Category Archives: Ohio State

Football, New Years, Ohio State, Rose Bowl

New Years Day & The Rose Bowl

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The new year kicked off in style today with Ohio State playing in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl.  Alan and I had roses on the mind all day long.

After returning from Grandma Debbie’s, we watched some of College Gameday and the Tournament of Roses Parade.  On Gameday, Alan was happy to catch the highlight of Parris Campbell’s 78-yard TD dash during the Michigan game during an “Images of the Year” montage.  That was Alan’s favorite play this year, as he loved how Campbell ran away from defenders like he was shot out of a cannon.

During the parade, Alan enjoyed seeing the Ohio State Marching Band perform on a big stage once again (Side Note: I can’t imagine any other band having played both the Thanksgiving and New Year’s parades in the same season).

While we were watching the parade, Robbie and Jill stopped by to see Alan’s Christmas train in action.  Alan got it running pretty well after making some engineering adjustments to the train tracks.  Alan also showed off Super Mack and his new fort.

Afterwards, Alan changed into his Braxton Miller-era OSU #5 jersey and got ready to watch the first half of the game with Robbie, Jill, and David at Tata and Papa’s apartment.  Alan packed up an OSU foam finger, an OSU football, and a rose to take with us.  He also packed his new Buckeye plane from Christmas and a Buckeye truck for the city he sets up on the coffee table.

During the game, Alan got to see a TD catch by Parris Campbell, who set OSU’s single season reception record and went over 1,000 yards on the season during the first half.  Alan also saw some nice runs by OSU’s current #5, Mike Weber, who played his best game of the season at the Rose Bowl.

While driving back home, Alan of course followed along on ESPN Gamecast, as Dwayne Haskins threw his 50th TD pass of the season, good for 6th most all-time in the NCAA record books.

To Alan’s delight, Ohio State coasted to victory in the second half.  And as the sun set on the Rose Bowl, it turned into a retirement party for Urban Meyer.

Here’s to Urban and 86 wins over the past 7 years!

Football, Ohio State, Rose Bowl

2018 Big Ten Champions

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One week after Alan watched Ohio State dismantle Michigan 62-39, he stayed up late to watch Ohio State win the Big Ten Championship by defeating Northwestern 45-24 in Indianapolis!

Alan and I watched the first half of the game together at Grandma Debbie’s – a half highlighted by quite an air show from the Buckeyes’ Heisman candidate, Dwayne Haskins.  The Buckeyes always seem to put on a show on the fast turf in Indy, and Alan enjoyed three Buckeye touchdowns in the first half.

We drove home during halftime, and in the car, Alan followed the game on my phone via the ESPN Gamecast App — his new favorite pastime.  He didn’t quite stay awake for the whole game, but he saw the best parts.

During these past eight quarters of OSU football, Alan has picked up a large percentage of the rules of football.  He now has a strong grasp of down and distance (on a related note, boy do I wish they had the yellow ‘first down’ lines on the TV screen when I was Alan’s age).

This great run for Ohio State down the stretch in 2018 will be remembered as a driving force behind Alan’s growing interest in football.  And we’ve still got a Rose Bowl to watch together next!

In honor of Ohio State’s return to Pasadena, here I am in July 2007 visiting the Rose Bowl.  What a great memory!

Artwork, Basketball, Cavaliers, Ohio State

Cavaliers Game No. 1 of 2018-19

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Alan and I watched the Cavaliers beat the Rockets 117-108 tonight at the Q!  Alan was excited to see Collin Sexton in person for the first time.  And Sexton did not disappoint, as he scored a team-high 29 points in the win.

Upon our arrival at the Q, Alan measured up against the player he represented in the starting lineup during last June’s NBA Finals – Tristan Thompson!

Next Alan found our names on the floor of the Wine & Gold Headquarters.  This year our entry reads “Scott & Alan Miller.”

 

Our next stop was the team shop.  Alan bought a Cavaliers stuffed elephant and named him “Wajibu,” since Blue House (Team Wajibu) has an elephant as its mascot.  Wajibu will fit well at home with “Lucky” (dog) and “Cav-ee” (duck).

On the way to our seats, Alan made another great sign!  He came up with the idea of drawing a sword slashing the opponent (a rocket in this case) in half, just like the graphics he saw on the Humongotron during the Finals.  He also used a stencil to draw the “C” logo.

   

After getting some popcorn at Alan’s request, we sat and watched the rest of the game from our seats.  We had a blast watching Sexton lead the Cavaliers to victory.  We shared a lot of giggles too, as Alan got a kick out of taking my phone and taking close up pictures of his face and my shirt.  🙂

All-in-all, we had a perfect day together.  Earlier in the day, we watched Ohio State beat Michigan 62-39.  We watched every second of the game and celebrated every Ohio State score together.  Considering 62 points were scored (an all-time record for an opponent of Michigan), we tired ourselves out!

11/25/18 Update:  The Browns capped a remarkable sports weekend by beating the Bengals in Cincinnati.  The Cavaliers, Buckeyes, and Browns combined to go 4-0 over Thanksgiving weekend, and Alan and I watched almost all of the action together.  If only this weekend could last forever…

Legos, Ohio State, Swimming, Video

Best Saturday Ever

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Today’s excitement included swimming lessons during the day and putting together Legos at night.

Alan had one-on-one attention at the pool this afternoon due to some absences in his swim class.  He swam back-and-forth and back-and-forth, compiling quite a few practice laps.

In the evening, Alan put his entire Coast Guard Lego set together!  The set, which he got at his family birthday party, came in 8 separate bags.  Alan just kept going and going and assembled the entire set while we watched the Ohio State football game.  Not only did Alan enjoy his Legos, but he also got to see Ohio State rally to make up a 12-point deficit in the 4th quarter at Penn State to win 27-26!

The first OSU game that Alan watched portions of was against Penn State in 2015.  This game was the first that Alan watched the majority of the game.  We were both ecstatic by the end of the night.  🙂

1st Grade, Activities & Interests, Ohio State

Dance Party

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Alan has taken a new interest in music these days, particularly Kidz Bop songs.  His favorites are “Fight Song,” “Thunder,” “Just Like Fire,” “Can’t Stop the Feeling!,” “Best Day of My Life,” and “Feel It Still” — all of which he’s heard during 1st grade dance breaks, which are a variation of more traditional stretch breaks.

Recently we purchased and downloaded all of these songs to our iPhone.  We had our own dance party – featuring the “dancing water speakers” pictured above – right before Ohio State’s Cotton Bowl victory tonight over USC!

1st Grade, Cavaliers, Championship, Ohio State

Donuts With Dad

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Today, before school, Alan and I attended one of our favorite events — Donuts with Dad!  Alan and I had our milk and coffee (but no donuts) together at the same table as Cassidy, Xavier, and their Dad.  Then we had our picture taken by the school’s photographer, Mr. Ketchum.  At Alan’s request, I wore my Ohio State shirt and Alan wore his Cavaliers championship shirt!  After getting our picture taken, we met up with Grady and his Dad — and ended up in Mr. Bradic’s photo (below).

Alan's First, Ohio State

OSU Game (on TV)

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Last night Alan made me a very proud dad when he sat down next to me and watched [part of] an OSU game for the first time!  It was a momentous night for Alan and I, as it was the first time Alan wanted to watch a sporting event on TV with me.

Alan told me that #1 on OSU — Braxton Miller — was our best player because he was wearing #1.  I did not disagree!

#1 Ohio State beat Penn State 38-10 in the first ever “blackout” at the Shoe.