Life is full of spoils. Little ones and big ones. Impactful or mundane. Countless spoils come to only a few, as they are hard to come by.
In the world of sports, a good team or a meaningful win can make a difference in someone’s day or even their life. There are plenty of teams, however, that struggle to achieve victory on the smallest of levels, whether it is beating your rival or even just winning one game.
As an Ohio State fan, one thing is clear: we are spoiled beyond belief.
I could go over all the victories and championships over the last 20 years, but that would be nonessential since all the wins and championships have become ingrained in Buckeye lore.
But I’m going to do it anyway.
Since 1996, Ohio State has (takes a deep breath) a record of 230 wins and 52 loses, 2 National Championships, 11 Big Ten Championships, 2 Rose Bowls, 3 Sugar Bowls, 4 Fiesta Bowls, 15 New Year’s 6 Bowl Appearances, 11 Bowl Wins, 12 top 5 finishes, and 16 wins against Michigan.
Let’s also not forget the memorable and iconic players we have been able to witness over the past 20 years. It is truly impressive.
Players like Orlando Pace, David Boston, Antoine Winfield, Andy Katzenmoyer, Joe Germaine, Mike Doss, A.J. Hawk, Will Smith, Chris Gamble, Ted Ginn, Santonio Holmes, Antonio Pittman, Beanie Wells, Malcolm Jenkins, James Laurinaitis, Braxton Miller, John Simon, Ryan Shazier, Carlos Hyde, Ezekiel Elliott, Michael Thomas, Joey Bosa, Malik Hooker, Cardale Jones, and J.T. Barrett, to name a couple dozen or so.
Those players competed and performed in some of College Football’s greatest games, like the 1997 Rose Bowl, 2002 Michigan game, 2003 Fiesta Bowl, 2006 Michigan game, 2015 Sugar Bowl, 2016 Michigan game, and even this year’s game against Penn State.
Unfortunately, we have been so consumed with winning we are even angry or disappointed after a win because we didn’t win in style.
Many Ohio State fans view this season as a loss since the Buckeyes won’t be competing for a National Championship, and I feel sorry for them.
When you look around at other programs in college football, you realize how lucky you are to be a Buckeye. OSU isn’t looking for a coach, the Buckeyes aren’t a laughing stock for all the wrong reasons, our program isn’t in shambles, we aren’t worried about the future of Ohio State, we aren’t paranoid about beating our rival, and we aren’t hungry for a championship during a drought.
Enjoy the ride.
We are living in a golden age of Ohio State Football and one day it will be over and you will wish you cherished these days more.
The Playoffs aren’t the be all end all. If you couldn’t enjoy a win against Michigan and a Big Ten Championship because you believe all that matters is a National Championship, what’s the point of even cheering for the Scarlet and Gray?
Sometimes you’ve just gotta stop and smell the cotton.
I’m an OSU fan to the core. Watched my first game when we got beat by John Elway in the Shoe. Those of you who are proud to be spoiled, you do realize that there are 11 players lined up against us whose sole purpose in life is to beat us? Sheesh, spoiled isn’t strong enough. “Entitled: is more like it. And the complaining is usually done by people who have never put on a football uniform. Perhaps any sports uniform. To gripe about our coaches is like the owner of Amazon complaining he doesn’t have enough money. Wait, he doesn’t say that because he knows he’s rich. We are fortunate to have one of the all time great coaches who has a higher win percentage than any other coach in football… and some fans STILL gripe and complain. Go be a UM fan. Sheesh.
Just be a proud BUCKEYE fan and stop worrying about those issues which you cannot control. The NC brackets are based upon the views of about 20 fallible folks. So be it.
Be thankful for the outstanding athletic programs at OSU and those who represent them. Being doing that for more than 60 years – ups and downs and in betweens. All good!
Frustrating? Absolutely! Anyone else sick of watching games at Jerry’s world? How about some real grass stains from the rose bowl, or at least a trip to Glendale. I understand it’s the current system but, Dallas sucks and so does not playing on January 1
We haven’t played in Dallas since 2014 in the National Championship and we’ve been to Glendale 6 out of the last 15 years. I do agree, a trip back to the Rose Bowl would be nice.
Are “we” spoiled by anticipating the results we’re seeing? Maybe, maybe not. At an institution like Ohio State winning and exceptionalism SHOULD be expected. If you’re willing to accept anything short of the best, Ohio State isn’t the place for you.
ENORMOUS amounts of money and time have been invested into the Ohio State football program over the decades to create something special and extraordinary. Back in the early years of College Football, the teams who did what Ohio State did, invest, invest, and invest in what was foreseen as the new GREAT American pastime, are generally the College Football powers of today. Schools that want the same success have come to realize that investing in and EXPECTING results on something as seemingly mundane as a game of football, benefits not just the school, but vast portions of the surrounding communities. Those revenues expand the reputation of the University, which leads to more money to expand even the general course offerings and student population.
If by spoiled you mean EXPECTANT of certain results? Yep, guilty as charged. PROUD to be guilty as charged.
Upset over losing a couple games? Yep. Upset that the coaching staff is missing obvious fixes? Yep. Yep yep yep yep to all of those things. Guilty as charged your honor. We’re spoiled and damned proud of being spoiled. It’s difficult to separate being spoiled and pride. That’s all part of not just the College experience, but the general fanbase that religiously follows and FANATICALLY follows and cheers on the home team.
At Ohio State we do expect certain results. Maybe we even demand those results. But that’s our internal fighting about what is broke, what needs fixed and how to go about getting the job done.
When something as obviously jaded as this last bit of Pearl Harboresque bombing by the playoff committee happens, we should react. HOWEVER we choose to react. People of the playoff committee don’t expect or anticipate fans being so invested in watching ALL the games possible to question their methods or their results. Unfortunately for them, SOME of us utterly spoiled fanatics DO in fact watch other similar or comparable schools from other conferences who we could wind up being measured against. We watch them in spite of the dirty feeling because we want to have a reason for our fanaticism. We already HAVE the reason for our being spoiled and for our expectations. When the dust settles, we want and DEMAND an honest and fair evaluation for what our teams represent.
The playoff committee DID express their bias to the Southern teams, as they ARE the majority of voters ON that committee. They tried selling that hogwash determination banking on most fans simply taking their word for it without reviewing ALL of the parties with a dog in the fight. They handed it off to their equally biased yes men in the media and journalist cartel to argue in favor of their decision. To built a case that was only founded on shifting sand bias. That is after all, the politically correct thing for the sheep to swallow. No matter that the reasons given, even after a quick scan of the actual results states with a clear and loud voice that, their decision was based ENTIRELY on a lie.
Spoiled as hell and proud of it. What of it? EXPECT great and as close to perfection as possible from the Program? Bet your last peso! I look at my walls, or I can open about any drawer where important things are kept, in my closets, in my rather large collection of ticket stubs and gameday programs, the bumper of my vehicles etc etc etc. It all screams spoiled as hell Buckeye FANATIC, former student, and friend to past and present players and some staff members. Damn straight exceptionalism is demanded and expected. Anything short of that is failure. Being angry about certain coaching decisions, being outright pissed off at times because of losses or too close to call games? Yep yep yep. GUILTY of being spoiled and prideful. Still at the end of the day………………it always IS and always WILL BE about the Ohio State Buckeyes.
WHILE THIS IS ALL GOOD AND TRUE, THE PLAYOFF SYSTEM WAS CREATED TO FIX ALL THESE PROBLEMS CREATED BY THE BCS FORMAT AND BEFORE THAT THE POLLS. I CAN GO AS FAR BACK AND REMEMBER WHEN ONLY 16 TEAMS MADE THE NCAA BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP. THAT FORMAT WAS EXPANDED BECAUSE BACK IN THE DAY, GOOD TEAMS WOULD NOT PLAY EACH OTHER IN THE REGULAR SEASON FOR FEAR OF LOSING AND NOT MAKING THE NCAA TOURNAMENT. NOW WE HAVE THE SAME SCENARIO IN FOOTBALL. WHILE PLAY TOUGH OUT OF CONFERENCE TEAMS IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE PENALIZED IF YOU LOSE. CONFERENCES WILL GO UP AND DOWN IN HOW GOOD THEY ARE FROM TOP TO BOTTOM. REMEMBER THE BIG 2 AND LITTLE 8. TWO TEAMS FROM THE SAME CONFERENCE ONE WHO CLEARLY SCHEDULES AN INFERIOR OPPONENT BEFORE THEIR RIVAL GAME, DOES NOT WIN THEIR DIVISION NOR THEIR CONFERENCE SHOULD NOT BE IN THE PLAYOFFS. THEIR NEVER SHOULD BE TWO TEAMS FROM THE SAME CONFERENCE IN A 4 TEAM PLAYOFF SYSTEM. THE SCHEDULES ARE SET SO FAR IN ADVANCE, IT IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO PREDICT WHAT TEAMS WILL BE GOOD AND WHICH WILL FLAT ON THEIR FACE, EXAMPLE FLORIDA STATE.
well said, even if disappointed with the committee….
BRAVO!!! This article needed to be written and needs to be read by all of us….Multiple Times! Go Bucks!
Thank you!
Thanks, but once was enough.
I agree we Ohio State fans are spoiled and we need to enjoy the ride more. We are also quite passionate about our Buckeyes which is why the interest is so high, the money flows in and the players are idolized. I congratulate the team on their efforts, the Big Ten Championship, beating Michigan and Penn St. HOWEVER, as a fan we all want the TEAM to be the best it can be and we have been frustrated over and over again the last few years at the play calling, the lack of a good passing attack and some losses where the team just wasn’t ready to play and got smoked when we knew they had equal or better talent. IMO Urban needs to do some soul searching and figure out if he wants to get back to the top and create a dynasty or just be a legend for a while longer. The one thing that has bothered me for a couple years now is when we played at Rutgers in 2015, the team flew home and Urban stayed in NYC a couple extra days to promote his book. Can any of you old time fans imagine Woody doing such a thing? A couple weeks later we got upset by Mich St.
You need to get a life, no one prepares better than UM. People like you give OSU a bad name. Your insecurities are clear as glass.
Iowa prepared better than UM. OK and Clemson too. Clemson was forgivable. We all make mistakes and have bad days. The OK game however was not forgivable. The problem isn’t that we lost, but that we never showed up.
Spot on. Most fans are frustrated because we know these kids are top notch and we want to see them succeed. When we see the coaches let these kids down because of lack of effort we can’t stay silent. These kids deserve the best. Most of us don’t expect perfection from the players or coaches, but we expect to be competitive every game. The talent is there. The coaches just have to plan with the talent they have and not with what they wish they had.
Nice job Vogs. Smell the cotton? Maybe i’m too old.
Thank you!
Frustration is not on the results. It’s that this team could’ve been more. Ceiling capped by QB and LB play. Anytime you win the conference is an awesome year though. Defense got better as whole and the OL was top notch at the end