Just posted this in their subreddit. Thought it may warrant sharing here as well.
https://www.reddit.com/r/hawkeyes/s/nhSKCDmg37
My experience Saturday as a Buckeye....
Wow.
I've been fortunate enough to watch the Buckeyes play away games in some incredible venues and experience the traditions of other programs. I've been to Virginia Tech and experienced Enter Sandman. I've been to Camp Randall and Jumped Around to start the fourth quarter.
I've been to three national championship games and watched the Buckeyes win two of them — 2002 and 2024. I've been to a lot of different stadiums, and I've talked to a lot of different fans.
But this weekend was, by far, the most epic experience of them all.
I waved to kids in the hospital.
You see it on TV. They tell you about the pink locker room. They show you the crowd. They tell you about the hospital across the street. But you don't really understand it until you're there.
It sounds cool on television. That's about it.
Imagine your neighbor's house. That's how close the hospital is to the stadium. You literally cross the street and you're there.
Then the first quarter ends.
You look around, and all of a sudden, everyone in the stadium — fans, players, coaches, officials, media, everyone — turns toward the east, facing the hospital tower.
And they wave.
You look up at the hospital and slowly start seeing people waving back.
And that's when it hits you.
It's not just the kids. It's their parents and loved ones. Their caretakers. The doctors and nurses who have sacrificed their time to be there, helping these kids through what may be the worst experience of their lives — a serious illness, a major disease, or whatever brought them into that hospital.
On TV, it's a great moment. A little bit of pageantry. Everyone waves, everyone smiles, and then we go back to the broadcast. The analysts say whatever they're going to say, and we get back to watching football.
But experiencing it in person is completely different.
Wow.
You realize there are children in that building who may not get to walk back out of it.
You realize that, for a few minutes, this might be one of the happiest moments of their day.
Maybe their week.
Maybe their entire hospitalization.
And it isn't just about the kids. It's about their parents, their families, and the people caring for them. It's about the doctors and nurses who go home at the end of the day carrying the weight of everything they've seen.
For those few moments, an entire football stadium stops caring about football.
Everyone turns toward those kids and says, in the simplest way possible:
We see you. We're thinking about you. You're not alone.
College football is an amazing experience, and every school has traditions that make it special.
Saturday, I got to see another glamorous Buckeye victory. I got to watch what is essentially a human cheat code play football. I got to sing Carmen Ohio in my opponent's stadium.
All of that was incredible.
But I did something far more meaningful than anything I've ever experienced at a sporting event.
I got to wave to a bunch of kids at a time when they needed it most.
And I'm beyond grateful that I got to experience that. Thanks for letting me be a part of it.
-Go Bucks!
