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Hating Columbus and OSU
In a post a few days ago and in my Sunday column, I asked how Dayton can keep a symphony but Columbus can’t…
It was something of a rhetorical question, but it drew this fairly vitriolic response from a reader that I found worth sharing.
What do you think? I like Columbus, myself, but I have heard lots of arts-interested folks say much the same thing as this…
Hi Ron,
Your question in this morning’s Dayton Daily News about why Columbus can’t keep its symphony orchestra running while Dayton can is simple: an infantile obsession with a football team.
The Columbus, Ohio metro area should be deeply ashamed. They should be, but they’re too intellectually bankrupt to even have the awarenss of what happened there a couple of weeks. God, these are shallow people.
Everything, I mean everything, in that metro area is focused on Ohio State football. Classical music? Opera? Art? Politics? All of them take a back seat to this infantile, insane obsession over Buckeye football. Nothing else matters to that smarts-stunted population. Ask some shmoe walking down any Columbus street in a Buckeye football sweatshirt who Mahler is and he’ll ask you if Mahler was a former defensive tackle.
Someone recently complained that Ohio State’s basketball team doesn’t get the recognition it deserves because of Ohio State football. Wow! How about everything else that’s going on in the world? No wonder the governor’s office has had so many problems: nobody cares about anything other than what happens on 300 feet of real estate every Saturday in the fall.
For 2 1/2 years (2003 to 2005), I worked at the Defense Supply Center Columbus. In the fall, every Friday, the entire building (and it was huge) focused on OSU’s next opponent. Hallway chats. Cubicle visits. Phone calls. Lunchtime conversations. Every Monday, it was like working at ESPN, what with all the endless game analysis. When someone asked me if I was an OSU football fan, I practically gave the guy a heart attack. My reply was that, no, I was not only not an OSU football fan, but I got my undergrad degree from Wright State University, a major university that does not even have football. And never will. And if college football fell off the face of the earth, I would not be able to care less. I was, after that, the person at whom most stared…
Dayton can hold its head up high, Ron. We have a healthy arts scene that is the envy of most other cities.
And, yes, the DPO will find someone outstanding to replace Curt Long. He’s done a tremendous job (as did his wife, Elizabeth, with the Springfield Symphony), but I’m sure the DPO Board will use Curt’s performance as its yardstick in picking a successor.
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Comments
By he-man
May 20, 2008 11:25 AM | Link to this
Are you kidding me? You talk about a city like Dayton that has one of the worst public school systems in Ohio. I know Columbus’s isn’t much better but you are desecrating one of the most beloved organizations in the country. The arts are important to the development of the whole child. But, athletic participation is just as important. Don’t place blame on the Buckeyes. They can’t help being the best draw in town.By he-man
May 20, 2008 11:21 AM | Link to this
Are you kidding me? You talk about a city like Dayton that has one of the worst public school systems in Ohio. I know Columbus’s isn’t much better but you are desecrating one of the most beloved organizations in the country. The arts are important to the development of the whole child. But, athletic participation is just as important. Don’t place blame on the Buckeyes. They can’t help being the best draw in town.By susan
May 19, 2008 8:03 PM | Link to this
while i’m not stupid enough to argue about the Columbus community’s obsession with football, I would suggest that the person who makes the point is not as involved in the community as he/she may infer. sorry about your former co-workers conversational limitations but being bi-located has given me a good feel for what is available in both communities. i would suggest that one of the primary outlets for the arts that stand in the way of a viable symphony is the availability of arts-based showings and entertainment through the OSU Arts departments which bring in individuals with real drawing power. i attended a conversation with kurt vonnegut that turned away hundreds of people, students and residents, who could not get in. it was SRO. the step shows put on by the divine nine fraternities and sororities are always sold out, attended by an ethnically mixed audience. add to that the sell out concerts at the schottenstein center, nationwide arena, the hockey, the soccer, the pro football, and you have a wide array of attractions competing for the same time and money from the community. i grew up in green bay so don’t think for one minute that if dayton didn’t have the chance to capitalize on a big name professional franchise bringing in millions of dollars in one day it would pass. (the varsity club, the pub on my corner, grosses $1M from the three liquor licenses it has each game day.) i don’t think columbus is that different from most towns. it has a limited number of patrons and supporters for it’s entertainment agenda. i do think dayton is very different. this community is in love with the arts and it shows. all types of creative endeavors thrive, including pop music. AND we have a world class dance company … that can’t sell out its performances (DCDC). so it’s a mixed bag. i would add that if you asked 90% of the people in dayton what they thought of mahler they might ask if that was that wrestler that died from an overdose. i’m not being condescending (it was chris benoit). i think that competition for entertainment dollars is hard fought and sometimes the good guys don’t win.