As my wife and I were sitting at Voo Doo BBQ in the Garden District of New Orleans enjoying a couple beers and some bad-ass pulled pork, beef brisket and all the trimmings, we realized that Ohio State fans would be out numbered by at least 4 to 1 and it was probably worse than that.
This was a problem for one reason and one reason alone. The Arkansas Razorback “pig sooie” call they repeated before the game and during the game. It was done in restaurants, bathrooms, ATM machines, Bourbon Street, trollies, inside the stadium, outside the stadium….EVERYWHERE!
Here is a sample:
The above video, coupled with the fact that Arkansas fans were taking so much pride in the SEC’s 9-0 record vs. Ohio State in bowl games had us Buckeye fans craving hog blood. For the most part Ohio State fans were very quiet. It may have been do to being intimidated by larger numbers or the threat of yet another loss to an SEC football team. I think it was more of a quiet confidence. I think most Buckeye fans knew this team was different.
Our hatred of Arkansas and their fans only grew Monday night at Mr. B’s Bistro. As I’m knee deep in a bowl of piping hot gumbo ya-ya our table is passed by countless Arkansas fans. Some had painted faces, others had feather boas and all of them were doing “pig sooie.”
After dinner we headed to Bourbon Street and encountered more of the same. We started asking the hog fans what the meaning of the call was. Here are some of the responses we received:
(imagine these with very thick southern drawls and chewing tobacco leaking from their mouths)
“I don’t know”
“It’s just terdition”
“It’s cawl’n the hawgs….I don’t know”
“F__k Ohio State”
Their explanations of “pig sooie” left us more confused and irritated than before.
Bourbon Street was great for people watching and that was really it. The smell of vomit and urine wafted through the air. I felt like I was back in old Shea Stadium again or at least in El Kaiser’s cubicle. It was awful. We trekked over to Frenchmen Street where the heart of New Orleans music lives. Unreal music and people, we had a great time and the entire area was lacking pig sooie shouting hillbillies. Here is my father-in-law representing The Ohio State….what a trooper I tell ya!
After a cramped taxi ride back to our hotel it was an un-restful night of sleeping at our hotel. Morning was upon us as we shook off the New Orleans flu and went on our grave yard tour. This was a cool tour and gave us a ton of insight into the culture of New Orleans, we had a great tour guide. Below is a picture of a section of the grave yard.
We also met the voodoo priestess of New Orleans and wow. She came out to greet us and babbled on and on for about 15 minutes stringing together the most ridiculous incoherent babble I’ve ever heard since watching a recent Gary Busey interview. I was just happy she didn’t do evil on me.
After a much needed nap, 2 bloody mary’s, more self righteous Arkansas fans and a long walk to the stadium we were at the Super Dome. Game time!
The stadium was PACKED with Arkansas fans. There were only a few pockets of Ohio State fans  and we were drowned out by excited Hog fans. I honestly think they thought this game was a layup for them, simply because they are part of the SEC. Their confidence was unreal.
First half thoughts:
The Ohio State offense employed a no huddle hurry up offense, something they have done here and there with great success in the regular season. The Buckeye offense and Terrelle Pryor were almost unstoppable. There were many times the Razorback defense was out of position, winded and totally confused. Anytime Reid Fragel goes for over 40 on a simple jumper pass you know the defense has real problems. On the other side of the ball Arkansas also was able to move the ball, but thanks to their WR’s dropping balls and great pressure by the OSU front 4 the Hogs could only muster 10 first half points, to OSU’s 28. This one looked like a blowout. Hog nation got real quiet real quick. At the half Pryor had 255 yards total offense and was well on his way to another huge bowl performance.
Second half thoughts:
Yuck.
The safety was literally the worst call I’ve ever seen in a bowl game. I’ve never once seen a play like that called that way EVER. I was waiting for a booth review, sure it would be overturned….but nothing.
The unstoppable no huddle offense that was so successful in the first half was put on the shelf do to terrible field position the rest of the way. To me the most valuable Razorback was their punter as he continued pinning OSU in horrible field position all game long. The OSU offense only managed 3 points and had to rely on it’s defense to hold of the hard charging bacon offense.
The Razorback offense gutted out 14 pts on a touchdown, a two point conversion and two field goals in the second half. And the blocked punt heard around the world set them up for the go ahead score with just over a minute left. Ohio State went to a familiar play call on defense What looks familiar in these two videos:
Arkansas and Ohio State fans went through an emotional minefield during the Sugar Bowl, especially the last minute of the game. I was drained after the punt block and in shock after the INT. All I could think about was the following:
1. The drive home the next day would be MUCH better with the Buckeye win
2. We were DONE hearing that stupid cheer Arkansas did
It was nice to finally get the SEC monkey off OSU’s back. The MVP could have gone to Dane or Cam but OSU doesn’t win that game without Terrelle Pryor. He made huge plays the entire night, with his arm and legs and deserved another BCS bowl MVP trophy.
It was a great ride this year and I can’t wait until it starts all over again.
Nice summary of some very fun time in the Big Easy!
Great read. I hope these in person reports of OSU bowl games becomes a terdition.
I would like to second that hope that these bowl game trips become a MotSaG tradition.
That tradition can start next year when Johnny Utah takes ME to the bowl game instead of the ol’ ball and chain.
AHEM….for the record, I took the old man to the game.