Ohio State fans' roots run deep

Ohio State is in town to face off against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Fiesta Bowl on Monday in Tempe. Geoff Glazer is a lifelong Ohio State fan who grew up in Cleveland. Four years ago he moved to Tucson, and Wednesday he and his son were at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort with an Ohio State helmet in hand. As the players walked to their bus heading to practice, Norman Glazer, 15, politely asked players and coaches to sign the helmet. Senior linebacker A.J. Hawk, among the teams biggest stars, stopped for a few moments and signed his name. Other players followed suit. "These are good kids," the elder Glazer said of the players. He became a fan in the Coach Woody Hayes era of sustained excellence in Columbus and is certain to remain one for life. "They win, the great players, the history, the tradition," Glazer said. "And the best damn band."Glazer remembers Ohio State losing to Michigan in 1969. That loss was the first in two years and prevented the Buckeyes from winning back-to-back national championships. "My whole family was sick for a week," Glazer said, still grimacing from a loss more than 35 years old. Jim and Tammy Conkel and their two children flew in for the game from Atlanta. The Conkels graduated in 1984 with engineering degrees. Now they are constructing a family of Buckeye fans in the Deep South. "My son Conner has shown distressing signs of becoming a Georgia Tech fan," Jim said with a laugh. "That's one of the reasons we are here. It will be a week of scarlet and gray, and then a good game."When asked who will win the Fiesta Bowl, Jim fell back to typical sports talk: "It's going to be a great game. Two really good teams. I think the team that makes the fewest mistakes will win."But Tammy was having none of that. "And the team that will make the fewest mistakes is Ohio State."