THE GAME

"Hello everybody! Yes, sir it's finally here--Meeechigan versus Ohio State in football! ...Call it what you will, it promises to be two and a half hours of some of the most exciting football in the hundred and four year history of man's inhumanity to man...This is what intercollegiate football is all about! All morning long the caravans of cars filled with Buckeye fans have been pouring across the border from down south and echoing from each of those cars is the old, familiar chant, 'We don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan!', while all of us up here in the Water Wonderland never forget that 'Ohio' is still a four-letter word! Isn't it great? I can hardly wait until kickoff and I know that you can't either!" - Bob Ufer

This is only the second time in history that both Michigan and Ohio State are going into THE GAME while coming off of losses in the previous week. Not exactly the sort of history either team wanted to be setting, especially after last year's historic #1 vs. #2 matchup, but the more things change, the more they stay the same: the 2007 edition of THE GAME is for the undisputed Big 10 Championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl. Just the way it should be. Yesterday's results took care of all the ambiguity and other scenarios that might've been out there, so right now, it's as simple as history: win THE GAME; go to the Rose Bowl.

Right now, Wisconsin does not matter. Illinois does not matter. Appalachian State and Oregon do not matter, nor do the 18 combined wins the teams have notched so far this season. All that matters right now is which team will claim that 19th win and all the spoils that go with it. All that matters is the Maize and Blue, the Scarlet and Grey. Woody, Bo. Winged Helmets and Buckeye Stickers. The Victors and Script Ohio. From State Street to High Street, men, boys, women, children and families will turn their thoughts, chats and dreams this week to a game involving 22 young men agitating a bag of wind up and down a hundred yards of plastic and ground rubber.

Isn't this great, indeed, Bob.

GO BLUE! BEAT THE BUCKEYES!