Johnny Ginter, Future Documentary Star
Go ahead and cross "see Johnny Ginter in documentary test footage" off your bucket list.
Mike Newman, Ohio State alumnus and filmmaker behind Nuts: The Best Damn Fans in the Land, is still seeking "unique and interesting" Buckeye fans for the documentary. If that's you, or you know someone like that, hit him up.
Source buckeyenationmovie.com/
Comments
I've never seen the Buckeyeman without face paint on. That's a first!
Ohio State's band SLAUGHTERED Michigan's band. If this were a football game, it would have been Florida State vs. Savannah State. - SB Nation following OSU vs. UM 2012
His wife was actually my 9th grade biology teacher.
"A guy from Ohio can make it in life if he works hard enough." - Wayne Woodrow Hayes
Right...weird - he's like a regular standard American dude. Never pictured him in a suit...
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
Larry's a great guy - I've known him for years and years.
Fun facts about Larry Lokai (AKA Buckeyeman):
Absolutely my favorite of the Ohio State "super fans."
Agreed. Met him on my first visit to Ohio Stadium.
How firm thy friendship..
This is interesting to hear. There have been threads on here about how much people despise these guys -- the "superfans".
I know Buckeyeman personally, so I think he's great. If I'm being honest though, the others annoy the hell out of me when I see them on TV, but only because they strike me as "the other guys" because I know Larry in the real world (so yes, I'm a Superfan homer of sorts, I guess).
I love being a Buckeye
"YOLO" = I'm about to do something extremely ignorant/stupid & I need an excuse to do it.
That is badass!!!!!......I love us being described as "a Mongol horde"!!!.....that's a great description!!!
TJ leva
Buckeyeman, Buckeye Guy, Big Nut all pretty amazing people. Have had the privlege of meeting all three and all carried a convo, were interactive with eveyone and just general average people with facepaint! lol
Pay It Forward!
How many boards could the Mongols hoard if the Mongol Horde got bored?
excellent!!
Great work, Johnny! You manage to make Buckeye fans seem cool, hip, and balanced while also still being crazy football fanatics who are deeply embedded into a midwestern ("flyover country") culture. Take that, coastal elites!
They're trying to time the filming of this so that it coincides with our upcoming 2013 Nat'l Championship run, right?
I have no problem with that.
Can't wait until it's finished.
Our honor Defend!
uuugghhh i need a haircut
I don't know. You're pulling off Short North hipster pretty well.
"A guy from Ohio can make it in life if he works hard enough." - Wayne Woodrow Hayes
I think very little of the Super Fans and I find them generally embarrassing for the fanbase. In the NFL, they're more appropriate and bearable. For college sports where the athletes are unpaid students and the most important fans are the other students, they're annoying and self-promoting distractions from the people who truly deserve the attention.
Agreed. It's one thing when it's a student but it's kind of creepy with these older men. We get bombarded week after week with middle aged men in their makeup/costumes trying desperately to get on tv.
I'm sure this won't be popular on here and I know the guys (the "superfans") are all good people...but I've actually had the misfortune of sitting with these guys on different occasions at games. The reason I say that is because I had 2nd row seats to the Big House in '07 when I was in school and these gents did not. They instead got pulled all the way down into our section and were planted next to us/in front of us/on top of us just because of who they are. What annoyed me about that is that if you've been to the Big House, you know seating is already very cramped and throw in a couple more of these large individuals shoving their way into your seats and it makes your experience a tad less appealing. This, however, did not bother me too much. What bothered me each time I've sat with these guys is they don't even watch the game half the time. Buck-I-Guy in particular just hollars at the nearest camera men the whole game, "come on bro, gimme some love gimme some love!" Big Nutt (the big bald guy I believe) actually watched the game and was loud and screaming, so I'll give him a pass. Buckeyeman fell somewhere in between. I've found myself just saying, watch the game and support the team we all aren't here for you! These guys dress up in these costumes to get on TV as superfans and do it more to get on TV themselves than to support the team and they wind up becoming superfan celebrities that get to sit wherever they want at games. Neutron Man these guys are not.
Also must note that I haven't had the chance to watch the video on here yet, I can't watch while at work...just saw some chatter about these guys and felt like putting in my two cents.
Your 2-cents pretty much read like what I think after seeing them on TV (Buckeyeman aside, for the reasons I mentioned above). Buck-I-Guy definitely strikes me (on camera at least) as an attention-whore.
The one other thing I'll say about Larry which I'm assuming sets him apart from the other guys is that he does provide some service to the Buckeye community; he's extremely active with the local Alumni Association, makes tens of thousands of Buckeye necklaces to give to incoming freshmen each year, and does dozens of speaking engagements and appearances for local civic groups - for free - to promote Ohio State and the whole Buckeye nation thing.
So at least in his case, he's using his "superfan" status for good, in a sense.
Yeah, I can't argue with that. Like I said, they all seem like they're good people.
On Saturday's he's the annoying Buck-I-Guy but on Friday nights, he's Chubs-your friendly ticket scalper.
4-6 seconds from point A to point B and when you get to point B, be pissed off
Yeah, but Buck-I-Guy has a pretty sweet ride.
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
He sure does!
I met Buck-I-Guy after a game a couple years ago and he was gracious and a good sport. I don't understand the disdain for this man. All these dudes are attracting attention to themselves. So what?
They're having fun, and so were me and my son.
"Here officer, hold my beer while I find my license."
I actually think that's the bigger point of the discussion - they're all probably really great guys... who drive a lot of "normal" fans crazy with their antics. I know for a fact that Larry Lokai (Buckeyeman) is a great individual, in my opinion he's a huge asset to the Ohio State community, and I enjoy his schtick as Buckeyeman.
On the other hand, I don't know the other guys personally, and they drive me crazy when I see them on TV, but I can't explain why... It's one of those things either you like it or you don't, without having a deep philosophical reason why.
Columbus native (and snowboarder extrordinaire) Louie Vito was at the Michigan game? Awesome.
I've never met Louie, but I used to do business with his Dad back in my radio days (a million years ago, it seems). Louie the elder and Louie the snowboarder are a big deal up in Bellefontaine. I keep saying I'm going to go to the Rail Jam at Mad River one of these years, but I've never quite made it.
Haha, I was there this year; it was absolutely nuts! I was just there to ride, though. It made getting a coffee and bourbon damn near impossible all night.
Hodge - I've heard you mention snowboarding a few times...do you skate by any chance as well? Just wondering...
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
Naw, just a snowboarder. I gotta say--surfing down a snow blanketed mountain (or hill, in Ohio) with DJ Krush on the Pandora is about the closest I've ever came to a zen-like state of tranquility.
Snowboarding for me started as being something similar to surfing/skating, a life I lived for many many years. Just wondering if that's how it started for you... Yeah - it's an amazing feeling. Between 2 ACL reconstructs & living in Fl, it's pretty much in the past for me now unfortunately... :(
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
Super fans seem to dominate a lot of conversations about Buckeye Nation, but please understand that super fans are only a part of the documentary. I'm very interested in finding the unique fans that no one knows about. Buckeye fans are diverse and the documentary needs to reflect this.
In regards to the super fans, I think it's vital that people get to see the person behind the costume. It's easy to make false assumptions about them. Larry blew away my expectations. He will gain a lot of fans after people watch the finished movie.
Andy, don't forget that he's also a Urbana city counsel member. As you have pointed out, Larry is an interesting person and very nice guy. I can't wait to get footage of him as a chicken judge. For the amount of time and effort he donates to OSU he should get season tickets for life.
Bolt, would you be interested in sharing your experience on camera? I want to cover all the angles.
Perhaps, but what specifically? My experience with these particular fans or just in general? I'd rather not be perceived as badmouthing these guys in a documentary. I don't have any hard feelings toward them or believe that they're wrong or bad people or anyhing like that.
your experience in general. yeah, i don't want you to be perceived that way.
I'd be happy to. I was born and raised on the other side of the Olentangy (Grandview), my whole family went to OSU and grew up Columbus. I've traveled all over the country for this team/school and have had tons of great experiences. Not even just the US. It's surreal being in a soccer stadium in Seoul, South Korea and having total strangers shout "O-H!" to you.
I was actually a teacher in Korea for a year and on my first day of school taught every class of mine that no matter what if they see me around in the halls or whatever and they shout "O-H!" I'll respond "I-O!". They got a kick out of this and all year I had 10 year old Korean kids shouting "O-H!" at me all day every day. It at least made me a feel a bit more at home!
I am a published author, playwright, artist, and street preacher (street preaching since the 1981 Super Bowl between the Bengals and Forty-Niners). In the first chapter of my 2006 book, "Seven Trumpets", I did manage to sneak in a guy in the first chapter with an Ohio State cap on! He is the book's main character. Heheh.
I also worked for the Department of Defense from 1997 to 2008 as an antiterrorism trainer (got the gig because I was former special forces member)
Loved it! Great stuff Johnny!
"There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you."
"I love football. I think it is most wonderful game in world and I despise to lose."
Woody Hayes 1913 - 1987