Shannon Scott continued Ohio State's 2015 championship run. His San Antonio Spurs won the NBA Summer League crown last night.
POOR OCs TALK FICTIONAL WINNING LOTTERY TICKET. Consider me of the camp that wants QB-X to be knighted after camp and ridden like a warhorse. Yesterday, I mentioned the inevitable wave of "Ed Warinner sucks!" troglodytes. The "Actually, Urban Meyer, the three-time world champ should start [QB-Y]" might be equally insufferable.
I'm not a QB platoon guy, but if Urban wants it, Urban gets it. I just don't see it happening this way.
From Andy Staples of SI.com:
One coordinator said the Buckeyes also might consider keeping a package in for the second or third quarterback to use as a change of pace. This probably involves Jones either as the starter or as the change-up because Miller and Barrett have similar skill sets. We know Meyer can pull off the arrangement. After all, he won a national title at Florida in 2006 with senior Chris Leak starting and freshman Tim Tebow playing periodically. “Do I package stuff for them?” the coordinator said. “Sometimes that turns into a headache.”
After paring the competition to two, the Buckeyes would face a more common situation. Then, Meyer and his coaches would have to decide whether to choose a starter by the end of camp or let the competition continue into the season. Most coaches would prefer to decide in camp, and preferably, before they begin gameweek preparation for the first opponent. “We’re kind of a week-and-a-half before our first game before we announce the starter,” one coordinator said. When they do choose, the coordinator said, they must banish sentimentality from the process. “It’s such a cutthroat business,” he said. “Your best one has got to play.”
In this case, the coaches will face another dynamic after choosing the starter. With one or two accomplished quarterbacks on the bench behind him, the coaches must ensure the starter they chose is confident enough to avoid looking over his shoulder. The coaches must make sure the quarterback knows he is their guy, and he won’t be pulled after the first interception he throws. “If you do win the competition, in the back of your head is ‘The hook could come really quick,’” one coordinator said. “I don’t want them to think ‘I’m going to pull your ass.’ Because then they play not to make mistakes.”
The best news, obviously, is that camp is only like a month away at this point.
MALCOLM JENKINS, YOUNG BOWTIE TYCOON. Malcolm Jenkins is a bonafide Buckeye. I knew he was from Jersey, but I didn't realize he hails from Piscataway. That just confirms I need to see the regal streets that inspired Rock Avenue, Malcolm Jenkins' budding bowtie/fashion company.
From Jeff Svoboda of Scout.com:
“I’m still having fun, but it’s a bigger burden than it was before,” Jenkins told BuckeyeSports.com this spring. “I’m trying to balance it all. It’s a little tough, but I still enjoy it. It’s a great experience, something that I’m glad I’m learning now, and then once I’m done playing ball and I actually have the time to go after some other endeavors full-time I have a little experience. It’s good.”
Jenkins’ crash course in being an entrepreneur began two offseasons ago. Wanting to make the bow tie a staple of his look but unable to find enough of them that he wanted to wear on a regular basis. Jenkins decided to make his own.
"I was trying to look for bow ties that I would look good in, and it was becoming harder and harder to find the styles that I really liked," Jenkins told BSB in September 2013. "Then one day my wife was like, ‘We should just make our own.' I was like, ‘What do you mean, make our own?'"
And just like that, a company was born. America is grand.
BTN ANNOUNCES MEDIA DAYS BLITZ. Another omen the season is right around the corner: Big Ten media days start next week, and THE BTN IS ON IT.
From a BTN release:
CHICAGO – With a new format for Big Ten Football Media Days in 2015, BTN and BTN2Go will provide more than 13 hours of live coverage, more than double last year’s total. Coverage will include the press conferences of all 14 Big Ten head football coaches, as well as remarks by Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany.
From 1 PM ET through 3 PM ET on Thursday, July 30, BTN will televise remarks from Mark Dantonio (Michigan State), Tim Beckman (Illinois), Paul Chryst (Wisconsin), Randy Edsall (Maryland), Kevin Wilson (Indiana), Kirk Ferentz (Iowa) and Urban Meyer (Ohio State). Immediately afterward, from 3 PM ET – 7 PM ET, the coaches and their players will visit the BTN set at Media Days for BTN Live, alongside Dave Revsine, Gerry DiNardo and Howard Griffith.
Press conference coverage resumes on at 9 AM ET on Friday, July 31, when Jerry Kill (Minnesota), Jim Harbaugh (Michigan), Kyle Flood (Rutgers), Pat Fitzgerald (Northwestern), Mike Riley (Nebraska), Darrell Hazell (Purdue) and James Franklin (Penn State) address media members. Delany follows the coaches, speaking at 11:15 AM ET.
Paul Chryst and James Franklin have potential, but it's nice to have a guy back in the conference that embraces the villain role like Jim Harbaugh. It's a sure-fire thing Harbaugh either says something ridiculous or openly antagonizes a reporter that presents a hypothetical question.
For the record: Banter is way more entertaining than lazy questions and canned answers. Outside of all that, I'm hoping somebody makes Tim Beckman cry and/or walk off stage.
AREA MAN HIGH AS HELL ON AREA TEAM. Oracle Phil Steele has cast his 2015 stone:
Steele: "If I'm filling out a bracket this time of the year, I'm usually using pencil. But I'll use a pen to pick Ohio State to repeat."
— Josh Bertaccini (@RedZone921) July 20, 2015
I like that pick (and for the record, mine is the same).
PRAYERS AND THOUGHTS TO ZACH FARMER. If I may make a humble request: Please take some time out of your day to send some good karma to Ohio State pitcher Zach Farmer, who once again finds himself fighting off leukemia.
From Derrick Webb of ChillicotheGazette.com (via @catanzaro_chris):
Farmer announced this past Wednesday, via Twitter, that his disease made an unwelcome return. After doctors found a mass on his lung Thursday, Farmer was informed Friday that his medical team had no other option but to let the cancer run its course.
Now, at the age of 20, the young man who was considered a “can’t miss” professional prospect on the baseball field has been given anywhere from one week to 30 days to live out the rest of his life with his friends and family by his side. Whereas most would simply give up hope, Farmer is sticking to his guns.
“I don’t plan on backing down from it. If you let it run its course, it’s not going to be pretty,” Farmer said Monday. “It’s beatable. I’ve done it once, and I plan on doing it again.”
This site has taught me the power of Buckeye Nation. I don't think Farmer needs any help to whip leukemia's ass again, but wonton goodwill is wind in the sails to any fight.
THOSE WMDs. That time Buzz Aldrin punched a man... Youngstown stand up... Bad idea to trash talk Michael Jordan... Kingsbury: Texas Tech wasn't ready for Arkansas' physicality... Attackers Spill User Data From Cheating Site Ashley Madison... Tracking down Mr. Met's inventor... The mysterious death of a doctor who peddled autism cures.
