I am a Killer Nut

Look at what showed up in my mailbox!  Sigh.  The Sports Illustrated College Football Preview is here and that means the time is near.

What does this mean?  Well, it means that my Buckeyes will be soon be taking the field.  I can almost hear the snap, taste the stadium dogs and feel the earth reverberating. 

I see the blue sky and sense the crisp fall winds blowing the Big Ten (Eleven/Twelve) flags around the top of Ohio Stadium.  I picture cringing at Cameron Heyward when he sacks Iowa’s Ricky Stanzi, a cringe which is followed closely by my screaming, “Yeeeeeeaaaaahh!” and a lot of high-fiving.

There is nothing better than a good sack. 

That’s what she said.

Really, though?  There is nothing better than college football. 

Can my boys win a sixth straight Big Ten (Eleven/Twelve) title?  Probably.  Do they have a good chance at making it to the BCS Championship again?  Possibly.  Will I go ape-shit crazy when they take the field even if they go 4-8?  Likely.  (I originally had those stats at 2-10, but that’s really pushing it.)

I have been one of the Buckeye faithful since I was a child.  I have followed them all over the country, including Arizona for their loss in the 2007 BCS Title Game.  My heart, it hurts.

I have seen them win at Michigan, Penn State and Illinois.  I have watched them lose at Indiana, Pittsburgh, Purdue (where I was assaulted by one of their fans…which may have had something to do with the megaphone on which I was blaring our fight song…I SO deserved it) and an Outback Bowl in Tampa.  Why I travel to bowl games, I’ll never know.

Not true.  I know.  I go because they are my team. 

I go because I am a fan.

I am tradition and history.  I am Woody Hayes, Archie Griffin and The Best Damn Band in the Land.  I am Cris Carter, Block “O” and the Victory Bell.  I am Eddie George, Mirror Lake and “Carmen Ohio.”

I go because I am a Buckeye. 

I am Ohio State.

[Photo]