Buckeye Fans Pumped Up for the Big Game

Copyright © 2007 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

Forget studying, the battle for college football's National Championship is tonight in Glendale, Arizona. Presumably, some student athletes will miss class as the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Florida Gators compete for the title. We have two reports today, starting with Mike Thompson of member station WOSU. He spoke to some loyal Buckeye fans in Columbus, Ohio, and sent this audio postcard.

Mr. KATOR BOB(ph): I'm Kator Bob from Columbus, Ohio. (Unintelligible) alumni. I was just going down to watch the Buckeyes kick some Gator butt.

Unidentified Man #1: Attention in the B concourse, final boarding call, US Airways flight 3040, service to…

Mr. BOB: I don't have tickets yet, no, no. We bought our plane tickets back in September. So, you know, we're that confident. So we'll go down there, we'll find some tickets. I'm sure we will.

Unidentified Woman #1: OK, just drop your bags off at the end of the Row 30 down here, down to the center and make a left, (unintelligible).

Mr. LANCE SCARBOROUGH(ph): Hi, my name is Lance Scarborough. My son is the cheerleader Cal Scarborough(ph). He's a junior at OSU.

Ms. CONNIE SCARBOROUGH(ph): My name is Connie Scarborough from Sparta, Ohio. We are following the gang. We're very supportive and try to go as many games as we can. I could not sleep. Finally, I got out of bed at 5:30 this morning and just gave up.

Mr. SCARBOROUGH: You never know if it's going to come around again. This may be the last time, you know, in our lifetime. We just never know, so it's like you want to get out there and enjoy it, and enjoy the moment, and hope that they win and this is something you'll remember forever.

Unidentified Woman #2: Attention Myer(ph) guests, we have three more raffle tickets. You know, the first number is 3-3-7-5…

Ms. JENNY LARSON(ph) (Manager): My name is Jenny Larson. I'm a manager and Myer here as the team leader. We started at 11 o'clock this morning. We have contests going on for the youngest, the oldest and the craziest fan. We also have Gator meat we're handing out.

Unidentified Woman #3: Would you like to try any, Sir?

Unidentified Man #2: I've never had Gator. What does it tastes like, chicken?

Unidentified Woman #3: It taste like chicken because these are farm raised.

Mr. ROBERT SWIFT: My name is Robert Swift. I'm from here in Columbus, Ohio. I'm dressed head to toe in OSU. I'm wearing a pair of a red, black and white khaki pants, OSU gray socks with the OSU emblem on it, a number 10 Starter jersey and a Buckeye hat. Yes, there are OSU underwear on also.

DONNA GREEN-TOWNSEND: What's your name?

Mr. BEN PERKINS(ph): Ben.

GREEN-TOWNSEND: Ben what?

Mr. PERKINS: Ben Perkins.

GREEN-TOWNSEND: Perkins.

MIKE THOMPSON: How old are you?

Mr. PERKINS: Two. O-H.

GREEN-TOWNSEND: I-O.

Mr. PERKINS: I-O.

GREEN-TOWNSEND: Say bye. Go Buckeyes.

Mr. PERKINS: Bye.

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