Blog Archives
Happy Monday!
The Ohio State Buckeyes are the kings of college football.
The Worldwide Leader in Sports (ESPN) employs the supremely obnoxious “analyst” Mark May, who absolutely hates Ohio State. His “genius” insight led him to declare the Buckeyes didn’t deserve to be in the college football playoff and even refused to admit OSU belonged to be in the national championship game against Oregon after they beat Alabama.
The relentless cycle of May’s classless ways and disdain for Buckeye Nation has always been known by its fans, but his “expert” analysis and refusal to accept reality wasn’t lost on head coach (and former colleague) Urban Meyer. On Friday night, while at the Ohio Union to celebrate the national championship with students (before Saturday’s 45,000 + attendance in the Horseshoe in the cold), Meyer arranged a short message for the Worldwide Loser in Sports: ESPN’s Mark May.
It’s probably a safe bet that ESPN’s Lou Holtz will send May that video too.
Happy Monday!
Happy Duck Hunting!
Dear 12-Gauge,
There will be a superfluous amount of quacking, football playing ducks at AT&T Stadium in Texas tonight. In the purely metaphorical sense, please take care of that. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Buckeye Nation
The Ohio State Buckeyes are playing for the National Championship against the formidable Ducks from Oregon this evening at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN. These two teams are similarly fast, creative and talented. However, these two teams’ identities are different in that one program is built on strength and the other on flash. Urban Meyer will be competing for his 3rd national title, while Oregon’s head coach Mark Helfrich is hoping to hoist up his first national championship trophy.
Style wise, it’s tradition v. new school.
Offensively, it’s expected that both teams will have a great amount of success, especially after their respective Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl performances. Starting quarterback (and yes, 3rd stringer) Cardale Jones will lead the Buckeyes behind a strong offensive line with the dynamic and explosive Ezekiel Elliott, along with a tremendous wide receivers corps. The Ducks will rely on the deserving Heisman trophy winner Marcus Mariota and his electrically-charged high-tempo offense.
Predicting a bit of an offensive shootout, the key to this game will likely be in each squad’s defense. Which team can force that game-changing turnover(s), limit 3rd down conversions and sack the quarterback? For the Buckeyes, they will need to make sure that their defensive line is relevant throughout the entire game. Their front line is the strength of their defense and they will need to stop the run game and consistently pressure Mariota into sacks and/or poor throwing decisions if they want to win.
Plus, long OSU drives will help. Mariota can’t hurt you if he doesn’t have the ball.
And, for all those Buckeye fans, here’s a cool video to get ready for tonight…
Go Buckeyes and OH-IO!!!
Happy Monday!
42-28
Awesome, bittersweet, complicated, suspenseful, devastating, resilient and glorious are just a few words that encapsulate the 111th gridiron match-up of The greatest rivalry in all of sports between The Ohio State Buckeyes and That Team Up North. The Buckeyes dominated the first and last two minutes of the first half, while Michigan controlled the other 26 minutes. The result was a 14-14 tie at halftime. The second half was a bit of a back-and-forth battle, before Ohio State pulled ahead by a touchdown.
Then, it happened.
It, for the second time this year, led to the starting Buckeyes quarterback suffering a season-ending injury. For freshman phenom J.T. Barrett, it was a fractured ankle in a cringe-worthy tackle/dirty move by the Wolverine defense. The only positive takeaway from this heartbreaking moment was when rival quarterback Devin Gardner knelt down beside Barrett to console him in a great act of sportsmanship.
Well done Gardner, well done.
Playing their third string quarterback for the duration of the fourth quarter, Cardale Jones and the rest of the Ohio State offense (and defense) held strong and even extended their lead in exciting fashion in front of their anxious home crowd. For Michigan’s head coach Brady Hoke, cognizant of his steady decline of success in Ann Arbor the past few years, it seemed fitting that Ohio State’s third string quarterback effectively signed his walking papers in his final appearance (very likely anyways) in The Game held in the state of his birth.
Brady Hoke always likes to poke at Ohio State by calling us “Ohio.”
Well, “OH-IO,” Mr. Hoke, “OH-IO.”
Then, news of a missing senior walk-on with concussion issues since mid-last week made local and national headlines. Devastatingly, the story did not end well. We don’t need to go into details.
The 111th edition of The Game featured a full-range of emotions. The Buckeyes won their treasured Gold Pants for the 9th time in the last 10 years in the best damn rivalry in the land. Even with the somber news, let’s try to remember the positives from this past Saturday.
Ohio State vs. Michigan really is the greatest rivalry in sports.
Have a Great Week (Especially For All of Us Buckeyes)!
Crafting a Role Model
Ohio State’s Aaron Craft is everything that’s great about college basketball. Scratch that: Ohio State’s Aaron Craft is everything that’s great about basketball in general.
In the age of showboating, multimillion dollar contracts, vulgar trash talking and tattoos, Craft is a pleasant and welcomed anomaly from the days of John Wooden, as ESPN’s Rick Reilly put it recently. He hustles, bustles and flexes his muscles on the hardwood and in the classroom for athletic and academic records every single student dreams of having (at Ohio State and around the country) and every single parent hopes to see their child achieve.
He’s a role model. Not just for young kids running around and cheering in Buckeye jerseys with #4 stitched in Scarlet and Gray, but also for his classmates and contemporaries and their parents alike. His effort is as relentless as his honesty in post-game interviews, which underscores the metaphorical significance of sports to life.
In Craft’s case, it’s basketball.
You won’t win every game or ace every test, but you need to prepare as if you will and should. In college basketball, there are only 40 minutes. That’s it. Craft is a prime example of an athlete (and student) who wants the opportunity to win and excel and will do whatever he has to in order to earn those opportunities. Not a guarantee at victory, but the opportunity for victory, just as in life.
If you’ve watched him carefully throughout the past 4 years, he’s undeniably one of the most opportunistic basketball players around, which is what separates him from the rest.
As The Ohio State Buckeyes prepare to battle the Dayton Flyers in Buffalo, New York today, everyone in Scarlet and Gray will need to rise to the level of their relentless senior point guard if they want the opportunity to continue a journey towards repeating a championship moment in Buckeye history from the days of short shorts and $.10 popcorn.
If this were a movie, it might be called, The Human Rubik’s Cube Rises.
Jimmy's Daily Planet 