Eleven Warriors

Great win by the Bucks yesterday!  Aaron - stellar.  DT - awesome.  Shannonator - beast mode.  Q - killin' it softly.  Here's my gripe:  why did Thad take Q out when he was clearly feeling it with the ball yesterday???  He was getting good looks and shooting out of his mind.  Part of the reason we finally took the lead.  Then all of the sudden I see him on the sidelines and he's being rotated in/out.  Was that a defensive thing?  I'm just trying to understand why he was on the side when we clearly needed offense when Iowa started storming back.  I love Aaron and his game, but yesterday I felt like he was pressing it and - I know - dare I say it - he was sort of a ball hog down the stretch.  He was reluctant to feed it to DT who was also stroking it well.  I don't mind any player taking over a game, but clearly Aaron was a bit gassed at the end and he should've been passing the rock to the shooters more (well, NOT Lenzelle... sorry, because I know you give it your all but you're in a bad slump this season... except for the one 3-pt. you put up when we needed it most).  Can 11W Nation explain this to me?

I thought I'd be ok with the lack of the Buckeyes playing post-season.  I'd mentally prepared for it all season.  Figured, what the heck - there are plenty of other games to watch - I'll be ok.  I'm not.  Every time I watch one of these sucky teams play (i.e.., VT game on Fri. night), I'm reminded of how much better our Buckeyes would be than 90% of the teams playing post season.  So I want to thank the following individuals for making my post-season game watching truly miserable:  1) Gene Smith.  Idiot.  No precedence.  Are you some sort of nitwit!?  Sending us to a no-nothing bowl like the Gator Bowl for what??  Ratings??  Money??  Idiot. 2) Gordon Gee.  Permitting Smith to make an idiotic call by not self-imposing for a bowl ban last year.  I may switch Gee to #1 since he's the head honcho. 3) Tressel.  You lied.  You lied repeatedly. But I'm going to let you off easier than the other 2 because had it not been for your less-than-honorable moves, we'd still be stuck with your painfully boring offense and we would not be in the Urban-era.  Ok.  I don't feel totally better, but I needed to get that off my chest.  Happy New Year Buckeye Nation!!  Go Bucks!!

I laid across my bed and threw my head into the mattress.  I was pretty much in the same position last year at the end of Purdue game.  But yesterday, it ended differently.  Much, much differently.  Instead of the usual bad luck football that seemed to haunt our Bucks last year, this year we seemed to be wrapped up by some sort of football Angel.  Swooping down to protect us at just the right moment, in spite of ourselves.  As I laid on the mattress and went to acceptance mode of our first defeat I decided to man-up (err, really woman-up) and watch the game to it's conclusion.  I dragged myself off the bed and returned to the basement to see the inevitable outcome.  Smooth Jazz comes in - throws an interception.  Gut punch.  Purdue's offense comes back out and all of the sudden our D decides to play... I'm not even sure what to call it... it wasn't really defense... more like, passion.  Something we've sorely missed at times.  In comes Smooth Jazz again.  Passes are completed.  First downs are made.  Hope starts to churn in my stomach (or it was the combination of my really bad cold and bad snack choices?).  Hondo Hyde dives for a touchdown.  Sure Hands Heurmann (excuse the spell butchering) snags the 2-point conversion.  I can't tell if my stomach is really churning now because of the possibility of pulling out this impossible win or the cold medicine I swigged after sucking down several Yuengling Lights to calm myself during regulation have met and decided they don't like each other. 

The defense takes the field again.  I broke into a sweat.  Again, not sure of what the cause is but too amped to care.  First down - miss.  Second down - miss.  Third down - miss.  I'm sitting on the edge of my couch - sweating and praying.  Fourth down - miss.  ARE YOU #$@%#$! KIDDING ME???!!  Our Bucks played crap football for 4 quarters.  Our main offensive threat looked disheartened and tired all game until finally making a huge play only to be knocked out of the game and that's topped with a view of an AMBULANCE pulling out.  And throughout the whole game I had to listen to that female sports announcer (whose voice for some reason just grates on my last nerve) going on and on about Purdue's multiple "big plays."  And yet, in the last 48 seconds... somehow, someway, our Bucks found themselves and found a way to stay undefeated.  And to me, this is what it is all about to be a fan.  Sitting through a God-awful 4 quarters of crap play.  Interceptions.  Dropped passes.  Missed tackles.  Big plays (I hate that term now).  Nothing working.  Sweating.  Praying. Yelling.  Laughing.  Cussing.  To me, that's what it means to be a fan.  Riding the highs and riding the lows.  Accepting the losses.  Glowing with the wins.  And for that, I want to express my sincere gratitude to THE Ohio State Univerity Football team and our coach, Urban-The-##%-Man-Meyer!!  GO BUCKS!!

I'm an avid listener of the Common Man & Torg show and I've noticed that they have not discussed the Buckeyes since Mon. or Tuesday throughout the entire program.  Have they developed a beef with Coach or OSU or something??  Does anyone have any "inside" scoop?  They did rip the Bucks pretty badly after Saturday's game and it continued on Monday.  I thought they were a little over the top with the criticism and I wonder if it created some friction with OSU?  Perhaps it's just my love of the Buckeyes that has me creating conspiracy theories but it does seem odd that they've completely abandoned any mention of OSU FB.  Usually they start the show with a recap of Coach Meyer's call-in show today.  Nothing. The last 2 days have been dedicated to pro baseball???  All the other 97.1 shows have at least mentioned the upcoming OSU/MSU game even if only a brief analysis.  I've always been a fan of their show, but they sort of pissed me off with the non-stop bashing of the team.  Do other citiy's local sports shows routinely eviserate their local teams, especially when they WIN?  I posted yesterday that I felt local media and some fans had been relentlessly harsh on this team - especially considering we're 4-0.  I'm ok with critical analysis but the UAB analysis seemed really out of hand.  And this show usually talks about pro baseball for maybe 30 minutes max.  The last couple of days it's been pro bb and stupid personal stories with a little NFL sprinkled in.  Just wondering if there's a back story here??