In professional wrestling, a ‘heel’ is someone who portrays the antagonist or a villain, directly opposing the ‘face’ which is viewed as the protagonist or the hero. The heel exists to provide a foil for the face characters, and it gives the audience someone to root against. This wrestler generally displays a kind of arrogance about him and an overall attitude that makes him deliberately unlikeable.
Every good hero needs a villain, and for many years, that heel for Ohio State fans was none other than an ESPN analyst by the name of Mark May.
Growing up in Oneonta, NY, May played college football at Pittsburgh from 1977-80, earning unanimous All-American honors as a senior and winning the Outland Trophy as the nation’s top interior lineman.