It is 4:57 p.m. Tuesday, roughly four hours before Ohio State hosts sixth-ranked Michigan State in the Buckeyes’ biggest game of the season, when Leigh Hedrick arrives outside Value City Arena with two bags full of fast food.
These two rather large containers aren’t for Hedrick — no single person could eat this much Wendy’s, trust me — but they are instead for a group of friends sitting outside the home of Ohio State basketball.
She delivers the goods to her friends who have been inside a tent since 10 p.m. the night before. Frostys, french fries, chicken nuggets. You name it, it’s in this bag.
Sam Reid, a third-year student at Ohio State, takes a bite into his burger then continues to type away frantically at his keyboard. He has a four-page paper due at midnight and needs to finish before he and the rest of the students camped out in tents and chairs are allowed into the arena.
Welcome to life in ‘Mattaritaville.’
I think you can guess how it got its name.
It’s not as wild here as it was just a few years ago when the Buckeyes went through a four-year stretch when they finished either first or second in the Big Ten. That was from 2010-13 and Ohio State was the premier program in the conference over that timeframe and was the only school nationally to advance to at least the Sweet 16 in four-consecutive seasons. When that was going on, the lines of tents in Mattaritaville covered nearly an entire side of Value City Arena. Students would camp out for several days leading up to a big game.
There were only two tents there Monday night and a total of six people. To the knowledge of those in attendance, it was the first time all season anybody had camped out for a Buckeyes’ home game.
That’s just the way things are now, though, as Ohio State is in its third-straight season in the middle of the Big Ten as opposed to the top. The Buckeyes made the NCAA tournament the last two years, but this season it’s looking like the NIT is the much more likely outcome.
Fans don’t want to camp out in January, February and March — typically months where temperatures don’t rise above freezing here in Columbus — for a team that’s average. They usually only want to do something that crazy for a team that’s nationally relevant.
To comprehend that you have to fully understand the Ohio State basketball fanbase, too. This is not Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina or Kansas. It’s not a blue blood college basketball program. It has become a very successful basketball program the last 12 years under Thad Matta, no question, but Ohio State will always be a football school. That’s just the reality of the situation; fair or unfair.
Fans will always be out in Krzyzewskiville down in Durham, North Carolina to support Duke no matter its record. It’s the same way things are here for the Ohio State football team. The support for Buckeyes’ basketball team from the majority of fans is just not the same year in and year out and it’s dependent on the team’s performance.
But there were still two tents worth of loyal supporters out there Monday night waiting to get their spots in the Ohio State student section and it begged a question I had to ask: Why would you camp out for a night to support a team that’s likely headed to the NIT?
“Well, it was kind of just, ‘What else was I going to do?’” Rob Barbush, a fellow camper, rhetorically said.
It makes sense when you think about it. After all, this was a Monday night — you’re not giving up a weekend to do this; there’s not a ton happening on Mondays during a packed semester. And you do it because you’re in college. Ever do anything as a college student just because you could, and would have the ability to tell the story years later? Yeah, this was one of those times.
And truth be told, it could have been much worse. February in Columbus has been rather mild this year. The past week here has been particularly warm and it was in the mid-40s throughout Monday and in the 30s overnight. If it were in the single-digits like it typically is around this time of year, you may not have seen those two tents.
There’s not much to do inside, but it’s not necessarily roughing it, either. The students can use power strips and connect them to outlets outside Value City Arena to use some electronics and they mooch WiFi off the building, as well. The sleeping arrangements may be a little abnormal and it’s quite crowded inside, but it’s certainly manageable.
“I worked on my paper, we had some beer, played some music, that’s about it,” Reid said.
You can probably guess one of the songs of choice, too.
You’re allowed to leave the tent in ‘Mattaritaville’ to run home for something, go to class, or anything, really. Just make sure one person remains in the tent at all times. It’s somewhat of the unwritten rule around here.
At 6 p.m., an hour after the Wendy’s gets delivered and three hours before gametime, the tents come down and a more traditional line forms. Then, an hour and a half later, the doors to Value City Arena open and the students in line — there are more than just the six who camped out all night here now — rush in to get the seat of their choice.
The ones who waited all night are there first and head right behind Michigan State’s bench, directly behind Spartans coach Tom Izzo. The opportunity to sit right behind a Hall of Fame coach, jokingly discuss how he should have taken the Cleveland Cavaliers job or Mark Titus’ conspiracy theory on Denzel Valentine and, as they call it, “talk trash?” The nearly 24-hour wait was well worth it.
Now they have another story to tell.
