I take back everything bad I said about Jeopardy! yesterday:
@marion_ohio @11W still don't like @Jeopardy? #HardingPower pic.twitter.com/kH3KQbs1nD
— Jon (@EdeltotheMetal) July 1, 2015
Amy claimed to be from Ohio too. NOT ANYMORE, AMY. NOT ANYMORE.
OSU, THE NEW BAMA. Winning a championship is only easy compared to defending it, and it's the work the football team is putting in now that will define how far this next campaign will go.
From Kirk Barton of Dispatch.com:
It’s important for the players at Ohio State to understand they have crossed over. You’re not the team of last season that barely got in the first College Football Playoff. You’re like Alabama now. So much more is expected of the 2015 team. Everybody has you circled. You are the team to beat. You are the elite.
With that in mind, it’s going to take great leadership for this team to live up to expectations. It’s going to take guys who have done it putting a lot of pressure on the younger kids who just watched last year to rise up and add to it.
[...]
To repeat the Buckeyes will have to win their five toughest games of the season in a row at the end – home with Michigan State, at Michigan, the Big Ten title game, a national semifinal, the national championship game. A building with that kind of huge top needs a stout foundation. That work is going on right now.
Ohio State is always "the team to beat" in the Big Ten, but those stakes will be even higher this year. No doubt about that.
That's why I cringe when I see things like "Ohio State will be favored by at least two touchdowns in every regular season game." There's about a 3% chance that happens, so let's all agree not to lose our minds if a team like Minnesota keeps Ohio State within 10.
OSU just needs to win its damn games. That's it.
OSU PRODUCES ELITE NFL TALENT. Pro Football Focus, an advanced metric site, released this interesting bit of analysis yesterday:
The colleges who have the most #1 graded NFL players at their position in the PFF era 1 Texas A&M: 9 2 UT: 8 3 OSU: 7 pic.twitter.com/KVwnlRYE8I
— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) June 28, 2015
Via 97.1 The Fan's Lori Schmidt, Ohio State received credit for Panthers tight end Ben Hartsock (2013), Jets center Nick Mangold (2008, 2009, 2014) and Vikings corner Antoine Winfield (2008, 2010, 2012).
Ben Hartsock! Who would've guessed? Not me.
PRYOR TO THE SLASH? It's been thought the Browns would try Pryor out exclusively at wide receiver, but it looks like they might have some deeper designs for him.
From Pat McManamon of ESPN.com:
"I'm going to give this slash player deal a chance," Pryor said.
That raises the possibility that the former Ohio State quarterback will be working at positions other than receiver for the Browns.
The "slash" role was developed by former Pittsburgh Steeler Kordell Stewart, who spent his pre-quarterback days as a receiver/quarterback/running back -- thus the slash designation.
Not going to lie: The Browns getting fancy a weapon like Terrelle could end about as well as a toddler playing with a loaded assault rifle.
RUSSELL NO. 1 IN JERSEY SALES. Laker fans and Ohio State fans collectively makeup about 80% of American sports fans, so it's no surprise to see Russell's No. 1 jersey — he chose it because he should've been the first pick in the draft — doing numbers.
From Mason Levinson of Bloomberg.com:
D’Angelo Russell is the top pick among buyers of National Basketball Association rookie jerseys, despite being drafted second behind Karl-Anthony Towns.
Russell, the Ohio State guard selected by the Los Angeles Lakers in the June 25 draft, has had the best-selling rookie jersey on NBAStore.com and Fanatics.com. That’s according to Fanatics, the biggest online retailer of officially licensed team merchandise.
Towns, the Kentucky center taken first overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves, ranks second in rookie jersey sales. Jahlil Okafor, the Duke center who was drafted at No. 3 by the Philadelphia 76ers, ranks third.
Russell will have LA eating out of his palm within five years.
D'Angelo Russell on a conversation with Kobe: "I just told him I'm a sponge. Whatever he's willing to teach me, I'm willing to learn."
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) June 29, 2015
Hopefully the Russell-Bryant partnership — it should only last a year — doesn't end up in flames. If Kobe can't play with a visionary like Russell then he's an even bigger asshole than his critics would have you believe.
KEELS' CALLS OF THE YEAR. IMG released Paul Keels' highlights from this year. Sit back and enjoy:
THOSE WMDs. Nic Cage as every GoT character... America's obsession with its teeth... Tracing the path of a violent con artist... Scott Storch's $70 million coke binge... Who owns the dead?
