Saturday

Whew. Whatta week. In the aftermath of an NCAA auction party, a birthday dinner, and basketball watching, my Cave Man Diet has been crippled and I'm back on track to poor health. Hopefully, I can reverse the course today and actually eat right for an entire 48-hour period.

Tough tournament for my Wolverines. They've been spotty all year, and MAC schools are often dangerous, so I wasn't surprised. Bummed, but not surprised.

I am, however, particularly disappointed by Michigan's showing last night because a TDE reader sent me this entertaining piece about Ohio State fans. Cracking the Bucknut: How Ohio State fans came to be so obnoxious, and who we should blame for it. I'm going to comment on it, even though I fear people will read "sour grapes" into my analysis, in light of last night's debacle. All I can say is, these thoughts were composed in my head yesterday, while drinking copious quantities of wine, and have nothing to do with the first round results.

Whereas Michigan fans have a reputation for being arrogant (and obnoxious in their arrogance), OSU fans have a reputation for being flat-out mean and obnoxious, with a flare for vulgarity and violence. I've spoken to many Michigan fans who told me they genuinely feared for their physical safety when attending the UM-OSU football game in Columbus. I've never heard anything similar when it comes to UM fans attending games at Michigan State (where UM is hated fiercely) or ND (where the rivalry is probably healthiest: two academic schools who dislike but respect each other).

This article (written from Cleveland) breaks down the troubling dynamics in Columbus that forced even Kirk Herbstreit to leave Ohio because of the OSU fans.

One notable excerpt:

"It's really hard to get over the anecdotal evidence," Hall says today. He writes about college football for SB Nation, a gig that lets him see up close each big program's fan base – and the stereotypes rivals throw at one another. He's mocked up a vivid profile of the Buckeye Everyman.

"It's everything negative and easily mockable about the Midwest compressed in a single entity," he deadpans. And it's more than just a vibe. The classic Bucknut has a defining set of traits all his own.

"The stereotype is angry, probably has a goatee, probably watches MMA and wrestling on the side, may live with his mother – may. And also, he's perpetually defensive about Ohio State's struggles.

"They wear jerseys," he adds. "People don't wear the jersey in the SEC. It's not something adults do."

And Buckeye Nation has earned the appropriate national accolades for it. According to the Bleacher Report's list of the 25 rudest fan bases in all of college athletics, Ohio State came in fourth – the highest ranking of any Big Ten program. (The top 3 spots were held down by West Virginia, Alabama, and LSU, making OSU the No. 1 rudest team among civilized cultures.)

I've often speculated that OSU's nearly non-existent admission standards contributed to the problem. Back in the 1980s, when I was reviewing Barron's college guide, it listed OSU as "noncompetitive," meaning (if I recall correctly) that any person with a high school diploma and no felony could get in. Now, a friend of mine told me yesterday that the standards weren't that lax: a person needed to graduate from high school with a 2.0. Could be (I would note that OSU's current admission standards are, according to U.S. News & World Report, "more selective"). But let's face it: If OSU was admitting that many intellectually-challenged individuals, and those individuals are now adults, and alumni tend to be more passionate about their schools, it's not surprising OSU fan behavior has grown troublesome. The otherwise-good article linked above doesn't mention this potential contributing cause.

Maybe the author didn't want to move to Nashville with Herbstreit.

Postscript: I should mention that the handful of Buckeye fans that I've known in my hometown have always been civilized folk and certainly no more obnoxious than me in the support they show for their team. Of course, maybe people behave themselves when they're behind enemy lines and an OSU fan living in Michigan is certainly behind enemy lines. We just don't threaten them with physical violence.

Also: Happy St. Patrick's Day. I've never been a big SPD celebrant, but I doff my hat to the saint's fans. To my Irish readers, this fine GKC verse:

For the great Gaels of Ireland
Are the men that God made mad,
For all their wars are merry,
And all their songs are sad.