Girls Night Out~Football 101

Coach Jim Tressel
Originally uploaded by Buckeye.

The Ohio State Alumni Association hosted "Girls Night Out~Football 101 with Coach Tressel" for women only on Wednesday. My friend KC invited me to go, since she had received an email on it (I graduated from Ohio State too, but opt not to be a member of the Alumni Association because they only get two terrible seats to one terrible game a year. I can use my money more strategically to get better seats to a terrible game or to get terrible seats to a better game).

Anyway, the event had over 300 women attending. It was totally awesome. I was at the edge of my seat, as I do think this event was created for me. It began with some appetizers and socializing. This allowed us to get our picture taken with Coach Tressel and get items autographed (KC has a picture of me with Tressel that she hasn't sent me yet...I'll post when she does and I didn't have anything for him to autograph). But then, we all went into this room where he talked through 6 plays. It was so interesting to hear his perspective and get a glimpse into how much the football players have to learn. Then, a local television station did an Oprah-style interview with him. I thought it was facinating, and even walked out with a new OSU Alumni hat, as I won a doorprize. All in all, a very cool night. OSU says they are going to do it again in August with Archie!

One of the things I learned was that the team recites a poem right before taking the field. It goes like this:

I am only one, but I am one.
I cannot do everything, but I can do something.
And that I can do, I ought to do.
And what I ought to do, by the grace of God, I shall do.

Also learned that Tressel was hit in the head (hard!) and dropped to the ground by a football thrown by Craig Krenzel the afternoon of the 2002 National Championship. He joked that since he wasn't thinking too straight, that's probably how they ended up winning. LOL! But seriously, I'm so glad I didn't know that had happened. I was nervous enough as is during that game!