Depending on how hot your blood runs, this week is either known as Rivalry Week or Hate Week. As the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes prepare to head to Ann Arbor on Saturday to take on the No. 15 Michigan Wolverines, I’ve spent a lot of time in recent days thinking about history, traditions, fandoms, and rivalries, specifically the one that has been core to me and my family for my entire life. What can I say — this week always brings up extra emotions for me.
Nobody has ever exemplified the passion that has long been associated with the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry more than the late, great Wayne Woodrow Hayes; he of, “I don’t buy one goddamn drop of gas in the state of Michigan,” and, “Because I couldn’t go for three.”
Woody Hayes, with his background as a Lieutenant Commander during World War II, knew how to motivate his teams, often leaning on historical and military imagery to drive his points home. And like so much in college football, Hayes’ speeches often came with layers of meaning that went far beyond what you heard on first listen.
There is a reason that the decade-long span when he coached against his best friend, Bo Schembechler, was known as The 10 Year War. That’s how Hayes approached football — and for those of us who need a little extra motivation this weekend, there’s a magical way to be transported back to a Buckeye locker room from half a century ago.
If you aren’t already gearing up to run through a brick wall out of sheer enthusiasm and love for our university, there is no one better to get you as amped up for The Game as possible than Woody Hayes. And despite the fact that Hayes died in 1987, you can still hear the coach give a pregame pep talk anytime, day or night, by calling his actual old home telephone number.
Apparently, this service has been available for years, but last night, on my family’s group text, my dad said that his best friend, since all the way back in middle school and his roommate at Ohio State, texted him and said, “Just read an article. Call 614-488-1910. Woody’s old phone number.”
My mom (whose best friend/Ohio State roommate married my dad’s best friend/roommate) immediately responded, “Goosebumps!!!”
So, I gave the number a call, and lo and behold, there was the voice of Coach Hayes firing up his Buckeye team to go into battle against That Team Up North. Chills and tears flooded over me (and are now again as I type this), and if I wasn’t already hyped for Saturday’s game, I absolutely was after that.
No more than 15 minutes later — because the internet is nothing more than apps spying on us — I was served this video via an Instagram reel from Columbus-based apparel company Homage and the company’s founder, Ryan Vesler, the man who made the nostalgic recorded message possible.
The emotions that a decades-old recording stirred up brought into sharper focus something I’ve been turning over in my mind all week, something that feels especially poignant to realize on Thanksgiving.
I love college football, and specifically the Buckeyes, because of how the sport gets into your blood. I know other people are equally passionate about pro teams, and while I love my Cincinnati Reds, my relationship with pro sports has always been far more transactional than with Ohio State.
Yes, I am an OSU alum who is the son of two OSU alums who grew up in Central Ohio, but my allegiance to this school and its teams goes far beyond proximity and familiarity. It’s the history of Jesse Owens, Bill Willis, Hopalong Cassidy, Jack Nicklaus, Jerry Lucas, John Havlicek, Archie Griffin, Jimmy Jackson, Katie Smith, Orlando Pace, and Eddie George.
It’s the chimes of Orton Hall, it’s Buckeye Grove, it’s the (somewhat annoying) synchronized spelling of the state’s name, it’s the Long Walk, it’s Script Ohio, it’s Mirror Lake, it’s the crossing out of all Ms on campus during Rivalry Week.
I believe that no fandom — sports, entertainment, politics, or otherwise — should ever become anybody’s entire personality; that’s how things turn toxic and ugly. But when it comes to college sports, that can be easier said than done. Whether or not you spent four (or more) years at the university you root for, whether or not you grew up in the shadow of the stadium you now cheer young men on in, a college football team is about far more than just what happens on the field on fall Saturdays.
Those teams are microcosmic representations of much larger and more expansive institutions. They are the places that we figure out who we are as adult human beings. They are places that employ thousands of our neighbors. They are places that strive to better the communities that they are part of. They are places that try to change the world through research, experimentation, and education.
All of those endeavors are things to be infinitely proud of, even more so than the accomplishments of 18 to 23-year-old men and women who share a similar connection to our school of choice. So while a football team is often the easiest and most public way for us to champion and cheer on the university that we love, the passion that comes with that specific aspect of fandom is about far more than just a game — far more than titles and championships and trophies, it is about the affection that we have for a place that has literally changed lives, and if we are lucky, even our own.
So when I heard Woody Hayes’ message on his old home telephone number, I heard not only a speech meant to fire up his players to go into figurative battle with their rivals, but a teacher — in the truest sense — giving his pupils a lesson they could carry for the rest of their lives. Much like my love for Ohio State, Coach Hayes’ pregame speech might seem like it’s just about football, but, my goodness, is it about so much more.
Today, and every day, I am eternally thankful to be an Ohio State Buckeye… Go Bucks! Beat Michigan!
