At long, long last, the day has come. For a little under five years, I have waited for this day...for Ohio State to have a chance to avenge the ass-kicking the Florida Gators put on them back in 2007. "But DJ," you might say... "That was a national title game. This is a bowl sponsored by something called 'TaxSlayerPro.com'." To that I say: "Whatever, brah."
First of all, orange and blue is a stupid color combination you'd only see in a southern fratboy's casual attire. The '07 loss to Florida is only second to the Lakers losing to the Celtics in the 2008 NBA Finals. In terms of what was expected compared to what actually happened... it was my first true nut-punch loss of my athletic fandom. I believed with all my naive heart Troy Smith was going to lead Ohio State into the pantheons. It was supposed to be a glorified scrimmage. Yet, it ended with some confetti-soaked clown grabbing the mic in the immediate aftermath of the game and screaming, "HERP! DERP! I GUESS OHIO STATE IS GATOR BAIT, BABY!" and then he did that stupid chomping motion thing Florida fans do.
I don't care if Tim Tebow is curing leprosy in Denver these days or Chris Leak is now cleaning bar bathrooms in Little Rock, Arkansas; Florida took a lot more than some tacky crystal ball trophy from Ohio State that night. They took Ohio State's honor as they unleashed the SEC dragon onto the national scene -- a blight we're still having to deal with to this day.
None of this, of course, applies to Urban Meyer. For a reason I can't quite place my finger on, I can't find it in myself to harbor any ill will towards Meyer. The man, after all, is a Son of Ohio, and he seems like an all around good guy. Whenever Tressel decides to relinquish his vice-grip on the Big Ten and retire to a cushy athletic director's job, I think it'd be cool to see Urban Meyer come back to coach The State University of Ohio. Wouldn't that be something to see?
Lastly, is anybody else disappointed with 2012 thus far? I don't know... I just always envisioned the future to be much... sleeker. *sigh*
THE LAST OHIO STATE BOWL GAME UNTIL (PRLY) 2014. If you ever doubted Ohio State fans would venture into the 7th Circle of Hell to watch the Buckeyes play, consider the fact thousands of people not only volunteered to go to Jacksonville, Florida, to do such but also showed up and outnumbered Gators fans at pep-rallys, which apparently exist outside of the realm of high school. Brian Bennett of ESPN.com prophesies Ohio State beating Florida, 24-23. Why do people always pick a score as if nailing it wouldn't be just a pure stroke of luck anyway? Bennett's ESPN.com colleague, Adam Rittenberg, says for Ohio State to win, it must unleash Braxton Miller and the defensive line as well as make Florida pay for its (statistically likely) mistakes. That sounds good to me.
PENN STATE'S COACHING SEARCH MARCHES ON. The plumes of smoke rising from Happy Valley continues to be the color of soot as PSU's coaching search continues. Hell, I guess this shouldn't be surprising, is there anybody alive from Penn State's last coaching search besides the man it hired? *does the math* Well, yeah, I guess this shouldn't be surprising at all.
After Tennessee Titans' coach, Mike Munchak, spurned his alma mater, the new name to surface is Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien, who's in the last year of his contract with the NFL team. The 42 year old apparently "fits the profile" Penn State is looking for in its new head coach. And after the successes of Charlie Weis, Romeo Crennel, Josh McDaniels and Eric Mangini... who wouldn't want to harvest the next ripened fruit to grow from the petrified coaching tree of Bill Belichick? O'Brien's last experience at the college level came at Duke, where the Blue Devils amassed a 1-21 record while he was their offensive coordinator. Although if Tom Brady is coming with O'Brien to be his quarterback... well, that would certainly change the Leaders division power structure next year...
Not sure why I put this here.
COLLEGE COACHES ARE PAID WELL. Did you get a Christmas bonus? Nick Saban and Les Miles certainly did. According to The New York Times, the two national title game coaches will each receive a $200,000 bonus for simply getting their teams into the game. The story though (which is certainly worth your time) goes much deeper than that:
A review of the contracts for more than 40 major college coaches — including Saban, Miles and many of the other men whose teams are appearing in the B.C.S. games that begin Monday — shows that agreements that once seemed simple and straightforward have morphed into an ever more intricate combination of guaranteed salary increases, lucrative bonuses and desirable perks that cover everything from country-club memberships to free travel on private airplanes.
Where once coaches may have been paid merely an annual salary, now the bulk of their compensation often comes from the portion of their contracts that deals with media appearances and endorsement revenues. And the deals also frequently include issues as varied as how their players’ uniforms must look and whether coaches can endorse certain kinds of products or services.
INDIANA BASKETBALL IS LEGIT? On Saturday night, while everybody had already started drinking Moonshine, Ohio State's men's basketball team lost to their Indiana-counterparts in a game that would be Exhibit 1A) in my case against college basketball. However, after the horrendously executed and over-refereed game in which it was proven Aaron Craft doesn't walk on water, I was surprised to learn the upset win over the Buckeyes solidified Indiana as "legit" this year. I mean... I guess.
2012 COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREDICTIONS. The year isn't even 48 hours old, and Sports Illustrated's Andy Staples has already laid down his 2012 predictions. Not only will college football fans be rewarded with a (plus-one) play-off system, they will also see an SEC team win the national title for the seventh straight year. (He picks LSU and I agree.)
THAT NEWNEW No ordinary counterfeit... Saudi university bribing prominent professors with $72,000... Solitude and Leadership... Bitter Spoils... The story of a woman who made $40 million by illegally smuggling Chinese into America... How black Baltimore drug dealers are using white supremacist legal theories to confound the Feds...
