The Game

The Ohio State v. Michigan game was this past weekend. Although I am from Ohio, I had no idea that the name of this rivalry was called “The Game.” This caught me off guard because my undergraduate’s rivalry game is also coined as “The Game.” After learning this, I did my research on Wikipedia and discovered that the OSU v. Michigan and Yale v. Harvard are the only two football games that use the moniker “The Game.”

Since I have been able to take part in the weekend celebrations for both games, I decided it’d be interesting to examine the similarities and differences between the two different rivalries.


Harvard v Yale “The Game”

• Early morning wake-up for tailgating. Themed tailgates.
• Not important to wear school colors. Classic tailgate look: polo shirts, faded jeans, Ray-Ban Wayfarers and a blazer.
• Everyone attends the game whether it is home or away.
• Student ID is free admission. Game rarely sells out. Yale Bowl seats 70,870.
• Recently lopsided series. Yale has won only once since the year 2000… but they hold the all time series record 65-53-8.
• Little animosity between schools. Joint Harvard- Yale tailgates. Students offer to “host” the away team’s fans if people are looking for weekend housing.
• Both sides follow the scores to the other rivalry games while tailgating.
• Alumni from all over the country return for The Game since it is the main Fall reunion.
• Win or lose it is always a good time.


OSU v Michigan “The Game” (note: I have never experienced a home OSU v. Michigan game)

• Early morning tailgate. Real tailgates: burgers, beer, cornhole, football.
• Traditions: Mirror Lake jump - Absolutely insane event on Friday night. Students jump into Mirror Lake despite freezing temperatures and ridiculously high ammonia levels.
• Wear school colors: preferably jerseys – specifically a James Laurinatis jersey.
• Not as many people travel to the away games. No student housing provided by the home team.
• Student IDs are not free admission to the game. Games are always sold out. Tickets actually have a resale value.
• Recently lopsided series. Michigan has won only once since the year 2000… but they hold the all time series record 57-43-6.
• No joint tailgates. The two schools hate each other – don’t wear Scarlet and Gray in Ann Arbor.
• People actually watch the game. The tailgate is simply a buildup to the game.
• You better win to have a good day… or even a good year.

This year’s result: Yale loses, OSU wins... I’ll take it.

A day at Nestle

Today I traveled to Solon, OH with several Fisher MBA classmates to take a tour of the Nestlé campus and learn more about brand management opportunities at the company. After the tour, it was clear that Nestlé is a unique place with remarkable brands. I thought the most interesting part of the day was when two Marketing Associates spoke to us about their experience in the Toll House Cookie Dough Group during the E. coli recall several months ago. I can’t think of a larger obstacle to overcome than a product recall, but this group never panicked. After several weeks with the product off store shelves, the baking division re-launched the cookie dough in a slightly modified package highlighting that the product was safe. Their initiatives were a major success and the Toll House brand suffered no major brand damage. In fact, their sales this month are slightly higher than they were a year ago.

Tomorrow is the big game against Michigan. I’ll be at the Buckeye Hall of Fame Cafe talking to prospective students about Fisher and all that it has to offer. So if you'll be there, please hold any questions until non-critical moments of the game. Thanks.


(This post was reposted from the Max M. Fisher College of Business Student Blog by Joseph Fahrendorf.)

The Fahrendorf Revelation

Since Day 1, the Fisher faculty and Career Services department have reminded us that our school work is not our only priority. They have tried to instill in us this notion that internship/job searching is equally important, if not crucial to the overall success of our MBA. I mean, they have a point: if we graduate from Fisher with leadership, business and teamwork skills, but we are unemployed, how can we be the next generation of leaders in corporate America?

Despite this rational logic, their advice has fallen on deaf ears. Grades are measurable; progress in the internship search is not. Although my main objective at Fisher is to graduate with a rewarding job, I have succumbed to the day-to-day attrition of the core curriculum. (This is a major obstacle to finding an internship.) However, I have good news. Today I had a revelation – this is my first ever revelation and will quite possibly be my last – especially if this one burns me in the end.

The Fahrendorf Revelation simply states that life will never slow down or become any easier. Professors will never slow down or give me “time off” to focus on the outside world. If I need to spend more time internship searching, I will need to prioritize my school work and focus only on the important material. I simply don’t have time to do everything. This revelation is analogous to the law of conservation of energy. For example, I can change the form of my energy to focus on school or on the internship search, but I cannot double my energy to do equal work in both categories. Energy is finite; I have to learn to make do with what I have been given. The key is to prioritize, prioritize, and prioritize.

This watershed moment in my MBA career couldn’t have come at a better time. Next Friday I am travelling up to Solon, OH to take a tour of Nestle and speak with individuals at the company about their experience in brand development. I will make sure to get the most out of this opportunity and hopefully my changed philosophy will reward me down the road.

On a different subject, I would like to recognize all the military veterans at Fisher and across the country. Yesterday was Veteran’s Day and the University was closed in their honor. Thank you to all the men and women that have served this country.

-Joe

(this was reposted from https://fisher.osu.edu/blogs/gradlife/author/fahrendorf_3/)
Joseph Fahrendorf

Recharging my tank

This weekend I went home to Cincinnati for the first time since orientation. It was awesome to break away from my normal weekend MBA routine (studying/reading) and enjoy the beautiful weather (70 and sunny). Seeing my family and friends was a great way to recharge my tanks for the second half of the first quarter. After midterm week, my energy reserve was depleted. Hopefully this excursion allows me to refocus and close out the quarter with strong results. By the way, did I mention that we crushed Baltimore to improve to 6-2? Did I mention that the Bengals are in first place?

Speaking of football, I was able to go onto the field at the Horseshoe today in order to get my picture taken for some promotional material for Fisher College. Sorry future applicants… I’m not the most photogenic person.

https://fisher.osu.edu/blogs/gradlife/author/fahrendorf_3/

Catching up on everything

As you probably assumed from my intermittent blog posts the past two weeks, I have been really busy. In the future, I’ll try not to miss as many entries while preparing for exams, but that will definitely depend on how I am doing in my classes. I am enjoying my Fisher College experience too much to fail out in the first quarter. (Mom & Dad – don’t worry. My grades are fine.)

With that said, I am happy to report that I am back on “regular time.” I consider regular time to be the period of the school year where I don’t have any exams, papers or projects looming over my head. Regular time involves a lot of reading, internship searching, and extracurricular involvement. Regular time does not include last minute cramming, late night paper writing, or guzzling coffee from water bottles in order to stave off my body’s desire for sleep. Needless to say, I am really happy that my schedule is back to normal.

A few quick bullets:
• Fisher Graduate Student Association (FGSA): I had my first meeting for FGSA last Thursday. I have already received some great feedback from classmates regarding areas where Fisher College can improve. Keep the ideas coming to us and make sure to attend our first town hall meeting in two weeks.
• Halloween Bash: Over 200 Fisher students showed up to Mosaic on Friday night. We are currently voting on best costumes, so I don’t know who will officially win, but my vote is going to Joseph Cheng… Joseph went the scary route. He was a hybrid gorilla/skeleton. It looked better than it sounds, believe me.
• Procter & Gamble Case Competition: On Thursday and Friday of this week I will be participating in P&G’s case competition for first year Fisher College students. This will be my first case competition (ever) so I am not really sure what to expect.
• Bengals – Ravens Game: After the case competition wraps-up on Friday, I’m driving to the Cincinnati Airport to pick up a friend coming in town to watch the Bengals v. Ravens game at Paul Brown Stadium. I am a huge Bengals fan (don’t judge me) and my friend is a huge Ravens fan. These two teams will be battling for first place in the AFC North division. I can’t wait for the game.

That's all for now.
Joseph Fahrendorf


(This blog was reposted from Fisher College of Business blog: https://fisher.osu.edu/blogs/gradlife/author/fahrendorf_3/)