The Game was canceled in a year when it felt like everything was dying.
Businesses, global events like the Olympics, hundreds of thousands of people - every day felt grim, so outsiders may have viewed the loss of a single midwest football game as a petty grievance with society in turmoil and morgues at full occupancy.
Except that Ohio State-Michigan transcended sports long before the current population was born. That annual event resides right on the edge of religion and spiritual sustenance.
The Game has been an indelible cultural phenomenon for over a century, going so far as to shape Ohio's identity.