MSU ticker: Why OSU has Big Ten’s best atmosphere

Nov 21, 2015; Ohio State Buckeyes running back Ezekiel Elliott shakes hands with fans while walking into Ohio Stadium prior to the Buckeyes’ game against the Michigan State Spartans.(Photo: Geoff Burke, USA TODAY Sports) COLUMBUS, Ohio — There are stories of cars getting keyed, car windows getting broken, kids wearing any hint of an opposing team’s color told to go … well, told to go do something unpleasant to themselves. These stories come from many places where big-stakes college football is played. But no place produces more stories like this than Ohio State. How do I know? I know everything, of course. I also know that when former Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel got fired for doing things he shouldn’t have been doing, Ohio State fans showed up at his front lawn and sang for him. Hey, every fan base of successful college programs operates in a sort of vacuum and pretends its school is above the muck. But Ohio State fans don’t. They operate in reality: Tressel won games; they serenaded him. In other words, OSU fans embrace the murk, the imperfections of college football, and while it may give off a whiff of anarchy during Michigan-Ohio State week, it also makes for the best atmosphere in the Big Ten. As a friend of mine — and Ohio State alum — likes to say: “Buckeyes games are no place for kids.” Or for fans of other schools…

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