Compare that to now: I have friends who used to tailgate immediately NE of the stadium. Several years ago, they got bounced to the Fawcett Center when prices went up. They don't have a corporate tailgate, so yeah, they did what they had to do. For a while after that, the NE lot seemed to struggle to fill up. (I haven't paid much attention the past couple years.) On the opposite end of the spectrum, I know people who tailgate in the west stadium lot. Since it's a corporate tailgate, they can easily afford multiple passes per game.
I've heard TBDBITL play "Hail to the Victors" at a skull session. It was either because of a relay arriving or the results of the annual blood drive.
I feel like I should be able to come up with something hilarious here, but I just can't shake it out.
The tailgating before Holbrook was definitely better. She brought a whole lot of stupidity with her policies on gameday drinking. When My wife and I were fresh out of school, Dr. E. Gordon Gee walked by our tailgate in the St. Johns lot, he stopped and talked for a few minutes. I had a person at our tailgate get arrested for underage consumption while Karen Holbrook was prez. Still, I think there is a large number of students that tailgate, at least from my experience.
With a campus population of 50k, there are some that tailgate, some that pregame at their residences, some that watch the game from home, some that don't like football, and some that take advantage of the peace and quiet to get some real work done. And off campus: The best time to go shopping - or rob a bank - in this town is during an OSU football game. It's becoming less true every year as we become less of a college town (thank God), but the theory is still solid.
I'm not doubting it was because why you've said, but outside when we play them, the only time other than that I heard them play it was years ago when they did some sort of "Salute to the Big Ten" and played a bit of everyone's fight song.