So as the players stood on the podium at the center of the Horseshoe yesterday listening to Cie Grant sing ''Carmen, Ohio'' a cappella, then joining in and singing it as a team one final time, tears began trickling down a few faces.

And gushing out of one.

''This is the last page,'' captain Donnie Nickey said. ''Everybody got a little emotional when that hit us.''

As the entire team followed Grant's version with the more standard version of the alma mater, Andy Groom looked up in the stands and saw his father. Sobbing.

''My dad was losing it,'' Groom said. ''I've never seen my dad lose it like that. So then I lost it. I couldn't take it.''

Groom's face slowly turned red again as he spoke.

''It's been the greatest time of my life,'' he said.

It's ironic that the very song the players scoffed at two years ago is the very song that brought them all to tears yesterday. It's downright spooky to think it was two years ago yesterday that Jim Tressel was introduced as the 22nd coach in Ohio State history.

From then until now, players have gone from fighting and suing each other to never wanting to say good-bye. As nine seniors sat for a press conference following yesterday's celebration, they spent more time talking to each other than anyone else.

Mike Doss told all his teammates he loved them. Jack Tucker said ''I've never in my life met somebody and known within three years I can depend on them and trust them. That's hard to find in this world.''

But he's found it in his fellow seniors.

While the love fest rolled, Tressel stood off to the side with his wife and a smile. The proud father who brought this team together and showed them how to care, who demanded they learn and sing the alma mater, was just an observer as his players began to understand what all they accomplished.

''The things I'll really remember most are things you guys don't see,'' Doss said. ''The days at practice, the times at the training table. Those are the things that make a football team and make a family.''

As Grant began the final chapter of yesterday's ceremony with the alma mater, in what would be the final chapter of the 2002 team, the sun sliced through the frigid air to serve as a spotlight. It was a fitting gesture for what was the final time this team will assemble.

''I guess,'' Tressel said, ''you could say we had one more moment in the sun.''

jlloyd@morningjournal.com