In a
Gazette-Times story the other day, OSU spokesman Steve Clark said the crowd for OSU’s commencement featuring keynote speaker Michelle Obama would be comparable to that of a crowd for an OSU football game.
Lauren Mackevich from the White House advance team fields media questions early this morning at Reser Stadium.
An estimated crowd of 37,000 will be in the stadium this afternoon.
There’s one big difference between this commencement Sunday and fall football Saturdays, however.
Early this morning nobody could be seen tailgating in the Reser parking lot or anywhere else on campus. Not a single beer had been poured, and not one barbecue had been fired up. On football Saturdays, they start early and continue till kickoff.
I’m sure there will be some tailgaters later, because it appears to be a beautiful day for commencement.
The set-up at with the stage at the north end of the stadium looks good.
Those of us with tripods and video cameras had to set up early. I got buy viagra online no rx there about 7:35 and two TV crews already had their gear on a platform that a bunch of us will share during the program.
After setting up and getting a quick sound check, I put my camera back in the case and left everything there, as required. The Secret Service was scheduled to do an inspection of our gear and a sweep of the stadium at 9:30.
All media have to be at the stadium at 1 p.m. for check-in.
We plan to do a live blog, which we’ll start sometime after 2 p.m. Just go to www.democratherald.com/liveblog or gazettetimes.com/liveblog if you’re on a cellphone. On desktop computers, laptops and tablets, go to www.democratherald.com or www.gazettetimes.com.
The live blog will have a link to the live stream video provided by OPS and OSU. The live video is scheduled for 4 to 6 p.m.
Here’s a short video with Clark, OSU’s vice president for outreach and marketing, at Reser shortly before 8 a.m. today: