The Nebraska Blues......

Nebraska? How on earth can Nebraska make its way into a blog about Sao Paulo, but if you give me a few moments I will clarify. So back to my story, it's now day 6 in Sao Paulo and I'm getting entrenched in the culture full steam. I'm putting together full phrases at times rather than just one word wonders. Breakfast was solid again today and I hoped into the taxi to see what could become of my adventurous trip to and from work each day. Today's taxi was a special one.
When I opened the door I could hear local music, which was the first time in 6 days I heard it. But that's not all that this taxi had, it also had blue tinted windows! It gave me a new lens to look at the world through in my 35 minute ride from the upscale Jardins area to the suburb of Brooklin. I compared my taxi to a go kart similar to those found in Mario Kart. Nintendo video games I used to play as a kid. (College still counts as a kid too for reference!)

As we worked our way down Nove de Julio Avenue and then continued on to Santa Amara, we came into the area of town where the roads are named after U.S. states such as Flo-rida (see previous days blog), New York, etc. We pulled up to the stop sign and I looked up to see what street I was at and low and below..... it was Nebraska. As I stared through the blue tinted window, I realized I had the Nebraska Blues. Now you may say, "Tyler, what is the significance of Nebraska Avenue?", but reality is that my Ohio State Buckeyes take on new Big Ten rival Nebraska this Saturday at 8pm. Given everything our program has been through, Buckeye Nation has stood idle unwavering in faith and devotion to the men of the scarlet and grey. But last week, a realization hit me, that we just aren't that good.

Now I attended the first three home games prior to coming to Sao Paulo, and even though I knew then that we would not be as good, it took me to look at Nebraska Avenue through a blue tinted window for it to really sink in. Terrelle Pryor and Jim Tressel are long gone, and the program is in shambles. There are calls for the jobs of the Offensive Coordinator, the Athletic Director and even the University President, but that does not move us forward (well, perhaps the Offensive Coordinator could go). We need to cut the ties to these kids that continued to break violations and get free money after they had been suspended for trading merchandise for tattoos. I will be the first to say that the rule those guys broke last year is a dumb rule, but a rule is a rule and Tressel "covered it up" so to speak, even though I think others knew. As George Bush said "Fool me once, shame on you, Fool me twice shame on me"... wait he didnt say that. Lets see what he did say (wait for it about the 55 second mark)

But the recent events show that certain individuals think they are bigger than the program, than the school, than Buckeye nation and I'm here to tell them they are not.

I know what you're thinking, "Tyler, you did not even attend The Ohio State University". You are correct, I did not, but according to Rule #4 of the New Rules for College Football, released over four years ago on ESPN (i kept a bookmark to it because its awesome and the comments are hilarious) states the following:

4.  If you attended a lower-division or NAIA school, you're allowed to pick a D-I school of your choice. But you must consistently root for that school year in and year out, and it's preferred that the school be geographically close to you.

You know what else? I pay a decent amount of taxes in the State of Ohio (Sales tax, Property tax, & Income tax) which provides funding to the school, therefore I am rightfully allowed to voice my opinions. Nebraska is coming off of an embarrassing loss to Wisconsin (48-17) and the game is prime time on a Saturday night, on the road. OSU has not played well in a night game in as loss as I can remember, and beyond that I'm not sure we will be able to score any points. But you know what, even if we get beat 100-0 (which we wont), I will still rock the scarlet and grey on Sunday.

The light turned to green and I was quickly over my Nebraska blues as I was pulled back into the game of Mario Kart. The only difference is that I was not driving with Toad, Princess, or Mario for that matter. I was sitting in the backseat of the VW version of a smart car, with my head touching the roof of the car which did not help my back or my neck as I was whipped through the "course" dodging banana peels and turtle shells through Itaim Bibi neighbor in Sao Paulo.

We crossed lanes and must have hit a "Speed Burst" strip because we raced through the taxi/bus lane and it shot us back out onto the main road way ahead of where we just were. I envisioned that the evil boss "Bowsher" chasing me with one of those red shells (for those non Mario-Kart-er's out there the red shells are like when Maverick and Goose locked onto a target with their missiles... deadly). As we turn down Maria Zamlutti Avenue we hit a bump and fly sideways until using the right brake button to balance us out to make the turn onto Alvaro Rodrigues. We pull up in front of the office building which is my destination and I realized that I made it to work, and I beat the Nebraska blues.

(Now lets hope they don't return Saturday night at 8pm Eastern)