How you can tell it's OSU vs. Michigan Week

1. Jim Tressel's name comes up more often in my house than those of my children, in-laws, our best friends or Blueberry, our beloved and departed 16-year-old cat.

2. Ordinary conversations are constantly interrupted by stream-of-consciousness musings on possible match-ups for the BCS championship, Troy Smith's lock on the Heisman, Tressel's winning record against Michigan and John Cooper's infernal and inexplicable lack of understanding of how to beat the Wolverines.

3. Saturday's schedule is being synchronized with military precision so we get to an out-of-town Bucks party with plenty of time to spare.

4. Brutus's over-sized mahogany face leers at us from sweatshirts, drinking glasses and golf towels.

5. Optimistic as I am about a Buckeye victory, I am rehearsing lines to ease the massive depression that would surround a Buckeye defeat: There could be a rematch. They still could go to another BCS bowl game. It was a great season anyway. It would have been a different game without those questionable calls. Scarlet and gray is so much cooler than maize and blue. (None of which will help in the least, and we'll have to go for a long drive to cool off SOMEBODY'S temper.)

Is my house the only one affected by this obsession? How is the hysteria invading your family life?