Tilt Me Toward the Buckeyes

All my family was dialed into the UK/Ohio State game last night. I only wish my deceased father-in-law could have seen this game. An Ohio native (Bellefontaine), and WWII combat engineer, he graduated from Georgetown College in 1956 and was a lifelong b'ball fan. He was the scorekeeper for the Scott Co Cardinal basketball team back in the day when Bobby Barlow was the coach. As I recall, Barlow also coached Goose Givens at Bryan Station. It was during this era that my father-in-law adopted the Wildcats as his second team, but he never gave up his love for his Buckeyes.

He went on to teach high school english at Fairview H.S. in Dayton for nearly 30 years. One of his students was Bob McCowan, a classmate of my wife's, who went on to play for Rupp. McCowan's big cross-town rival in h.s. was Mike Pratt, another Wildcat. Another classmate of my wife was Mike Schmidt, a decent athlete in his own right. (intentional understatement)

All that to say that, had he been able to catch the game last night, he would have understood some of the ambivalence that others have expressed. But as his wife of 57 years noted, he would have "tilted" toward his Buckeyes, as did she yesterday, the day we celebrated her 90th birthday.