Columbus, Ohio

Columbus, Ohio is the state's capital city and lies dead in the center of Ohio. The city was founded in 1812 and was named after Christopher Columbus. It is home of Ohio State University which is the largest campus in the United States, the 15th largest city in the US and is ranked 32nd in largest metropolitan areas. It is also the 4th largest city in the Midwest.

I moved to Columbus, Ohio in 2002. Prior to coming here I had never watched any college sports but within a month I was a football Buckeye fan. I have a son in Columbus and I wanted to be close to him so I moved here. At first I thought farms and barns but it turned out opposite. A week after getting here I ran a local ad to look for room mates or a cheap place to live. Within hours I got a few responses since I promised I'd pay cash instantly. I managed a small apartment in the Short North across from a park, it was pretty nice. I was getting to know my son and had him every weekend, he was 2 years old at the time.

One day I thought to kill some time awaiting for my son to arrive so I went walking down Broad Street on the west side and ran into a tattoo shop and within minutes I was getting my first tattoo. As I was exiting the tattoo shop I was approached by a guy who was asking me where I'd had purchased the sneakers that I was wearing. I had told him that " I bought them out east in New Jersey " and he then asked me to join him for a smoke outside. I come to learn that this guy played football for Ohio State University. We kicked it and he gave me a tour of the city. The following weekend we went to a club called Old School on N. High St on campus. There he introduced me to some other Ohio State Buckeye Players. Within my first week I had met E.J. Underwood, Marco Cooper, Chris Vance, Maurice Clarett and Craig Krenzel. I had never watched NCAA sports but when you get to know a few of their stars then you cant help but to get into it. As legacy would have it the Ohio State Buckeyes won the national championship that year and campus was like a 24 hour party house. Campus parties were crazy and the people were crazier. Everyone was shouting OH on one side of the street and on the other side of the street IO. Then I noticed everyone had some sort of necklace on with what appeared to be dark colored rocks at first. I came to learn that they were Buckeye nuts which are not edible and actually contain a poison.

I stayed in Columbus for a couple of years and was back and forth from Chicago to New jersey and Ohio in between. Getting to know the biggest sports stars of the city helped me out social wise. I got to meet more upcoming buckeyes and in 2005 I met Santonio Holmes. If you don't know who he is then you didn't watch the Superbowl this year, he got Superbowl MVP, the first for an Ohio State Buckeye. At least 10 players that I have been associated with have made it to the NFL US and NFL Europe. Ohio State University fans and students are amongst the loudest and vibrant sports fans in the world. It's a great place to come play and watch football. Ohio breeds football players like Idaho breeds potatoes. I still live in Columbus, Ohio. I love their sports, the athletes are very dedicated. There's one thing above all that I learned here and that's that when it's game day you better not be routing for the opposite team. The city is mostly college and buckeye sports based so when you visit here don't be alarmed, those are not gang beads they are just Ohio State Buckeye nuts.