Big 10 Football Tour

This was a big day.  While the Big 10 doesn't hold a "championship game," today was essentially the championship game.  I could not have chosen a more perfect game to end the tour.  So rather than drinking a bunch of beer at the tailgate, I really wanted to get out and about to experience the sights and sounds of Ohio Stadium before the big game.

I started with the Buckeye Grove at the southwest corner of the stadium.  For each Ohio State All-American, a buckeye tree in planted in their honor.  Many schools give their All-Americans a banner or a plaque, but OSU gives their stars a tree among the trees of other stars!

Next up, I followed the band around for a bit and then went into what they call "Skull Session."  It has to be the coolest name for a pep-rally of sorts in the Big 10.  Check out the scoreboard image below.

From there I strolled on over towards the Varsity Club and many of the bars near the stadium that had a lot of activity going on.  The bars and streets were jam-packed with Buckeye fans.

I then headed over towards many of the promotional tents.  Probably the most interesting was a bakery that that displayed an Ohio Stadium cake on display.  The cake included players, the field, the flag pole, the "O" in the stands, and much more. 

I was extremely impressed by this, but what I really wanted to know: how does it taste?

After traveling to Ann Arbor 4 weeks prior and seeing not a single sign of a mascot from the OSU rival, I found that Brutus the Buckeye was all over the place in Columbus.  There were multiple statues of him in different attire around the stadium. 

I actually ran into him outside of the stadium, riding in a van.  He clearly does not believe in seat belt safety.

Many of the promotional sponsors used Brutus every chance they had.

I headed back to the tailgate area and took note of some of the more interesting sights/things that were going on. 

In some of the photos below, you'll see the sale of buckeye necklaces.  Here I thought only Colts fans overpaid for necklaces, but clealy Buckeye fans do as well.

The Jesse Owens Plaza, where the sculpture "Celebration for a Champion" is located.  The four pyramid points are to represent that 4 world records that he broke in 1935. 

A van that was an ATM.  Convenience is growing daily.  It's doubtful that you can find an ATM while you're tailgating, but you can get money from a van in a parking lot without exchanging a kidney, you're doing alright.

After a bit more time tailgating, I made my way towards the stadium.  The views of the stadium from across the Oletangy River are just beautiful.

I noticed that the Goodyear Blimp was making an appearance on this very day.

It was finally time to enter the game.  Granted, at this point I had missed the script Ohio spelling but kickoff had not yet occurred.  The entrance at the north end of the stadium is particularly interesting with the stain glass windows.

Once inside the stadium, there were some massive concourses.  Nothing too scenic about them, but at least it was managable to move about.  As I was heading up one of the ramps I noticed a steel beam had all of the Big 10 school names and logos painted on it.  It was rather obscure, but an interesting touch.

The consessions were very average, but Bob Evans was a big deal here.  I'd compare it to the success of Bob's Big Boy/Little Cesaer's Pizza in Ann Arbor.