Indeed, from myself, Michael, Charles, Margie, Chris and Dan, happy holidays. Avoid watching the NBA if you can, enjoy your presents, and go Buckeyes. Beat Florida.

'Tis the Season

The holiday weekend will mess with posting schedules a little bit.  Make sure you read Michael’s recap of yesterday night’s shooty hoops romp of the Virginia Military Institute.  I got you covered on what you’re watching today and for the rest of the week in the TV Guide.  Further, stay tuned for coverage of tomorrow’s game against Valparaiso and, lastly, the Game.  The Game.

By time this particular post goes live, you’ll be devouring turkey with your friends and family.  With that in mind, a Happy Thanksgiving from the team here at Our Honor Defend to you and yours.  This year has been rough personally and rough for Ohio State fans, but nothing diminishes the sense of  fraternity of being Buckeyes — in Ohio or scattered elsewhere from sea to shining seas.  Being a Buckeye is like no other, and we’re forever thankful.  Eat, drink, watch footbaw, and be merry.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone… …. Happy Thanksgiving, Emporium!

One of the reasons that the OSUMB is so highly regarded is that every member of the band must tryout every year; this helps to ensure that only the best people make the band each year.  Because of this policy, veterans and potential new members spend the summer practicing and getting into shape for tryouts.  To help people prepare for tryouts, informal summer sessions are organized at the band center every Tuesday and Thursday night during the summer.  These sessions see over 100 people come out to practice music and marching, with veterans helping to teach the basics of the OSUMB marching style to new candidates.  People will often drive several hours in order to come to these sessions in the hope of improving their chances of making the band.

Tryout week begins on Sunday when people who have never been in the band before arrive at the band center for candidate days.  The goal of candidate days is to teach the OSU school songs and marching style to people who have not been in the band before, giving them the best possible chance of being successful during tryouts.  The candidates are put through their paces for two days by the band row leaders, who were chosen by the director the previous spring and who had gone through their own tryout the previous week.

Tryouts themselves start on Tuesday when the returning OSUMB veterans join the new candidates at the band center.  Tryouts consist of a music audition on Tuesday morning and four marching sessions over two days.  The music audition consists of each person who is trying out appearing in front of a judge, often a school of music professor.  The music audition involves playing a selection of school songs from memory and doing some sight reading, playing a selection of music that the individual has never seen before.

Each marching session of tryouts starts with all the potential band members separating into their individual rows (the OSU band is made up of 16 rows consisting of 14 members).  The two leaders of each row call the members of the row up two at a time for a tryout.  This tryout will consist of the pair performing a series of marching maneuvers that are told to them by the row leaders who then evaluate the pair on their ability to do each maneuver as well as the confidence and poise with which they carry themselves while doing so.  Once all of the people trying out have performed their tryout for the row leaders, all of the rows assemble for a large block band.  The block band portion of the tryout features the row leaders and the directors judging the candidates as they perform a series of maneuvers called out by the directors, perform a tryout drill that was given to them on Tuesday morning while playing a school song, perform Hang on Sloopy, and perform the on-the-field portion of the band’s ramp entrance and Buckeye Battlecry.

The people trying out for the band will go through four of these marching sessions, two on each Tuesday and Wednesday with a lunch break between the morning and afternoon sessions.  Following the last marching session the directors adjourn to the band center to go through the tryout evaluations and determine who makes the band.  After a nervous dinner, all of those who tried out reconvene in the band room where the 225 members of the OSUMB are announced.  Tears of both disappointment and happiness are shed with those who did not make the band having to wait another year to try again.  The members of the new band head out to celebrate but their celebrations cannot go too late into the night as they will have practice at 9am the next morning.  The next two days are a whirlwind of hectic activity as the band has to prepare a show for that Saturday’s football game.  The two days are even more of a whirlwind for the rookies who also have to learn such things as how to properly come down the ramp for the pre-game entrance and how to march Script Ohio.  All of this hard work pays off on Saturday as the new band comes down the down ramp to one of the best experiences that they will ever have, the sight of that bright green field under a sunny sky with the stands packed with over 100,000 Buckeye fans cheering for them.

There were no free cars (or sweetheart deals) for OSU players, according to the Ohio BMV. Sorry, Oprah.

It was nice to get some good news on the NCAA investigation front for a change. The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles has concluded that there were no shenanigans involved in the sale of used cars to OSU student athletes, so the university has stopped its investigation into automobile purchases. In 25 car sales to OSU athletes and family members investigated by the state, there were no laws deemed to have been broken. Ohio State has ceased its investigation into “Cargate” and that should make us feel a little better, for reasons that Doug Lesmerises enumerates here.

There was plenty of reason to panic with Cargate, in the wake of yet another rash of sensationalized and irresponsible blog posts (i.e. SportsByBrooks) and stories and tweets based on hearsay. And let’s face it, we’ve become so used to bad news since before the Sugar Bowl that many of us are prepared to believe the worst. Still, I always thought that the whole car thing would turn out to be either nothing at all or much more minor than had been reported. It is the nature of car salesmen to NOT lose money or cave in any meaningful way with regard to profit margin. I recently purchased a new vehicle and had those car salesman traits reinforced to me.

I’m sure that in the vast world in which we live there must be at least one altruistic car salesman, but I haven’t been fortunate enough to meet him or her yet. In addition to the commission-driven sales folk, there is a mountain of paperwork tied to selling cars. This is an area that always raised a red flag for me in terms of any wrongdoing. In buying a car, you sometimes have to fill out forms that merely say you’ve filled out other forms. The sheer volume of paperwork required made it unlikely that this would become an area of grave concern for Ohio State, or it would mean that catching any wrongdoing would be so easy that the proverbial Geico caveman could do it.

As we move on from Cargate, there is still the pending NCAA investigation. Ohio State has until early July to respond to the NCAA’s initial notice of allegations. I proceed about my daily life in a hopeful frame of mind. Terrelle Pryor is out of the picture. Jim Tressel has resigned. These are not things I enjoy typing, but at the same time, I realize that both actions may result in softening the blow of whatever is to come down from the NCAA. A further move to blunt the force of the hammer is Ohio State’s hiring of two additional compliance people. All of these things should help. I’m hopeful that there will be nothing more than possibly some vacated 2010 wins and probation. If we can avoid a postseason ban and scholarship losses, it can only help Luke Fickell (or whoever follows him) in minimizing recruiting losses (see more on that below).

Kalis-less?…Lakewood St. Edward five-star offensive tackle Kyle Kalis has de-committed from Ohio State. I have seen a lot of hand wringing by Buckeye Nation over this news but I personally think that if someone de-commits from Ohio State and goes somewhere else, they were never truly a Buckeye to begin with. I also think it opens the door for some unknown to become the next great thing. It’s not like Ohio State has been blessed with an abundance of five-star recruits anyway, and some of those haven’t exactly turned out like we’d hoped. That said, Kalis has the potential to be special. He’s the top ranked recruit in the state of Ohio by Rivals.com and the No. 18 prospect overall. The behemoth says his commitment is open and that the Buckeyes are still under consideration, so it would behoove Ohio State to not get a bowl ban and figure out its coaching situation before NLOI day rolls around.

The Kalis de-commit feels a little more painful because it comes on the heels of Ejuan Price asking for, and receiving, release from his letter of intent. Price truly never had his heart in Columbus and will now be sticking with what should have been his original choice – Pittsburgh. I can’t fault a kid for wanting to stick close to home, although the cost of having to ply his trade in the Big East is a dear one. Canton Glen Oak star running back Brionte Dunn might be the next to rescind his commitment, but I would argue that losing Kalis would hurt more than losing Dunn or Price and possibly more than both combined. Dunn and Price are players in positions of depth at tailback and linebacker, respectively, whereas Kalis fills a position of need in a class that follows a pretty meager 2011 offensive line haul.

Buckeye Hockey Hardware…Former Ohio State hockey Buck Ryan Kesler, now with the Vancouver Canucks, became the first U.S.-born player to win the National Hockey League’s Selke Award. The Frank J. Selke Trophy goes to the league’s outstanding defensive forward. Typically, the award isn’t simply given to a defensive specialist, but to gifted offensive forwards who are also tenacious backcheckers. The third time was a charm for Kesler, who was a finalist for the award in each of the past two seasons as well. This year, Kesler took 105 of the 127 first-place votes to beat out Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk and Chicago’s Jonathan Toews. Kesler is also the first Vancouver Canuck to win the award. We’re sure he’d rather have the big silver cup, but it’s still nice to see a former Buckeye rewarded for playing the game the right way.

Briefly…Good luck to Jon Diebler and David Lighty in tonight’s NBA Draft. Both are potential second round picks. Most “experts” do not believe Dallas Lauderdale will be drafted….Ramzy breaks down why MeetingGate isn’t a real thing.

The newest Cleveland Cavalier? One can hope.

Thanks to the resurgence of warm weather in the Northern part of the US of A, all 5o states can finally embrace the classic tradition of an American summer. For most, summer brings on the kind of busy only acceptable from June-August. When those of us who work have downtime, we fill our schedules with vacations, BBQ’s and beach parties, with or without real sand. The sports world is no different. Sure, professional baseball players are inundated with work, but that’s because no great American summer can be complete without America’s favorite past-time.

However, unless you have access to soccer games and the summertime country club sports (or if you, GASP, like NASCAR), you are probably with the vast majority of sports fans counting down the days until September when the regular football season commences, as does conditioning for your favorite basketball teams.

Lucky for you, Vico and other bloggers like him work hard to make sure your Buckeye news isn’t lost as the sun heats up. Since he is off on business, it’s been up to Charles, Michael and myself to provide you with as much of the news as we can.

Unfortunately, there isn’t too much to report right now.

Well wait. After what happened Memorial Day weekend, maybe fortunately is a better term.

Either way, since Fickell took over and Pryor sped off into a job market that may or may not exist when he gets there, Buckeye Nation has been relatively calm. However, a few things have happened, and a few more are on the way. I promise, this is all good news, or at least nothing earth shattering.

• Fear not Cleveland fans. In addition to owning the #1 and #4 draft picks, but you have David Lighty exercising the option of becoming a Cavalier this fall. The Cleveland native worked out with the Cavs a week and a half ago. Besides another team snatching Lighty up first, the only upsetting, yet completely fitting, outcome for Cleveland in this scenario is if an NBA lockout persists. Until then, we must remind ourselves LeBron is still ring-less and we just might have a few new kings in town.

• Speaking of recent Buckeye basketball alumni, Jon Threebler tied the knot last Thursday. On the bright side, Aaron Craft is still available and Jared Sullinger is still a Buckeye, proving good things are happening in Ohio State athletics.

• Interim coach Luke Fickell held his first press conference last Monday. I don’t have cable at the moment, so I can’t accurately or passionately re-count the details, but that’s okay because Michael already did.

• Terrelle Pryor might become a Cleveland Brown. I’m not going to comment here. I think it would be more fun to see what you all think.

• Jantel Lavender, the newest LA Spark, was named OSU Female Athlete of the Year Thursday. Per the release on ohiostatebuckeyes.com, Lavender left Ohio State as the team’s leading all-time scorer with 2,818 points, not to mention breaking a few B1G and NCAA records. We at OHD wish her well on the West Coast and congratulate her on this honor.

• Meanwhile, volleyball player Steven Kehoe, who led the Buckeyes to an NCAA title, was named Male Athlete of the Year. Kehoe is the first men’s volleyball player to earn the honor.

That’s about all for now. I’m certain we will have more for you once we see more shifting in Fickell’s recruiting class, and of course, when August happens. Until then, I think we should all embrace this lack of big, bad, scary Buckeye news and enjoy summer as it’s supposed to be: relaxed and drama-free.

Go Tribe. Go MLS. Go Women’s World Cup. Go every other sport I can’t watch because I don’t have cable and if I did I probably couldn’t access those games/matches anyway.

Edddd-ddeeee! Hall of Fame bound.

The nature of Wednesday is to be a middle point of our work week. Unless you’re one of the lucky few who get paid to do what they love, you have two sucky days behind you and two equally sucky days lie ahead. Last weekend’s frivolities are a fading memory and this Friday’s Happy Hour seems far in the distant future. Middles can be good though – think of Oreos, Nutter Butters and cream puffs from Schmidt’s. This is one of those good middles because we can reflect on the glorious Ohio State career of one Edward Nathan George, Jr., more commonly known as “ED-DEE! ED-DEE! ED-DEE!” Big No. 27 was selected for enshrinement in the College Football Hall of Fame. The 37-year-old George joins 22 of his Buckeye brethren in the Hall.

Eddie’s career at Ohio State started quite inauspiciously, with an early two-fumble performance in a loss against an Illini team that the Buckeyes should have smoked. Two red zone fumbles, including one that was returned 96 yards the other way for a touchdown, robbed the Buckeye faithful of a win. The freshman carried the ball only 12 more times all season and didn’t score another touchdown. But the big back from Philadelphia used that experience as motivation to improve. He spent a year backing up Raymont Harris, working hard, learning the system and getting advice about work ethic and what it takes to succeed from none other than Archie Griffin. Eddie applied himself, rushing for more than 3,300 yards over his final two seasons and eventually becoming the winner of the 1995 Heisman Trophy.

George became a workhorse in his junior year – the kind of back you just give the ball to and get out of his way. Coaches, quarterbacks and linemen love running backs like Eddie. He kept drives alive, broke a few big plays and you absolutely couldn’t wear him out. He rushed for 200+ yards three times in 1995, including a 207-yard standout performance against Notre Dame, which was the last game I attended before moving out of Columbus to follow my career. His school-record 314 yards and three touchdowns against Illinois completed his transformation from raw, mistake-prone freshman to Buckeye legend. Eddie rushed for a school-record 1,927 yards, beating Keith Byars’ old mark by almost 200 yards, and 24 touchdowns his senior season. He beat out Nebraska’s Tommie Frazier for the Heisman. Ohio State retired his No. 27 jersey on Nov. 10, 2001 and he was inducted into the Ohio State University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006. Only Archie Griffin has rushed for more yards as a Buckeye and had more 100-yard games. Eddie still holds the OSU record for highest rushing average in a season (148.2 yards per game in 1995).

Once his playing career at Ohio State was finished, Eddie continued to make Buckeye Nation proud. He was selected in the first round of the 1996 NFL Draft by the Houston Oilers, and went on to become the 1996 NFL Rookie of the Year and a four-time Pro Bowler (1997-2000). He helped lead the Oilers Tennessee Titans to Super Bowl XXXIV, where his team came up one yard short in a bid to upset the St. Louis Rams. Eddie rushed for more than 10,000 yards and 68 touchdowns in his NFL career, which was cut short by numerous turf toe and ankle problems – byproducts of his workhorse efforts. He also caught 268 passes for 2,227 yards and 10 scores.

Guys like Eddie George don’t come along too often. He was a very special talent and his career was one of the brightest lights during the long cold winter of the John Cooper era. Beanie Wells is the most comparable back that Ohio State has had in recent years. Rod Smith has the physical makeup to become such a back, but it is far too early to say whether or not Smith can become Eddie-esque.

Reflect on Eddie’s accomplishments and career today. It just might make your Wednesday a little brighter.

Gold Pants Awards from 2010 Delayed; Rings Awarded…Because of the Tatgate idiocy, and the fact that the NCAA has not made a final ruling on penalties stemming from the Jim Tressel investigation, the Gold Pants Club has not yet given out the awards for the 2010 win over TTUN. It sucks that they have to do it, but it’s probably wise to hold off until it is known whether the win is vacated or not. The Gold Pants Club is also reportedly considering holding off giving out the awards until a player’s eligibility is over, which would allow the Buckeyes to avoid having similar misfortunes in the future. The B1G championship rings have already been given out though. Here you can see Reid Fragel Rock’s two rings (and counting). Confused at which one’s the 2010 ring? Check out Brian Rolle’s. The Zone Read has an excellent take on it here.

Women’s Track Captures First B1G Outdoor Title…The OSU women’s track team took six individual titles and captured its first ever B1G Outdoor Championship Sunday at Iowa. The outdoor title gave the Lady Bucks a sweep, on the heels of February’s B1G Indoor Championship. Ohio State dominated the 100m dash final, with a 1-2-3 finish, and took the top two spots in the 100m hurdles. Junior All-American Christina Manning took three titles, including the 100m dash, 100m hurdles and the 4x100m relay, which she anchored. All-American junior Madison McNary was also part of the 4x100m relay, and won the 200m – a feat she also accomplished indoors in February. Junior Shaniqua McGinnis napped the 400m dash title and junior Kelcey McKinney won her first career title with the triple jump. McKinney’s 42-foot performance was the fifth best in school history.

Final Team Standings
1. Ohio State – 135 points
2. Penn State – 122
3. Indiana – 96
4. Illinois – 90
5. Michigan State – 74.50
6. Wisconsin – 74
7. Minnesota – 63.50
8. Iowa – 59
9. Purdue – 56
10. Michigan – 49

Big Ten Champs!

Beating Michigan to win the B1G. Again…In other non-revenue OSU sports news, usually expertly handled by our very own Charles (out of the country this week), the Buckeye rowing team captured its third ever conference title by clinching it in the final race, with the First Varsity Eight beating TTUN by .48 seconds. The Buckeyes captured six medals in six events Sunday at Eagle Creek Park in Indianapolis. Claudia Schiwy and Ulrike Denker were named First-Team All-Conference. Carolin Helmholz and Claire-Louise Bode made the second team. If you want to catch the event in all its glory, the BTN is airing it on May 28 at noon. You might as well watch, because you know that beating Michigan never gets old.

With the women’s track and rowing teams’ success, combined with recent results by OSU synchronized swimming, men’s volleyball, women’s soccer and field hockey, and the ongoing men’s tennis run, 2010-11 has been a very impressive school year for the non-revenue sports. Up next for Ohio State’s rowers is the 2011 NCAA Championships, May 27-29 on Lake Natoma in Gold River, California. Each team in the NCAA Championships will field two boats of eight rowers and one boat of four rowers. The other 15 teams competing are: Brown, California, Clemson, Dartmouth, Harvard, Michigan, Michigan State, Princeton, Southern California, Stanford, Virginia, Washington, Washington State, Wisconsin and Yale.

Team Results
1st – Ohio State, 142 points
2nd – Michigan, 124 points
3rd – Wisconsin, 121 points
4th – Michigan State, 111 points
5th – Minnesota, 68 points
6th – Indiana, 53 points
7th – Iowa, 25 points

Buckeyes Take Third in Men’s Outdoor Track…Junior All-American Thomas Murdaugh took home the 400m dash title and anchored the winning 4x400m relay team, leading the OSU men’s track squad to a third-place finish at the 2011 B1G Outdoor Championships Sunday at Iowa. Aaron Roberts, Korbin Smith, and Marvel Brooks joined Murdaugh’s winning relay team, which took the league title with a top 25 national time of 3:06.45. It was the fifth time in six tries that Ohio State has captured the title for this event. Freshman Demoye Bogle grabbed the bronze in the 110m hurdles and freshman Will Lauricella took fifth in the javelin throw. Jake Edwards (fourth) and Cory Leslie (fifth) each finished in the top five in the 1500m run.

Final Team Standings
1. Iowa – 125.50 points
2. Minnesota – 123
3. Ohio State – 109
4. Indiana – 94.50
5. Wisconsin – 90
6. Penn State – 74
7. Illinois – 62
8. Purdue – 54
9. Michigan – 52.50
10. Michigan State – 34.50

Baseball Buckeyes Drop Two of Three Against Iowa, Toledo Game Canceled…The baseball team had a tough weekend against the Hawkeyes, falling in Game 1 on Friday by a 7-0 count. It didn’t really matter that the Hawkeyes scored seven runs, as the Buckeyes were baffled by a masterful pitching performance from Iowa starter Jared Hippen, who allowed only three hits and walked two in the complete game shutout. Kyle Haen singled home the only run the Hawkeyes needed in the second and Hippen did the rest. Ohio State lost a very winnable Game 2 on Saturday, allowing four runs in the ninth inning and an unearned run in the 10th. The Hawkeye comeback for a 9-8 victory came mostly at the expense of OSU freshman phenom Josh Dezse. One of the four ninth-inning runs was unearned, as was the run in the 10th off excellently-named OSU hurler Theron Minium.

On Sunday, the Buckeyes avoided the sweep by beating the Hawkeyes senseless, 10-4, in a rain-delayed affair. It was the final game of the season at Bill Davis Stadium, and the final home game in the careers of senior regulars Brian DeLucia, Matt Streng and Tyler Engle. Engle doubled to knock in the first run for the Buckeyes in the first inning. Streng’s RBI single and a double by Greg Solomon made it 3-0 in the third inning, before the rains came. Two hours later (but in the same inning), Iowa pitcher Zach Kenyon walked in a run to make it 4-0. An error and a sac fly later, the Buckeyes led 6-0. Streng knocked in Dezse to make it 7-0 in the sixth on a two-out double. Iowa got on the board in the top of the seventh, but Ohio State added three more in the bottom half of the inning on RBI singles by Engle and Tim Wetzel, and a bases-loaded walk to second baseman Ryan Cypret. Iowa added three in the eighth for the final tally.

Tuesday’s scheduled home game against Toledo was washed out by rain, marking the seventh OSU game of the season lost due to weather. The Buckeyes are 11-10 in conference play, tied with Purdue and Indiana for fourth place. Losing Saturday’s heartbreaker kept Ohio State from gaining equal footing with Minnesota and Illinois in second spot. Ohio State (23-24 overall) travels to Minnesota (20-20, 12-9) to close out the B1G season Thursday and Friday. The Buckeyes and Gophers will play two on Thursday, at 4:05 p.m. and (approximately) 7:05 p.m. Friday’s game will be televised on the BTN at 7:05 p.m.

Trolling – English style…Manchester United and Liverpool might be the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry of English football (also known as soccer to Americans). Man United clinched its 19th title in England’s top flight on Saturday, surpassing Liverpool’s 18, and fans wasted no time taunting their most bitter rivals. Red Devils fans showed up at Liverpool’s home grounds of Anfield on Sunday with a banner bragging of their 19 championships and displaying it just before Liverpool took on (and lost to) Tottenham. This is European soccer though, so the ne’er-do-wells were at least bright enough to have a getaway car waiting for them outside the grounds.

Briefly: The NCAA has recognized five OSU teams, including football, for academic excellence for their 2009-2010 Academic Progress Rate (APR)…To almost no one’s surprise, Duke will visit Ohio State in the ACC/B1G Challenge on Nov. 29…Husker bro Tom Osborne sticks up for The Vest…The Miami Dolphins beat writer for the Sun-Sentinel recently (and rightly) defended ex-Buckeye Brian Hartline against fan criticism, using logic and statistics and stuff…Anthony “Noopy” Crater, who had a cup of coffee with Thad Matta’s BasketBucks, has been kicked off the South Florida Bulls shooty hoops team…Ron Guenther is retiring as AD at Illinois, which Rittenberg says could mean the end of the line for the Zooker…I’ll leave you with a somewhat disturbing and somewhat funny James Louis tweet. That kid’s Twitter feed continues to be pure gold.

Not to pile on the disappointing news, but…Linebacker Dorian Bell has apparently had enough of being suspended for absolutely no reason (i.e. repeatedly violating the team’s drug and alcohol abuse policy) and will transfer to Pitt (per Bucknuts’ Dave Biddle). It’s a shame, really. Bell was all set to crack the starting lineup and take his place among all the greats that have suited up at linebacker for Ohio State. But the fact is if you can’t follow a few simple, easy-to-understand rules, you don’t play, regardless of how many stars Rivals gave you during your prep career. This will not change at Pitt, assuming they have similar rules regarding players abusing certain substances.

Sure, he could have served his suspension and dedicated himself to making amends with his teammates and overcoming adversity – something that Jim Tressel and his staff stress every day. Instead, Bell has chosen to leave town and thus rescue a year of eligibility. His suspension year at OSU would have counted against him, whereas he will now sit out a transfer season without penalty and have three seasons of eligibility remaining. No doubt this is not the type of response to adversity that Tressel et al had hoped for from their talented defender. Bell has brought his misfortune at Ohio State on himself, but hopefully he’ll change his ways and go on to have a productive career. Perhaps being closer to his hometown of Monroeville, PA, will provide him the support system he needs to stop the nonsense.

Speaking of players repeating stupid behavior…Brady Hoke had to lay down the law by suspending wide receiver Darryl Stonum indefinitely for a second drunk driving charge. Officially, Hoke suspended Stonum for “behavior unbecoming of a Michigan football player.” Stonum’s first DUI came during his freshman year in 2008 and he was stopped in 2010 and charged with driving with a suspended license, eventually serving three nights in jail for probation violations. Stonum caught 49 passes for 633 yards and four touchdowns last year, as TTUN’s second leading receiver, and he was one of Michigan’s primary kickoff returners.

Another decade of Nerdhood…Northwestern has given Coach Pat Fitzgerald a 10-year contract extension that will keep him in Evanston through the 2020 season. That is, unless the team royally sucks and they fire him, or another large school comes offering a job (and a buyout). Good for Coach Fitz.

It was Sparty the Whole Time…Apparently the now-famous “Liar, Liar, Vest on Fire” trolling billboard was not put up by a Michigan fan, but a Sparty fan. It seems that at least one MSU fan is still really peeved that the Spartans were “snubbed” by the BCS. Never mind that Sparty was the lowest ranked of three teams that tied for a B1G championship, which was the tiebreaker. I guess if you’re going to be embarrassed nationally, Spartan fans would rather it happen on the BCS stage than in a run-of-the-mill New Year’s Day bowl game. Having been there, and my most sincere apologies for the reminder, perhaps it’s best not to have it happen on the bigger stage.

B1G Basketball stuff…AnnArbor.com rates the B1G shooty hoops teams (The Buckeyes top the power rankings, which means exactly nothing in the off-season, but it’s always nice to see). As the rankings point out, Nerdwestern’s John Shurna has removed his name from the draft after realizing he wouldn’t be drafted, so the Nerds will have their leading scorer back. This can only help the Wildkitties in their quest for an NCAA bid.

Speaking of the Shooty Hoops…While Brandon Knight and DeAndre Liggins have stayed in the NBA Draft, Terrence Jones is pulling a Shurna, and will return to Kentucky, which welcomes a huge high school All-American class. It will certainly be another talented recruiting class for Coach Vacated Final Fours Calipari, but it’ll be interesting to see how the team chemistry comes together with so many star players vying for playing time.

Briefly: Mild mannered assassin and B1G 3-point legend Jon Diebler worked out for New Jersey Nets, as he attempts to take his game to the NBA…The NFL’s Dallas Cowboys want to produce Ohio State’s licensed apparel…Ramzy points out that there is some good news after all, and also breaks down Cargate with actual facts and logic (the nerve!)…Brandon Castel at the O-Zone has Doug Worthington’s take on Tatgate and the NCAA making huge profits from its players.

The tornado is the Scumbag Steve of natural disasters: Uninvited to Wicked Sweet Not-Having-a-Tornado Party, Crashes Party Anyways.

So, as many of you already know by now, one of the most tornado-plagued months in Alabama history concluded on April 27th when an F4 slashed through Tuscaloosa and neighboring areas.  As a few of you probably know as well, Tuscaloosa happens to be where I live.  If you followed my Twitter the past week and a half, you would know that it came pretty close to pulverizing my apartment complex.  It had already rained hell on a town that is full of one-story houses in a heavily, heavily forested city.  It would have destroyed my apartment complex, which is essentially a series of mobile homes stacked 2×2 and coated with flimsy aluminum siding.  But for 100 yards (per my estimates, maybe even less), I would be an ex-blogger, having shuffled off the mortal coil to join the choir invisible.  I would certainly not be pining the fjords, though it sounds like a nice vacation spot with the Norwegian Blues.

Since last Wednesday at around 5pm Central Time, my life has been a veritable mess in spite of the fact that I was ostensibly not affected by the tornado.  Again, the difference of 100 yards or less spared me complete property destruction and likely loss of life.  I finally received power on Monday evening, and cable/internet shortly thereafter.  More than a few of you have asked what it’s like, certainly in a college town and a town fairly sui generis like Tuscaloosa.  Official news reports are one thing, but I am unfiltered.  My only editor is myself.  So, continue reading if you want some semblance of what it is like.  You can also skip all this noise to get to a Drive-Thru, embedded at the end of the post.

A natural disaster like this is telling and it reveals information about people they would otherwise try to conceal.  Prepare to see the best in people.  As many of you know, I don’t like living here.  I’d prefer not to live here and this natural disaster does not change that sentiment.  Still, you’ll come across a lot of good samaritans as a result of this.  In a very religious town, churches remain the most prevalent means of social organization in this town, ostensibly after the University of Alabama.  They’ve been excellent, and I’ve found myself working alongside them in spite of inherent reservations about churches in this town and evangelism.  Samaritan’s Purse has been particularly effective in gathering volunteers and distributing them to the most heavily hit areas in this town.  To note, the evangelism on their missions make me a little uncomfortable, and I do not respect most things that escape the mouth of Franklin Graham, the CEO of Samaritan’s Purse.  Regardless, a lot of good-hearted volunteers arrived in this town, coming as far as Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Illinois, Michigan¹ to help in the relief effort.

Far from just a church thing, a lot of good samaritans took their own initiative.  A lot of the university kids, who I would otherwise summarily dismiss as just weird university kids, took to foot patrol with an arsenal of chainsaws to help with the trees that had bisected people’s homes or had crushed their cars.  I am more accustomed to mocking the “Million Dollar Band”, the University of Alabama’s hilarious excuse for a marching band, but a few of their members helped me tag team a pine tree that had crushed the carport of a neighbor down the street from me.  They came with good intentions, and fortunately had the 18 inch chainsaws we really needed to free a stranger’s cars for the sake of insurance.  I am not partial to the university, nor really this town (though I do grow accustomed to it with the years).  However, this being a university town with a significant groundswell of university pride made a good portion of the city’s denizens care, deeply, about the damaged town, and each other.  I will never roll any tide, but I have more respect for some of the locals I met along the way than they will ever know.  They will never know because I don’t know their names (and they don’t know mine).   No one is here to make friends.  We’re here to help.

Prepare to also see the worst in people.  I haven’t read too much of the post-tornado news coverage (I was too busy living it), but the few pieces I’ve read were mostly glowing of the town, the love for the university, and the recovery effort.  These remain true parts of the narrative, but no situation like this is complete without people trying to capitalize off tragedy.  Looting was the immediate concern and, sure enough, the immediate crime that followed in the tornado’s wake.  None of the looting will make any sense.  No one needs someone else’s lawn chair to survive.  Nor, for that matter, is breaking into an auto parts store and stealing some car fresheners and an extra pair of spark plugs entirely necessary.²  You will see it anyways.  You will see it as those interested in profiting off tragedy trample innocent passers by, who scream for help underneath the heavy feet of those indifferent to someone else’s suffering.  If you’re like me, it will piss you off to no end.  If you’re also like me, it will piss you off to no end that, at a relatively thin 6’2 160lbs, you’re essentially powerless to stop them.

It does not get any better, nor does it end there.  The problem with such myopic pursuit of self-interest is that it breaks a sense of trust that is strictly necessary for society to be functional.  Thus, we return, inch by inch, to Hobbes’ state of nature, where man would rather kill than be killed in a context where law enforcement is understandably preoccupied.  You will see large banners hanging over houses, ominously reading “YOU LOOT WE SHOOT” as if they were entirely helpful threats under these circumstances.  You will overhear people, thinking of themselves as good samaritans, openly bragging that they had used some free money to buy a “shooting house” (on Greensboro Ave, or thereabouts) to use their assault rifles to snipe, and kill, looters.  You will overhear these people saying this to police officers, who approve of this vigilante justice.  In my old stomping grounds of Los Angeles, this is a stern warning from the LAPD and perhaps preliminary detention on a conspiracy charge just to deter this behavior.  Here, it is considered a public good provided by people with very poor impulse control.

And this is not even considering some of the unmistakable, and regrettable, racially-charged conversations you will overhear and endure as a result of this.  I am not going to elaborate on this, because I am actually pretty partial to the South and agree that stereotypes outside the South, of the South, persist in error.  Unfortunately, breaches in trust incentivize horrible rationales that attempt to explain it.  I would expect this anywhere, be it Tuscaloosa, Columbus or Los Angeles.

Further, on that same note, prepare to meet people who do not quite understand the gravity of the situation.  The looters at least understand that the tragedy creates opportunity.  Several people you will meet just don’t get it, but know they’re getting offered a free service.  So, people who cry out for help, may just want you to clear some trash, of their own doing, for them.  You will spend 2 hours with a hatchet and splintered hands, clearing brush for people so that people can dump their cigarette butts and empty beer cans.  You will do this for them as they, yes, drink beer and smoke while casually watching you and shooting the breeze with their buds.  Sure, you will see it for what it is.  But, if you’re with a group of very religious people with good intentions, you must keep quiet so long as the rest of the group doesn’t quite deduce they’re getting used for chores.  You will bite your lip as even the women in the group get duped into doing dishes.  Yes, dishes.  They were not even under the boil order.

I will omit some other things because you would honestly not believe me if I told you.  Further, by spending so much time on some of the bad stuff, you may assume that the response has been mostly sinister.  It really hasn’t been mostly bad, though that too is part of the story.

On your end, prepare to feel sick.  You will be sick for a variety of reasons.  One, you will physically be sick.  This is actually my second natural disaster that I have survived that has its own Wikipedia entry.  However, I was 10 years old for the Northridge earthquake.  I had mommy and daddy to run to in the middle of the night.  Here, I’m on my own, with only my impulses to guide me.  My impulses seldom tell me to stop under these circumstances and I’ve been going as hard as I can since it happened.  Food becomes scarce in these circumstances and so is water, at least initially.  I’m a city slicker who eats things that mostly come frozen (peas, corn, fish), and it never occurred to me to have a generator or grill.  It just isn’t who I am.  So, with only a small jar of peanuts and a few protein bars, I did not exactly take care of myself.  With little water available, you will drink so little and, if you’re like me, work 6am to 8pm desperately trying to help.  Without getting too graphic, I think I urinated for the first time after it happened on that Friday night.  That’s about 48 hours, and I don’t think my kidneys quite appreciated it.  I doubt yours would either under similar circumstances.  It doesn’t help when food is scarce either, as it is under these situations.  I think I had two power bars to last me from Wednesday evening to Friday evening.  I hope I never feel as weak again.

You will be sick emotionally too.  I know I’m not a particularly religious guy, but, even if you’re not either, you probably will get sick inside listening to a woman whose house you’re temp roofing (see fn. below, same woman) cry hysterically about the terror.  It’s not just the terror of the tornado itself ripping off huge portions of her roof, destroying her garden in which she had invested so much time and energy, and threatening her life.  Rather, it’s the terror she sees as the aforementioned looters and society’s miscreants see the opportunity to hurt and pilfer at the expense of others.  Call me jaded, yes; I’m a Los Angelino by birth and maturation and we come from a city whose civic trust levels hover around 0.0%.  Tuscaloosa is different.  This city, like so many others north and south, has a lot of civic trust and it terrorizes people to see that trust violated, and violated with malice.  She must have been in her late 40s or early 50s, but it came off as her first time seeing how people can be vile creatures and how certain contexts expose them for what they are.   Any other time it may be easy to dismiss her as naive, but not this time.

Again, I will omit the bodies being dragged out in bags and the faces beaten a swollen purple with the debris of their destroyed home.  I’d rather not dwell on it.

Prepare to feel an amalgamation of confused, bewildered and powerless.  Again, this was my first natural disaster where I did not have mom and dad to guide me and care for me.  Frantically, you will run around trying to figure out just what the hell happened.  I went around looking for fires.  Most of the homes in the area are gas powered and, not knowing precisely the right cocktail for a gas fire, I had prepared myself to start dragging things out of people’s houses, damning the expense to my skin if people needed my help.  Not seeing what I had initially thought to observe, it got confusing.  Where do I go?  Well, where would you?  It’s an impossible question to answer if it’s your first time.  There’s so much going on that it’s impossible to process.

Ultimately, you become bewildered and not sure if what you’re seeing is really happening.  The first hour or so is a stupefying mad scramble into a yellow sky where the moisture in the air as a residual of the tornado drags you down.  Sirens, helicopters approach as you get an eerie feeling you’re being invaded.  You aren’t, but you kinda are.  The next 47 hours are an endless cacophony of chainsaws, ambulance sirens and overhead helicopters.  There’s nothing like it.  And you know that the helicopters just aren’t surveying the damage.  They can do that pretty quickly.  Rather, those helicopters are making a b-line to an out of town hospital, airlifting someone in critical condition.  And they just keep going.

Before too long, you can’t move.  At least I couldn’t by the end of Thursday.  Around 10pm or so, there’s that thousand-yard stare.  Maybe you know the kind: where your line of vision gradually recedes and recedes within the so-called stare until you can’t see anything.  At least, you can’t focus.  That’s the stare.  Again, you’re sick because of what you’ve seen.  You don’t know what you’re throwing up, but it’s certainly not the meal you didn’t have.

Most importantly, prepare to hate yourself.  You will.  On my end, it’s not a survivor’s guilt.  You may have gathered that, by taunting the tornado via Twitter, I’m fairly indifferent to things that will kill me.  Formally, I’m risk neutral regarding things that could kill me.  You will hate yourself not because you survived damage-free while others were less fortunate, but because you will always wonder if you could’ve done more.  Initially, I had spent much of my time helping a guy down the street clear the 25 or so trees in his front yard and backyard that had fallen on his house, carport and around his backyard.  He was grateful, as was his neighbor as I had also tried to help the conjoining family.  In the Hillcrest neighborhood where I was (Hackberry/Hargrove area), I had missed checking on a house the night of the tornado where someone may have needed my help.  Emergency personnel pulled him out of his house, dead on the scene.  His house was right behind the one where I was helping out.

I don’t wish this had happened.  I know I don’t like this town, but who would wish this on anyone?  However, I hate myself (and maybe you would too) because I know if I had to do it over again, I would do it so very differently.  I would check that house immediately.  I would find those areas most in need to see if I could spare someone from dying, if I knew where exactly they were.  I would take better care of myself initially, to pace myself and allow me to be more efficient in helping people.  Done differently, I feel like I could continue going strong.  Now, I can hardly hold a hammer.  That’s where you hate yourself when this happens.  You don’t want it to happen again and you don’t wish this on anyone, but you wish, somehow, you had a do-over, knowing what you know now.  It’s a learning experience, but you learn too late.

So, all told, you might wonder if I feel bad about taunting what may turn out to be the worst natural disaster in the city’s history.  I kinda don’t, at least not with respect to the tweets.  Again, I’m indifferent on things that could kill me and I most certainly don’t believe in living in fear.  That’s not because I live life to the fullest.  Far from it, I’m a painfully boring guy who loves watching Adam-12 and reads math books for fun.  Rather, I just don’t believe in living in fear, unless it’s of Michigan (which I want to go away forever).  I reject much of the fear-induced behavior that follows from the prospects of international terrorism in this country and I will do so for this tornado.  Rather than treat it humbly, I’d just as soon taunt, again, that I’m going to burn down the house of the next tornado that comes through this area.  I’m also going to touch all of its stuff and stick a banana in the muffler of its car.  And then I’m going to douse the car in lighter fluid and burn it too.  Living in fear of past events isn’t really my thing.  I don’t think I could truly live if I let this bog me down.

That said, one thing that particularly struck me was your response on Twitter.  Yes, all of you.  I don’t fancy myself a Big Ten Blogger, even though I’m in the feed.  I always thought of this as my dumb little baby, though I respect much of what the bloggers do.  I enjoy the company on Twitter, but, as a nervous habit and a debilitating social anxiety, I usually assume I’m bothering most of you and that most of my follows are done compulsively because of the Big Ten Bloggers connection.  I’m serious; it’s a debilitating social anxiety I have, mostly appearing in face-to-face interactions.  Thus, I did not anticipate the reaction on Twitter and, when I finally got a glimpse a week ago today, I got a kind of sobering look into a group of people who had honest fears that I may have died or was in serious trouble.  We all know I didn’t die, but that’s what it looks like.  To be on the other side.  You have a bit of a surreal out-of-body experience reading the perspective of people who honestly don’t know and are scared themselves.  For you.

I haven’t talked to my parents about it, but I’m guessing it took them by surprise too.  Thus, my dad took to my blog to let everyone know I had survived and my mom tweeted that, as far as she knew, I was alright.  This was part of the uncertainty on their end too.  After calling them and letting them know I was alright immediately after it happened, I briefly told them that I needed to go because I needed to help.  I used my available battery life allowing people to make a call to loved ones that they were alright or needed help, because, as the proud owner of a crappy PAYGO phone w/ a T-Mobile plan, I did not have to deal with AT&T users who had flooded the regional towers with similar calls of distress.  I didn’t get to my parents again until Friday.

Meanwhile, reading through the timeline of tweets revealed a series of people, very few of whom I’ve met, who cared about me.  It took me by surprise.  It’s not because I think less of any of you, but more an artifact in me assuming that only a handful of people care about me.  My family thinks I’m pretty cool and I have a tight-knit core of college friends, but that’s about it.  I also have a battery of people who care on Twitter and were genuinely concerned when I had not checked in and were genuinely relieved when they heard I had survived.  So, in no particular order, @The_Lurker (Michael), @margie324 (Margie), @JoshTheLink, @LizinNY, @JeffSvoboda, @atj1971, @elevenwarriors, @BLeez17, @suckatsports, @GerdOzone, @DennyMayo, @LoriSchmidt, @suzdawg, @ErictBBC, @steaknstiffarms, @psprinkle, @howell185, @The_BBC, @nick_benson, @birmbuckeye, @michaeltowle, @OStateBuckeye, @WatsonWilliam24, @JayDPapa, @MookieBlaylock, @BuckeyeBeliever, @mmeals, @ldf2, @OHIOinME, @sacksbb, @bucknutz, @zoforeman, @csloball, @thomasjcw, @Buckeye45, @emericle, @Bracstar, @jleahy09, @rdlongbrake, @rbeal, @Chad_Stetter, Va Tech bro @thekeyplay, Penn Shtaters @1600doctorb, @Devon2012, @Ben_Jones88, @SpreadHDGFX, one of your favorite Big Ten bloggers @HS_BHGP, your screencap source @bubbaprog and Rammer Jammers @kleph and @jahykes (I think I got all of you!): thank you.  I mean it.  I was not expecting it and was taken aback when I followed that timeline.

Per state hero and philosopher king Forrest Gump, I think that’s all I got to say about that.  Other things escape me at the moment.  This part of this post was the end result of  writing non-stop for the past two hours.  And, hey, I managed to not eviscerate this astonishingly stupid article in this post.

1975: Ohio State v. UCLA

I have not provided you all a Drive-Thru in some time, and I feel like I owe you one (given the slew of tornado tweets and this weirdly personal post).  So, here’s a game I’ve been sitting on for a while: the 1975 prime time match against the UCLA Bruins, in Los Angeles.  I’ve been sitting on this for awhile because you probably know we lost the rematch in the Rose Bowl.  After eviscerating the Bruins in the regular season, Vermeil’s Pac 8 champions punked Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.  Thus, arguably the most potent offense in college football history, and one of the most prolific defenses, were left without a national title in a season where they almost went wire to wire as the top team in the country.  In short, it’s the January 2007 game of your dad’s generation.

Aware of that, I decided to roll with this anyways.  What follows is my longest Drive-Thru yet: almost 16 minutes of game action.  Sadly, these moldy oldies come with some limitations.  In this particular case, you will have to deal with the tracker at the bottom of the screen.  Sadly, you also miss an Archie Griffin touchdown, a 17yd run early in the 3rd quarter.  Beyond that, this game was fun.  It’d be a full-fledged classic, if not for the rematch.

Of course, this post would not be complete without…

You wish you were Brian Baschnagel, and you know this is true.

1. This is just a sample of who I have met.
2. I did not actually see this particular event, but I had this story told to me by a woman whose house I was temp roofing.

The Buckeyes will be without the services of Dorian Bell in 2011.

As the awful 2011 (so far) calendar turned to May 1, we got some great news on a global scale, but more bad news as it pertains to our beloved football team. Buckeye linebacker Dorian Bell has been suspended for the entire 2011 season for a violation of team rules. “May Day” might be an appropriate thing for a Buckeye fan to say these days. You may recall that Bell was already suspended for two games, starting with the Sugar Bowl in January, so the undisclosed rules violation that cost him his 2011 season was likely a repeat of whatever got him into trouble in the first place. Bell didn’t even make the trip to New Orleans with the team and now won’t be making any trips with his teammates for quite some time. One hopes that this doesn’t lead to an eventual transfer for the talented defender.

The Dispatch cited sources that indicated the violation, which was not specified by coach Jim Tressel, was believed to be a third breach of the team’s drug and alcohol abuse policy. This new development is unfortunate for Bell in his Ohio State career, because he appeared poised for a much larger role in 2011, both on the Silver Bullets and on special teams. The third-year sophomore looked pretty good in the Spring Game Scrimmage, registering a sack. Bell’s suspension will benefit somebody else, most likely Storm Klein or Jordan Whiting, but possibly incoming freshman Curtis Grant. One of those players, or someone else, will have to step up and join Andrew Sweat and Etienne Sabino in the starting lineup at SAM linebacker.

Bell, a 6-1, 225-pound sophomore from Monroeville, Pennsylvania, redshirted in 2009 and appeared in eight games last season as a freshman. He finished with nine tackles, registered half a sack and forced a fumble in his reserve duty, playing behind new Minnesota Viking Ross Homan and others.

Rivals.com had rated Bell a five-star recruit in 2009. He was ranked 33rd overall nationally and third among outside linebacker recruits.

Other happenings (in case you missed it): Buckeye fellow football freshmen (alliteration, y’all) Jeff Heuerman and Joel Hale were among

Jeff Heuerman and Joel Hale got their Mirror Lake baptisms with half the campus on Sunday night.

those who took the plunge into Mirror Lake late Sunday night, after hearing of the death of Osama bin Laden. Especially because OSU football players were involved, we’re very pleased there were no arrests. That seems odd based on this tweet by James Louis…TTUN likes to troll…The Buckeyes won their seventeenth consecutive men’s tennis match (pause to gasp in wonder at that remarkable achievement) over the weekend. The men’s tennis team has now won eight B1G tournament titles in all and joins the football, women’s basketball and men’s golf programs as the only ones in school history to win six consecutive B1G championships…Ohio State’s men’s volleyball team is in the NCAA Championship Semifinals and will face rivals Penn State on Thursday night in Happy Valley. The Buckeyes defeated Loyola-Chicago over the weekend in the MIVA Tournament championship match to claim their fourth consecutive tournament title. Charles will have more on this weekend’s non-revenue OSU sports later so check back.

Just win baby. Chekwa is on his way to Oakland.

After what was undoubtedly an anxious Friday night, in which no Buckeyes were taken in the 2011 NFL Draft, Saturday saw four Ohio State players join first-round pick Cameron Heyward in the league that plays on Sundays. Chimdi Chekwa, who was graded by some to go as high as the second round, found a home in Oakland. The Raiders took Chekwa with the 16th pick in the fourth round on Saturday. Chekwa is an Al Davis type of player, a speedy corner who works better in press coverage. Because he wasn’t the only cornerback taken by Oakland in this draft (the Raiders nabbed DeMarcus Van Dyke of Miami in the third round), Chekwa will have a battle on his hands when camp opens, but he will have an immediate opportunity to win a starting spot.

Jermale Hines was the next Buckeye to hear his name called, going to the St. Louis Rams with the 27th pick in the fifth round. Hines could fill a hybrid role in the Rams’ defense. He was the first defensive back the Rams selected. Time ticked down on the draft, leaving anxious moments for those players who still hadn’t found a team, before the Philadelphia Eagles chose Brian Rolle deep in the sixth round (193rd overall), who seems an excellent fit with their defensive scheme. Despite being undersized for an NFL linebacker, the Eagles play a style that will allow Rolle to use his speed to run to the ball. Ross Homan became the fifth and final Buckeye taken in the draft when the Minnesota Vikings called his name seven spots after Rolle became an Eagle. Homan will likely compete for a depth position, with a shot at playing on special teams as a rookie.

Surprisingly, wide receiver and undersized beast Dane Sanzenbacher did not get selected. Perhaps a history of concussions dropped Sanzo’s stock, but no doubt he’ll catch on (pun intended, sorry) with someone as a free agent and go on to torture 31 of the NFL’s 32 teams for years to come. When a player like Sanzenbacher goes undrafted, it kind of makes you wonder what goes through the mind of an NFL general manager. Having some experience at drafts in another sport (hockey), I know that sometimes a scout will argue vociferously for a team to draft a player, but ultimately get vetoed or outvoted. It’s impossible to know if this was the case for Sanzo, but I’d like to think there were several scouts trying to persuade their teams to take him, citing his fearlessness, great hands, route running, football IQ and history of making crucial plays at the highest level of college football.

Other Buckeyes who will have to catch on as undrafted free agents are Brandon Saine, Dexter Larimore, Justin Boren, Bryant Browning and perhaps Devin Barclay. Saine’s speed should intrigue some teams as a possible return man or special teams player. Boren and Browning will undoubtedly get a chance to become NFL walk-ons, since they compare favorably to some players who were drafted, like Michigan’s Steve Schilling. Boren has a nasty streak that NFL coaches love. Browning was solid, if unspectacular in college. Larimore plays a position of need as many NFL teams either have converted or are in the process of converting to a 3-4. Barclay was an accurate collegiate kicker, but he already has a job lined up in case he doesn’t get a crack at an NFL position.

Whoever you’re pulling for in the No Fun League, we hope your draft experience was a good one and that your team did some things that made you happy. Also, we hope that Sanzo doesn’t hurt your team too badly in the future (but he will).

Beating Michigan never gets old. In any sport.

The baseball Buckeyes needed extra innings twice on Saturday, but won

This should scare the hell out of B1G batters. Sully threw out the first pitch on Friday night.

both games to complete a doubleheader sweep and a three-game weekend sweep of Michigan. It was the first time the Buckeyes have swept TTUN at Bill Davis Stadium and the first sweep of their arch-rivals in 15 years. Ohio State swept a B1G opponent for the first time since Iowa in May of 2009. Josh Desze sent the first game into extra innings with a two-run double in the ninth and Matt Streng’s infield single plated the winning run in the 11th inning of a 7-6 victory. Desze struck out the side in the top half of the inning, before Streng’s heroics. The Buckeyes grabbed the nightcap, 4-3 in 10 innings. Michigan erased a 3-1 deficit with two runs in the eighth, but Greg Solomon doubled in the 10th, took third on a bouncer by Tyler Engle and scored on a throwing error. It’s worth noting that the Buckeyes committed 11 errors in the series but still won. Ohio State is 19-18 overall and 9-6 in conference play.

Etcetera: The Tribe spent Friday and Saturday straight up trolling the Detroit Tigers. After a Carlos Santana walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the ninth on Friday night, Orlando Cabrera singled home Michael Brantley with one out in the bottom of the 13th inning at Progressive Field on Saturday. Santana went deep on Saturday night as well. The Indians have won 12 straight home games and we demand the playoffs start today.