City: Cincinnati, OH

Category: Spectator Sports

Description: Fans in the area really pay more attention to what happens with Ohio State University football. When OSU plays at home, Interstate 71 is jammed with Greater Cincinnati residents, who beat a path to Columbus to watch the Buckeyes (the fanaticism stops at the river, though). Trying to get a ticket to the Horseshoe, aka Ohio Stadium, is a tough task, but a call to (800) GO-BUCKS is worth the try.The Ohio State Buckeyes have become a national powerhouse in the last several years.In 2007, Sports Illustrated nicknamed Ohio State’s athletic program as being “The Program” due to the unsurpassed facilities, unparalleled amount of men’s and women’s sport teams, their success, and the financial support of an impressive fan base. Its football team has won the title of national champions in 2002. Since then, they have competed several times in bowls and won the Fiesta Bowl twice. But the national championship title has eluded them in 2006 and 2007, losing in the Bowl Championship Series against Florida and Louisiana State University.The Ohio State basketball team also has made the headlines. In 1999 the team made it to the Final Four for the first time since 1968 It has been in the NCAA tournament every year since, and the team was the Big 10 regular season champion in 2002. In 2004 Thad Matta (former Xavier coach) was named head coach and since then, the team has already won two Big Ten Conference Titles and had two NCAA tournament appearances, losing in the championship game in 2007.