Some #quickhits:
- Congrats to Jesse Owens, troller of Adolph Hitler, on dusting a field of 63 other legends and claiming the 11W's Heart of It All Crown by eleven votes. I'm still a little sore about President Warren G. Harding being booted in the Elite 32.
- #ThisDayInHistory: 1865, General Ulysses S. Grant punked Robert E. Lee and made the rebel general bend his knee and thus secured the B1G's first and only Civil War championship over the SEC.
BASKETBUCKS FINISH 30TH. The final AP men's basketball poll was released yesterday and Ohio State finished 30th.
In the end, that's probably about right. What's frustrating, though, is OSU could play with anybody. The problem was it only happened in about six minute intervals.
Also, I'm not sure what to make of the person who gave Kentucky a first place vote. Is it a troll move? (And before you point fingers, Calipari's not a voter.) If it wasn't a troll or an honest mistake, then some AP voter is likely coming down from a hellacious heroin bender.
JOEL HALE DID IT FOR THE TEAM. Hale started 11 games at nose guard last year, but after the Orange Bowl loss, Hale went to Urban Meyer with an odd request for a player about to be a senior.
From Bill Rabinowitz of The Columbus Dispatch:
Hale walked into coach Urban Meyer’s office and [...] asked to change sides of the ball and become an offensive lineman.
“God has a plan for me,” Hale explained after practice on Saturday. “I felt it in my heart and my mind. I was walking out the door with my stuff from my locker — last year’s stuff — when I set down the bag, turned around and went to talk to him.”
[...]
“I’m not saying I couldn’t have competed (on defense),” Hale said. “I just feel that my talent and my leadership could be used on the offensive side of the ball. I’m trying to provide some juice over there and help us win.”
With all the mutants along the defensive line, Hale is probably right; his leadership (and provided depth) could definitely be used along an offensive line that is currently being rebuilt.
REEVES HAS BECOME "THE STANDARD." Bradley Roby has left Ohio State. Say what you will about his last season, but Roby was an explosive playmaker with the ability to be a lockdown corner.
Armani Reeves is The Next Man Up, and the former four-star recruit from West Roxbury, Massachusetts, isn't shying away from the challenge. After all, he's the one who replaced Roby during the departed's suspension.
From OSU's student paper, The Lantern:
“I feel ready,” Reeves said Thursday. “I feel confident. I think that’s half the battle when you’re corner, just know that you can do the jobs … I’m going to play with confidence and I know I can do this job, so I’m not worried at all.”
[...]
“I feel like they see a good side of me. I try to be a nice person so that helps,” Reeves said. “We’re all working really hard, and when you have confidence in each other that just makes a defense that much better … When I have confidence in the D-line and they have confidence in me, that makes it so much easier to do your job.”
[...]
Cornerbacks coach Kerry Coombs said Reeves will be successful because he works harder than anybody else on the field, going as far as to say Reeves “became the standard.”
Good to see some signs of cohesiveness among the separate unites. Getting everyone on the same page and building those bridges of trust are the first steps to building a formidable defense. (So says the internet keyboard man.)
DON'T FORGET DEVAN. Devan Bogard is a Meyer-favorite; he was the first freshman to lose his black stripe in 2012. Unfortunately for Bogard, his ACLs haven't yet been up to the task.
After two ACL tears in two years and a move to linebacker, Bogard is back on the rehab upswing.
From Doug Lesmeries of The Cleveland Plain Dealer:
[Bogard] rehabbed again. He has been limited in the spring again. But he was there with his teammates after Saturday’s scrimmage, laughing with them and talking to fans. He’s doing some work, but not everything.
“I’m coming along real good,” Bogard said. “I’m just taking it real slow.”
[...]
“I've just got to get healthy, that's all,” Bogard said. “I'll be good. I'll be straight. I can do anything I want to do.”
Few things worse on the ol' sports field than talented players prone to injury. Hopefully it's just a case of bad luck for Devan, because if he could regain his form, it'd be a huge boost for the Silver Bullets in the depth department.
LES MILES: STILL BALLIN'. This is your periodic reminder Les Miles is a great human being and an electric football coach:
Second year in a row I had to kiss a pig... all in good fun and for charity for Leukemia and lymphoma society !! LM pic.twitter.com/7u9Y5CVUx9
— Les Miles (@LSUCoachMiles) April 8, 2014
THOSE WMDs. Derek the RA fires back... 43 complaints since January 2013 against off-campus landlord NorthSteppe... Eh, humanity's run was okay... Oral history of Charles Manson's cult... Rob Ford is the best Canadian... The last days of Jean Michel-Basquiat... The. Game. Done. Changed... $125,000 to $1 reported stolen in Marion... Heartwarming to see Bernie Madoff's nice view... Punctuation is important, BUT THAT DEAD UGANDAN CROCODILE IS STILL TERRIFYING...
