Eleven Warriors

<poof>

Greetings, time liners.  I have popped in to your present to assure you of the future.  It doesn't take a Time Traveler to tell you what's coming.  Just trust it.  I once told Ray, a friend of mine, "If you build it, they will come."  But that was another sport altogether. 

I am here because IT is coming to Ohio State.  Yes, steel yourselves for a host of naysayers throughout the summer and the football year...they will swarm like MAYflies on a warm moist night crying and buzzing about their frenzied claim that we don't belong in a championship game...but I don't need a crystal ball to see a new crystal ball sporting its hot self in Ohio State's Trophy Room.  It is waiting...in the future.

But how did we get there?

A look back on the year 2013-14 revealed the craftiness of Urban Meyer in applying the science of (HO)2C6H3CH(OH)CH2NHCH3 to the success of the championship run.   Huh?   (HO)2C6H3CH(OH)CH2NHCH3?  Anger.  ANGER!!!  As you can see, its formula is uniquely suited for use at Ohio State...but first, the backstory:

An artful motivational speaker is Urban Meyer, and in discussions with his coaches right now, is tweaking the approach for the fall, I assure you.  We all know that ANGER is a large focus in the 2013 season already dubbed "The Chase". 

Anger.  It is one of the most basic human emotions.  It is a physical and mental response to a threat or to harm done in the past (perceived or real).  Anger takes many different forms...from irritation to lingering resentment to blinding rage that becomes an uncontrollable monster.

And of course, the best (anger) motivation happens when perception is closest to reality.  The pundits really DO doubt that an Ohio State team is ready NOW to take down the mighty SEC.  It really DOES seem like the burden is on OUR shoulders for the recent humbling of the Big Ten (though our record is above reproach in the BCS era).  Other fan bases actually DO mock us for being "arrogant" in our assumption to the throne of college football (as yet, still in our heads, but soon to be remedied). 

So yeah.  This team DOES have valid bulletin board drawing points for their anger.  All true.  But the beauty of THIS anger...and the genius-ness of the mad Dr. Meyer...is found in the nature of the PHYSICAL effects that anger has on the human body.  Let's analyze Anger for a moment:

Many of our emotions are linked to a particular physical response, but Anger just happens to get the mind and body ready for ACTION of some kind.  It arouses the nervous system, increases the heart rate, blood pressure, and blood flow to muscles.  This prepares the muscles for imminent physical combat.  The blood sugar level rises, and perspiration begins. It also sharpens the senses and increases the production of adrenalin (epinephrine) and nonepinephrine...hormones produced in times of anger or stress...and famously known to exponentially increase strength and agility as well.

However, along with these physical changes, anger is thought to affect the way we THINK.  Anger is thought to speed up the synaptic firing sequences in response to the flood of adrenalin, and helps us quickly translate complex information into simple terms: 'right' or 'wrong' for instance (or perhaps cover this guy instead of that guy)...the point is that a quicker translation of decision making factors happens.  This allows a person (like a football player) to appear to react quicker than others (akin to the "game slowing down").  This can be useful in an emergency as we don’t waste valuable time weighing up information that doesn’t affect the moment's core decision.  And useful also, as Urban has discovered, to set up a sort of "controlled anger" mentality, which feeds adrenalin intermittently as needed by the practiced user of said "controlled anger".

In short, Anger allows us to make quicker decisions!

Now I know you say, but wait...doesn't anger make people do STUPID things too?

Yes.  Yes, it does.

We all have vivid memories of some friend, relative, or complete stranger (or shockingly, myself) acting in stupendously stupid stupidity at the moment of anger.  Anger makes you crazy!!  Well, that is until it is harnessed scientifically by the cunning staff at Ohio State to bring about the perfect storm of physical changes in the bodies of their players in a controlled, sustainable way! 

Of course, since this is a "controlled substance", look for the NCAA to ban it soon after the season, Nick Saban to decry its use in fueling the illegal Jet Offense that insidiously puts opponents at a health risk, and half the known universe of Ohio State haters to mock at whatever we do...until the second Rose Bowl.

But seriously, would it surprise you to learn that the diet of our players also addresses foods that aid in the production and use of epinephrine?

But do you know what the coolest feature of epinephrine is?  As demonstrated above, its scientific formula is UNIQUELY Ohio State, for its designation is (HO)2C6H3CH(OH)CH2NHCH3, and any objective fan in the future understands that (OH) and (HO) are simply imprinted mirror codes that can be read from either side of the DNA coil. 

Oh yeah.

 

The Time Traveler

<poof>

From the T & C Dept*:

Pittsburgh Police authorities have arrested three Pitt Panthers for the possession of a bong, a quantity of heroin, and a deli ham and cheese sandwich (a former NYC officer who works in Pittsburgh now called it a "grinder").  Drew Carswell, Khaynin Mosley-Smith and Eric Williams were detained for use or possession of drug paraphernalia.  Carswell, a junior tight end, Mosley Smith, a junior defensive lineman, and Williams, a junior linebacker, all played relatively small roles for the Panthers in 2012.  But because of the bizarre circumstances surrounding the packaging of the heroin, police are now seeking information on the whereabouts of Mark May, an employee of ESPN, who has yet to turn up at his residence, 720 Panther Pantie Way, Hazbin, PA.   The residence appears to have been hastily vacated.

The heroin, as it turns out, was wrapped in women's underwear, size 16, with frayed and stretched waist banding.  This led police to conclude that the underwear had been worn most likely by a man for some time.  Preliminary DNA evidence found in the material somehow implied that Mark May, the standout Panther of yesteryear, was most likely the previous owner of the "heroin wrap". 

Efforts to locate and interview May on the subject have failed.

 

That is all.  Resume Offseason.

The Time Traveler

 

*Tongue n Cheek Department :)

On the eve of greatness.

Beewunngee.

Something has occurred to me that I have to believe has occurred to many other Buckeye fans throughout the year.  There doesn't seem to be all that "conference arrogance" during the current basketball season, like has been seen so recently demonstrated in the SEC in football.  Yes, the SEC has been the dominant conference of late in football, and everybody is plum wore out hearing about it. But every non-SEC fan still endured an endless barrage of "S-E-C, S-E-C" from fans whose personal "favorites" had had their crickets creamed that season.  Endless chest pounding and claims of speed, dressing one week like a tiger, the next all crimson...then imagine your Kentucky fan and good friend in your face constantly crooning about Alabama.  You would do him a favor by cascading him over the office desk into the fireplace.  In an effort to bring him to his senses, of course.  I don't condone wanton violence for no apparent reason.  But to help a friend in need...

But I digress.  And you get the picture.  We've been bombarded with "the SEC is the best all this and that" for half a decade now...but here's the question:

Have you seen any instances of Big Ten fans doing this? 

Simply because the Big Ten is the most dominant basketball dynasty in the history of the NCAA?  (with only a little tongue in cheek there)  Do you hear "Bee, One, Gee!, Bee One Geee!, BEEEE ONE GEEEEEEEEEE" slathered over the message and forum boards like this or from within the B1G media?

No, you don't.  And the reason? 

Nothing short of something called "class". 

 

The B1G.  It gets slashed for a lot of legitimate reasons.  But the class of its fans and media should never again be called into question (I'm not saying there won't be classless individual fans, everybody has em, lookin your way, Mr. Couch).  However, at the end of a brutal intra-conference season, and with the absolute agreement that the Big Ten was the true home of powerhouses this year...you didn't hear the conference smugness that has so poisoned the SEC fan base!  I certainly didn't.  We heard fierce loyalty to one's own team, and fans in mostly good natured hatred for one other...and certainly a sense of conference pride, that goes without saying...but you know, we didn't exploit our pride and go out and prance around before the world and say, "Look at me!  Look at me!  I'm the Bee One Gee!" [although Gordon would certainly appreciate that chant]

The Big Ten fans were admirable this year in that regard.  I applaud you. 

 

The Players.  The talent level in the Big Ten is amazingly stacked, and is the envy of the collective collegiate world.  Several are very likely to be facing off in the Final Four.  Yet the athletes themselves have mostly recognized and respected the abilities of their opponents, and this has created good matchups, entertaining storylines, and unrivaled competition.  This creates better players.  It helps recruiting.  The best players always want to come and compete with the best players.  The Big Ten reputation of strength isn't going anywhere soon.  And I'm proud to say my Buckeyes always seem to be in the thick of it nowadays.  It's fairly difficult to actually be a two sport Division I School, given the tiny list of schools that actually are.  Might be a good discussion question, but I do know this. 

Ohio State is increasingly exactly that.

 

The Haters.  It seems that the "haters" have narrowed their focus down to one guy, really.  Aaron Craft.  This is not a defense of Aaron Craft.  Others have done that marvelously on here already.  But Aaron Craft is simply the convenient target...and the funny thing is that he is just the opposite of what some of the bozos want to portray him as...the Overachiever.  And I do actually have a question for the framer of that "dig" on Craft.  Since when is overachieving a bad thing, sir?  Then I remember that Aaron Craft is the guy who had just LOST to Michigan, and the first thing he did was to hug Trey Burke, his M*chigan opponent!  Aaron Craft is a man among boys in one more area.  Character.  The few guys who dig on him do it against a veritable onslaught of praise from the "outside the conference world".  Some of these so called pundits with personal team loyalty they can't separate from their analysis of players on rival teams...are only punching holes in their own credibility bit by agonizing bit.  I want to reach out to some of these guys and slap them (but not in a wanton violent way), just as I would a good friend, to wake him up out of his pseudo-fame induced delusion.  But certainly, and rightfully so, Ohio State is a popular hate target within its own conference simply because of the years of consistent success in football.  Simple as that.  Simply no simpler.  Sorry, Aaron.  You just happened to be in the...uh...right place at the right time.  Just think about the Book of Esther, Aaron..."For such a time as this..."  Welcome to what you already know is the world of the Big Ten.  Oh, and while I'm at it...Big Ten, welcome to the world of Aaron Craft. 

Oh, sorry, I see you already know that world.

 

The Coming Maelstrom.  The college football sports world will soon see a fiery tempest tear across the landscape.  This particular storm had started the SEC Reign of Terror itself, only as a smaller overconfident "shit storm".  The Tempest though, will end it.  The last winged beast of the SEC will fail against its onslaught.  It will be relentless.  The Storm will be accused of grinding its foe into a place of humility...even shame.  "Play your backups!" the pundits will plead.  And it won't matter.  The backups will proceed to carry the same fire of those before.  And why will that be? It is because they have been allowed into The Chase.  

 

Welcome to the 2013 season!  Although operating with unknowns and young talent in key positions, these Buckeyes have been learning something increasingly rare in college team sports.  Team.   This group of guys is not going to wait for Braxton Miller to fully mature and return as a senior on Holly Four Barrels.  This group of players has the gel, and the attitude, to put a Crystal Football beside a Cut Down Net from an NCAA Champion.  Buckeye Nation...this is where we are.  We are the Caesars of our conference world.  And our eyes are on the larger prizes.  We are moving ahead with the plan of world domination, not as a conference, but as a TEAM.  Unless a horrible misalignment of the northern hemisphere of the star system were to happen...this Buckeye football team is going to break a lot of records, and turn a lot of heads.  Or even turn a lot of records and break a lot of heads...again with the wanton violence.  Pain is going to be a staple that opponents will be fed at the Buckeye Buffet.  Pain, misery, and loss.  Possibly as the year goes on, a degree of conference pride will arise in some of our opponent fan bases, as they grudgingly urge the Buckeyes on in the national championship to reclaim what they accuse us of losing in the first place (I maintain we lost it for us).  And restoring "pride" is totally ok with me, as long as the renewed conference pride comes because Ohio State made it so. 

And for those that value the concept of "conference pride"...they will feel better and stop kicking the dog as it was never the dog's fault.  But for me, well...it will simply be a reason to beam a great smile of...yes, PRIDE...in the Ohio State Bucekeyes.

 

And yes, Iona will be singing more softly tonight than they had anticipated.  I have spoken.

 

The Time Traveler

 

 

 

 

In a relatively  unknown apocalyptic fiction, a fat little man cowers, terrified and trembling before Julian Beliano...the devil himself.  Amused at the large beads of sweat dotting the fat little man's face and soaking up an increasingly larger area of shirt, the devil leans across the mahogany desk and asks the question:

 

"Well, Brimmer, what is it?"

 

"W-what is what, s-sir?"

 

Pointing to the growing spread of wetness between the man's front pant pockets, the devil repeats himself, "What is that?  Right there.  Is that fear sweat or fat sweat?" 

 

We may never know the answer to that question, but on July 31, 2012, Kyle Rowland penned a pretty good article entitled, "A Golden Opportunity".  I took the opportunity on that day to report to you from the future...in the comments section, of course, so as not to draw a lot of attention.  You see, I am a Time Traveler, and I seized those few moments of wrinkled time to assure Buckeye Universe that all would be well, and that there would be smiles aplently by the end of the 2012 season....despite the fact that the view from the pew was that most would be happy with a "decent" year after the implosion of 2011. 

 

From my admittedly unique and decidedly advantageous angle of events, I had to be careful of what I said exactly, so as not to unravel the very fabric of time and space through one reckless disclosure of what was to come.  And certainly, had you good folks been imbibed with full  and unfettered disclosure, multitudes may have turned Vegas on its ear...betting your homes and your children's inheritance and future tuition on some ludicrous chance that Ohio State might be down to the likes of Purdue and need a miraculous last second magic act by a backup quarterback and his banged up offense.

 

No, no...the cosmos very likely would have started that slow and dreaded unraveling, sending that ribbon of change pulsing back into the already precariously positioned beginning of the thinly lined garment of time.  Oh, no...we could not allow such a thing to happen.  I simply could not trust my fellow Buckeye fans with knowledge of such import.

 

Can I trust you now?

 

In that look ahead at last year, our opponents truly learned the difference between fat sweat and fear sweat.  Oh, it's not that we did not sweat it  at times ourselves, especially early on, but thankfully, our sweat was of the fat kind...being seared away as Mariotti molded boys into men.  It was this sweat...our sweat...and our blood...that produced their tears.  And ultimately, they would all cry.  Every last one of them.  They would cry tears of anger.  They would cry tears of frustration, of disbelief, of aggravation and even hate.  And finally, they would all cry tears of realization.

 

And their sweat?  Fear sweat. 

 

And make no mistake.  Sweet flavors, all of them.  And fodder for the game shots of mourning fans tearing up as the clock ticks down on the fading moments of Hope.  And Dantunio and Belemia.  Sweet, emancipating tears.  Let go of the emotion and accept your fate.  From the hard punching UFC fight that was the Michigan State game to the positively precious purloinment of the Purdue sense of occasional pride...Buckeye Universe gaped open-mouthed at the tenacity of a team that simply would not quit.  Even down by nine with mere moments remaining...and nothing to play for to boot, as the announcers would incessantly repeat. 

 

But those are the moments made for memories, are they not?  Memories recounted a thousand times to grandchildren one day, as you too get to play The Time Traveler.  Little Johnny, or Zack, or Braxella will teeter on your bony, misshapen knees, bouncing softly or not so softly, and say, "But gammpaw...tell me again about that Shoe Lace guy and the cereal he choked on...that story was sooooo cool!"  And you will sit back with your mildly adult beverage in one hand, grinning that amiable toothless grin you are so loved for, and savor the memories all over again.  And then, at the last, you will put your drink down, lean in close to the ear of the adorably radiant face of your eventual and beautiful grand child  [ok, go with me here], and with a sparkle in your eye, and in hushed and reverent tones...you will whisper, "Ahh, but honey, let me tell you about the year that came after THAT!"

 

So there it is.  The crux of my comment now, or at the present.  Be prepared for a season that will be seen as the afterburners igniting a new era in college football.  The Buckeye Dominion.  Here in my time, we have a new star cluster named for our achievements in the second decade of the new millennium.  You are at its onset.  Strap in and store up on your liquid fuels.  Here it comes...2014 and Beyond.

 

And so my friends, I must leave you once again with only enough so as the ever-so-transitional time loop is left undisturbed by the introduction of future knowledge into your present.  As we pause here at the end of February 2013 and look back on the year that WAS...2013-14, I must ask you one more time...

 

Can I trust you with this?

 

Or better put, as a dentist once querried my friend, D. Hoffman..."Eez eete safe?"

 

Well...is it?

 

Signed off,  The Time Traveler.

If you have not read the entire 43 page lawsuit filed Jan 2, 2013 by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania against the NCAA, then you need to do so immediately. A link to the document is already provided by the staff at Eleven Warriors. I, like most people, did not look beyond the surface of the public outrage and cries for punishment. It seemed almost wrong to defend the Penn State position in any way. However, upon reading the legal document, it is very clear that the NCAA operated not only outside of its own established procedure, but in the end, could not cite a single NCAA infraction committed by the program that was Sanction worthy". Despicable and vile criminal acts by a sexual predator, yes...but nothing of an actual violation as stated by their own "Manual". The Attorney General and the Governor's office has correctly cited some past gross criminal violations at colleges under NCAA authority in which it took NO action whatsoever. How about murder? In 2003, one Baylor basketball player killed a teammate, and it was found that the other players were coerced to lie about it and say the victim was dealing drugs (subsequently proven false). The NCAA reaction? Nothing. How about the case of the Montana football players raping multiple girls on campus? Nothing. Or how about the Lacrosse star who murdered his girlfriend, a member of his university's women's team? Yep. Nothing again. The legal document describes multiple instances where the NCAA doesn't get involved in the criminal, even sexual criminalities, of member institutions, but rather leaves it rightfully to the court system set up to handle those crimes. The document goes on to detail clearly how the sanctions came improperly from the NCAA president, Emmert, and the board, which are BOTH explicitly barred from such action by their own bylaws. The Committee on Infractions is the only arm of the NCAA permitted to mete out punishment. It is clearly demonstrated that the NCAA broke ALL of its own internal procedural guidelines in order to deliver a decision intended to repair its own tarnished enforcement image and flex muscle it did not legally have. Conclusion? Well, you may have heard it right here first...I absolutely believe that when this case goes to court, the severity of sanctions will be dramatically reduced or eliminated altogether! If you would like to comment, I urge you to read the legal document first. Yes, it's a bit of a read, but extremely absorbing once you get into it. What are your thoughts?