Making my return to the hot seat
- Staff
- Aug 20
- 3 min read
I’ll start my first post on the Tri-State Sports Page by acknowledging that I am a homer.
My sports blood type is Block-O. That means my vision will sometimes get clouded by my heart. I won’t second-guess coaching decisions or blast 20-year-old players for making mistakes during games. I won’t blame referees when we lose.
Our nation has enough negativity in politics. We don’t need it in sports. What I will do is try to focus on everything that is phenomenal about The Ohio State Buckeyes.
In 2008, at the age of 40, I did what every mature, secure man does...I Googled my own name. I was surprised by the number of people who also live my two-first-names life. One guy was a musician. Another was a successful real estate broker. One was a sportswriter from Florida.
I messaged many of them, sometimes receiving responses and other times being dismissed by people who were probably wondering how they managed to email themselves.
But the sportswriter replied. He was a Florida Gators fan.
As we corresponded, he became aware I was a Buckeyes fan and said, “There was a jackass from Huntington last year who wrote that the Gators didn’t belong on the field with the Buckeyes in the (2007 BCS National Championship Game).”
Rewind to late November, 2006. The undefeated Buckeyes, ranked #1 in the country, beat the #2 ranked (and previously undefeated) Michigan Wolverines 42-39 in a thriller.
It was billed “The Game of the Century” and certainly did not disappoint. It was Creed Vs. Balboa in Rocky II. The last man standing was the winner.
Afterward, I decided to use my pulpit at The Lawrence Herald, a Thursday-only addition to The Herald Dispatch, to sway the BCS Selection Committee’s decision about which teams would face off in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl.
I argued for an OSU-Michigan rematch because both teams went into the season finale undefeated, were ranked #1 and #2, and produced a down-to-the-wire dog fight.
Florida, I noted, lost to Auburn, who was thumped by Arkansas and Georgia earlier in the season.
Thankfully, I don’t remember everything I wrote, but I do remember the emails!
That was my first taste of pure vitriol from total strangers. I was crucified on Gator message boards. And this was before the matchup was decided.
When the committee chose Florida as Ohio State’s opponent, I certainly had more pride on the line in the game due to the email responses. But, I was convinced the Buckeyes would blow them out.
As we all know, there was a blowout. It just happened to be in favor of a guy named Urban Meyer way before any of us loved Urban Meyer.
That was my first taste of humble pie as a writer. Many more servings would be dished out later. Many are yet to come.
“I was that jackass,” I responded to my same-named new friend. And I agreed the nickname fit.
A few years ago, I challenged a social media post he made that was obviously racist. He responded by unfriending me.
Billy Bruce unfriended Billy Bruce. I guess both of us are jackasses in our own way.
I just wanted to let you know what you’ll be dealing with here.
I don’t want to write game recaps in this blog. Those are everywhere. What I would like to do is spotlight Buckeyes players (especially local ones) whose stories inspire others.
Tyler Whaley, Marcus Williams, and KC Christian all walked onto the OSU football team in the mid-2000's at about the same time. I wrote about them as often as I could, often interviewing their parents to get their perspectives. That was a blast!
Stories evolved out of those stories.
One minute, I’m interviewing/stalking Whaley for the 60th time (If you’ve ever watched Two and a Half Men, he was Charlie and I was Rose), the next he’s leading me to Williams, who told me a story about his love for Shane Jones that spiked the hair on the back of my neck. Christian led me to the benevolence of Jim Howard, a story about people taking care of others just because they can.
I love, love, love backstories that involve unselfishness and determination...especially when I can tie them up in Scarlet and Gray.
I also want to focus on diehard Buckeyes fans in the local area. And I would appreciate your help. If you have a person in mind (player, former player, die-hard fan) who would enjoy seeing their story in print, email me at the address listed below.
O-H!
Billy Bruce
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