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NCAA Tournament: Hater's Guide to Ohio State (For Syracuse Fans)

By John Cassillo

Now that we know Syracuse's opponent for Saturday's Elite Eight matchup, it's time we rile up some hate for them. Lucky for us, the task proves pretty simple, since it's Ohio State University. Don't recognize this institution without the all-caps "THE" in front of the name? That's exactly the way they like it unfortunately.

What follows is a hater's guide to OSU. If you didn't despise them already (I know I did), this list of the top eight reasons to vehemently dislike the Buckeyes should help you along:

  1. THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY: Dear God, you people are insufferable. Also, the folks in Columbus are not THE only Ohio state university. There's actually six campuses -- see this quaint map for more details! Moreover, there are 13 (!) universities inside the public system, yet none of them come off as narcissistic as OSU does.
  2. Jim Tressel: Who said we were just going to talk about basketball here? The sweatervest guided his team to nine straight bowl games and a ton of moral missteps during his tenure. Also of note, Ohio usually pursues subpar state schools in their non-conference schedule and always wins. Now where have we heard that happen before? Oh, that's right. Not a peep on Treseel's scheduling practices though.
  3. Brutus Buckeye: Even other mascots hate Brutus! And if you thought putting arms and legs on on orange was stupid, juts wait. Brutus is a nut with a full body underneath. That's not creative, or fun. Plus, he has no real facial expression. That blank stare is haunting.
  • More elitism: Ohio State has only scheduled Cincinnati in basketball once since 1962. Most of it's rooted in fear that another prominent public university in Ohio ("but I thought we were THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY?!") could best them on the playing field. Or maybe bitterness over the '62 NCAA title game? Sure we're not Cincinnati fans here, but we have no respect for Rutgers and that hasn't really stopped us from playing them either.
  • Make that 4-and-3: Sure we consider ourselves a better program than Ohio State, but did you know that they've been to 10 Final Fours? And that they hold a 4-2 advantage over us head-to-head (the most recent game -- a 2007 neutral-site loss)? The funny part is, just two of those Final Four trips are S.B. (Since Boeheim) and we all know that college basketball really didn't exist prior to Jimmy's arrival as head coach at Syracuse.
  • More douchebaggery: Publications the world over launch investigations about OSU's insufferable nature. And then most OSU fans are extremely defensive about it. This isn't necessarily a reason to hate them -- but more a reflection on their own insecurities. The Buckeyes spend much of their time defending themselves as fans, while we defend our team. Which makes more sense?
  • SHIRTS: Apparently they don't commemorate every victory with a tee. Well guess what? WE DO! In fact, we don't even need victories to celebrate. We just love us some 100% cotton from holy Shirt, Manny's, Shirt World and the SU Bookstore. Top that, Ohio.
  • OH-IO: If any of these images don't make you want to run through a fire to slap an Ohio State fan, I'm unsure what can.

    • John Cassillo authors Atlantic Coast Convos, which chronicles ACC (Plus Syracuse & Pittsburgh) football. Check out the blog, and follow him on Twitter: @JohnCassillo

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