The Ohio State University is, according to Wikipedia, the 3rd largest public university in America. It has the largest NCAA fan base in the country, and their scarlet and grey merchandise emblazoned with the block “O” leads the country in sales every year. Their stadium seats over 100,000 fans. They are also home to TBDBITL. Those who love the Ohio State University can thank Terrell Pryor for salvaging their institution.
Yes, that Terrell Pryor. The one who headed up the tattoos for merchandise scandal which cost (the most beloved man in Columbus at the time) Jim Tressel his job and cost the Buckeyes their bowl eligibility for the 2012 season. Take it back Buckeye fans. All those bad words you placed in between Terell and Pryor. All those #2 jerseys you burned in anger. Take them all back. He saved your university.
First you must understand the 58,000+ students at OSU. This is the student body that loses dozens of couches every week in fall - they burn them in anger when the Buckeyes lose, they burn them in euphoria when the Buckeyes win. Everyone knows not to leave your car parked east of High St. at night on a Saturday because if the right atmosphere surrounds it, it may get overturned - in anger when the Buckeyes lose, in unbridled joy when the Buckeyes win.
Of course last Saturday night was an extra raucous party on High as the Buckeyes not only beat Michigan, but capped off a perfect 12-0 season. The damage done from those parties would have only been a drop in the bucket compared to the damage that would have been done tonight, Sunday, Dec. 2nd, in Columbus, Ohio had Terrell Pryor not exchanged tattoos for autographs.
Were it not for Terrell Pryor, tonight’s BCS selection show (assuming, of course, that the Buckeyes would have rolled over Nebraska last night in the Big 10 championship game), would have a revealed a National Championship final of the 12-0 Fighting Irish of Notre Dame vs. the 12-1 Crimson Tide of Alabama, with the 13-0 Buckeyes going to the Rose Bowl...and OSU, Columbus and possibly the state of Ohio going up in flames. If you’ve not experienced the irrationality of OSU fans then you don’t understand, but this would have destruction that Sandy and Katrina could only aspire to.
In the AP poll, the only poll that the BCS ineligible Buckeyes are eligible for, the Buckeyes are 3rd. In the USA today poll Alabama is #2 but still received 3 out of 59 first place votes! Who knows what the computers would have spit out, but I have no doubt that they would have led to the most pissed off Rose Bowl participants of all time. Let’s be honest - Kansas St., Oregon, Notre Dame - however this season played out at the end there was going to be an SEC team in the Championship Game. Now I am not saying that Alabama is not the best team in the country, I am only saying that the people who decide on this what-should-be-a-sporting-competition-but-is-really-a-popularity-contest had their minds made up before the season started. When people started asking in October the (incredibly ridiculous) question of whether or not Alabama could beat the Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL you know that objectivity is thrown out the window.
Full disclosure - I am a Buckeye. And honestly, I believe that if Alabama played OSU next week that Alabama would win (the spread would be a lot lower now than it was pre-Texas A&M loss). But that this is how the national championship is decided is the 2nd most embarrassing news story in major american sports (thanks NHL).
The BCS got real lucky this year that they didn’t have to do this. Columbus, Ohio got real lucky that this scenario didn’t play out. It is much better for everyone involved that the Buckeyes beat the Wolverines and rode off into the sunset with the undefeated season. And I never thought I would say it but...thanks Terrell Pryor. I really mean it, thanks.
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