FANS FLOCK TO GAME-WATCH PARTIES
By Brent LaLonde
If it’s a football Saturday, you can bet fans are gathered near and far to cheer on their beloved Buckeyes. Alumni clubs in many cities host game watch parties. Brent LaLonde dropped in on one Chicago party during last year’s Michigan game.
About two hours before the 2005 Ohio State-Michigan football game, Desmond Fong settles into a seat in a bar across from Wrigley Field on Chicago’s north side. Wearing an Ohio State jersey with his name on the back, he’d fit right in at the Varsity Club.
He also fits in with the morning crowd gathered at Casey Moran’s, one of several official game watch locations for Ohio State’s local alumni club. Even at 9:30, some 200 Buckeye fans are already on hand. The group eventually will swell to more than 500.
“If I’m not at the game, I’m here every week,” Fong said. “It’s football Saturday, and this is as close as I can get to being at the game.”
Thousands of Ohio State fans throughout the country mimic Fong’s routine during football season. They rise, sometimes before the sun, dress in their favorite scarlet and gray attire, and hustle over to a local bar or restaurant to watch the Buckeyes on big-screen televisions.
Nearly all of the more than 200 official alumni clubs host football game watch parties. “It’s a great way for alumni and fans to get together to support the Buckeyes,” said Ashley Schafer, director of clubs for the Alumni Association. Many of the groups use the events to raise money for scholarships and local charities, she said.
Lisa Cerbara, who organizes the parties at Casey Moran’s, spends several hours before each game selling raffle tickets to benefit the club’s scholarship program.
“We’ll do really well today, which is good,” Cerbara said. “Football fans are kind of fickle, and when the team doesn’t do so good, fund-raising suffers.”
But the fans are upbeat today. Ohio State is coming off a five-game winning streak, and a victory over Michigan will guarantee a tie for the conference championship.
“All week, all I could think of was the Buckeye game. It’s why I woke up at 6:30,” said Steve Homewood, who tailgated with friends before arriving at Casey Moran’s at 9 a.m. “This is what we look forward to all year.”
In addition to Chicago, alumni clubs in Atlanta, New York City, Phoenix, and Orange County, Calif., are known for their large and enthusiastic parties.
For years, the Chicago club hosted one of the nation’s biggest. Hundreds would gather each Saturday at Jack Sullivan’s, with a line forming before the doors opened. The parties were so popular that when Jack Sullivan’s closed down, the alumni club officers opted for multiple new locations.
Mike Roberts, a former co-owner of Jack Sullivan’s, used his relationship to attract Ohio State fans to Casey Moran’s, his new watering hole. It was a profitable move.
“It’s a great crowd,” Roberts said. “Ohio State football fans are the best.”
Check here for a list of game-watch parties. The list is updated regularly.
