With the offseason in full swing one is truly left to contemplate just how much Buckeye football doesn’t happen. Think about it. Twelve games. Twelve Saturdays. 3.3% of the year. That’s it. If you’re lucky you get two, maybe three more games (thanks to the playoff). If not, you’re left with 3.3%
No other major sport in America has such a short season. The brevity is what makes watching college football (and more importantly the Buckeyes) such a sacred experience. It’s important to cherish those Saturdays because before you know it
For 3.3% of the year, this is sacred.
you’re here, in late June decidedly NOT watching the Buckeyes.
The sanctity of the 3.3% isn’t understood by some and unfortunately (due to the construct of other major sports’ seasons) it’s a hard sell convincing them of the importance of every game. “Watch it next week”, they’ll say as you rabidly poke your phone searching for a game stream in the middle of a baby shower.
In most cases watching next week would be a valid option. Generally speaking the fate of your team in the NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL and even in most NCAA sports doesn’t hinge on their performance week-to-week. Lose a game, recover move on. That’s that. But, lose a game in college football, particularly one late in the season, and there might not be a recovery.
Conversely, if you happen to miss your team’s big play, touchdown or (God forbid) comeback you might not recover. There’s truly nothing worse than hearing about greatness second hand. Don’t watch the replays because they’ll show the faces of those who didn’t miss it. The overjoyed countenances of those who saw it with their own eyes. Those who understand the 3.3%.
Fall birthday parties, weddings, apple-orchard hayrides, they all have one thing in common. A host who simply doesn’t get it.
“Hey honey, let’s have our wedding on Nov. 9, 2002.” “Sure babe that sounds great!” That two-second interaction happened somewhere and in those two seconds the lives of countless future attendees were ruined. While they were sitting in a church pew, this happened…
If you missed Holy Buckeye, there is no re-living it. Sure you get goosebumps every time you watch the clip, but amplify those times a million and you still aren’t close. Words don’t do it justice, the grainy clip barely does. It was a moment we’ll never get back, but one you’ll never lose if you witnessed it.
You see that’s what people who criticize [insert name of cranky college football fan who is somewhere other than in front of a TV watching his/her team on a Fall Saturday] fail to realize. In college football every game is a playoff. Every game is an elimination. Every game is can't miss.
These games are the moments we wait 96.7% of the year for: twelve shining Saturdays that define what it means to be a Buckeye fan. Script Ohio, Hang On Sloopy, tail-gaiting, TBDBITL and the boys in the Scarlet and Gray. Without them the 12 Saturdays from August to November are just 3.3% of the year. With them…they’re everything.
