will be out in full force before and after Saturday's kick-off. I would imagine spending all day and night Saturday at the Franklin County jail is not the memory OSU fans want to have."
The paper also reports that the police have taken steps to remove the temptation of car-burning around the campus area by prohibiting parking on a number of local streets.
Fire is a real fear in the game's aftermath. I heard a local sports radio announcer joke uneasily Sunday about how people should make sure they burn their old couches, not new ones--a reference to the more than fifty fires that took place after Ohio State defeated Texas earlier this year.
But for those who can't wait until after the game, a Friday night "Hate Michigan" rally was planned in Columbus, headlined by local band the Dead Schembechlers (The band, named after former Michigan coach Bo Schembechler, who died suddenly on Friday, announced that it would disband in honor of the coach and donate any proceeds from the rally to charity. To the organizers' credit, after Schembechler's death, the rally was re-named "Beat Michigan.)
The mood in Columbus has caused enough concern that University of Michigan dean of students Sue Eklund, along with the head of the Alumni Association and the student body president issued official warnings to students about traveling to Columbus.
Some of the advice they give includes:
--Try carpooling to the game; if possible, drive a car with non- Michigan license plates.
--Keep your Michigan gear to a minimum, or wait until you are inside the stadium to display it.
--Stay low-key; don't draw unnecessary attention to yourself.
And then there's the drinking. Ohio State has threatened to suspend students under 21 caught with the demon rum, but The Lantern writes with ironic restraint, "If the university were to kick out each student arrested for underage drinking, we would not have as many students."
This is farce carrying the threat of tragedy. The game should be an invitation to have some fun. Instead it becomes a backdrop for a raging bouillabaisse of testosterone and alienation. To the people of Columbus, and a university with a proud tradition of student organizing and solidarity, cheer yourselves hoarse for the Buckeyes on Saturday. But save your anger for the people who deserve it: the administrators who hiked your tuition while spending hundreds of thousands on stadium upkeep; the politicians who interfered with your right to vote in 2004 and the corporations that have created a Rust Belt state whose once-proud assembly lines are increasingly idle.
As OSU assistant professor and Buckeye fan Pranav Jani said to me, "In our drive to create an inclusive, safe and progressive environment on this campus, Wolverines are the least of our problems."
* * *
Morning-after report:
Unlike the game in 2002, when an undefeated Buckeye team beat Michigan, no wouldbe vandals tried to tear down the goal posts. But then, they were well-protected by lawenforcement officers, who formed a triangle around the greased-down posts and allowed fans to celebrate on the rest of the field.
. . .
East of the stadium, fans near campus who weren’t in the Horseshoe for the game but watched it on television in bars and restaurants spilled onto N. High Street as the game ended.
Columbus police officers eventually formed a barricade in one lane to protect pedestrians who were dancing into the bumper-to-bumper traffic.
Some problems around High Street and Lane Avenue, including some fights between Ohio State and Michigan fans, were reported. There was a call for a medic to help a woman who was knocked down and unconscious.
. . .
In the south-campus area, minor fires and other problems were reported.
Police stopped one car fire before it began at E. 12 th Avenue and Summit Street. Firefighters were called to a few dozen small blazes in trash bins and Dumpsters.
Police also were called to Chittenden Avenue when residents threw a big-screen TV off a balcony.
. . .
Hollingsworth said he was optimistic that things would be OK, but also said, "The night’s still young."
As he walked around campus, N. High Street remained clogged with traffic and lines spilled outside restaurants and bars, but for the most part problems were minimal.
The police presence, however, was huge, with officers patrolling in cruisers and on horseback, foot and bike. Columbus police refused to say last night how many officers were working. When the campus erupted into riots after the Ohio State win over Michigan in 2002, at least 250 officers were called out.
Last night, officers remained on duty after 11 and most said they were planning to work until at least 4 a.m.
In 2002, many were sent home at 11 p.m., before most problems occurred.
Police last night set up giant spotlights on Chittenden, Indianola and 13 th avenues, lighting up those areas to discourage troublemakers.
Police also created a mobile command center at 11 th and Worthington avenues to process any arrests and keep an eye on the campus.
As of 12:30 a.m. today, 32 people, handcuffed with flexible plastic cuffs, had been arrested. Most were for misdemeanor charges; two were felonies.
Before the game, Franklin County deputies arrested about 50 underage drinkers along Lane Avenue, Chief Deputy Martin said.
Tow trucks also remained out early this morning to take away any cars that were parked on one of the six streets that were banned to vehicles until early this morning.
Before the game yesterday, Kevin Kerr wore his Michigan shirt proudly as he walked north through a sea of fans clad in scarlet and gray on N. High Street.
Kerr, 22, a University of Michigan senior from Ann Arbor, said he was hit with two full beers and six eggs before reaching the 17 th Avenue intersection.
"I was expecting it," Kerr said.
The game is over, Ohio State won 42-39 in a high-scoring, un-Woody-Bo type game. The insanity that hovers around OSU football is astounding to those not immured by a lifetime of proximity.
I agree with Du Bois and go further: sports are now more the opiate of the people than is religion.
In any case, the "authorities" managed to keep the Vandals & Visigoths relatively at bay. I've included part of a morning-after report by the Columbus Dispatch after The Nation article.
- Uke Man
Michigan - Ohio State Fever
The Nation
By Dave Zirin
Ohio State, Michigan! Michigan, Ohio State! The most storied rivalry in college football comes to Columbus on Saturday. This year both squads are undefeated, ranked first and second in the country. This has created an intensity so high-pitched that the cities of Columbus and Ann Arbor threaten to spontaneously combust into clouds of scarlet and gray, blue and gold.
A century ago, W.E.B. Du Bois spoke out against "king football" and its potential to cause the "vulgarization of campus life." If Du Bois were alive today, he would not be amused. OSU-Michigan rivalry transcends vulgarity: This is sports as occupier; sports as the all-consuming Moloch bent on ingesting anyone trying to read a book on the quad or toss a frisbee.
Not even the body politic is immune to this demon in a varsity T-shirt. One of the most closely watched Congressional elections in the country, between Ohio Republican Deborah Pryce and Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy, still has no declared winner. At this writing, Pryce leads by roughly 3,600 votes with 18,000 absentee and 9,000 provisional ballots still to be counted. The count was supposed to begin November 18, but that is game day, so it will be delayed until Sunday. As a Chicago Tribune headline writer noted in its coverage of the race, "No contest: It's Ohio State-Michigan in a landslide."
But Saturday's insanity is highlighted in fears that this friendly game of pigskin will end in an orgy of junior-league sectarian violence. The student newspaper The Lantern contains a plea to Ohio State students to "use your passion tactfully, not criminally, because...the Columbus and university police will be out in full force before and after Saturday's kick-off. I would imagine spending all day and night Saturday at the Franklin County jail is not the memory OSU fans want to have."
The paper also reports that the police have taken steps to remove the temptation of car-burning around the campus area by prohibiting parking on a number of local streets.
Fire is a real fear in the game's aftermath. I heard a local sports radio announcer joke uneasily Sunday about how people should make sure they burn their old couches, not new ones--a reference to the more than fifty fires that took place after Ohio State defeated Texas earlier this year.
But for those who can't wait until after the game, a Friday night "Hate Michigan" rally was planned in Columbus, headlined by local band the Dead Schembechlers (The band, named after former Michigan coach Bo Schembechler, who died suddenly on Friday, announced that it would disband in honor of the coach and donate any proceeds from the rally to charity. To the organizers' credit, after Schembechler's death, the rally was re-named "Beat Michigan.)
The mood in Columbus has caused enough concern that University of Michigan dean of students Sue Eklund, along with the head of the Alumni Association and the student body president issued official warnings to students about traveling to Columbus.
Some of the advice they give includes:
--Try carpooling to the game; if possible, drive a car with non- Michigan license plates.
--Keep your Michigan gear to a minimum, or wait until you are inside the stadium to display it.
--Stay low-key; don't draw unnecessary attention to yourself.
And then there's the drinking. Ohio State has threatened to suspend students under 21 caught with the demon rum, but The Lantern writes with ironic restraint, "If the university were to kick out each student arrested for underage drinking, we would not have as many students."
This is farce carrying the threat of tragedy. The game should be an invitation to have some fun. Instead it becomes a backdrop for a raging bouillabaisse of testosterone and alienation. To the people of Columbus, and a university with a proud tradition of student organizing and solidarity, cheer yourselves hoarse for the Buckeyes on Saturday. But save your anger for the people who deserve it: the administrators who hiked your tuition while spending hundreds of thousands on stadium upkeep; the politicians who interfered with your right to vote in 2004 and the corporations that have created a Rust Belt state whose once-proud assembly lines are increasingly idle.
As OSU assistant professor and Buckeye fan Pranav Jani said to me, "In our drive to create an inclusive, safe and progressive environment on this campus, Wolverines are the least of our problems."
* * *
Morning-after report:
Unlike the game in 2002, when an undefeated Buckeye team beat Michigan, no wouldbe vandals tried to tear down the goal posts. But then, they were well-protected by lawenforcement officers, who formed a triangle around the greased-down posts and allowed fans to celebrate on the rest of the field.
. . .
East of the stadium, fans near campus who weren’t in the Horseshoe for the game but watched it on television in bars and restaurants spilled onto N. High Street as the game ended.
Columbus police officers eventually formed a barricade in one lane to protect pedestrians who were dancing into the bumper-to-bumper traffic.
Some problems around High Street and Lane Avenue, including some fights between Ohio State and Michigan fans, were reported. There was a call for a medic to help a woman who was knocked down and unconscious.
. . .
In the south-campus area, minor fires and other problems were reported.
Police stopped one car fire before it began at E. 12 th Avenue and Summit Street. Firefighters were called to a few dozen small blazes in trash bins and Dumpsters.
Police also were called to Chittenden Avenue when residents threw a big-screen TV off a balcony.
. . .
Hollingsworth said he was optimistic that things would be OK, but also said, "The night’s still young."
As he walked around campus, N. High Street remained clogged with traffic and lines spilled outside restaurants and bars, but for the most part problems were minimal.
The police presence, however, was huge, with officers patrolling in cruisers and on horseback, foot and bike. Columbus police refused to say last night how many officers were working. When the campus erupted into riots after the Ohio State win over Michigan in 2002, at least 250 officers were called out.
Last night, officers remained on duty after 11 and most said they were planning to work until at least 4 a.m.
In 2002, many were sent home at 11 p.m., before most problems occurred.
Police last night set up giant spotlights on Chittenden, Indianola and 13 th avenues, lighting up those areas to discourage troublemakers.
Police also created a mobile command center at 11 th and Worthington avenues to process any arrests and keep an eye on the campus.
As of 12:30 a.m. today, 32 people, handcuffed with flexible plastic cuffs, had been arrested. Most were for misdemeanor charges; two were felonies.
Before the game, Franklin County deputies arrested about 50 underage drinkers along Lane Avenue, Chief Deputy Martin said.
Tow trucks also remained out early this morning to take away any cars that were parked on one of the six streets that were banned to vehicles until early this morning.
Before the game yesterday, Kevin Kerr wore his Michigan shirt proudly as he walked north through a sea of fans clad in scarlet and gray on N. High Street.
Kerr, 22, a University of Michigan senior from Ann Arbor, said he was hit with two full beers and six eggs before reaching the 17 th Avenue intersection.
"I was expecting it," Kerr said.
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