Oregon, Ohio To Drop Its Name On January 12 When The Buckeyes Play the Ducks

Oregon, Ohio is going to drop its objectionable name for one day, the day that the Ohio State Buckeyes play the Oregon Ducks in the College Football Playoff Championship in Arlington, Texas on January 12.

Matt Squibb and Mark Rabbitt, both graduates of Oregon’s Clay High School, started a Change.org petition that’s garnered over 1,000 signatures and prompted many calls to Oregon’s Mayor and Administrator.

“I grew up in Oregon, Ohio and love the city, but for the day of the ‘Big Game’ I am asking the city council to make a proclamation to change the name of the city for one day. Call it Buckeye Town, Ohio City, Brutusville, whatever, you get the point. Let’s not leave anything to chance here! Change the name and support the Buckeyes!”

Squibb posted the petition on Change.org. He also called for Oregon’s Clay High School to change its official colors for the day, as Clay’s colors are the same as the Oregon Ducks — green and gold.

Oregon, Ohio is a suburb of Toledo, Ohio. It lies about two-and-a-half-hours north of Columbus, on the banks of Lake Erie. It is pronounced differently than the state. University of Or-a-gin versus the City of Or-ah-gahn. Amusingly, the authors of the petition don’t even claim to be Ohio State fans. One of the co-authors, Rabbit, is actually a fan of Ohio State’s biggest rival, the University of Michigan.

“When Michigan plays Ohio State, obviously I’m a Michigan fan, but every time OSU plays I hope they win because in the grand scheme it’s good for the Big 10. It’s just a unique opportunity to show support to a university in their journey to win the first ever national championship in the playoff system, but also for this area, that a school from the Big 10 is able to represent the entire conference in this national championship game.”

Squibb says that his father is an OSU fan.

Michael Beazley, Oregon’s City Administrator says that the City will announce the name change on Monday.

“We’ve heard about [the petition]. We’ve gotten calls. We’re going to do something with it,” Beazley told the newspaper.

Ohio State upset top ranked Alabama 42-35 in an exciting game on Thursday evening. Ohio State’s coach, Urban Meyer, is being credited with bringing the Big Ten back to prominence, as the Inquisitr reported. The Buckeyess took that win over the Tide with their third string quarter back. The Ohio State Buckeyes obviously have something to offer.

[Image courtesy of Ohio State Alumni Club of Los Angeles]