So I thought before the season goes into full blown chaos here on MOTSAG we might be able to debate a question I have had several heated conversations with other Buckeye fans.
During a 12 game season excluding the last week when TTUN plays the Ohio State University… What do you as a Buckeye fan hope happens to TTUN?
A.) Do you hope they lose every game and their team and fans suffer as much agony as possible?
or
B.) Do you hope TTUN is undefeated going into THE GAME?
Before I give you my answer I thought I would share some of my findings in having this debate with others. It seems as though the younger the fan is the more likely they will choose (B) and hope for scUM to be unbeaten. The older the fan the more likely to choose (A) and hope for agony on scUM. There also seems to be a consensus that in order for the Big Ten to be successful as a league we need a very healthy and successful TTUN.
So, here is my opinion. Let me first state I will be 35 years old in a few weeks so I clearly fall in the OLDER Buckeye fans group in this scientific experiment. My two favorite teams are OSU and whoever is playing TTUN. I remember the 90’s like it was yesterday and I remember the TTUN fans and players telling us on a daily basis that we weren’t their rival and we didn’t matter to them. They didn’t let a chance go by to rub dirt in our wounds as fans. It was torture and I can’t get past it no matter how much success we have had in the past 9 years.
I personally choose to root against TTUN and I do my best to kick TTUN fans while they are down. Is it bad sportsmanship? Sure it is but my hatred for the team and its fans is so deep that I can’t help myself. Maybe it is that I was raised to feel this way and I should break the cycle with my kids? Maybe I should be more like Tressel and less like Hayes on this subject? Is it ok for younger fans to feel sorry for TTUN and its fans? Is it our responsibility to change our ways or to teach the younger fans the history and hatred we have?
I ask you fellow Buckeye fans to please when you reply to this post and give your thoughts please give your age as well so we might have a better sample for the study.
Thank You
A – suffer, suffer, suffer
I’m 31.
Releasing your anger and hatred only leads to the Dark Side, and we want to avoid that as much as possible. I may have misinterpreted that statement.
I’m going for A as well. I’ll be 30 next year, and the 90s were absolute torture. One of the best days of my life was when they lost to 1AA Appalachian State at there home opener (which was also one of the worst because I was living in Japan and had no scum around me in whose faces I could rub it in). Being a Toledo area resident, the UT win up in their place was cathartic as well.
So far as the health of the conference in general, who cares how they do?? The Big Ten makes a bazillion dollars a year, has their own tv channel, and is probably going to expand once again in a year or three to become the first mega conference or whatever, regardless as to how that silly school and their hippies do. I don’t care if they join Indiana at the bottom of the conference and eek out 3 or 4 win seasons every year, so long as one of those wins is not against OSU. Also, we have a good, what, 10 years or so before the long term series record is equalled? I say we keep hanging losses on ’em and reveling in their misery as long as possible.
And to you younger fans, don’t lose the hate. It makes you stronger.
I’m only 27, but came of age in the 90s, and I definitely recall losing several bets in a row. I do not know if other OSU fans encounter this, but scUM fans, now that there team is terrible, still tell me Mich St is a bigger rival. I say kick the smug bastards while they’re down. I hope they lose every game. I believe that there is a duty to instill the proper amount of hate.
Coming from the other side of the rivalry, I normally don’t care how OSU does outside the rivalry. It’s The Game that matters. Sure, in some instances, I’d rather the OSU bowl game be decided by a meteor rather than letting either team win, but I’m not going out of my way to root against them unless a conference championship is on the line. And for Michigan, we know how unlikely that is these days…
I’ll always get a little schadenfreude from a Buckeye loss, but it’s not something I’m actively desiring outside of The Game.
Let me add in my discussion with TTUN fans they dont seem to have the hatred for tOSU that I have and others on my side have for TTUN. Most are sick and tired of tOSU winning but dont feel hatred. Most also dont seem to understand why I feel the way I do either.
also SPORTS HATRED does not equal REAL HATRED…. I dont wish they would get hurt or die or want anything really bad to happen to them.
I do want the NCAA to give them a sports death penalty though and further put the program in the downward spiral that is there hell. lol
Age 30.
B) If TTUN comes into the Game in the midst of a mediocre or worse season, then they have nothing to lose. It is a Win-Win situation for them. Lose, and that is just what everyone expected. Win, and you get to spoil what is likely a good year for OSU.
From the OSU standpoint, if you lose, you are going to get hit hard in the rankings, not to mention the emotional defeat. If you win, you probably don’t gain much, other than a set of gold pants you were probably already counting on (as were the national media).
So, rooting against TTUN and having them endure bad seasons is just a recipe for heartbreak for OSU supporters, and a recipe for TTUN to play the role of spoilers.
But my last point is the most important. As you’ve stated, the taste of the heart-wrenching Cooper losses of the 90s, not to mention the more-even but still dream-shattering losses of some of Woody’s teams, still linger in the mouths of many Buckeye fans. The only way I can see to possibly erase that bad taste is to serve similarly world-destroying losses to TTUN as repayment. Beating a 6-6 scUM team is not going to be heart wrenching for their fans. But beating a 12-0 team is. In a perfect world, both teams would come into the Game 12-0 every year, and every year OSU would win the Game on a last minute field goal or TD or interception (i.e. a big play, in heartbreaking style). EVERY YEAR.
Romping all over their bad teams is good; breaking their hearts over, and over, and over, and over again…would be better.
I’m 41. Fuck ’em, they deserve the pain.
Yes, the best game I ever saw was when we were both 11-0 heading into The Game, but I’d rather have the joys of reminding them how they lost to Toledo. At home.
Really, Jeff? Taunting over the loss to Toledo? How about Appy State? That’s the one I enjoy discussing… i get a smile every time I think about the cheering crowds at the ‘Shoe and Beaver Stadium (and other places IIRC). It was a great start to one of the best roller-coaster seasons in a generation (even if it ended badly for us).
Um, 47 and agree with you. F’em; enjoy some schadenfraude Buckeye fans. On Sunday morning after a TTUN loss, go read their Live Blogs. Can be quite enjoyable. Ciao
I graduated ’06, so I guess that puts me in the middle of the age range? I grew up in the cooper years, but wasn’t old enough to really be taunted during them.
To me, it really is a one game season. No matter what the records are going in, anything (1997, 2001) can happen. Your season is made or broken right there. 1-11 is a winning season if that ‘1’ is in the right place.
I cannot bring myself to root for them except in very select out of conference matchups (usc, schools in florida…)
But, I don’t hate them. The current state of their program is sad. I want them to get better so beating them means something again. I absolutely want to beat them every year, but I don’t want them to expect to loose. I want it to hurt every year. I want them to gnash their teeth through the off season about what could have been. 5-7 as opposed to 4-8 is not a particularly exciting future. I want them to turn off the bowl game in disgust because we’re playing where they could have been.
They need to be good so being better means something.
What if scUM gets better and that puts them back in a posistion to win a game against OSU….. would that make you change your mind to want TTUN to always be bad?
I have enjoyed having teams that were signficantly better and we play and win that way. I dont ever want TTUN to be good enough to win against us ever again is that wrong?
I think I buck the trend like BigRedBuckeye.
Believe, nothing did my black heart more good than sitting in the ‘Shoe after we beat YSU another 20 minutes to watch Michigan lose to Appalachian State (and grin when the cheers of the blocked FG attempt were louder from the few thousand of us left than they were during the actual OSU game).
BUT
I still prefer a solid Michigan team when we play. The 2006 game was one of the greatest games ever. Yes, there was potential for it to be the WORST game ever, but alls well that ends well.
As for the Big Ten needing them to be good, I’m starting to not buy that anymore. Iowa and Penn State are still usually top 15 teams and Wisconsin hovers around there and next year when we add Nebraska, the conference is just fine. Like NMUSpidey said, let them join Indiana in the Big Ten basement.
I’m 32 so you tell where I fall?
I say “I don’t give a damn for the whole state of Michigan”. Let them and Dick Rod run that program into the ground. If memory serves me correctly, the Big 10 has been putting 2 teams in BCS games over the last 8-10 years and only once do I remember TTUN being one of them(I would have to look it up). With Nebraska coming in, and all the other top tier teams that have been discussed…F’em! I had to endure the 90’s and now I have gotten to enjoy the last few years!
I did once pull for them…my wife thought I was crazy and almost took me to the hospital. The year they played UF in the Capital One Bowl after UF destroyed us the year before. In retrospect I guess it was more cheering against Florida, then pulling for TTUN.
AND finally…I PASSED all that hated down to my son. He is now 8 and wont even say the word. When he sees someone wearing scUM gear, he point at it and tells me how ugly it looks…I’m a proud papa!
I am 44 years old and have lived in Michigan for 13 years. I prefer that TTUN have a horrible season so that I can see the suffering first hand. If scUM is even moderately successful like the first four games last year it is almost impossible to live with all of the arrogance and smugness that is in abundance
I’m 64. I think I’m the oldest person to respond so far, but this is a great debate. I not only remember the 90’s like they were yesterday, I remember the 70’s the same way, I remember the 1969 game in AA;
heck, I remember Hoppalong and Bob White, for pete’s sake.
I submit that people of my generation were taught by those who remember, or heard stories about, NEVER beating scUM, how to truly hate TTUN. Then, on top of “their” experiences, we got Woody to pour more fuel on that fire. You can say what you want about the Bo/Woody War, but it was Woody who started it, and kept it going. The very nature of TTUN, the idea of it, the invention of it was Woody. We grew up through ALL that — and THEN we got Coop, and the 90’s.
And who said it (?) — they were right! The arrogance of the scUM fans, and their punch in the gut attitude during our skid was something that cannot be forgotten.
Every once in a while I catch myself thinking that scUM must rise from the ashes — for the sake of the Big Ten, for the sake of “the” rivalry, for the sake of……….and then I think, NAW, F ’em. GO BUCKS!!
I’m 59.
I’m going with ‘B’. A strong Michigan team enhances the Big Ten, or whatever we’re calling ourselves these days. The bonus, as we completely kick UM’s arse up one side of the field and down the other, it dashes their hopes for undefeated season, Big 10 Championship and MNC in one fell swoop.
FWIW, Toledo hurt worse. Toledo hurt much worse. App State was at least a good program at their level. Toledo was suck and probably would have lost to App State by a wider margin than just 3. Most “TTUN” fans probably just didn’t realize it as they were already numb. My god was Toledo worse.
@ formerly- does it hurt worse to lose to OSU when you are a good team like 2006 or when you are bad like 2008-9? or Does it hurt every time just as much?
Age=35
I hate there colors
I hate there stupid song
I hate their coaches
I hate their players
I hate their stadium
I hate their ugly, AIDS infested cheerleaders
I hate their “traditions”
I hate their fans
Before the USC game last year we were watching the UM vs ND game and the crowd was cheering for….Michigan. It made me sick to my stomach.
The only time I’ll root for Michigan is when they are in a bowl game. Other than that…I hope they lose every game they play in by 100 points.
There is nothing…NOTHING worse than when Ohio State losses to Michigan.
Age = 32
Yes, hate is bad, hate is destructive, and the Emperor was a big jerk who hated Wookiees and Ewoks. On the other hand, it’s just sports. I submit that if the Emperor had confined his hatred to East Tattooine State (Go Fightin’ Womp Rats!) Luke Skywalker might have actually gotten the chance to grow up with his dad instead of stupid Uncle Owen – who wasn’t even his real uncle.
I think I probably gave most of you an idea where I stand on this in my post last week, but I’ll expand on my commentary to include the following realization that hit me last year:
I enjoy watching Michigan lose, even when they suck, five to ten times more than I enjoy watching the Buckeyes win. Even when OSU has a glorious victory like this past Rose Bowl, I can’t forget that I spent most of that game drinking heavily, yelling at the TV, and expecting to throw up because at any minute they could screw it up. Stupid Cooper years. On the other hand, watching TTUN play someone other than the Buckeyes, I can’t lose. They will either win (ho hum) or they’ll lose (TOLEDO!!?! O RLY?!??! OMG ROFLCOPTER!) and it will be awesome.
And yeah, Johnny, I remember seeing people rooting for Michigan against Jimmy Clausen and the Irish before the USC game last year and felt the same way. These kids today …
Johnny, tell us how you really feel.
…but other than that…I like Michigan and wish them will.
+1 million fake internet points to you, Bacon Ninja. Working Star Wars into that comment was genius.
@Sylvester
It hurts every time. When we’re good, we’re always so close. When we’re bad, it just is the exclamation point on how bad the team is, as especially the last two years, there was never really any hope to begin with.
But like you guys, a win in the rivalry feels good every time… or so I seem to recall. It’s getting a bit hazy.
First, i was raised on Buckeye football and am a lifer so please excuse my lack of PC. For those of you old enough to have lived through the John Cooper years I hold the following opinion. I hope the gravy sucking pigs loose-em all, well all of them except for ND. For those of you only know our most recent successes against SCum, you tube is a nice educational tool!
I am 37. The rivalry used to be everything to me, but it’s just not that big of a deal any more. I can get excited for games that help decide the Big Ten title like when OSU plays PSU or Iowa or even Wisc. However, when you face off against a team struggling to stay out of the cellar of the conference it just doesn’t mean that much any more. I just can’t consider a team that commits major NCAA violations, has seriously lowered its standards for academics and character for its recruits, has a roster full of MAC-level talent, can’t win consistently in conference and can’t make bowl games a serious rival. No hatred here, just casual ambivalence.
tOSU Class of ’94
The 90s were torture! But, I want there to be a rivalry, so B for me.