I am a supporter of Ohio State athletics.
This means I can sing the entire “Buckeye Battle Cry,” think Brutus could destroy any other mascot in a fistfight and don’t let illegal booster gifts get me down.
As you can probably guess, this has been a bumper year for me. The football team was pristine until Florida Tim Tebow’d it and the basketball team advanced all the way to the NCAA tournament’s championship game.
The last time the Buckeyes were this good on the court was the 1998-99 season, when Milwaukee Bucks guard Michael Redd and all-around best name ever Scoonie Penn led the scarlet and gray to the Final Four.
But according to last year’s NCAA ruling, we are NEVER TO SPEAK OF THAT TEAM AGAIN, due to recruiting violations under then-coach Jim O’Brien.
They can’t take away my memories … or my t-shirt.
Still, I look at this year as a chance to make some new memories, ones that hopefully cannot be swept away by bureaucrats.
I look at the championship game as a chance to exorcise some personal demons and maybe reduce the level of nausea I feel whenever anyone mentions the Gators’ shellacking of my Buckeyes in the BCS championship game.
And what better way to work through any emotions I might feel during this ordeal than share them with you, gentle reader(s)?
(For what it’s worth, I wrote the intro before the game. The rest of the observations were recorded during the game, in real time, with limited commercial interruption).
8:24 p.m.: Buckeyes center/mercenary Greg Oden is manhandled going for an offensive rebound. On the other end, Ohio State’s Ivan Harris breathes on Florida’s Joakim Noah and is called for a foul. My bile is rising already.
8:34 p.m.: Noah gets exorbitantly excited about drawing a shooting foul. Some call him a “high energy” player. I call him a bit excessive.
8:37 p.m.: Oden may or may not have just punched Florida’s Corey Brewer in the groin. Just throwing that out there.
8:58 p.m.: Florida has taken a 33-22 lead with a mixture of full-court press, timely 3s and voodoo magic. My depress-o-meter reading is 94 (out of 100).
9:15 p.m.: It’s halftime, Florida leads 40-29, and Greg Gumbel mentions that the Gators were ahead by 11 at the half last year when they won the championship. He is now my least favorite Gumbel.
9:25 p.m.: Clark Kellogg mentions Ohio State’s comeback wins against Xavier and Tennessee. He is now my favorite Kellogg.
9:32 p.m.: Ohio State’s Ron Lewis travels twice on one play. Neither is called and he slams the ball home, cutting the lead to 42-35.
9:50 p.m.: The Buckeyes, evidently deciding the area inside the 3-point line contains hot lava, refuse to drive. This wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t 2 for 15 from beyond the arc.
10:04 p.m.: Ohio State has started pressing, and Florida looks like it doesn’t know how to handle it. This is a faint glimmer of hope in a game that hasn’t given me much. The Buckeyes’ 9-3 run has closed Florida’s lead to 64-56 with 6:15 left.
10:14 p.m.: Florida is answering every Ohio State run. With 2:31 left the Gators lead by 13. I’m having flashbacks of genetically engineered linebacker/defensive end hybrids tracking down and repeatedly sacking Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith in January. I think I just accidentally ripped some of my hair out.
10:30 p.m.: Zero hour. I find myself wondering how cruel this world can be, to hand me two utterly deflating losses in the span of three months. If Noah pulls another crime against dance like he did after the SEC championship, I’ll know that God truly loathes me.
Oden played wonderfully. For a freshman with stamina problems, he stayed in almost the entire game, scored 25 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. He also swatted four Gators shots. I think Brewer is still smarting from the pack Oden put on him in the first half.
But Oden didn’t get any help.
And the Gators were more than willing to sit around the perimeter and take all the open 3s the Buckeyes would give them.
So now begin the text messages from all my friends at UF.
84-75. Pray for me.
