Most Ohio State players content to avoid temptations of French Quarter
Players were excited to see it, but the impatient Hayes couldn't figure out how to wind the film onto the lower reel. By the time the first half of the movie was over, there was a huge pile of film around Hayes' ankles.
Rather than put on the second reel, Hayes barked, "That's enough. It's time to go to bed anyway."
So the players shuffled off to their Spartan rooms while glancing back at what looked like a mammoth plate of brown spaghetti covering up Hayes' shoes.
The Buckeyes split those two Rose Bowls they played after spending time in Hayes' form of solitary confinement, winning the 1968 national championship by beating USC but being upset by Stanford two years later.
Hayes also showed his taciturn side when he brought Ohio State to its first Sugar Bowl after the 1977 season.
After the bus pulled up to the very same Hilton where today's Buckeyes are staying, the team started getting off.
Hayes wandered over to the nearby Mississippi River where a Russian freighter had been docked near the hotel.
"Get back on the bus! We're not going to stay here!" he thundered, according to Ohio State sports information director Steve Snapp. "We're not going to sleep with any Russians!"
It took two hours of pleading by a Sugar Bowl representative before Hayes relented, but only on the condition that the Russian ship had to leave.
The next morning it was gone. No one knew if it was merely departing on time or if it was another example of the power Hayes wielded.
Chances are Hayes blamed the Red Menace for Ohio State's lopsided 35-6 loss to Bear Bryant and Alabama in the game a few days later.
Current Buckeyes stress they could go out on the town, but they don't want to leave anything to chance after a 41-14 pounding by Florida in last year's national championship game.
"I've actually not gone anywhere," safety Kurt Coleman said Friday. "I've lived in the hotel room and the film room. I haven't been anywhere."
Defensive tackle Doug Worthington said he and teammate Nader Abdallah, a New Orleans native, spent 30 minutes on Bourbon Street earlier this week but hustled back to their rooms because of temperatures in the 30s.
Others have said the only thing they've seen of New Orleans is through the windows of their bus on the way to and from practices.
Woody would have loved these guys.
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