COLUMBUS, Ohio — Every game day, the stars and stripes are hoisted inside the Shoe.
It's tradition like most, if not all, sporting venues. Ohio State, though, has started a new tradition to add to it.
"My job is to guide the flag up the halyard as the linemen are pulling the flag," said Jeff Lidawer.
Lidawer is a first class senior and the company executive officer in Ohio State's ROTC. The military — the Navy, in particular — is a rich vein for his family going back to this great grandfather.
On game days, he and about 10 other Navy members, as well as a few Air Force and Army participants, work together to raise Old Glory.
"It's really a race against the national anthem to finish the job," he said.
And his job, arguably, is the most important. Once the flag hits the top of the pole, Lidawer is charged with pulling the rope while taking out all the slack and getting the excess back to the pole to tie it off. Normally, it's done by running it back.
But, that's not how Lidawer does it.
"Swinging is a lot more efficient, in my opinion, so I prefer that," he said.
His means of getting there is hopping in the stands and swinging to the pole.
He says his nickname has become "Tarzan."
"I saw on somebody's Instagram from the stands that they called me Tarzan," he said. "I was, like, 'Well, I guess that's what it's going to be.'"
He has swung in to start every home Buckeye game this season. But, he won't be there next weekend when Wisconsin comes to town.
"I will not be doing it then," he said. "We have a ROTC competition in Wisconsin. So, my replacement will be fulfilling the role that night."
And his replacement will be junior, second class Bertina Xue, who is believed to be the first woman to tie off the rope.
"OSU has, like, 45,000 undergrad and to get this opportunity, whether you're female or male is just amazing," she said. "So, when they asked me, I was, like, 'I'll take it!'"
And, yes, if you're wondering... she plans on following in Lidawer's footsteps and swinging in.
"Definitely swinging," she said. "That's the plan."
That's the plan; to get the job done. For Ohio State. For country.