The end of an era...

There's a very good chance that next Saturday, I will miss my first Ohio State home football game in almost a decade.

I've attended every game in the Horseshoe since the home finale against Indiana in November of 1995, as well as a number of roadies (including eight Big Ten opponents, two Kickoff Classics and the Rose Bowl). I actually had to work a little to make this happen-- finding new reasons to go out to school early every year, in some cases weeks before classes started, to watch historically-significant games like OSU-Rice and OSU-Wyoming.

But this year, a new project has pulled me away from the stadium on fall Saturdays. I hope it's worth it-- I was kind of proud of my streak.

The totals, assuming it ends on September 3...
1995: 1-0 (Kickoff Classic)
1996: 6-1 (6 home games plus Rose Bowl)
1997: 7-1 (7 home games, plus @ Michigan)
1998: 6-1 (6 home games, plus @ Iowa)
1999: 5-4 (7 home games, plus @ Michigan and Kickoff Classic)
2000: 4-2 (6 home games)
2001: 5-2 (6 home games, plus @ Michigan)
2002: 8-0 (8 home games)
2003: 10-2 (8 home games, plus @ Wisconsin, @ Indiana, @ Penn State, @ Michigan)
2004: 6-3 (6 home games, plus @ Northwestern, @ Michigan State, @ Purdue)

I still haven't hit Illinois or Minnesota, but will get to those at some point.

In all, it was nine seasons, 60 consecutive home games (51-9... an .850 winning percentage) and a total of 74 overall, with a 58-16 record (a .784 winning percentage).

Hopefully, this new deal will make me enough money that I can spend a fall (at some point in the indefinite future) driving around watching football at stadiums all over the country. Sadly, that's pretty much all that passes for a long-term goal in my life right now.