I’m excited for the Ohio State Marching Band to make things feel semi-normal
The final Saturday before the Ohio State Buckeyes enter the college football race on October 24 is when I am writing this column, and I am sitting here watching a fairly unimpressive slate of early window games. And as the Buckeye game week draws closer and closer, I can not help but feel a little depressed about all the parts of typical game days that Columbus will not be experiencing this season because of the current coronavirus outbreak.
From the camaraderie amongst tailgaters to the electricity in the student section to the campus-area businesses losing a key portion of their income to parents taking young ones to their first OSU games, there will be a lot of things that normally make Ohio State games so special that will be missing during this oddest of years.
It should come as no surprise that I am thrilled to see the marching band return to the Ohio Stadium field this season, as you can see from my previous posts about my love for them. However, I believe that their presence on game days in 2020 will be even more memorable.
For many of us, the band will act as a stand-in, bringing together millions of supporters who are watching from home while a game is being played in a stadium with 103,000 seats that is almost completely empty. In my opinion, the band will provide an otherwise strange and uncomfortable experience a much-needed taste of the past.
