OU vs. OSU: OMFG

Buckeyes Survive Ohio’s Threat, 26-14

Bobcats Fall to In-State Rival No. 3 Ohio State, 26-14

I knew it was a foregone conclusion, but ... I can't believe OU was in it until late in the third, and even then almost pulled it off. When we had a lead in the first half, I told my friend Matt and my sister that Tressel was just toying with us — letting us get a few minutes of joy before he has the guys kick it up a notch and totally crush us in the second half.

So, it was a pretty good trip up until about 2:20 Saturday afternoon, which is pretty much when the aforementioned crushing began in earnest. My sister and I came down on Friday, geeked around at the comics archives and the campus bookstore, and took a hard-hat tour of the renovated main library. Then we went to the OU alumni pre-pregame party at the Lodge Bar.

That place was packed: We got there about two hours into it, and they had already run out of the plastic mugs with the special OU logo (the comic book image in Friday's post) and were handing out mugs with the bar logo. I'm cheesed because I wanted an OU one, but it's my own fault for getting lost downtown and wasting about a half hour.

Apparently there were a thousand people there, and between the cover charge and the rally towels, the Central Ohio alumni chapter raised about seven grand for its scholarship fund. I flipped through some of the event photos on the Columbus Young Bobcats page, but I don't think I'm in any of them, thank goodness. I did see a ton of people I know, including the president of the D.C. chapter and the former director of the alumni association (who now works for UCLA), and I rocked out a bit to the alumni band and Dirty Martini. Meanwhile, my sister sat in the corner and worked on her knitting. (No joke.)

One of her friends from OSU came by, and we went to get something to eat. Somehow we ended up at the Book Loft, because it was open until midnight. Eventually, however, my sister and I called it a night and headed back to our club-level king suite at the Sheraton. This place was pretty P.I.M.P.: two 32-inch plasma tvs — one in the living room and one in the bedroom; a king-size bed plus a sleeper sofa in the living room; a mini-fridge and microwave; wi-fi. It was in a limited-access area, which meant that you had to use your key card in the elevator to even get it to stop at our floor. Nice!

Staying there was a last-minute thing, which made it even more hilarious. I would have been content with a sleeping bag on Matt's floor, but since he couldn't put us up, he poked around on Hotwire Thursday afternoon and got us a room at the Sheraton for the same price or less than the advertised rate at the Motel 6 and Red Roof Inn on the same block. When he found out how awesome it was, he threatened to send us back to his house, and he'd stay in the suite.

First thing Saturday morning, we headed to campus in search of a parking space and the OU alumni pre-game party. It was a little strange to be eating hot dogs for breakfast, but I managed. I held off on the beer until 10, though. After I finished my beverage, my sister and I hiked up to the Oval for her alumni tailgate. We helped them kill the keg up there, while I heckled people who were hedging their bets: wearing OSU and OU gear. (Pick a team!) Around noon I got a text from Matt, explaining that a friend of his (and his brother) just got busted for open container. Doh! He managed to elude the fuzz, however, and came up to meet us on our way toward the stadium.

We were going to go to Riverwatch, since we knew some other OU alums would be watching the game from there. However, we realized that we could see the giant scoreboard inside the stadium from the street we were on, so we sat with about ten other people on a grassy knoll between the McCracken power plant and RPAC and watched the rest of the first half. I yelled and clapped loudly when OU made a good play, which confused the Buckeye fan in front of me. Her friend had to explain to her that I was rooting for OU, not OSU — a fact which I thought should have been evident from the bright green "Bobcats" shirt and green-and-white-beads I was wearing, but whatevs.

Speaking of shirts: Matt and I sounded like seventh-graders on Thursday when we argued over who got to wear what when this weekend. We both have green OU polos and something we call a Cooper Black t-shirt, since the "Bobcats" on the front uses that font. (We were cracking up over the font in May when we found the shirts in the bargain bin at Universi-Tees, since we're such font nerds. Obvs.) He wanted to wear a polo Friday and a Cooper Black shirt Saturday, but I said he couldn't, since that's what I was going to do.

He decided to sport a green "OS-Who?" shirt on game day, but came to regret that sartorial choice when he got heckled on the way to the alumni party Saturday morning. ("Nice shirt, asshole!") As a result, he bought a gray OU shirt at the party to put on before he ventured out onto campus by himself. Wimp! (Matt: Aren't you sorry you asked me to post a recap?!)

We watched the second half at Riverwatch, and when the outcome became a bit more obvious, we gave up and headed out. My sister and her friend took off to do some shopping and have dinner, and I dropped Matt off at home and went in search of some lotion to put on my sunburn. (I brought sunscreen, but neglected to actually put any on. Doh!)

My sister and I had a relaxing evening in our suite, watching Iron Man and Wanted on TV. (Did I mention they were 32-inch plasmas?) Early-ish on Sunday, we met up with some of my OU friends and their three-year-old son for breakfast at Bob Evans. Everything was going swimmingly until the waitress spilled a full glass of ice water down the poor kid's back. Yikes! My friends had a change of clothes for him on hand, though, and he calmed down as soon as he had on a dry shirt.

After all that excitement, checking out their new house was almost anticlimactic. It's lovely, though, with a big play area upstairs. We spent a few hours playing with his train set and Lincoln Logs before attempting some Candyland and Chutes and Ladders. He's still a little too young to be able to play the board games the standard way, but making up his own version was just as good.

Before we left town we had to stop by Mozart's to pick up some pastries for my mom. (She likes the marzipan peaches.) We also had lunch at the Blue Danube, where I ingested most of what I think was called a Bleu Dog: a half-pound beef frank topped with corned beef, sauerkraut, and melted cheese. Oy. It was pretty much a reuben crossed with a hot dog. Not quite a Parmageddon or Hamdog, but pretty close. If I hadn't also eaten half of the Blue Danube combo platter (fried mushrooms, zucchini, cauliflower; mozzarella sticks; onion rings), I probably could have finished it. Maybe next time: I hear OU plays OSU again in 2010.




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