Turkey and Football

I think one of the greatest American traditions goes hand in hand with America's favorite sport. I can think back to my childhood and it never really felt like Thanksgiving unless the Detroit Lions lost their game. It was necessary conversation to hear my father and uncles talk about the team and then complain about them - and yet, still cheer them on. Detroit Lions fans are not fair-weather, they are constant.

This Thanksgiving was the first that I actually did not spend at home in Grand Rapids, but instead chose to stay in Columbus for multiple reasons:

1) I didn't feel like driving 10 hours round trip

2) I'm a grad studet - so naturally, all my work is due within the weeks leading up to winter break

3) It was Beat Michigan Week on campus.

What's Beat Michigan Week, you may ask? It is one of Ohio State's finest week of traditions. One of these traditions is the Mirror Lake Jump where students make maybe not the best choices and plunge into the cold waters of this lake around Midnight the Thursday before the Michigan game to raise the spirit of former coach Woody Hayes to ensure a Buckeye victory. There was one issue with this year's jump night... it happened to fall on Thanksgiving. Thanks to the power of social networking, students decided through facebook that the jump would instead for this year only take place on Tuesday... additionally the city of Columbus threatened to arrest anyone who jumped on Thursday... So we prepped for Tuesdays jump by purchasing 1200 donuts for the students who live in my complex. Between the hours of 10pm-2am they consumed them all. Additionally, I was able to go to the lake to hear the chants of not giving "a damn for the whole state of Michigan" which is obviously a favorite and seeing scantily clothed individuals take the plunge (as you can see in the video to the video below). I saw one student running around the perimeter of the lake in just a jock strap. I was briefly blinded.

Being it my final year at Ohio State - I also stuck around to experience the Michigan game on campus - I have to admit, although it was fun to cheer the Buckeyes on... I experienced a bit of an identity crisis. Therefore, after the game, I proudly supported a t-shirt I own that says "Say yes to Michigan." I felt a little more at ease.

And although I didn't get to experience my traditional Thanksgiving home in Grand Rapids, I was still able to get my mix of overeating with friends who have become my family here and a good dose of football. Go Bucks.