Posted on 11/18/2004 7:29:22 PM PST by buckeyesrule
OSU-Michigan games more than mere memories for players
By Jerry Rudzinski
For the Dayton Daily News
Jerry Rudzinski was a linebacker who played for Ohio State from 1994 to 1998. He was team captain in his senior year. He shares his memories of the OSU-Michigan rivalry.
I still recall my first ever OSU-Michigan game as a youngster. It was the 1986 classic in the Horseshoe. My father and I went to the game and watched Chris Spielman make about 50 tackles (at least that's what the PA announcer had him for). I wore a Cris Carter No. 2 jersey that I bought at the Fan Fair store in the Dayton Mall a few months before. We sat in the northeast corner of the stadium. A Michigan fan sat next to us and played Hail to the Victors on a kazoo for three hours straight. That game taught me about the rivalry. It taught me about the fans, the bands and, of course, The Game.
I never liked the University of Michigan. I grew up a die-hard Buckeye fan. When I wasn't rooting for OSU, I rooted for Notre Dame (my uncle Joe Rudzinski played there in the early '80s) and Michigan State (my uncle Paul Rudzinski played there in the late '70s). What do OSU, ND and MSU have in common? They all despise Michigan. Michigan is their rival. Yet this game would be just as big for a Buckeye player without all that personal history.
Sitting in the film room preparing for the Michigan game, it is obvious their players are more athletic, harder hitting and coached much better than the other 10 or 11 teams on your schedule. I can tell you from talking with Michigan players, they would say the same things about Ohio State. The respect factor is huge.
It is amazing how much the players on both sides have in common. They both play at a school where football is king. They both play the same teams. They both have the best coaches in college football. They both have second-string future All-Americans pressing starters for playing time. They both enter games expecting to win. They both play on national television about every week. The list is endless. In my five years at Ohio State, I finished with two wins and three losses. I promise you — Michigan earned those three wins. You need to go and get a victory in this rivalry. The victory won't just come to you.
There was something special about playing in Ann Arbor. I always enjoyed playing on the road in different stadiums, but there was someting even more unusual about wearing our white jerseys in late November against Michigan. The locker room up there is tiny. They do you no favors in terms of making you comfortable. (I'm sure they could make the same claim.) What's special, though, is the entrance to the field. You walk down a long concrete path toward a tiny opening showing daylight. That opening gets bigger and bigger with every step. You see more crowd. Then you see even more crowd. Eventually you leave the tunnel and see gray skies and more than 105,000 people waiting to see the greatest rivalry in all of sports.
I always prayed on the bus ride to games that nobody from either side got hurt. For whatever reason, I never said that prayer for the Michigan games. There was always a feeling that both teams go at this game a little differently than the others. For a victory in this game, both sidelines would be more than willing to put their bodies and health on the line. Right or wrong, this was bigger than my scholarship, bigger than my business classes, and bigger than our coaching staff and roster.
I remember in our '94 victory when Coach John Cooper punched and broke a chalkboard at halftime; it bloodied his hand. I remember in '95 when Bobby Hoying and Eddie George sat in the locker room with their pads on and cried their eyes out after a loss in Ann Arbor. I remember Marcus Ray taunting our sidelines in '96 after a late interception sealed the game for Michigan. I remember the '97 game. That was without question the absolute best 60 minutes I have ever played the game of football. Even going back to grade school and high school, I have never felt so in control. Yet I remain haunted by a missed tackle on Charles Woodson that could have stopped Michigan's first-half momentum. In my senior year of '98, I remember the pre-game meeting with players only. "Michael, Joe, David, Dee ... go be athletic and make plays for us. Everyone else in this room, let's go get in a fistfight!" When we held Tom Brady's offense to four yards rushing, it meant a 15-point Buckeye victory. The crowd joined us on the field for the best party I have ever attended. The entire state didn't care about a Big Ten title. They just cared about beating Michigan.
Maize, blue, scarlet and gray just look right on the football field together. They look even better when the skies are overcast. Of course, you think about the game in weeks eight, nine and 10. Of course, you look ahead. Of course, you choose Ohio State so you can play in that game. Those OSU-Michigan games are not a memory. They are a part of Jerry Rudzinski.
I love that!
IIRC, in 1963, we went to see the rivalry. It was another late November, the game was canceled.
I learned to root for underdogs because of Ohio State. pffft, "The Ohio State"
Sourgrapes Buckeyes are so fun to listen to.
You all take this game way too seriously.....
But I guess I would if it were the most important game of the year and I lost most of the time.
So.....what's the overall record? Gosh, I forget.
What's the record of the last twenty years? Gosh I forget.
Unfortunately, you don't.
End of story.
Get a life.
:-)
August 5, 2004
President's Remarks at Saginaw, Michigan Rally
Wendler Arena
Saginaw, Michigan
6:05 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Thanks for coming.
(Applause.) Thanks for having me here. (Applause.)
I'm here to ask for the vote. (Applause.) And I'm here
to ask for your help. (Applause.) It's been a great turnout.
Thanks for coming.
It's going to be an interesting campaign. We have big
differences of opinion. For example, we have a
difference of opinion over the heart and soul of
America. See, my opponents believe you can find the
heart and soul of America in Hollywood. I think you
can find it right here in Saginaw, Michigan. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA!
THE PRESIDENT: That's not the only thing my
opponent seems a little confused about. The other day
in Ohio, he said that there's nothing better than Buckeye
football, period.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: Then he came to Michigan. First
he told the crowd, "I go for the Buckeye football. That's
where I'm coming from." No, I know, that's not what the
Michigan folks were expecting to hear. (Laughter.) Then
he remembered where he was and he called an audible.
(Laughter.) He said that the University of Michigan was
a powerhouse of a team. You see, my opponent is a
Washington politician who's taken both sides of just
about every issue, including Big Ten football. (Applause.)
Dude! If you don't like Big Ten football, why are you posting on this thread? Talk about "get a life." Sheesh!
Oh, yeah: Go Blue!
It's the best.
2003- Michigan
2002- Ohio State
2001- Ohio State
2000- Michigan
1999- Michigan
1998- Ohio State
1997- Michigan
1996- Michigan
1995- Michigan
1994- Ohio State
1993- Michigan
1992- Tie
1991- Michigan
1990- Michigan
1989- Michigan
1988- Michigan
1987- Ohio State
1986- Michigan
1985- Michigan
1984- Ohio State (I run onto field after game)
1983- Michigan
1982- Ohio State (I buy tix from scalper for $20)
1981- Ohio State
1980- Michigan
1979- Ohio State
1978- Michigan
1977- Michigan
1976- Michigan
1975- Ohio State
1974- Ohio State
1973- Tie
1972- Ohio State
That's how long I've been following it!
Michigan might have the better football team this year but this year Ohio saved America. LOL!
I remember too.
I thought you might want to forget......
Well, it does look like Michigan has a better team this year. But, of course, the one way for O.S.U. to salvage a "winning" season is to knock off U. of. M. and cost us the Big Ten title and the Rose Bowl berth. And the game is in Columbus, so I don't think anyone is treating it as anything other than anybody's game! Looking forward to it myself! Go Blue! And here's one Wolverine who is looking forward to the Buckeyes getting right back into the top tier where they belong. The only way that Saturday's game could be better would be if we were both undefeated in the conference so that the title and the roses would go to whoever won!
Oh yeah, and thanks for that "saving all that is right and holy" thing!
Well, I happen to hate both OSU and UM.
I never watch the games but know when they are playing because of all of the pre-game hype by the MSM. I usually watch the SEC game on the other channel but I keep rooting for both of them to beat each other silly and the "stars" taken out of the game due to non-career ending injuries.
Man, I really do HATE both of them.
The Buckeyes have more to worry about then Michigan these days.
Question: What did Tressel know and when did he know it?
You'll smoke turds in hell for that!
But we are 2-1 PC (Post Cooper)!
Two words for you: Fab Five!
Or are you one of those SEC diehards who thinks there aren't any other conferences? If I'm picking the country's best football conference, I like the SEC, but I can't imagine not watching matchups like the UM-OSU game.
But then, I can't imagine rooting for Michigan either
GO BUCKS!
Amen! I thanked God the day that loser left. We can only hope that he'll coach at Michigan some day. That or they'll dig up that old drunk Bo again.
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