By Ken Pryor (BCS Bound!!!) on 09:10:29 01/07/08
The Ohio State Football players, program faculty and staff, and its beloved fans have had to sit around for an entire year listening to doubters, haters, Judases, and downright a-holes tear this program down for losing one single game!
For an entire year we've had to endure being overlooked, cast aside as an afterthought, and kicked while down followed by open debates as to our worthiness of even being in this game. All a result from losing one single game.
A full year of venom spewed forth by the media against this great program has been nothing short of unprofessional, unbalanced, un-checked by fact, undeserved and just plain ol' uncalled for!
For a full year these hacks have questioned everything from our schedule strength to our team speed to our talent level all the way down to the way we board the team bus. It has been a full year of tearing down one of the five greatest programs this country has ever known!
They hate us! And I ask myself why? But today I care not to get the answer. I only want that the players of the Ohio State Football Program take this game personally! This literally is us against the world!
Well, I say ENOUGH OF THIS! NOW is the time, fellas! NOW IS THE TIME! The time is NOW! You can effect change RIGHT NOW! Not yesterday! Not tomorrow. TODAY!!!!! TODAY is the day where YOU can help shape the image of this great program! No one else can do it but YOU! I'm just a fan. We're all just fans. We can do no more than argue in our offices on your behalf! But nothing will speak louder than your play tonight!
The entire state is depending upon you. The entire Buckeye Nation is relying on you. Your parents, family and friends are relying on you. BUT WITH ALL THAT ASIDE, YOUR TEAMMATES ARE RELYING ON YOU!
You gotta look one another in the eyes next year, two years from now, 10, 15, 30 years from now. Be able to look at one another with tears of joy! Be able to recall hoisting the delicate crystal! Be able to recall that, for a full year, they talked about you! They dogged you! They disparraged your character! But better than that, be able to recall that you showed them! Be able to say you showed them that Ohio State is here! Here to stay forever and always!
This is a call to arms to the Buckeye program and all its fans! We come together again for a shot at immortality for our players and the staff! It is OUR time! If you are going to the game, show up en masse and show them Ohio's here!!!!! Set the earth reverberating with a mighty cheer! CHEER THE TEAM ONWARD! OUR FLAGS ARE FLYING PROUDLY ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY! NOW ITS TIME FOR THE PLAYERS TO FLY HIGH!
Leave it all out there on the field. Let there be no question as to who came to play. Dig deep. Dig within and make a play. Let each play add up to a winning play.
Just play, fellas. Please, just play ball. Win or lose, the Buckeye nation is behind you, but for GOD's sake, please just play to your abilities. If you can do that, I have no doubt when its all said and done, its gonna be The Ohio State! OHIO STATE!!!! OHIO STATE!!!!!!
It can be no other way. Its GOT to be Ohio State!!