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Originally Posted by MontanaXVI
comments like that are exactly the reason a born and raised Columbus Ohioan CANNOT STAND OSU. You get Buckeye fever shoved in your face wherever you go, it is all you hear during football season on every news channel, news paper or local sports radio program. Rabid fans who yell scream hoot holler and act like they have no sense whatsoever when OSU plays Michigan, I mean look at Cooper he had a decent record took em to a couple bowl games and the man lost his job cause he could not beat Michigan. There are rivalries I understand, but Ohioans take it to the far end of extremes while I am sure it is just as bad in Michigan they do not act like hooligans about it. They want a 20-0 record, Heisman winner and national championship every year or they act like nut cases, not to mention the fact they are so bandwagon it makes me sick, Zwick was supposed to be "The Man" then all you heard when he was in was that Troy Smith needed to be playing, now this other kid they have coming in is supposed to be the 2nd coming of whoever....I am rambling time to sum it up.
sidenote, I bet OSU fans are kicking and screaming not having Carpenter to play in their bowl game, that is a tough loss to the team.
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When I was growing up I felt the same as you, but as I have aged, it's all in good fun and it's an escape. It's a chance for people to root for something and feel good when their team wins. Look at Europe and other countries how fanatical they are about their sport. Ohio is no different, we just happen to be lucky,(or unlucky depending on your view) to be very rich in sports history and thus the fanaticism grows. Florida, Texas, just about any state or area with a rich tradition in a sport becomes fanatical about it.
As for players and wanting the "next whomever" that's sports also. Good or bad. Baseball has always looked for the next Babe Ruth and then destroys anyone who comes close, and the pressure on those players becomes so much most crack and become "assholes, non fan caring, whatever" and the fans look for reasons to hate them. So when the next big thing comes they look to him for relief. It happens in every sport and on every team.
San Francisco did it with Montana, they had Steve Young and with Jerry Rice when TO came in. Oakland did it with Canseco because they had McGwire, then did it to him because they had Giambi. Sports fans constantly do it in every town and to every team, not just Ohio. Look at Notre Dame fans or Green Bay or Da Bears. High school with winning reps like Massilon, St Ed's, just about any Cincy high school, and speaking of Cincy, look at the basketball programs at Xavier and Cincy, the Reds, Kentucky Basketball.... those are fanatics.
Plus, go to Florida during the Fla.- FLa. St. game and Tallahasee is just as bad as Columbus. When I was a kid I remember stories of Texas - Oklahoma rivalries. Come to NE Ohio during Browns-Steelers week. Used to be LA would be a torn city for USC-UCLA, although I don't think that's as big anymore.... don't hear as much about it like you did.
Worst part of all this, most Michiganders and UM alumni I have talked to feel the Notre Dame - Michigan rivalry is bigger.
Anyway, I ramble and I'm sorry, just wanted to say Columbus isn't the only "sports fanatical" city.
On a side note the rivalry between Ohio and Michigan goes all the way back to the 1800's when our 2 states fought a war for Toledo. Ohio won.