Not favorite 3 hr. game, or memorable season, but moment in time that makes you smile and proud to be a Buckeye.....a goose bump moment.
here are some of mine:
Keith Byars running out of his shoe vs Illinois on the Ohio Stadium Astroturf
Jim Jackson hitting a last second running jumper to send intense game vs Indiana into double overtime (1992 I believe...game played in St. John Arena)
Troy Smith hoofing the ground like a charging bull in pregame introductions before the 2006 game vs Michigan (a moment when I knew OSU was going to win)
Same game when freshman Beanie Wells broke off a 52 yard touchdown run
Though in a losing effort, Beanie Wells run against LSU in the first quarter of the 2008 BCS NC Game
Ron Lewis last second shot vs Xavier in the 2007 NCAA Basketball Tournament
Antonio Pittman trucking Michigan's Prescott Burgess at the goal-line in 2005 for the winning TD.
Gonzo's "Catch"
Maurice Clarett's strip in the nat'l title game
and Evan Turner's game winner against AACC in the big ten tourney
"I like to believe that my best hits border on felonious assault."
--Jack Tatum
Off the radar a bit, but how about Matt Sylvester draining the game winning 3 pointer against Illinois in the last game of the regular season to prevent the Illini perfect season.
#5. Ron Lewis hail mary 3pt
#4. Matty Sly's dagger vs undefeated Illinois
#3. Being on the field for #1 vs #2 2006
#2. Holy Buckeye
#1. Cie Grant throwing Dorsey to the ground, seeing that ball fall incomplete, winning the Natl Title and shutting up Kellen Winslow!
Wasn't Jamie Skelton who hit the shot that beat Indiana?
I know you said not to put a favorite game or whatever but the 02 season was so very hard for me. My wife at the time was seeing someone and had sent me back home to Ohio. I was living in Texas at the time and she wanted a divorce. I had just had a really nice 3 story house built on her families land and I was going to lose it. While here in Ohio, she left Texas to go see the guy she was doing her thing with in Maryland. She kept calling me from the road and we worked a deal where I would come home and stay in an apartment for awhile and we would date to see if we could work things out. Well by that time she said that she never really met the guy so we got back together and things didn't add up. It turned out she did see him that time and they did have an affair. I emailed the guy and told him I'd appreciate him staying out of my marriage! He then emailed me back, at work all the details of what they did. I lost it! I fell under my desk and cried and my buddy had to get me home. After an entire night of fighting and her begging me not to leave, I finally agreed to stay but it hurt me so bad that I had to go into the hospital for treatment. ALOT of things broke me down that year and it was just awful. Things got back to the norm and my wife got pregnant with our daughter but she died at 5 months of SIDS but this was obviously after the season. Anyway, we named her, "Gracie" for Gods grace and I couldn't understand why? It's not that I think a couple football games could replace a daughter but the Ohio State vs. Michigan game and the National Championship were just a small moment of grace that I needed at that time in my life.
Oh yeah, and the dunk Jimmy Jackson had against UCONN where he swung around with one arm hanging on to the rim!
Cie Grant singing Carmen Ohio at the victory celebration in January of 2003. It was totally unexpected on a day when the wind was so fierce it was blowing snow off of the pillars of the Horseshoe. The mayor also announced that Lane Avenue would be renamed Champions Lane (not sure if that is still the case). Plus the 13 seniors dotted the i, something that had never happened before.
Hell, I'll just say the whole victory celebration. Pretty cool to have seen it with my own eyes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOBCe9ONWVE
Cie Grant singing is sweet.
@ highbalance: don't think Jim Jackson ever played with Jamie Skelton. Only shot bigger than Jim Jackson's vs Calbert Chaney, Damon Bailey, Eric Anderson and the rest of the Hoosiers came from Treg Lee.
Edit: sorry Highbalnance, Skelton did in fact play with Jim Jackson, but I don't recall him getting much playing time in front of Mark Baker, Jamal Brown and Alex Davis. However, my memory is already proven to be somewhat cloudy.
Cie Grant pressuring Ken Dorsey.
Antonio Pittman breaking free against Michigan 2006
Vernon Gholston's final sack of Henne in 2007. I heard the smack from the upper level of the toilet bowl.
Troy Smith TD strike to Ted Ginn vs Texas 2006.
Beanie Wells crushing Wisconsin by himself 2007...pick a TD
Pryor to Posey 2010 Rose Bowl
Cam Heyward clenching his fists in victory over Arkansas after the int.
Joe Bauserman graduating.
Fourth down Krenzel to Jenkins to beat Purdue
Clarett stripping Sean Taylor
Santonio diving into the end zone in '05 ttun game
Bball.. Ron Lewis forcing OT vs. Xavier and Greg Oden blocking Tennessee's last chance shot in the tourney
Im going to go with events I was at..
#1 IMO was Sugar Bowl interception by Thomas and the pure jubulation by everybody as it happened. My buddy was crying because, and I quote, "The curse is over! Fuck the SEC!"
#2 This past sesason against Wisconsin...A much needed win even though in long run it meant nothing, it was just amazing to be there and how crazy stadium went
Granted I know there is better(06 Michigan Game) but just going with games I was physically attending
One I didn't see mentioned, Craig Krenzel pass against Purdue on 4th & 1.
David Boston doing the robot across the goal line in Pasadena.
Cam Heyward INT and big man rumble down the entire field against the U in 2010. First live tOSU game and I'll never forget that play
If Denard Robinson isn't careful with spooning all that food into his mouth, he's going to end up lookin' like Whoopi Goldberg
2008 UM game in the 'Shoe, Senior Day. Last Senior announced Tyson Gentry #24. Seeing Tyson cross the field to greet his parents and JT in his wheelchair caused even the UM fans near us to shed a tear. I will never forget it.
Bucknasty that was my number 1. What a play! It saved our season
Yeah, I'd have to say Purdue 4th and 1. I was in college at Indiana Wesleyan and had one of my roommates friends ask me if I'd like to go at the last second. He knew I was from Ohio but didn't realize how big of a fan I really was.
I was in Purdue's alumni section and was just getting harassed pretty bad at the time.
We get that touchdown and one of the guys sitting behind me grabs my shoulders and spins me around and says "You better win that F%@#*$G national championship".
It was great...
Mine has to be 2003 when O-State beat the mighty hurricanes for the BCS national championship. Living in the south nobody gave us a chance. It was sweet!!!
Worst moment: Getting deystroyed by Florida. I was at a party with about 50 Gator fans and only 5 Buckeye fans. Was not a good night.
The Maurice Clarett strip in the 02 Championship! Hell that whole damn game!! lol.
Cie Grant singing Carmen Ohio is so great; I am glad somebody mentinoned it.
My personal favorite Buckeye moment is the one that did not occur at Michigan's expense; I also witnessed it in person (absolutely electrifying). It was Malcolm Jenkins and the Buckeyes' bench taking over Camp Randall during 'Jump Around.' After which they proceeded to bust open an even game with the Badgers and define the rest of that season:
http://www.blinkx.com/watch-video/ohio-state-players-jump-around-vs-wisconsin/_a7DyEoKx0mCsaVgeciSwA
2005 OSU-UM. Gonzo's miraculous catch. My grandfather had just died, and we had the game on after his funeral. That catch--for someone who had literally run out of emotions, it was a great catharsis.
Also, Cie Grant coming off the corner unblocked and playing ring-around-the-rosey with Ken Dorsey is a moment I'll never forget. Still get goosebumps to this day about it. '02 was the first year I started really following OSU football (I've always been a Buckeye fan, but my 7th grade year was when I really starting following college football hardcore), what a magical time to be baptized; haven't come up for air yet.
@Hodge Even though I grew up in Cols. and went to tOSU, I kind of lost interest in the Buckeyes once I moved to NYC and then to NJ. I would watch the RB if they were in it, but I hardly ever watched regular season games on TV. In 2002 I came to Cols. becasue my dad was very ill. My BF from HS was a season ticket holder and took me to the SJSU game in the 'Shoe. That game put me into a whole new level of fandom and quite frankly, into an obsession. I have been back every year since for one game and will do so until I die. I left Cols. the next day and my dad passed away on Wednesday. I was glad we had a nice long chat about the game before I left.
Sort of torn. As inconsequential as the game was in the scheme of the season, Jonathan Wells' big TD run against Northwestern will always resonate in my head. It was my freshman year, my first time in the shoe, AND my first night game. I was in the south stands and the run went north so at a certain point, you couldn't really see when he scored because the place was in such a state of chaos when he got out to about the 30 that there was no increase in noise when he crossed the endzone. I had been to about 40 NFL games prior to that, but nothing matches the first time I heard the Shoe erupt in its entirety. Watching Will Allen step in front of the pass at the 2 yard line in 2002 was pretty damn epic too. Lost in the hooplah of that moment was just how close that play was to going the other way. Not only would OSU have lost their bid to the National Title, Iowa would have won the Big Ten outright and Michigan would have taken second. OSU was 4 inches away from a third place finish in the conference that year.
4-6 seconds from point A to point B and when you get to point B, be pissed off
@PAM - I hear you on that! I used to be a serious baseball fan, but lost interest as the sterioid era started to take hold and fell head-over-heels for football. In my opinion, that's what makes college footballl so facsinating, in particular. Family ties and loyalty go so far toward establishing most fans' preference that pro teams' allegiances seem rather cursory in comparison. I remember reading that Ohio has one of the largest populations of state-born citizens--goes a long way towards explaining Buckeye nation's loyalty.
@Hodge NFL fans crack me up. Guys in my office who grew up in TX are now Eagles/Giants/Jets fans simply because they live here now. Did I become a Rutgers fan when I moved to NJ? Hell no!
I think 5-10 years from now if u ask this same question many of us will say the day Urban Meyer was hired as head coach as the favorite buckeye moment "in time." The excitement he brings to OSU after all the events in the past year or so. It's like those things never even happened. This is a Calipari to kentucky type situation. If u asked any fan base what coach they would want, i think every single one would say Urban Meyer, even Alabama if u take into account age.
I think you'd be hard pressed to find a Bama fan that would take Meyer over Saban.
Meyer is currently College Football's second best coach. Currently. Nick Saban is the king right now folks. Hell....I'd take Saban.
4-6 seconds from point A to point B and when you get to point B, be pissed off
wow what a surprise you two disagree with me. ok lets say ur a fan of an up and coming football program and u have an opening for head coach with an unlimited checkbook, you can pluck any coach from any university in the country. who are u taking? Nick Saban is getting up there in age, I dont think he is a Bobby Bowden and is gunna stay there til he's 70. and of course u would never get an Alabama fan to say he'd rather have Meyer but like I said if u just read my comment where I said "if u take age into account" then I think everyone would take meyer. yada yada now ur gunna say the same thing can be said about Meyer with his "health issues"... i really dont think thats gunna be a problem. I expect bama to be a dominant program for maybe 3-4 more years and then either slowly regress or Saban just retire/move on completely.
On a more personal note: How is it that you two are always commenting one right after the other? Its like u guys are virtually holding hands.
@SHADY - I'll raise you one by saying Meyer's spring game outshined his hiring, for me at least. Watching the circle drills and the field goal drills...man, that was my watershed moment. This run is going to be special, no doubts there. But I didn't fully understand that until I saw the man in action--even if it was a scrimmage 'twixt our own teams.
I do have to admit this, though. No future championship--in my opinion, at least--will ever eclipse that magical '02 run. Maybe it's just because it was the first one in my lifetime, the fact that I'd just started following OSU that year, or because of the collective desparation amongst fans, it will always hold such a special place in my heart. I even said it in '06, winning it all this year just won't be as good. It will still be awesome, but slightly less so than in '02. That magical season in '02 was a cardiac doctor's dream (and any cholesterol-laden fan's nightmare): close games abound, and a storybook ending against one of the five best teams to ever suit up on the football field. Drama like that doesn't come every year; the '04 Texas/USC game had it, but their season's lacked that '02 "razors-edge survivor" mentality.
In '06 we were the '02 'Canes. A team that was unquestionably the number one, a team that had hardly tasted adversity--a true anomaly from Tressel's career. Meyer's teams perform like those 'Canes, as well. They don't play close games, they win by massive margins. That's the direction we're heading, and I welcome it wholeheartedly. But in a few years gone will be the days of the OSU underdog--and with it goes the storybook seasons. That '02 run couldn't have been scripted better if it was a film, and that 14-0 squad could have easily been a 7-6 one if everything broke the opposite way. I mean, it never dawned on me how close we were to coming in 3rd in the Big Ten (thanks Brewster)!
I'm incredibly excited for the future, and whatever it holds--I think we as a fanbase deserve that. But I got to admit, that '02 season was a once-in-a-lifetime occurence. Here's hoping that Meyer can make the lightning strike twice.
If I'm looking for a guy to win for the next ten years-yes, I'll say Meyer because of age. Saban is older than I think a lot of people realize. But I never said that. I said right now. And right now Saban is the king. He's won in the SEC with dominating teams three times with 2 schools. I'm not going to say Meyer isn't a great coach (I've already called him the second best in the nation) but on June 12, 2012, (like I said before) Nick Saban is college football's best head coach. We can play "If your this" until we get the answer you want, but IF you want one guy to win you a season's worth of games right away, its Saban.
Shady, you're whole 'why's everybody always pickin on me" thing is getting out played. Each and every time someone (me specifically) disagrees with you, you go on the offensive, then turn around and act like I'm the one that has a personal problem with you when all I've ever done is simply disagree with your point of view. Its stale, get over it.
4-6 seconds from point A to point B and when you get to point B, be pissed off
@Hodge, how old are you?? To be honest if/when Meyer brings us a national championship it will undeniably be way more satisfying than 02 atleast for me. That was 10 years ago, I was 14 at the time. Ive loved Ohio State my entire life but to witness one while Im a full grown adult will clearly mean more to me than 02 as hard as that is to say.
@Brewster you completely took my comment out of context like u always do, you ignore important parts of it such as "if you take into account age." If I was just talking about one season or 2, who would u want Meyer or Saban, then why would I factor in age??? Clearly I was talking about the future. I never said Meyer is a better coach than Saban (although one could argue he is) nor did I say Bama fans want Saban fired to be replaced by Meyer. face it dude, ur a troll.
Yeah, you said if you ask any fan which coach they "want" (which I'm sure you're aware denotes the present), they would pick Meyer. Which is what I was disagreeing with. You can speculate about the long term all you want, maybe Meyer has a heart attack, gets bored, what have you. Maybe Saban quits while he's ahead. I'm not getting into that, but in the present, the majority of fans would take Saban over Meyer.
Maybe we comment back to back because it's fun watching you get your little victim panties in a bunch every time someone disagrees with your theories.
@SHADY - I'm twenty two. The point I'm trying to make is that I don't think any championship team has had a season like that since the inception of the BCS, save for maybe Auburn in 2010. But while Auburn beat a good Oregon team for the title, we ripped the heart out of the greatest college football team to never win a championship. I agree that to see one now would be amazing, but I don't know if it would mean more than the one in '02 did. Granted, we're comparing an 11 out of 10 on the awesome meter to a 10.5 out of 10--it's hardly a diminishing return.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that it would be like seeing my Bengals win multiple Super Bowls (I know, what a grand fantasy). I don't think any would be quite as special as the first one.
Ted Ginn running that initial kickoff back for a TD gave me goosebumps, but then I got the exact opposite feeling after finding out he was injured, then the game ended badly... *cries*
Lots of great moments have already been mentioned.
Shady, you never actually make cogent points in anything you say so of course I miss what you are saying 8\10 times. I'm sorry if you don't like being disagreed with. I'm moving on here.
4-6 seconds from point A to point B and when you get to point B, be pissed off
Disagreeing is fine... I do have a girlfriend ya know, I think Im used to it but its not ok when ur trolling. I'll try to use bigger words from now on like you and hodge but I refuse to use the word cogent.
Great story. Tell the middle part again. Seriously bro, you have your panties in a twist each and every time I disagree with you. Its old, outplayed, and I've spent more time on it than I should.
4-6 seconds from point A to point B and when you get to point B, be pissed off
I don't think "trolling" means what you think it does... To disagree with good reason and to want to have recourse about a specific theme, because it is not off-topic, nor is it particularly inflammatory.
Actually, to change the subject by crying foul every time someone doesn't subscribe to a few of your points is more trolling than arguing with said points, but I'm not gonna play the victim about it...
Can we please create a forum of it's own as a B%*^H Fest.
It's frustrating seeing new comments, only to realize they are just people whining back and forth. Much like this comment is only complaining :)
So I'd like to blame JohnBlairGoBucks for making me spend 120 bucks today.
I had the day off and went down to my chiropractor with my wife on Lane Avenue and she said, "Well, since we're down here, can we go to Urban Outfitters?" Eh, what else did I have to lose so I go down and we were there a little earlier than they opened so I got to walk through the Ohio Union which I hadn't done since they renovated.
So on my way back home, I stop into College Traditions because I hate going into that store on a gameday. I never get to look at anything I want to and I normally can't even move.
So, I look around at some of the pictures they have and I see some pictures of some of the great plays in Ohio State's history. I see "The Catch", the "QB Sneak" from the NC game and a few more.
I also see one that I believe was named "Still Undefeated" that was from the moment I discussed in one of the posts above. I see it and it brings back all the memories of my first Buckeye game. So, now I'm a proud owner of this and can't wait to get it up on my wall.
They have a few other plays that some of you may want to check out...
The one I bought:
http://www.collegetraditions.com/browse.cfm/4,1026.html
Will Allen and A. J. Hawk stonewalling T.A. McClendon @ the goaline in 03...
ha! OHIOSTE, don't blame me, it's the kind of stuff that happens when you are crazy about the Buckeyes. Last year my dad (65) found a rolled up 2'x3' poster of Archie Griffin rolled up in his closet that he had had since the 1970's, and passed it down to me. It now hangs in a frame in my Buckeye themed basement. Archie is carrying the rock, one knee high, and his helmet is littered with (compared to now) oversized Buckeye Helmet Stickers. Love that Buckeye stuff.
I was born in 1973, so I've never seen Archie play, just highlights. After meeting Archie in person, I came away thinking he was a sincerely nice human being and also think he is one heck of an ambassador for OSU and college football.