The Ohio State University

[lukethedrifter]

That doesn't make any sense at all. Irony? Sarcasm?

[planet planet]

My theory is that it's an insecurity that comes with Ohio having so many colleges, and so many public colleges that have at least some notoriety(OSU, OU, Akron, Toledo, Bowling Green, and Kent State are all FBS schools, for example).

I believe OH has more colleges/universities per population than any other state.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Not at all, although maybe I didn't articulate it well. Ohio State dominates college sports in Ohio, and because it's the only power conference school of note, EVERYONE is an OSU fan, much like with Mizzou in Missouri. Unlike Missouri, you have loads of other schools where those bandwagon fans come from(Ohio leads the nation in colleges per capita), and schools that OSU also competes against(Toledo, Kent State, etc), so the backlash you sometimes see against those non-student fans is more pronounced. Add in that OSU makes it an easy step to take("The" is on the university crest) and IMO it's a large part of why the "THE Ohio State University" got co-opted.

[Freed Roger]

because it's the only power conference school of note, EVERYONE is an OSU fan, much like with Mizzou in Missouri.

Wrong.

[lukethedrifter]

because it's the only power conference school of note, EVERYONE is an OSU fan, much like with Mizzou in Missouri.

Wrong.

Why wrong? By everyone I take that to mean the great majority of college football fans in the state of Ohio.

[lukethedrifter]

because it's the only power conference school of note, EVERYONE is an OSU fan, much like with Mizzou in Missouri.

Wrong.

Why wrong? By everyone I take that to mean the great majority of college football fans in the state of Ohio.

Not everyone as in every last human being the state of Ohio

[Freed Roger]

It does say EVERYONE, by our biggest proponent of veracity within insubstantial sports conversation, no-less.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

My apologies, I didn't realize that would be interpreted in the most absurdly pedantic light possible.

In the context of "Why do OSU fans say THE OSU? Because there's tons of schools in Ohio and people of/from those schools who bandwagon onto OSU", OSU is the only school that matters to people in the state. They get all the media coverage, you don't see random people in Cleveland wearing jerseys for Toledo or OU, there is no discussion about how hot the seat is for coaches from Akron or Bowling Green, and in conversing with them, you'll find that if they are from Ohio and stay in state for school, they are Ohio State fans in the extreme majority.

[Popeye_Card]

Since I live in Ohio and by extension have a lot of Ohio friends and co-workers, I will say that 98.4% of Ohians are Ohio State fans. Even if they went to a different state school, which most of them did. I can only think of one Ohio native off the top of my head which openly roots for a different team (Indiana, though his entire family is from Indiana). Also, zero people ever call it THE Ohio State unless making fun of the MNF intros.

Oddly, the OSU alums are often the least obnoxious about their fandom. And I do mean that others are obnoxious--such as painting the inside of their bathroom like a helmet, and putting a buckeye sticker on the wall for each deuce.

So really the big inaccuracy I find with the Mizzou comparison is that Missourians are like a 3 on the intensity scale to Ohio State's 9.

[sighyoung]

I suspect the title simply reflects OSU's status as the land-grant university in the state, as well as its status as the flagship research university within the Ohio state university system. Land-grant universities have specific public obligations laid out in their charters due to federal legislation dating back to the 19th century, and the Ohio state legislature has probably added onto those responsibilities over the years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land-grant_university http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_la ... iversities.

EDIT: The Ohio State University acknowledges this specific charge as a land-grant university on its website as a defining part of its mission: http://www.osu.edu/acrossthestate.html