It’s Day 261 of 15 Days to Flatten the Curve (which may be the only thing in Ohio that hasn’t been flattened).
My family and I are fine.
Deb and I have enjoyed a quiet, low-drag kind of day. In the interest of maintaining that vibe, today’s post will be brief.
For the first time in over a century, this year The Ohio State University won’t play the University of Michigan in football. “That Team Up North,” as Buckeye Nation likes to call it, has canceled The Game, reportedly over a coronavirus outbreak within its program.
My first reaction is that 2020 and the hyper-cautious culture manufactured by government have claimed another tradition — for some of us, the greatest tradition of all has fallen.
Then I went back to something I said months ago about the college-football season — why did we even bother?
OSU had eight games on its delayed-and-modified regular-season schedule but will end up playing just five. (Maryland and Illinois also canceled.) There’s still the Big Ten Championship coming up a week from Saturday, made possible for the Buckeyes only because the conference voted to waive a previously established six-game minimum to play for the title.
And then I remembered that I’m a homer, an incurable Ohio State partisan. It dawned on me that the cancelation was simply a face-saving way for That Team Up North to avoid dropping its ninth straight Game to OSU. Say it with me, Buckeye Nation:
It’s 2020, and Michigan still sucks!
Take care of yourselves. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #PureMichigan
(Today’s header photo — “Moon Over Ernie,” last week here at Second Chance Ranch.)