Isn’t it ironic

I’ve been a Buckeye fan as long as I can remember.

Born and raised my first sixteen years in Columbus, Ohio, it was inevitable that I would bleed scarlet and gray. Even if I had two Uncles who graduated from the evil blue empire up north.

From the time I was little, Saturdays were spent with my dad in the shoe. We started out way up high in the nosebleed sections, and I was way more fascinated by the cartoons on the scoreboard than the game happening below. On the way to and from the game, my dad would explain the positions and plays and I would half listen as words like “shotgun” and “i-formation” flew past my ears. But as I grew in inches, I also grew in interest. My dad succeeded in transforming me into a die hard football fan. In middle school and high school I began work in the Shoe at a concession stand sponsored by our church youth group. I watched massive quantities of hot dogs be cooked, and then climbed up and down the stairs selling them to hungry fans. And thus I lost my appetite for hot dogs for a good number of years.

A move halfway through high school to Indianapolis did nothing to dampen my love of the Buckeyes; we would still travel over to Columbus on Saturdays. Even during college, I would drive from Chicago to Indy on Friday nights, to and from the game in Columbus on Saturday, and back to Chicago on Sunday. And then I moved to China. The Lord blessed me with a teammate who loved me enough my first year to get up in the middle of the night to listen to Ohio State games over the internet. With advancements in technology over the years, eventually I got to actually watch some of the games, albeit in quite blurry and choppy broadcasts. These were some of the best years for the Buckeyes; they were at the height of their program. This past year, I began to eagerly await being in the States during fall to once again go to the Shoe.

That opportunity came about two weeks ago on a cold, rainy day in Columbus.

Only the Buckeyes aren’t exactly at their peak anymore.

Quite to the contrary, they have miserably fallen from the heights to the lowlands.

The offense moves backwards just about as often as they move forwards.

The defense, while it has its moments of strength, also has weaker areas than usual.

The game I saw? The Buckeyes remained scoreless until there were about 15 seconds left in the game, and about 1/3 of the fans left in the stands. You better believe I was still in the stands.

But even with the loss…and the hard-to-bear offensive offense…returning to the shoe sure felt like returning home.