Michigan Wolverines shooting guard Roddy Gayle was one of several players in the first breakout session of Big Ten Media Day on Thursday. And the very first question that he received mentioned his previous appearance at a Big Ten Media Day, where he represented the Ohio State Buckeyes, at their respective podium.
“Obviously different colors, different schools, apparently they’re rivals,” Gayle joked in response.
Yes, Ohio State and Michigan are such strong rivals that in football their annual meeting, always on the last day of the season, is simply referred to as “The Game.”
It’s incredibly rare to see a college athlete play for both teams in this blood feud, for obvious reasons, and when Gayle switched sides, he drew a lot of wrath for it.
The backlash from Ohio State “fans,” if you can call them that, was so extreme that Roddy Gayle even received some death threats.
At Big Ten Media Day Gayle discussed the transition from Columbus, OH to Ann Arbor, MI. “The support of our staff, and my teammates from last year, made it a lot easier for me mentally,” the 22-year-old said.
“The fans- the kind of hate that I got from transferring, the hate that I received.
“With the support of my teammates and staff, it eased my mind so that I could go out there and perform.”
Ohio State-Michigan is a sports rivalry that is in very rarified air. There is an actual history of a past military conflict connected to two regions!
Yes, you can learn about the Ohio-Michigan Boundary Dispute of 1834-1837 at this link. It has also been referred to as the War of the Toledo Strip, or the Toledo War.
It was literally ended by something called The Frostbitten Convention.
You also have Manchester United and Leeds United, two clubs connected to cities that actually battled each other in The War of the Roses. As articulated at R.org, Leeds is a club that is all about culture. And they truly showcase this whenever they play United, in a series that is today referred to as The Roses Rivalry.
Gayle, who certainly looks like a first round prospect in next June’s NBA Draft, discussed what he tries to do to shut out the noise, and keep the hate from reaching him.
“One thing you can do immediately is just kind of get off social media,” Gayle said.
“For me it’s just like for looking at stuff, reading stuff on Instagram, Twitter, whatever it is, but I think immediately, once I got off of social media I was able to just get lost in the program, get lost in the winning and just as the season started as I was able to move on from the social media things, and lose myself in playing basketball.”
This offseason saw the Big Ten make Ohio State and Michigan a protected rivalry. That means every year will see the two teams play a home and home.
“I look at it as that’s what makes college basketball fun,” Gayle said. “It brings a lot of excitement when you have multiple rivals in the same league.”
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter