I Checked Off Two Big Bucket List Items These Past Two Weeks. I Got To See A Game At Ohio State's Horseshoe with 100,000 People And My First Serie A Soccer Match With Juventus In Torino
I was lucky enough to have checked off two huge bucket list boxes these past two weekends. I finally got to go to a big-time college football game at The Horseshoe in Columbus to watch The Ohio State University fend off Notre Dame a couple weekends ago. It was an even more surreal experience than I had anticipated.
I’ve been in Columbus for at least a dozen OSU games, home and away, so I’ve got to experience the atmosphere. I did a tailgate outside Big Bar way back in the Blackout Tour days, we did a Blackout show at Newport Music Hall the weekend of Michigan/OSU, and 3 years ago my partners and I opened a restaurant & bar called “Seesaw” right on High St in short north.
Columbus is an awesome city even without Buckeye football. But when it’s Saturday in the fall, the city feels like it tripled in population, and there’s electricity in the air that starts on Friday night and runs straight through post game.
I’d never got the chance to experience a game inside the Horseshoe, or anywhere that big for that matter.
I’ve always wanted to go to The Big House, Death Valley, Happy Valley, and the other monstrous college football stadiums just to see and feel what it’s like being amongst 100,000 other people.
I think the biggest place I’ve seen a game before OSU was Jerry World in Dallas. Cowboy Stadium holds 80,000 so the jump to 106,000 doesn’t sound like a major difference, but man it was.
The day started with some pregaming at Seesaw with my partners Aldo and Jason Kipnis, who was in town for the game also.
From there I went and met up with the OSU viceroy and guy who helps me with the Barstool Backstage social medias, Caleb, and we stopped by Kappa Sig’s house to play a quick set. When I pulled up in my Uber I thought I was at the wrong address because the house was wicked nice, and huge, and there didn’t look like there was a party going on out front.
Then we walked around to the back yard and it was mayhem.
This was a 7:30pm game and these kids had been going hard like this since about 8 or 9am.
Fuck did I do college wrong.
Our idea of “tailgating” at Loyola was hitting Pumping Company or Bruno’s before our boy Scotty’s volleyball games. (When I was there Loyola hadn’t yet exerted itself as a basketball powerhouse. It was only a volleyball powerhouse. Which it still is today, in addition to basketball.) But we didn’t even have a football program never mind a legendary one like a Big Ten, SEC, or Big 12 school.
Our boy Will from Barstool Cleveland met us there and we all left together to head to the game so we could get there early and take everything in. As we made our way to the stadium I could hear the energy build, and the band playing the closer we got.
One thing I thought was really cool about Ohio State’s stadium compared to other college stadiums I’ve been to is it’s not on the outskirts of campus or even off campus. It’s smack dab in the middle so you’re walking by class buildings and dorms and see the campus. I thought that was pretty cool.
Getting into the stadium was a breeze. Caleb scored us student tickets so we would be sitting in the student section behind one of the end zones. As we were walking in the security guard (good guy) hit me right below the belt with a “sir this is the student section” comment. Tough.
When we got into the stadium itself I was surprised by how few concession stands there were (reminded me of Notre Dame’s stadium) and also how sterile the concourse looked.
Walking out of the tunnel out into the actual bowl was something else though. It felt like being in a literal valley. Looking across the stadium at the other end zone felt like it might as well have been a mile or two away. The people on the opposite end looked like ants.
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When the band faced that direction you could barely hear them from where we were standing.
During pre game the army sent paratroopers into the stadium and they all stuck their landings to thunderous applause from the crowd.
I was getting fired up and loving the atmosphere. Until I felt the splash of a warm sticky liquid down the back of my neck.
I know what you’re thinking.
Semen. Right?
It was not. Thank God.
(Don’t worry, it was my first thought as well.)
No, the minute I reached back to feel what is was, praying it wasn’t vomìt, and touched my fingertips to it I knew what it was by it’s unmistakable viscosity.
Fireball.
Mother fucker.
I turned around and the guilty party, a tall skinny blonde kid with no shirt on, was covering his mouth looking like he was trying not to puke.
I asked him what the fuck he just did and he just shook his head no while the short and stout teacup of a girl next to him simply yelled “you’re in the student section bro.”
Ah. Touchè.
Rule number 1 is you can’t go to strip club and not expect to see titties, and you can’t go to a college football game sitting in a student section and not get spit up or thrown up on. It’s college 101.
She was right and I knew it. I ate my crow and turned around and contemplated asking Will to switch seats with me, but thought better because I’m a nice guy.
When the game finally started it was insane in the stadium.
The band did that sick march where they spell out Ohio in cursive writing without skipping a beat or bumping into each other. Watching it unfold in person was really impressive.
OSU’s mascot is an amazing conductor. He/she/they stood at midfield before kickoff and had each side of the stadium recite the o-h-i-o as he turned 90 degrees and point to them. It was wild because as the sound traveled from the other end zone to us, it was already on the other section so it had this chorus effect. (I’m telling you, the place is fucking MASSIVE).
When the team came blasting out of the tunnel the fired off pyro like it was Monday Night Raw and the place went ape shit.
As for the game itself, I don’t feel I got the “full” Buckeye experience because they were getting their asses kicked in the first half by the Irish and the entire crowd of 106,000 in attendance were collectively shutting their pants.
In the second half, the 4th quartet namely, when Stroud calmed down and his nerves were gone, OSU’s offense woke up and the crowd came alive.
Throughout the game, barely being able to hear the PA announcer over the sound system, was noteworthy, because when we left the stadium (with 2 minutes left in the game to beat the stampede), it was BLASTING. It’s just so cavernous inside, and so many bodies that the sound can’t carry and gets muffled. I’m sure the boosters at OSU have put tens of millions into that stadium’s upkeep and they have state of the art everything, but it still can’t compensate for how massive a venue it truly is.
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The other thing that was funny that I had no idea about was the student section “leader” who stands down in the lower part of the section, facing with his back towards the field, with a mic in his hands and two speakers flanking him on both sides - a legit setup- shouting cheer commands to the section and hyping them up. Absolutely genius move.
Before we left, when the game was in hand, Brutus decided to crowd surf himself and he came directly at us.
I hope whoever is in this costume where’s a jock or something because I can only imagine how many fingers find their way inside him/her if not.
On the walk back it was like zombie land with people of all ages stumbling all over the place yelling o-h at each other.
Good times.
#college baby.
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Now, the other night I got to experience something equally as cool. I got to go watch Juventus play a relegated Salerentina in Torino at Allianz Stadium.
I'd been lucky enough to go to a couple World Cup games back in 1994 when Roberto Baggio's Italy squad played in Foxboro when I was really little.
Up to that point my sporting event experience consisted of .500 Red Sox teams getting smoked at Fenway, 2-14 Patriots teams getting demolished at old Foxboro Stadium, which I could never understand how pro football games were allowed to be played at since the other football games I’d gone to, Holy Cross College’s, at Fitton Field in Worcester, was dingy as well, but still better than where the Pats played…
(Sidebar- the highlight for me by far was my dad and uncle taking me to Phil Esposito night at the Old Garden. I was too young to “actually” remember anything, but I do remember the roar that erupted. Though I had no clue until I was older that it was because Ray Borque took off his #7 jersey, to show his new #77 one underneath, so they could retire Esposito’s.)
The World Cup games blew my mind because I couldn’t believe how loud the crowds were, and more strikingly, for how long.
The people didn’t stop. From an hour before the match started all the way up until the final whistle and even afterward, rejoicing in victory, the fans of each side were non-stop. It was crazy.
Fast forward to this week.
I’m currently in Italy visiting friends and family I haven’t got to see since right before covid. Knowing the havoc the virus reeked on the country, I was excited, but at the same time apprehensive to return.
Would it still be as beautiful and lively as I’ve always known it?
The answer was yes.
The flight was once again a nightmare because anytime you fly with rude, asshole Europeans it always is.
(I also put myself through college, and am self employed so I don’t have the luxury of throwing Business Class personal cabin seats on my parents Black Card. No offense to my man Francesco)
But once I got settled in, in Rome, I realized nothing changed.
Things are back to normal here. Thank God.
I had three days bouncing around the city, seeing people, and three nights of amazing dinners before catching to train to Turino with my friend Vincenzo.
Somehow I had never been to Turino before this trip. I knew it was beautiful but I had no idea it was that nice.
It reminded me of Denver in that it lays at the basin of a mountain range that seems to surround it in every direction. Except that the Alps, which surround Turin, are much much steeper, and denser than the Rockies. They are breathtaking.
We lucked out in that the game was flexed to an 8:45 start (I honestly didn’t know soccer/calcio games could start that late) so we had plenty of time to hit the tailgates outside the stadium.
The tailgate scene in Italy does not fuck around
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Every stand had a better setup than the one before it. With better smelling food and more of it. It was wild.
And the best part of it, like everywhere in Italy, it is dirt cheap to eat.
I don’t get it. I don’t think I ever will.
The food quality is light years better than what we have in America, it’s fresher, actually all natural, and nothing is allowed that’s GMO, or filled with poison like they allow at home. The result is the best tasting everything you’ve ever had. (Sidebar- except for the steak. I’ll concede that America’s steak blows Europe out of the water and it’s not even close).
So how they manage such high standards of quality and charge pennies for what we pay $15-$20 for makes no sense to me.
Before walking into the stadium we hit the Team Pro Shop and if you thought your favorite NFL team’s pro shop was impressive, you have to see the Juventus Pro Shop.
Holy shit man.
It was like an entire department store of Juve gear.
Literally you name it they had it.
Every single thing the players wear, the coaches wear, have ever worn, will ever wear, and two different tiered price/quality ranges of the same piece.
His and her branded undies.
A custom pressing station with about 8 screen printing presses where you could get any name or number you wish printed right then and there on the back of your jersey.
It was a spectacle.
They even had team branded moleskin notebooks for the kids going back to school this week.
I think the sights of all the hooligans in England and Ireland at soccer matches gave me these preconceived notions that that’s how all soccer matches and fans were. So I expected a raucous, drunk off their ass crowd. But Turin was anything but.
And it didn’t seem like they even needed the booze because they were lunatics regardless.
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Walking up to Allianz Stadium, it reminded me of the addition they put on to Soldier field- all metallic, smooth, and contoured lines.
We had to walk around to a specific gate to get in with our tickets (very annoying) and it took forever because the place is way bigger than it actually looks from the outside.
It’s also dug down so when you walk in you descend into it like a bowl.
The stadium only holds just over 40,000 people but because of its shape it feels much bigger.
There are also neck-breaker smokes in every direction you look. It’s nuts.
When we got to our seats, situated behind the team benches sideline, in the corner right next to the “ultra fan” section the madness had already begun.
The PA announcer introduces Juventus’ players by their number and first name and then the entire crowd screams their last name in unison.
It’s pretty cool.
Juventus was playing host to an upstart team that was relegated up this season, Salerentina. They had a sliver of a section kitty corner across the stadium for their fans and they were fucking maniacs. They had flags waving and drums banging, (actual drums), literally the entire game.
The game was also wicked exciting.
Juventus dominated the first half possession wise and opportunity wise, yet they gave up an incredible goal to a streaking Salerentina striker who put on some insane footwork and hit an open man with a perfect pass for the goal.
They tacked on another one in extra time of the first half on a penalty kick and the Juventus crowd was stunned at the half.
The crowd was trying to get back into in the second half but just couldn’t as Juve couldn’t get anything going until the 51st minute when Bremer put them on the board.
Then in the final ten minutes shit got crazy.
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Here’s what happened.
Extra time again, a penalty kick to tie it. Followed by an almost immediate rush to the net, resulting in a corner kick which Juventus executed perfectly to take the lead. Place went bananas. But then the ref went to the VAR and determined (somehow) it was offsides, disallowed the goal, and the place went even more crazy. Red cards started flying and there was a lot of tough guy chest bumping on the field. I was hoping the benches would clear and we’d see a brawl but it didn’t happen.
The game ended in a tie, but nevertheless, it was such an awesome experience. I totally get the European soccer fanaticism now.
For one, it’s way more exciting and fast paced then it seems watching it on tv infrequently like most of us do in America. And the crowd energy is like nothing else and really puts it over the top.
I cannot wait for the World Cup to come to America in a few years because those games are going to be incredible. (Just sucks Italy once again didn’t make the cut).