COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Gamedays in Ohio Stadium overflow with traditions.
Script Ohio. Carmen Ohio. Across The Field just to name a few.
For OSU students, their most powerful tradition stems from their unity. Since 1938, Ohio State’s student section has gathered to form “Block O,” the official school student section. Thousands of students at both the north and south ends of Ohio Stadium construct a wall of sound.
“Being able to see everyone hone in on that sense of community all together, especially in a stadium as big as the ‘Shoe, it’s a really special thing,” Gabi Cicerini, the current president of Block O, said.
Cicerini and Adam Smith, Block O’s director of football operations, lead Block O’s weekly game prep. The organization maintains an office in the Ohio Union, and inside that office you’ll often find one of them — working well ahead of gameday — in game mode.
“We get the same joys that everyone else gets,” Cicerini said. “We just have to put in a little more behind the scenes than other people on campus.”
One of the lasting legacies of Block O starts with a stunt and each game week, it’s Smith’s job to build the new card stunt.
“The best way to honestly learn how to do it is just by doing it,” he says.
For each game, OSU students hold up color-coded cards strategically placed in the student sections to tell a story or promote a message.
“We’ll talk about what kind of themes athletics are pushing… what the landscape of college football looks like at the time,” Smith said. “If we want to throw a dig, maybe at an opponent — for example, last year against Minnesota, we did the Connor Stallions card stunt. Big into the (Michigan) cheating scandal at that time. So we put a guy in blue and yellow with binoculars up.”
Smith uses Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to calculate how many colors and cards are needed to pull off each stunt. Then, Block O’s job is to take the stunt to the stadium. Under the south stands at Ohio Stadium, Block O has its own storage bunker, filled with cards, tools, signs and even a surplus of snacks to keep students energized.
Ultimately, the students said their biggest job is to build the blanket of noise that affects OSU opponents. That noise also takes meticulous planning.
“I stand on a stand above everybody with a microphone,” Smith said, when he leads students in organized cheers and songs on gameday. “That kind of fraternity aspect of it, where you’re sitting around your best friends, you’re screaming, going nuts, hugging… we’re scoring, it’s just unbelievable. And you can’t really put it into words.”
