A Big Game in Columbus

it was a big day monday in columbustown. damn near religious according to some. the ohio state buckeyes played god's football team - the notre dame fighting irish in the fiesta bowl in tempe, arizona. a big game. my family gathered at my cousin's house for the televised football contest. we watched in the spleandor of high definition on an enormous letterbox teevee set. the action was giant, and displayed on a massive scale. giant quarterbacks, tostitos the size of small children and sleek new suvs riding in gas-swilling slpendor through the living room. it was a big game in columbus.

numerous dips and meatballs were prepared before and consumed during the game washed down with coors light beer in frosty mugs. a type of tail-gate ritual continued in your own living room. beautiful, epic and savage. everyone howls with excitement when the bucks make a big hit or make a big goal-line stand. college football contests have a stronger following in my family than major religious observances. everyone is there. to coment, to observe, and to remember.

In the fevered pitch of the revelers howling the dog goes mad barks at the table of meatballs and dips and the place goes mad. my grandma smiles patiently with carefully measured joy as the buckeyes score, the eye of the oblong, football-shaped, hurricaine spinning wildly about her. only the bountiful football seasons are graced with the new year's ritual celebration awash in a sea of unchecked optomism, joy, and anger amongst the faithful. ohio state buckeye football is god in ohio. i had fun in church on monday for the first time in years.