Archives for June 2006

Did not see that coming.

OSU FootballWow, Erik Haw is, with the blessing of the OSU coaching staff, transferring from Ohio State (h/t: Around the Oval).

Running back Erik Haw has decided to transfer from Ohio State, apparently disappointed over his spot on the depth chart.

That’s too bad. The monkey and I were discussing the depth of OSU at running back yesterday and we felt something had to give. I just didn’t think it would come to someone transferring.

Haw is a good running back, crazy fast and built for bruising, but looking at #4 on the depth chart couldn’t have been encouraging. There doesn’t seem to be any bad blood with the split, always a good thing. Hopefully he’ll find success down the road.

Blog Poll Roundtable

Since this is the inaugural season for Men of the Scarlet and Gray, it will also be our first participation in the Blog Poll (if we get accepted, that is). That being said, we can’t resist an invitation to talk about the most important people here, Us. Besides, since MotSaG is relatively new, this will give you a chance to learn a little about us (each MotSaG contributor will update this post with their own answers). So without further ado, from EDSBS, we present to you our answers to the Blog Poll Roundtable.

1. Education. List the region of the country you were born in, what universities you attended and at least one other you would have attended if your alma mater didn’t exist.

el Kaiser: Born in Utah, raised in Ohio. I attended tOSU earning both my BSECE and MSEE. If the Ohio State University didn’t exist, I probably would have ended up working as a mason.

sportsMonkey: Born in Columbus, raised in Columbus, work in Columbus. Attended both Columbus State and tOSU. If neither were available, I probably would have gone to another fine Ohio institution, say, Miami or BG. Or clown college. That’d be awesome. I’ll have to ask my manager about that one…

2. Sports Affiliations. List your top 10 favorite teams in all of sports in decending order. For instance, your alma mater’s football team may be number 1, but perhaps there is a professional team that squeezes in before you get to your alma mater’s lacrosse team.

el Kaiser: 1. Ohio State Football, 2. Cleveland Browns, 3. Ohio State Basketball, 4. Cleveland Cavaliers, 5. Cleveland Indians, 6. FC Barcelona 7. Columbus Crew, 8. North Royalton Bears Football, 9. Penn State Football, 10. Columbus Blue Jackets

sportsMonkey: 1. 2002 OSU football team, 2. 2005 OSU football team, 3. 1995 OSU football team, 4. Blue Jackets hockey, 5. 1998 OSU football team, 6. Cinci Reds, 7. OSU basketball, 8. Cinci Bengals football, 9. Cleveland Browns football, 10. 1975 OSU football team.

3. Movies. List the movie you’ve watched the most, your favorite sports related movie, the movie you secretly love but don’t like to admit it (possibly a chick flick or b film), and the movie you were (or still are) most looking forward to from this summer’s season.

el Kaiser:
Seen the most: Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark,
Sports Movie: Remember the Titans (I don’t really care for sports movies)
Secretly Love: Spawn
Looking forward to most: Superman

sportsMonkey:
Seen the most: 2001: A Space Odyssey. Or, Bikini Warriors from the Moon. (Hey, I gotta sci-fi thing goin’ on. Besides, daddy needs his “me time.”)
Sports Movie: The Waterboy (Best part is when the UM towel boy gets creamed)
Secretly Love: Anything by Pixar
Looking forward to most: Cars

4. Music. List your favorite band from middle school, high school, college and today. Also, as with the movies, include the song you secretly love but don’t like to admit. If Nickleback is involved in any of these responses, please give a detailed explanation as to why, god, why.

el Kaiser: (I couldn’t pick just one)
Middle School: Beastie Boys
High School: Metallica and Alice in Chains
College: Fuel, 311, Pet Shop Boys, The Fugees
Today: Cake, Erasure (but I’ll still rock out, bro)
Secretly Love: Anything by Maroon 5

sportsMonkey:
Middle School: Dokken/AC-DC
High School: Joe Satriani/Yngwie Malmsteen
College: Rush/Yes
Today: Dokken/AC-DC/Joe Satriani/Yngwie Malmsteen/Rush/Yes (Haven’t bought a CD in a while)
Secretly Love: The Dead Schembechlers

5. Books. Favorite book you’ve finished, worst book you’ve finished and the book you really should read but haven’t gotten around to it.

el Kaiser
Favorite: The Hobbit
Worst: The Number of the Beast
Should: Too numerous to list

sportsMonkey:
Favorite: The Martian Chronicles
Worst: The Da Vinci Code
Should: Moby Dick

6. Travel. Favorite city you’ve every been to and the one place you still must visit before you shuffle off this mortal coil.

el Kaiser: Favorite City: It’s a toss up between Venice and Barcelona. Must visit: Prague or Tokyo

sportsMonkey:
Favorite City: Munich
Must Visit: Florence

7. What do you love most about college football in 20 words or less?

el Kaiser: The incomparable script Ohio and the dotting of the I.

sportsMonkey: Crowd noise. Marching bands. Bright green fields. Chilly afternoons, freezing evenings. Breath steam hissing through facemasks. Young men achieving greatness.

Indians moving in the right direction

IndiansWell, the Indians finally did something they haven’t managed to do in months… start a series with a victory.

So, the question is: Are the recent difficulties in Cleveland (losers of 11 of the past 16 games and seven consecutive series) due to simply playing in MLB’s toughest division? Or is it just bad baseball?

Wedge was selected as a coach for next month’s All Star game, so it’s clear what Ozzie Guillen’s opinion is. (Did I just write that?)

At any rate, if the Indians can win the series heading into the break, maybe it’ll provide some momentum for the summertime playoff push. After all, they’re only behind Detroit by about one or two dozen games. (Holy cow, did I just write that?)

Brass polish

CBJThe CBJ took center Derick Brassard as their first pick on Saturday. Brass (his moniker) earned the Michael Bossy trophy winner as Quebec’s best pro hockey prospect last year. He scored 44 goals and had 72 assists – in just 58 games, and despite breaking his wrist.

It seems clear now that the CBJ has spent the past couple of years building a “finesse” team… Brass will join the team’s other three talented group of youths: Zherdev, Nash, and Brule. All four are finesse players with excellent playmaking ability. Brass is likely to be the speediest player among them.

He’s a little too small to be an effective NHL center right now (6’1″, 172 lbs.), so no doubt he’ll be sent to Syracuse to bulk up. Expect to see him at Nationwide when he gets closer to 200 lbs., perhaps as early as 2007/2008, barring any injuries. The future looks to be an exciting, high scoring one.

Come on, Ohio!

OSU FootballWelcome to the Men of the Scarlet and Gray, an Ohio sports blog that will, as the fight song goes, “Our honor defend.” The bloggers here are Ohio sports fans, but first and foremost Buckeye fans. We love the professional teams (we believe, LeBron!) and follow them closely, but our true passion is Ohio State football. Our ealiest sports memories are watching the Buckeyes of years gone by and our hearts still rebound with joy following the magical 2002 National Championship season. To say we’re anxious for the 2006 season to start is to say we sort of like breathing air.

So here at Men of the Scarlet and Gray, you’ll find all sorts of Ohio sports commentary, snarky jabs at the State up North, lamentations of another season down the tubes (Eric Wedge, what have you done to my Indians?!) and of course all things pertaining to the Ohio State University.

The name of the blog will be familiar to any self-respecting OSU fan, but for those who don’t know, it’s from the Buckeye Battlecry, the very popular and very sing-able fight song. You’ll hear The Best Damn Band in the Land blasting it out in the Horsehoe during any given Saturday. It’s the quientessential fight song and captures the spirit of what the Buckeyes are – men of the Scarlet and Gray.

So we hope you’ll bookmark us, add us to your feed reader, heck, make us your home page and let us be your guide to the sports that happen in the great state of Ohio. Your state, and mine.

So after that introduction, let me leave with a clip of things to come, by way of Ted Ginn, Jr.


Turning off the lights and getting back in bed before it gets dark.