Thursday, as always, is dedicated to the civil servants that make city life easier for simpletons like me. Where does all the trash go? I have no idea.
ICYMI:
- Ohio State hit the reset button on its football and basketball programs recently. The result for both was immediate title contention.
- New assistant coaches Alex Grinch and Taver Johnson held their first press conferences.
- Since departing and returning to Columbus, the evolution of Buckeye football impresses Johnson.
- Reserve your (or your business’) spot next to the life-size statue of Woody Hayes coming to Newcomerstown!
Word of the Day: Limpid.
A BITE OF THE B1G APPLE. Much to the chagrin of Midwest media bosses, the Big Ten condensed the men's basketball regular season schedule to hold its postseason in the most expensive city in America.
Jim Delany has since admitted the error, citing health concerns. Unfortunately those that actually risked their health won't be eligible to claim any of the extra profits. Meanwhile, newspaper columnists are just realizing the reason for the season.
mFrom indystar.com:
Here goes the Big Ten this week into Madison Square Garden, playing its men’s basketball tournament in the wrong place at the wrong time because MONEY!
On the bright side, nobody’s paying attention. No, wait, that’s the downside. And it’s not the only downside. It’s not even the biggest downside. But let’s not ignore how badly the Big Ten has devalued its basketball tournament, even if the city hosting the damn thing will in fact be ignoring its basketball tournament.
To shoehorn this traditional Midwest conference into Madison Square Garden, the league had to schedule its conference tourney a week ahead of schedule, alongside the Atlantic Sun and Big South and Ohio Valley, because serious basketball leagues play their conference tournament the week before the NCAA tournament — and the Big East has dibs on Madison Square Garden that week through 2026.
Yes, this is a shameless money-grab that will, at best, result in 15,000 attendees throughout the weekend. That doesn't mean anybody with the means to travel to NYC shouldn't do so.
New York City is one of humanity's greatest outposts. Yes, it hurts the average fan. But the average fan lost this Cold War long ago.
DURABLE DENZEL? The NFL combine heats up this weekend.
Despite skipping the Cotton Bowl, Denzel Ward should be a top-15 pick. Apparently, however, those "in the biz" question his durability.
From dispatch.com:
“I think they’re tied with Alabama for 33 players to the combine in the last three years,” NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock said. “Kind of crazy.”
Eleven Ohio State players will be at the combine, compared with eight in 2017 and 14 in the Buckeyes’ monster 2016 draft class.
But unlike the past couple of years, there’s no guarantee that multiple Buckeyes will be taken in the first round in April’s draft. The only lock is cornerback Denzel Ward, who is expected to go in the top half of the first round.
“The only question about him is how light and lean he is,” Mayock said of Ward, who is listed at 5 feet 10 and 191 pounds. “He tackles. I’m not questioning his physicality — just potentially durability over time. I think he is going to be a top-10 pick more than a top-15 pick. But a lot of that depends on how many quarterbacks go early.”
I never question Ward's durability when he pinwheeled receivers into another dimension. Teams that talk themselves out of drafting him will regret it.
WHAT A WHIRLWIND. New Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, though hailing from Grove City, endured quite the culture shock upon arrival in Columbus. Not because the city speaks French or anything, but because his new boss is much different from his old boss.
From theathletic.com ($):
There probably isn't a bigger contrast between two coaching personalities than the gap you'll find between Leach, whom Grinch worked for at Washington State the previous three years, and Meyer, his new boss. Meyer has a light side that occasionally pokes out — the man likes “photobombing” people — but the vast majority of his news conferences are straight-faced sessions used solely to gain information regarding one of the most powerful programs in the sport. Many of Leach's pressers have millions of people watching looking for a window into the mind of the man who encourages his players to “swing their sword.” Leach's personality doesn't rest when the cameras aren't rolling.
“That's one-thousand percent (how he always is),” Grinch said of Leach. “But it absolutely is different (with Meyer). It also goes back to there are multiple ways to do it and his way works for him, and I certainly want to reiterate how thankful I am for the opportunity he gave me and we had a great working relationship.”
Well, it's not like Grinch would have taken a demotion (by title) to work with a man he saw as inferior to his current employer.
When Grinch walked into the WHAC for the first time, he probably felt the same emotion as a baseball player taking his first major league at-bat.
SOMEBODY CALL A&M A CAB. Texas A&M guaranteed $75 million a Florida State coach coming off five wins. Sadly, they're already handing out plaques.
From theeagle.com:
After a question and answer panel discussion during the Chancellor’s Century Council annual meeting on Feb. 16, Sharp presented Fisher with a plaque celebrating a NCAA Division I Football National Championship for a date yet to be named, which can be seen in a video released by the Texas A&M University System.
The gift was given after the Chancellor presented Texas A&M-Commerce head football coach Colby Carthel with an identical plaque commemorating the Lions' 2017 NCAA Division II title.
“The only difference between Colby’s and yours is you get to fill in the date,” Sharp told Fisher during the presentation
I tried to type a better response than this for four hours. I couldn't.
Maybe start by beating 3rd-place LSU even once.
— Ryan Ginn (@rmginn) February 28, 2018
CHEATING... IN FOOTBALL? I recently covered from horrific injuries I suffered upon learning about cheating in college basketball recruiting. I am back on the injured reserve after learning such nefarious activity may plague football, too.
Former Washington Husky and NBA one-dimensional roleplayer Nate Robinson is telling a sordid tale.
From si.com:
On the latest episode of their Sports Illustrated podcast, “Holdat,” Robinson and fellow former pro Carlos Boozer discussed the times they were offered impermissible benefits as college players. Robinson said he was offered “$100,000 per year” by a booster to resume his football career after leaving the team after his freshman season.
“When they fired Rick Neuheisel my freshman year that made it easy for me to make my decision to quit and go play basketball, which I wanted to do anyway,” Robinson explained. “For my three years at UW, I had a booster offer me $100,000 per year to come back and play football because they needed Nate Robinson back on the football field because we weren’t winning any games, it wasn’t exciting. It was crazy, we went through a dark age at the University of Washington. When Tyrone Willingham was the coach years later, we didn’t win not one game. It was just crazy.
$100,000... for NATE ROBINSON? Hell, the IRS wouldn't even believe that.
THOSE WMDs. A sneak attack by Norway's skiing soldiers deprived Nazi Germany of the bomb... Milkman charged with smuggling drugs and phones into an Ohio prison... The man behind Christian Pulisic has a plan to supercharge American soccer...This spherical robot is an AI assistant for the International Space Station... The "exorcism" that turned into a murder.
