By: Jeremy Whitt (BleacherReport.com) -

SATIRE — Maybe it’s the years of winning, maybe it’s the lack of a MLB or an NFL franchise in C-bus, whatever it may be, there’s certainly a fever amongst Buckeye football fans that surpasses the norm. Just ask my fiance’. The added sports package on cable, the hat collection, the jersey’s, the stone outside the door that reads ‘Buckeye Country’, the bickering over wedding dates because they conflict with certain Ohio State games, the strange attraction and/or preference for anything red or gray - it’s out-of-hand. Ultimately, we settled on 10-23-10 as the big date. Why? Because I figure that Ohio State is gonna destroy Purdue, and because the weather in Tennessee at the end of October is joyous.

Of course, there are fanatics everywhere. You have seen them on television wearing bulldog masks, make-up, shoulder pads with spikes, or nothing at all. Every fanbase has their share of obsessed fans, but Ohio State fans take the normal realm of fan-dom and turn it up a notch(“but this one goes to eleven”- Spinal Tap).

I think one big reason is because Columbus is a big city. It’s a big city where the Buckeyes dominate the press. Locals are more likely to tune into the battle for the 2nd string quarterback spot, than to catch-up on the BP oil spill, or check the Nasdaq. Unlike Knoxville, Tuscaloosa, Gainesville, or South Bend; Columbus is a metropolis, one who’s heart lies in the middle of Ohio Stadium. Again, every fanbase has its’ exceptions, but most every Ohio State fan goes above and beyond the call of duty.

Every spring about 70 - 90,000 fans pay to see a glorified scrimmage, and walk back to their vehicles discussing depth charts and breakout players. Text messages fly when 4rth string running backs decide to transfer.

Stubhub and EBay are completely inundated with overly-priced tickets, not because people are selling their tickets, but because people know that they can get a kings-ransom for them, and because all the brokers pull every string to get their greedy little hands on them. On Ebay a ticket to see the Buckeye opener against Marshall will run you about 200 bucks, and don’t even think about trying to get Michigan tickets through those outlets unless you just hit the multi-state, megaball lottery. Daddy’s season tickets to the Big Game could net you a substantial down payment on a car, that is if he wouldn’t disown you for selling them.

It’s hard to discuss this without other fan-bases showing a wee bit of resentment, jealousy. That’s O.K. We don’t expect every fan-base to have a ‘local bar’ where they gather(There is one - yes, in your city - It’s Taco Mac here in Chatt, Tn), nor do we expect other fans to scream out the letters of their school whenever they sniff one of their own,”O-H……I-O”, or to flip the bird at every Michigan plate that drives by, and no, it doesn’t matter if they’re senior citizens. Ohio State fans are born to live, breath, and die Ohio State. Nine Ohio-born babies have been named Tressel since Jim won the National Championship, and there has been more than one request to be buried below the Ohio Stadium turf. Speaking of that turf; i still have a piece of it from the original redemption game in 1994, John Cooper’s first win versus the Wolverines(one of only two/’94,’98). Today, that box is not to be opened, as if the sample will disintegrate upon human contact. It’s as highly guarded as King Tuts’ sarcophagus. After all, Tut doesn’t have a pit-bull standing guard over ‘The Ohio State Room’, a room equipped with ‘goonie’ booby-traps and real, life-long curses. Removing items from the Ohio State Room is like stealing the Declaration of Independence - and we all know that stuff only happens in the movies.

What is it, exactly, that makes the average Ohio State fan memorize the three-deep? Why do we care about the 2012 recruiting class in 2010? Why do we fall so hard when they lose, or celebrate so long when they win? What makes us different from every other fanbase in the country? The answer is passion, an undying passion, an unparrelleled passion, a willingness to live vicariously through our football team, and the feeling of family that comes with it. It’s not that other teams and their fans don’t have it - they just don’t have as much of it.

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