* Many of you have wondered why I haven't been so vocal about the accomplishment of the Buckeyes and their bid to the BCS Championship. Although I have been very proud of the team, I have been busy writing a final paper for a sports writing class about my trip to the OSU-Michigan game. While it may seem outdated and over-due, here is my final piece about that amazing day.

I would like to congratulate the University of Michigan football team on an excellent season, but as Urban Meyer has famously said "they got their shot." Sour grapes and all, with the current BCS system, we will never see a year without controversy. While I do believe the Wolverines to be the second best team in the country, it only seemed fair for Florida to get their chance to prove if they belong in that second slot or not. By January 9, 2007 - we'll all know who has the goods to back up their team. GO BUCKS!

     As the black BMW ripped through the stale Pennsylvania landscape at 90 mph, I desperately pointed my cell phone towards the car window, hoping to find a signal. I needed to confirm the news I heard at a Pocono rest stop: was famed Michigan coach Bo Schembechler, merely ill or was it worse? Anxious to confirm the report, I tried calling anyone near a computer who could update me on the man’s status. It was early afternoon on November 17th, the day before the biggest game of the year. With historic proportions on the line, it was inconceivable to commence the weekend with the death of an iconic archrival.

            By the time the car pulled up to the beverage depot in New Castle, Pennsylvania at 4PM, Bo Schembechler was pronounced dead. With the state line just miles away, the sun setting, and the clock ticking closer towards kickoff, it seemed inappropriate but necessary to crack open a case of Coors Light and inaugurate the colossal weekend with a beer. The death of the Michigan legend indicated that the 103rd meeting between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Michigan Wolverines would be anything but ordinary.

            This wasn’t a road trip, it was a pilgrimage; a trip made by four devoted fans-mere acquaintances when they departed earlier that morning. Desperate to witness the mêlée in person, we made the 540 mile journey from New York City to Columbus, Ohio. The ten hour expedition was punctuated by a brief stop at gas station to load up on beer and a detour to the Akron-Canton airport to pick up a late inbound passenger who couldn’t play hooky from work that morning. To any person it was ludicrous, a 48 hour road trip to witness a football game, but to us it was the only way to witness THE Game.

            For devoted fans of the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry, there are no limitations to THE Game. What started out as a friendly match in 1897 has turned in to a turf war that many fans of college football have called “the greatest rivalry of all time.” The match-up historically crowns champions. In recent years, the game has spawned spoilers to bowl bids, ended the careers of coaches, and produced some of the biggest talent in the NFL.

            In 2006, a first occurred in the history of THE Game. Both teams entered the final regular season game undefeated and ranked No. 1 and 2 in the Bowl Championship Series. The winner of this game would not only be the out-right Big Ten Champion; they would earn an automatic bid to play for the national championship.

            By 6PM the OSU athletic department had issued 1100 media credentials, the state of Michigan had sent 600 law enforcement agents to provide extra protection for UM fans and we were 125 miles north of Columbus. Michael Jordan and Derek Jeter were dining at popular restaurant on campus, and our car couldn’t get there fast enough to be apart of it.

            Tickets for THE Game had been on sale since early October, selling as high as $5,000 a piece on eBay. The driver of our car had scored a dandy deal, purchasing a pair for $950. Although my parents had season tickets, I didn’t expect to sit in the Horseshoe and watch the game in their seats. I had tried to buy tickets, but there was no way I could afford it. This game was a ticket-scalper’s dream; even students were making out like bandits, selling their seats for a quarter’s worth of tuition. If I couldn’t afford to go to the game, I was going to witness the atmosphere.

It was inevitable that campus would hold more fans than the stadium could seat. By 8AM on game day, parking lots as far as two miles from the stadium were filled to capacity. The 3,560 vacant parking spaces on west campus had been transformed into a nomadic camp of football fanatics in deluxe camper-trailers who had made the same pilgrimage. Their multi-million dollar vehicles would put a rock star’s tour bus to shame.

Wealthy fans had BBQ smoke-houses custom built and hitched to the back of their Gulf Stream motor homes, making the most obsessed grill-master turn green with envy. Satellite dishes dotted the horizon over the parking lot and 60” flat screen TVs were hoisted on the sides of RV’s. While most of the vehicles displayed various forms of Ohio State pride, the ride that took the prize for most imaginative was an old yellow school bus with a vintage VW bus welded on top. The entire masterpiece had been painted scarlet and grey and the ingenious vehicle barked the Buckeye Fight Song from its horn.

Walking through the endless RV lots, the smell of charcoal and lighter fluid filled the air. (It’s never too early to start grilling bratwurst.) Middle-aged men standing in scarlet and grey fatigues with Buckeye helmets on their heads, holding cans of Bud Light, were a frequent sight at 8:30AM.

 For the college crowd, the day’s events started at 5AM when Panini’s, a popular campus bar, had opened for “Kegs n’ Eggs.” For a $10 cover you could get all the eggs you could eat and dollar pre-dawn drafts. These people weren’t fans…they were cult followers. Their devotion to their team and to the traditions of football Saturday was that of a religious ritual.

At a central Ohio church earlier that week, the minister started of the service saying "Good Morning. First of all, let's say a prayer to God, that he not empower Michigan as they travel into Ohio this Saturday. Although I know that God will not empower them as he will not empower EVIL over GOOD. God Bless The Buckeyes.”

While weddings and funerals had been re-scheduled around this game, the extremes these fans take for the rivalry went beyond the pulpit. Earlier that week, an OSU fan from Dayton spray-painted his Michigan-born neighbor’s yard with a giant red “Go Bucks!” across the front lawn. Another fan ate Ohio State cereal every morning and wore OSU inspired clothing to work all week, refusing to remove his No. 7 jersey. One fan even went out of his way to have his Michigan neighbor’s car towed.

Malicious jokes and superstitious behavior aside, the measures taken to witness the game infiltrated all facets of life. High school football tournament games were rescheduled to conclude prior to the OSU-UM kickoff. Even the Ohio Board of Elections postponed the counting of provisional ballots for a hotly contested House of Representatives race until AFTER the game.

Everyone wanted to see this match-up. Like me, many had driven all night and were prepared to pay any price to get a seat. As I walked towards the Stadium, I passed a six year old boy who was dressed up like a football player and had a cardboard sign hanging around his neck that read “I want to go to my first OSU-UM game, can you spare a ticket?” Like a poor Gypsy child, he scampered through the crowd, eliciting pitiful looks from grownups who wouldn’t think of giving up their seat.

Perhaps the most poignant story was that o####entleman who gave up his ticket to the game in lieu of a plane ride to Denver, Colorado. There he planned to sit bedside with a close friend who was facing his final days of terminal cancer. The bedridden buddy’s final request was to watch the Ohio State-Michigan game with his best friend. 

By 3:30PM 105,708 fans had crowded in to Ohio Stadium. Twice as many people covered the campus and 21.8 million viewers tuned in on the television. There was no where else in the world I wanted to be at that moment than on the campus of Ohio State…and there was no way I would let any road block or natural disaster stand in my way. As a child born and raised on Ohio State football, I had watched this game since birth and never in my 25 years of football attendance have I ever witnessed something as big as the 2006 OSU-Michigan game. I’m not sure the stadium will ever be as loud, will refrain from sitting down, or see its field flooded with over 100,000 ecstatic fans again.

The car ride from New York to Columbus was well worth the white knuckles I endured as our car overtook oncoming traffic like a NASCAR contender that Friday, but I opted for a $100 return ticket on AirTran. If I had been the gambling type, I should have put a $100 bet on the game, or played the lottery immediately following the victory. For the few who chose the final score of the game as their “Pick 4” numbers that night, 4-2-3-9 turned out to be the winning combination and the Ohio Lottery paid out $2.2 million for that fortuitous combination.

     For THE Game, there is nothing too impossible to imagine, but like any miracle you can only believe it if you witness it in person. While I may never get to see Mecca, my own pilgrimage to THE Game will forever be a highlight of my religious devotion for Ohio State football.