When mocking Michigan goes wrong
The rivalry between Ohio State and Michigan rarely lacks intensity, but in recent years the rhetoric seems to have been ratcheted up.
From Jim Tressel's promise his team would make Buckeye fans proud "in 310 days in Ann Arbor, Michigan" to Brady Hoke's refusal to refer to Ohio State as anything but "Ohio" (a practice taken up by other coaches at the school as well), the fire is rarely friendly between the schools and especially their fan bases.
The latest volley was lobbed by the Buckeye NutHouse, the official Ohio State basketball student section, but it did not quite hit the mark.
Attempting to follow the lead of the school, which eliminated the letter "M" for the week of the Ohio State-Michigan football game last fall and Ohio governor John Kasich, who declared "Scarlet Letter Saturday" the day the Buckeyes clashed with the Wolverines, the NutHouse published an M-free roster with its notes for the basketball game Tuesday night.
One problem -- they missed one.
Oh I see what they did there... #Buckeyes pic.twitter.com/xyjeJ9lC9s
— Michael Periatt (@MichaelPeriatt) February 12, 2014
Not surprisingly, this led to some derision on social media, a little salt in the wound of an ugly 70-60 loss the Buckeyes absorbed from the Wolverines as the home team's shooting percentage sunk to nearly match the temperature outside.
But hey, typos happen, and the student section was the subject of praise from the ESPN broadcast crew for the way it organizes cheers and chants throughout the game, so the night wasn't a total loss.
Plus it's less than 300 days until the Wolverine football team visits Columbus and the NutHouse's counterparts in Block 'O' can pick them up.
Loving the card stunts in Block "O" South and North #blocko #minion #gobucks pic.twitter.com/1XLJ8n63sI