College football expands outside the jurisdiction of Madison, Wisconsin.
It stretches from sea to shining sea. It infiltrates the deep South, America’s heartland and the sunny west coast. There is nothing better than going to experience gameday, the most sacred day of the week, in a new place.
What’s the tailgating scene? What are the traditions? These two questions were on the front of my mind when I departed for Columbus, Ohio.
The differences between Columbus and Madison began to take shape even before I stepped out of the car. Sure they are both state capitols and play home to Big Ten schools, but Columbus has over double the population of Madison. The skyscrapers you see from the highway resemble those of Milwaukee more than Madison. This professional, uptown feel is very apparent on the ground all the way up to the 100,000-plus-seat stadium. Ohio State University poses a stark contrast to the small town, college-centered feel that engulfs Madison.
The first place to see this is the massive parking lots that transform into a sea of red on Saturdays. Lots fill with buses and RVs on the Friday before the game. The centralized, parking lot tailgate was very different than Madison. The dynamic intermixing of Regent Street and Breese Terrace are replaced with a few separate pools of tailgating lots that pave a road, over a mile long, straight to the gate of Ohio Stadium.
As kickoff drew closer to the Badger-Buckeye conflict I began to make the trek to High Street, the OSU equivalent of State Street, a commercial thoroughfare full of places to catch the game. I wasn’t prepared to shell out $250 for a seat in The Horseshoe.
During a two-and-a-half-mile walk across campus I was greeted by throngs of Buckeye fans who were incredibly pleasant and welcoming. Sure, once I was close to the campus dorms I heard the occasional “Badgers suck,” but nothing compared to some of the profanities you hear thrown toward visiting fans on University Avenue.
Even when I got to Eddie George Grille 27, one of the managers said, “If anyone gives you shit, come and tell me.” Again I was very impressed with how nice and welcoming the Buckeyes were. Also, good burgers at Grille 27.
All of this good faith from Columbus was great but not entirely shocking. Ohio State does not look at Wisconsin the way the Badger fans look at the Buckeyes. In Columbus, there is one rival; one enemy and that would be the team to the north, the Michigan Wolverines. I guarantee if I walked High Street dawning maize and blue I would not have been received warmly.
Michigan-Ohio State is one of the defining rivalries in college football. Those two teams will hate each other until the world stops spinning, and the Badgers are on the outside looking in.
Wisconsin’s feud with Ohio State is that of an unfortunate little brother. The hatred cast on the Buckeyes by Badger fans is acceptable but not warranted.
Ohio State-Wisconsin is not a rivalry because the feelings are not reciprocated. The Buckeyes were glad to rack a win against a ranked team, but in their eyes, there is no difference between Wisconsin, Michigan State or Nebraska. It’s just another win against a traditionally successful Big Ten team. To put it harshly, they don’t give a shit about the Badgers.
Wisconsin's rival is Minnesota, but thanks to more than a decade of ineptitude from the Gophers the border battle has suffered of late. The Badgers' intensity toward Ohio State exists purely because both teams win. When the Badgers started to experience consistent success during the Barry Alvarez tenure, Badger fans looked to Ohio State, the one team that consistently stood in the Badgers' way of a Big Ten title, and tried to stir up a rivalry.
This is not a rivalry. There is no deep-seeded hatred, that’s why Ohio State fans were so nice in Columbus. Just because both teams are ranked doesn’t mean that there is some burning rivalry, just two good teams competing. Sure you want your team to win, but it’s nothing to get upset about.
