The past few days the news has been filled with reports from the Big Ten Media Days in Chicago. They have prognosticated this and postulated that. Shucks, I could have saved them a lot of time.

One week ago, Jenny and I were traveling around the heartland, in part for some of my book research. As I paid the toll when we exited the parking garage at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Illinois, I had an exchange with the guy in the booth that went like this:

"Hello!" (me)

"Where you from?" (he)

"Ohio"

"Oh, yea, Ohio State"

"That's right, Go Bucks!"

"You got that one right. National Champions this year baby! You can bank on it!"

"National Champions, hey? We'll take that!"

"Yep, they're gonna roll. National Champions! Remember, you heard it hear first."

"Go Bucks!," I hollered as the gate raised and we coasted out of the garage. "Remember, you heard it here first. You heard it here first!" the guy shouted again, as I rolled down the ramp and out into the heart of Illini Country. How's that for ramping up expectations Coach T?

As I drove along, I thought about what had just happened. There we were, a couple hours down the road from U of I, from Champaign and Memorial Stadium, and for the guy in the toll booth, the Buckeyes were his team. I've said it before. We're everywhere.

And, for all the writers that spent big money for Chicago hotels, well heck, you should have just called the guy in the toll booth in Springfield Illinois. I bet my room there was a whole lot cheaper than what you paid.