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Rivalry Game Eve – American Traditions Part II

Again, for non US readers, a peak into American culture!

This weekend will have 3 very special college rivalry games:

University of Alabama vs. Auburn University (The Iron Bowl)

Mississippi State University vs. University Of Mississippi known as “Ole Miss” (The Egg Bowl)

Both will have a big impact on this January’s national championship race.

And then of course, the game I will be watching tomorrow at noon:

Ohio State football has an arch rival problem. I won’t mince words. Famous alumni are too comfortable now!

(from 2023. i like watching Michigan alum Rich Eisen year round, EXCEPT for this week lol)

As an adult, I recognize the need to put away the passions of my youth. I know I have to moderate myself expressing my likes and dislikes. And for the most part, I have.

I have learned to stay polite and use nuanced language when my New York Yankees play against the Boston Red Sox.

I have learned allow my dislike of the New England Patriots to simmer down because of their ill-gotten victories versus my Indianapolis Colts (and that their new head coach is a former Ohio State linebacker).

I have even become gracefully complimentary, even to a fault, when it comes to El Clasico, giving Lionel Messi his flowers while being devoted to Real Madrid.

But those that know me understand that I – along with relatives & a network of friends – are doing this to save energy for the one day, on every final Saturday of November, when Ohio State takes on their arch rival (I’m not even saying their name lol).

We need a return back to the good ol’ days when we were winning the rivalry games. I don’t want to go through another 365 more days until we get another crack at them.

But most of all, I want the old Rich Eisen podcasts like this from 2018!

I had a whole post about tradition written out but I respect people’s time here on the platform.

With that said, I’ve got my away jersey ready as we are going up to Ann Arbor. And if the band plays this song in the last 2 minutes of the 4th quarter, the outcome I and Buckeye fans have been waiting 1,460 days for has finally happened.

“This is the real one. This is the greatest rivalry in all of sport, not college football – ALL of sport.” – Urban Meyer, Ohio State Football Head Coach on The Ohio State/archrival name Rivalry

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27 responses to “Rivalry Game Eve – American Traditions Part II”

  1. camilla wells paynter Avatar
    camilla wells paynter

    “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!” LOL!

    Reply
    1. Michael Williams Avatar
      Michael Williams

      i knowww 😆😆 as i was writing this i was saying to myself “ok, Michael Williams, DO NOT go overboard with this. just say your piece and leave!” hahaha

      Reply
  2. ibarynt Avatar
    ibarynt

    What’s the difference between Mississippi State University and University of Mississippi?

    You make this truly interesting but I don’t understand anything 😆… I hope your team wins Mike.

    Reply
    1. Michael Williams Avatar
      Michael Williams

      i’m glad you asked Iba! 🙂 whenever you see a college team with State in their name, like my Ohio State Buckeyes, it means that the school gets their primary funding from the state itself aside from private donors. As such, in some cases it creates a sort of stratified sense of campus identity with the case of Ole Miss being viewed as the classic, old money school compared to Mississippi State being the new, progressive, modernist institution.

      In Ohio, it’s different as Ohio State is the flagship institution.

      In other states, notably California, the stratification can go even further. California has the University of California schools which are state run and very famous (UC) and I’m sure you’ve heard of UCLA, UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara (my favorite lol).

      But the creme de la creme institution there is the University of Southern California (USC) – and yes, a little mini rivalry plays out there too. 🙂

      thanks for rooting for my team Iba! alot of Indian ethnicity students go to both Ohio State and “the other school” haha, so this rivalry is woven into their identities.

      Reply
      1. ibarynt Avatar
        ibarynt

        Oh that’s interesting information. Most of our universities here are state or central funded. It’s just a few years ago when private universities were established. These do come with a hefty tuition fee but the courses offered are modern too. I believe our state run uni’s are keeping up. But, education is becoming another business and a status symbol.

        UCLA and Berkeley seem to be the preferred institution, I hear so much about them.
        Your college sports are really competitive. The loyalty goes so deep 😁.

        So, did your team win?

        Reply
        1. Michael Williams Avatar
          Michael Williams

          yes! we did 😀 thank you for rooting for us Iba

          Reply
          1. ibarynt Avatar
            ibarynt

            Oooh yippee yaay… now I want to know what dance you did, this win came after a long time 😆…

            Reply
  3. KikiFikar Avatar
    KikiFikar

    SO exciting!! Rooting for you! Please report back even though I’ll check scores!

    I’ll be staying up late tomorrow night to watch Notre Dame on the west coast.

    Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving! 😁

    Reply
    1. Michael Williams Avatar
      Michael Williams

      Hi Karen! yes! Notre Dame/Stanford will be a great game too and a great rivalry as well as Notre Dame/USC! there are two other Notre Dame fans here so, in WordPress spirit, you are definitely not alone. I love that it’s a 10:30 kickoff for us out here in the East Coast 😀

      wasn’t it nice yesterday for Thanksgiving? a little cold for sure but overall it was nice – hope you enjoyed Thanksgiving. I’m getting some of the leftovers set up for dinner 😀

      Reply
      1. KikiFikar Avatar
        KikiFikar

        I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! We had a chilly day here but it was clear. Early dinner. Every year we say we aren’t going to focus on the appetizers and we never listen to ourselves lol. Ate way too much charcuterie and not enough dinner. Skipped dessert altogether! Had a nice night and visit with the family.

        Watching hockey right now as I catch up on this amazing WordPress community we are in!

        Reply
  4. Nancy Homlitas Avatar
    Nancy Homlitas

    I’m a Buckeye fan mostly because, as an Ohioan, I consider them my home team. But what is your reason? Haha-as if you need one! 🙂

    Reply
    1. Michael Williams Avatar
      Michael Williams

      my family’s US heritage started out in Ohio! and tbh Ohio and Indiana are a hidden paradise of the country – it’s so beautiful out there, and peaceful 🙂

      i think you mentioned once you were from the northwest, we are originally from near columbus and towards the cincinnati area! One day i’ll visit again but i did live in Dayton for a while a long time ago and it was awesome!

      Reply
  5. thingsihavethoughtof Avatar
    thingsihavethoughtof

    You’re getting me excited from way over here! I love this aspect of sport, so much passion and emotion. Who said men weren’t emotional!

    Good Luck (yes, sport has luck as we know)!

    Reply
    1. Michael Williams Avatar
      Michael Williams

      Rob! thanks for the support 😂! this is the only event i’ve decided to emotionally invest in into my later years lol

      i didn’t want to write too much about it but this game is intense. both sides have just learned to tone it down out of respect but to a large part of both fanbases its life or death.
      so when ppl talk to me about their favorite respective sports rivalries i really feel it in my heart.
      this game is pretty crazy and nasty. one year when the game was held at the rival stadium, someone got mad as we were about to win and threw a slice of pizza hitting me in the face. i didn’t even get mad, i just kept on groovin and pointing to the scoreboard 😂😂

      the guy that used to do my pool grew up in the rival’s town and we both knew about each other’s loyalties so we just had a gentleman’s agreement that i would tip him extra so he wouldn’t screw up my swimming pool 😂😂😂

      Reply
      1. thingsihavethoughtof Avatar
        thingsihavethoughtof

        hahhaa, amazing what a ‘simple’ game can do to us, for some weird reason we’re built for rivalry since the dawn of the time.

        Reply
        1. Michael Williams Avatar
          Michael Williams

          we really are lol. glad I could share the tradition with you and everyone here. much thanks again Rob for cheering. I don’t know what I would have done if we lost 5 straight rivalry games lol

          Reply
    2. Michael Williams Avatar
      Michael Williams

      again thx for the support Rob! good vibes right back at you!

      Reply
  6. Christopher Hall Avatar
    Christopher Hall

    Oh it’s going to be absolutely rocking at noon est Mike! Oh mannnnnn. I’m not saying anything else. The last thing that’s needed is a jinx right now.😂

    Reply
    1. Michael Williams Avatar
      Michael Williams

      LOL! thank you Chris, you will have an honorary plate of wings and nachos waiting for you at the table!

      Reply
  7. Nancy Homlitas Avatar
    Nancy Homlitas

    Well, now I understand why you’re an avid Buckeye fan. I live in the rust belt of northeast Ohio. 😁

    Reply
  8. justrojie Avatar
    justrojie

    I’ll say it, I’m still not a fan of the New England patriots 😂

    Reply
    1. Michael Williams Avatar
      Michael Williams

      ikr?? everyone just takes a city with their name, these guys? nooooo – we have to be special, we have to be “new england”woooo LOL

      Reply
  9. Darryl B Avatar
    Darryl B

    Congrats on the big win! 😎 Agree it’s a great rivalry. There used to be a commercial for insurance or cars where this lovely young lady gives a ride to another college age guy. Everything is going along swimmingly until they discover they’re OSU and UM.. the dude is left standing by the side of the road in a choking cloud of dust and grit 😂

    Reply
    1. Michael Williams Avatar
      Michael Williams

      lol! I remember that commercial Darryl. those were really funny ads! thank you for the congrats – I was so nervous during the first quarter but thank god we came back. I was more sad for our coach because if he failed to win this rivalry game and – as a result – allowed the other school to move up into the playoff…the entire state of Ohio and fans countrywide would have a meltdown lol

      Reply
  10. mel23h Avatar
    mel23h

    They were good games!

    Reply
    1. Michael Williams Avatar
      Michael Williams

      yes! that alabama game was intense!

      Reply
      1. mel23h Avatar
        mel23h

        Most definitely was!

        Reply

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