1942, 1954, 1957, 1961, 1968, 1970, 2002, 2014
These are the years that Ohio State can lay claim to a National Championship. Savvy fans know that 1961 and 1970 were not consensus years and some do not count them. I don't think my dad did.
Every championship until last night happened during his lifetime.
In 1942 as a ten year old I'm not sure he was very much into it, what with WWII and surviving the Depression and all. And college football was a minor diversion. In 1942 sports was baseball, and everything else was something to do until baseball season.
Dad was a student at OSU in 1954 and 1957. There is probably nothing like being a student during a national championship year. I got close to seeing that first hand in 1979 but we lost in the Rose Bowl.
In 2002 we were 1200 miles apart but spent a lot of time on the phone and the IM (remember instant messaging?). He never saw another football game.
He would have been so damned happy this year, beating Alabama then winning it all. The only thing that would have made him happier was if we could have beaten Notre Dame to win it.
Several years ago I wrote a piece following a win over Michigan. It was during the Cooper years when a win over Michigan was a precious thing. If you don't feel like clicking over, I'll say that it featured an attempt by me to call my dad from the game, because he couldn't be there. It was a chance to be together for a special moment, and while we couldn't really hear each other due to the noise, we were connected.
I thought about this last night as Urban Meyer raged at an official near the end of the game when he couldn't understand why the clock had stopped. He reminded me of Woody, and Woody reminded me of my dad. My dad would take that as a compliment. In some version of things he and Woody were watching the game together and my dad couldn't wait to tell me about it.
My cell service doesn't go that far so I guess it'll have to wait. Meanwhile, let's see how many more times we can make him and Woody happy.
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