Last year;  Boozy Buckeye Hot chocolate  https://mgoblog.com/diaries/mgococktail-ohio-state-2022

2021 :  The Buckeye  https://mgoblog.com/diaries/mgococktail-ohio-state-2021

I think 2023 will mark the end of innocence of college football, at least for a Michigan fan.  In 2023,  we lost the Pac -12 and this is the last game of the last college regular season that will matter.  If this is Football Armageddon V, VI will be in a CFP semifinal or championship.  

Then there has been the last month of whatever NCAA and Big Ten violations we committed.  Yes, Michigan committed some kind of violation. But it’s the type of violation that’s perfect blend of stupid and petty.  The NCAA is loathe to punish players anymore, which a scandal such as steroids (cough MSU), drugs and tats (OSU) , or huge pay for play violations pre NIL (the entire SEC, Kansas, USC, Tennessee, OSU again).

Lost in all this is the origin of the PI investigation.  It certainly was not Michigan and not the NCAA.  With many of the leaks coming from OSU message boards, everything points in one direction.  Even if it was a rogue booster, like our Uncle T, someone from the program had to point them in the right direction of one Mr. Stallions.

I always considered OSU a “noble opponent” .   The team always showed the proper respect.  We play them at the end of the year where barring injuries we get to face each other’s best version of itself.    They didn’t try to injure our players, like MSU or Wisconsin, or miles beneath us like, Rutgers ,Illinois or MSU. OSU on the other hand just paid its players more when it was illegal and didn’t ask them to play school.  It made them a rival with clear cut different ideology.   The players if not the fanbases used to respect the rivalry, but then in the last two years, they lost their damn minds.

             This isn't happening again

I understand to an extent.  They became entitled, they forgot how to take a loss.   They had better players and/or  better coaching for the last 20 years.  A fifteen-year-old in 2000 saw 2 losses before he turned 33.  A 20-year-old in 2000 is now 43 and saw 4 losses including the last two years and the one Luke Fickell year.  That is a whole generation of kids turning into men with families, who never learned how to lose.    Combined with the new prevalence of people in this county to accept any type of defeat.

“It was cold and snowing.  Football games should be played indoors”
“We had players with the flu.”
“ It was only five plays.” (If I can change 5 plays in  a game since 2000 I can get us 11 more wins vs OSU and win 95% of NFL games)
“They cheated by stealing  our signs illegally.”

Seeing a third loss in a row was way too much for the Buckeyes, so either the program or a booster took it upon itself to take all the respectfulness in the rivalry and throw it in the garbage disposal.  It does not even matter if it is somehow not true.  If we’ve learned nothing in the last month,  perception is reality. 

OSU, the Big Ten and possibly the NCAA possibly conspired to tilt the field in their favor not by being better on the field, but by using a PI firm, a brilliantly executed PR campaign to carry out a political hit job that turned a mountain out of the molehill. 

The stakes could not be higher, and this will be the last regular season game like this that will be again be a  defacto playoff game. Future football Armageddons will involve possible rematches the next week or both of them making the playoffs in the future.  This is a biggest game of the last pure college football season, much like game 7 of the 68 World Series, before the Divisions sullied baseball forever.  

The Buckeye Blossom

Let’s return to a more respectful version of the rivalry. Take the high road.  From the Buckeyes alumni website :

With notes of juniper, the Buckeye Blossom packs a smoky, sweet surprise from a combination of mezcal and St. Germain elderflower liqueur. Celebrate the arrival of spring with a cocktail that brings you back to sitting under the blossoming trees on the green lawn of the Oval.

Ingredients   

• 1 oz. gin
• ½ oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 oz. mezcal (Teguila’s more smoky partner)
• 1 oz. pineapple juice
• ½ oz. St. Germain
• ½ oz. simple syrup

Take all ingredients and place them in a cocktail shaker,  add ice.  Strain into a martini glass/couple and garnish with a lemon peel.

The smokiness of the mezcal really plays with the pineapple.  Almost like a grilled pineapple slice, not bad for a noon game.  The gin gets lost, but otherwise pretty nice.  I like Casamigos mezcal because its so consistent, there are better ones, but I find Mezcals vary from bottle to bottle even under the same label.  

Screw the high road …..

Adios,  Mother Fucker

Ingredients 

• 1/2 ounce vodka
• 1/2 ounce rum
• 1/2 ounce tequila
• 1/2 ounce gin
• 1/2 ounce blue curaçao
• 2 ounces sweet-and-sour mix*
• Sprite or 7up, to top
• Garnish: lemon wedge (optional
• Garnish: preserved cherry (optional)

Take all the ingredients with the exception of the sprite and place into a cocktail shaker. Add ice.  Shake until ice cold and pour into a highball glass filled with fresh ice.  Add sprite to fill and garnish lemon and cherry.  

Well it is the right color combination.   Honestly not the worst long island variant I’ve tasted.  Maybe Mr. 3rd base will get picked off.   There is a cocktail called third base.  I couldn’t locate some ingredients But here it is.