For most college football teams, the annual spring game is free. It is after all an intrasquad scrimmage, an exhibition game. But most schools aren’t Ohio State, where Buckeyes football is a crazy cult with an insane following overly obsessed with the sport. It’s not a game or entertainment to the BUCKNUTS out there; who have no problem paying $7 each in advance and $15 on game day (cash only) to watch the team play against itself.
As of Monday, they already had sold 40,000 tickets. So that’s $280,000 gross for a preseason scrimmage. Don’t be surprised if they get 60-70,000 to the horseshoe for this.
(UPDATE: As of Wednesday, the number was up to 46,000)
The team has already drawn 3,100 for a practice. Yes, over 3,000 showed up just to watch the Buckeyes run drills. As of this moment, the weather forecast is calling for a 57-degree day this Saturday when the game commences. So why all the mania?
Well, the defense was great last year, and figures to be just as good this year returning starters from 2011. They are also under the direction of defensive coordinator Luke Fickell, last year’s head coach. And there’s the unwarranted lionizing of Urban Meyer. Ohioans are excited to see his new spread offense and anoint him the second coming; recruiting rumors be damned.
But again, this is SPRING FOOTBALL PEOPLE! It’s just spring practice, everyone is 12-0 this time of year. Don’t you have Columbus Crew (nah, never mind I don’t like soccer either) or Columbus Clippers baseball (meh, minor league games are all exhibitions too) or Columbus Blue Jackets (never mind, they play like they’ve been contracted from the NHL) to watch?
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, MSN and Fox Sports
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