Stand Up and Cheer
“So, where are you from?”
“Ohio”
“Oh, sure, the Buckeyes!!”
No. No, most definitely NOT the Buckeyes, OK?
I grew up in Athens, a small oasis of education and progress in poor,
awkward, struggling Southern Ohio. My father worked for the university, Mom and Dad met at the university, my husband and I met at the university. My son got his degree there and daughter will graduate from O.U. exactly 100 years after her great-grandfather wore his cap and gown there.
So NOT the stinkin' Buckeyes, thank you very much!
Living in Columbus and hating the Buckeyes is a tough gig, but it's one I’m willing to play. When the almighty Bucks lose to a lesser opponent I shake my head sadly and commiserate with customers who lament the loss- and on the inside I say, Yeah, that’s what it feels like to just be regular folks!
Sports has always been sort of an also- ran at Ohio University. Ask 20 students why they go to the football games and probably 17 of them will answer “to watch the band”. Winning is nice, I guess, but I've always been happy that O.U. is not a big "sports school". In fact, I'm proud of the fact that our sports teams kinda suck. Why?
Because we’re a university! We’re supposed to be about the medical school, and the engineering department, about the Honors Tutorial college and a nationally recognized program in journalism.
We pay tuition to get our kids educated, not to buy ourselves a championship sports team! So suck on that, Buckeyes. Huh.
And then the little Ohio University Bobcats, the kids from the styx, won a slot in the March Madness basketball tournament, the Big Dance. Last night, in the first round they pulled off a huge upset and gave Georgetown an education. And for this non-sports fanatic, the world is a slightly different place
today.My daughter and I watched the game together. I confess that I felt ridiculously excited the first time I heard the O.U. band, on national TV, play "Stand up and Cheer". I nearly stood up and cheered, right there on my bed.
We were in agony and ecstasy, afraid to watch, afraid to look away, as if the constancy of our attention could somehow provide extra energy for someone's flagging stamina, put the right spin on an errant free-throw. We nearly went nuts when CBS cut away to show the UNLV game.
"This is Ohio, you morons" I shouted. "Show us the Ohio team!" By the end of the game I was tense, hoarse and exhausted, but I refused to relax with one minute to go and a 15 point lead, reminding myself that now was no time for complacency!
And finally, the win.
My team. MY TEAM, from MY school, from MY town, from an overlooked, misbegotten corner of MY state, upset the number 3 seed!!!
Whatever that means.
I guess it means that for once, the big kid got taken down a peg, and the little kid: fast and feisty and smart but always stuck in the back row because of his size, the guys who everyone knew were just there to fill in an empty line on the brackets until the big boys could whittle things down to the real teams- made a few people stand up and, if not cheer (they probably screwed up a LOT of office betting pools) at least, for one day, take notice.
Do I wish that O.U. had gotten some national recognition for being a good, solid school in a lovely town, for being a good education value in the kind of place that will remain in your heart many years after you graduate and move on? Sure.
But I’ll take the win, thank you very much.
Tomorrow O.U. plays Tennessee, and they'll probably be good campers and lose like the big boys want them to. But if they somehow win… they could meet OSU in the third round. I think, if the Bobcats could knock the Buckeyes out of the tournament, even if they go on to total humiliation after that- even if they never win another game, ever…. it would pretty much justify my existence. And I will get straight ignorant about it too. I will paint "OS-Who?" in big green letters on the side of my car. Maybe on the side of my house.
And it's not about there being anything wrong with Ohio State: it's about getting tired of always being judged second best over something you know is totally bogus: like the size of your basketballs.
Today I took my daughter to the eye doctor, both of us in our Bobcat gear. Damn straight! When we walked in the waiting room, the first person I saw was a woman with a big pawprint on her chest.
“Nice shirt” she said to me, and we both grinned, instant comrads, united through past suffering and present, fleeting triumph. While I waited, 2 complete strangers came over and congratulated me on our big upset, like I was involved somehow.
Given my intense effort of last night, I accepted the praise.
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OU? Oh yeah!
Tracy Meisky is a poet, writer, singer, songwriter and all-around boat rocker from way back. Feel free to look around, but if you break it, you bought it.
Excellent, Tracy! I, too, grew up in Athens and your words ring true. For a short time a few years ago, I worked at the Barnes & Noble/OSU College Bookstore (formerly Long's). Of course, on game days, it was mandatory to wear scarlet & grey but underneath, I had on my Bobcat t-shirt every time.
During the now-infamous/famous football national championships, I happened to be scheduled to work. There I stood in that gigantic, nearly empty store in my OSU gear and an eye on the TV screen in the café like a good employee and seemingly dedicated fan. Hardly anyone was shopping since most were at parties prematurely celebrating what they thought would be inevitable. What? OSU lose? No way. Little did they know what lurked beneath my "uniform"! When the clocks ticked down and OSU's hopes were soundly dashed, one could hear crickets chirping among the piles of merchandise. Streams of students filed silently past the huge windows, drunk and in tears. Of course, I feigned empathy outwardly and hung my head in mock solidarity (I did like my job, after all). Inwardly, I grinned like a Cheshire cat . . . or rather, a proud Bobcat! Go 'Cats!
Loved it, Tracy, and my mother would have loved this, too. I don't quite feel the affinity for some reason, but I'm connected to the Bulldogs in a way I didn't expect when I returned to Athens.