Keeping up appearances…looks-wise, there is no better college football uniform than that worn by Ohio State (the one above, not the alternatives). (Press Pros File Photos)
Whether the old adage about not being able to go home again is true, or not, is subject for debate. But if you have a mind’s eye image of what you remember and once loved, you probably shouldn’t bother.
I know this much now. Ohio State University is a lot different than the place I knew when I walked the ‘oval’ from 1970 through 1975 – 50 years ago. And the irony is…I didn’t know all that much back then.
What’s so different?
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Well, they’ve built so much in the ensuing 50 years that it’s even hard to find the old familiar buildings. Mershon Auditorium, right there on High Street, is almost unrecognizable now, compared to what it looked like before the ‘improvements’.
Hughes Hall, the old music school that sat just behind and to the west of Mershon, is still there, but it, too, looks tired…different.
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Of course the familiar bars and buildings up and down High Street are different, or gone.
And you can’t even visit the Phi Delt house now unless you have clearance, or an escort. For security reasons, I’m sure. I don’t even try.
Athletics-wise, the one constant on campus has always been St. John and the Horseshoe.
But now the floor of St. John has been ripped out and sits full of weight-lifting equipment. They have to ‘squeeze’ in the marching band for ‘Skull Sesssion’. They tell me the university has no intentions of ever playing another basketball game there, and that’s a shame. The steep visual of St. John Arena is still superior to that of the Schottenstein Center – the colors warmer, and inviting, compared to the faded, maroon seats in Value City Arena.
I always believed that when they renovated the football stadium years ago they somehow detracted from the architectural integrity of the old girl. The additional seats in ‘C’ deck don’t look natural even after a quarter century of getting used to it.
Football as it was meant to be, and how it was meant to look….
I don’t mind them having taken out the running track, but I certainly miss the natural bluegrass playing field. Artificial turf will always be a ‘second best’ substitute for the real thing, and frankly, divots and dirt look good on a football field. The most iconic football photos ever produced are those with mud.
Some of you probably don’t know this, but once upon a time – 1970 through 1972 – I actually played in the Ohio State Marching band. Actually, for three years and two Rose Bowls I played 1st trumpet in A row, had some fun, fulfilled a childhood goal, and moved on after my junior year. I left the band the year before it became coed, when it was much smaller than the band of today (and better, musically), and never looked back.
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Today I think the band’s sound is too hollow because of the all the added percussion, I don’t enjoy the repertoire they play, and the political backdrop, or correctness, that got former band director Jon Waters fired years back is still a stain on the band’s legacy. And frankly, there’s just a lot about universities like Ohio State that will never pass the ‘correctness’ test, and that’s just the way it is. The fact that they picked on OSUMB, and Jon Waters, was because it got the desired headlines.
Enjoyed the experience, mind you, but in the 50 years since I’ve never actually played in the alumni band or marched on alumni day. I have friends, like Duane Smith, who do it for sentiment’s sake…but it’s not the same when you can’t play and march like you did when it was a peak experience. It’s kind of like an old-timer’s game in baseball.
Time and change…the ‘Horseshoe’ looks much different today than when it was built in 1922.
I did play in an alumni baseball game a decade ago, pitched a scoreless inning against guys younger, and my own age, but vowed that I wouldn’t do that again, either. Nostalgia and competition don’t mix, and I hurt for two weeks afterwards.
Football-wise, I still love the look of Ohio State football. The color scheme of their uniforms – the silver pants and the scarlet jerseys – is among the five best in all of sports. But they’re not satisfied with even that. The alternative uniforms that they wear are a downgrade, and detract from the classic Ohio State look. And as a matter of personal opinion, I think the road ‘whites’ with the silver pants and helmets, is even more distinctive than the home ‘reds’. I wish they would leave well enough alone.
Talent-wise, the current roster is the most athletic of any Ohio State football team I’ve watched in 50 years. And any questions about how good they really are is justified for the fact that they’re not challenged when they play teams like Youngstown State.
Huffer Chiropractic reminds…your athlete runs better on chiropractic.
Yes, they play YSU and Bowling Green to spread the financial windfall of Ohio State football around to other state-supported schools, but it doesn’t do much for the football aspect of it. And I’m not alone when I think that for what it costs to see Division I football now they ought to play Alabama, Georgia, and Texas every week. As it is, you’re paying to see Pavarotti and getting a bar singer, instead.
I still like paper tickets, and paper parking passes. Every week when I park in Tuttle Garage there’s someone in front of me whose phone won’t load the electronic pass. It’s happened to me. “I know you belong here,” the attendant will say. “But I still have to scan the right code.”
With friend, former Buckeye baseball player, and retired area basketball official, Chris Stokes.
Last spring I found the ticket stubs from my first football game marching in the band. My parents had used them, and in the fall of 1970 they paid $12 to watch Ohio State play the Duke Blue Devils. They sat in ‘A’ Deck, on the 20 yard line, and those tickets last week would have cost $101 dollars, according to current pricing.
Finally, I’m not gonna’ lie when I say that the best thing about going back to Ohio State is seeing those people that once shared the experience with me…’live’…when we were young, dumb, and impressionable. We once shared our likes and differences, now the ‘kids’ that I knew back then share their scars from heart bypass surgery and their hip replacements.
And faculty, like Paul Droste, the band director in 1970, is still living, and frequently comes to spring baseball games at Bill Davis where we laugh about band trips and things that happened back then that are unthinkable today.
Someone asked me Saturday during halftime if I could still throw the curveball. I was honored that he asked, and smiled at the thought of it.
Some things never change!
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