Ranked by seating capacity, Ohio Stadium is the third largest football stadium in the United States.
Filled, the stadium provides seating for 102,780 midwestern tushies Though fans of THE Buckeyes are not known for sitting.
THE Shoe set its record for crowd size on November 26, 2016 when the Buckeyes hosted their rival Michigan. The air over the stadium filled with the screams of 110,040 Buckeye fanatics, using their voices to will their team to victory.
And five freshman who can spell, looking to capture an “Insta-worthy” moment.
THE Shoe began its centennial season on Saturday when 106,594 of the faithful turned out to see the Buckeyes play the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame in Columbus, for the first time since 1995.
THE Buckeyes, ranked second in the nation in the pre-season polls, starting the century off right with a 21-10 win over the 5th-ranked Fighting Irish. An impressive Buckeyes defense keeping the team in the game for three-quarters until the regarded Buckeye offense, played to that regard.
It's Regal!
Older stadiums like THE Shoe, Boston’s Fenway Park or Chicago’s Wrigley Field are known more for their character than their comforts. A mystique added to the concrete by years, and events the stadiums have borne-witness to.
Fans in attendance trading the comforts of modern amenities and design, for the Ghosts of Football Past.
Ohio Stadium’s austere inner bowl offers those who care to sit no more than a bench and a shiver.
No matter how much you spent for your ticket!
The scoreboard at the Shoe fails to deliver the digital experience fans expect when they enter a stadium to experience a game: instant replay, high-pixel zooming, highlights, live Tweeting, all standard in more modern stadiums, are beyond the capabilities of the Shoe's diminutive and inadequately pixeled display.
The design and construction of the Shoe, completed more than 70-years before Jumbotron made its debut at the 1985 World’s Fair, find themselves ill-suited to support such modernity.
Up close, the stadium shows the effects of 36,500 days exposed to the Midwest’s elements. The building’s poured and troweled concrete surfaces betray a patchwork of touch-ups, which are hard not to notice when standing near the walls of the giant bowl.
But from an ethereal perspective, the old lady hides the scars of a century on the plains and stands stalwart and regal on the banks of the Olentangy River.
One hundred and forty-three miles north from my drones take-off, rises another of Ohio’s landmark buildings: The art-deco Landmark Office Towers Complex located at 101 Prospect Avenue in Cleveland.
Since 1930, the address of the world’s largest paint manufacturer, Sherwin-Williams.
Had the windows of CEO John Morikis’ office been within my drone’s range I may have been tempted to aim my toy north!
The desk of the company’s chairman is no-doubt littered with the work of a man charged with piloting the 156-year-old Sherwin-Williams, through its most challenging era since their near-bankruptcy in 1979.
THE Consumer Brands
In my blog on July 31 I wrote of troubles at Sherwin-Williams, laid bare in details of their second-quarter financial results.
The company’s Consumer Brands Group (CBG) emblematic of the problem; sales and profits in the division have shrunk over the last six quarters, despite the presence of significant inflation!
In that blog, I warned customers of the group that they should brace for changes in the way the division goes to market. Hardly prescient considering their recent results.
Maybe I Did Peek?
Recently, CBG executives and representatives began sharing with their customers, details of those changes, scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2023.
THE division responsible for Pratt & Lambert, Minwax, Purdy, Thompson’s, Cabot’s, Valspar and Krylon amongst others, looking to regain profitability by making dealers pay.
The offices of 101 Prospect giving dealers THE finger, for what I suspect will be the last time. The company’s actions effectively exiting Sherwin from any direct dealings they may have had within the independent channel.
Pratt & Lambert, the only brand Sherwin maintained as “independent only,” will be retired as inventories are wound down. While the brand’s best products will continue to be offered under the Valspar label.
Available to dealers and mass merchants alike.
The company also telling their dealers that if the combined purchases of the remaining CBG brands purchased directly from the company do not total more than $100,000 yearly, that dealer will no longer be eligible to buy any products directly from the company.
The announcement, infuriating retailers many of whom find themselves shopping for products and vendors in the middle of a supply chain crisis!
Standing up for THE channel was the executive vice-president of AllPro, Michael Beaudoin. Beaudoin and the board of AllPro sharing with their members via email recently that the group, which represents more than 2,000 storefronts and multiple-billions of dollars in yearly retail sales, had decided to, “exit the relationship with Consumer Brands Group effective January 1st.”
Beaudoin telling me that his group, “Prefers to support suppliers which focus on our channel.”
A standard which the world’s largest paint maker has failed to meet.
For decades.
It turns out, my drone was able to cover the distance from Columbus up to Cleveland. The GPS guiding me to the window outside of John Morikis’ office. The drone stabilizers holding the camera steady while it took this picture of a Post-it! adhered to the top of Morikis’ to-do list.
