…and talks some OSU football.
Archives for July 2008
Bengals’ QB hates the Buckeyes
July 21, 2008 by 8 Comments
Carson Palmer hates Ohio State, and wants you to know it.
“I just can’t wait for two years from now when SC comes to the ‘Shoe and hopefully we’ll have a home game that weekend and I can go up there and watch us pound on them in their own turf… I’m really getting sick of it and I just can’t wait for this game to get here so they can come out to the Coliseum and experience LA and get an old-fashioned Pac-10 butt-whoopin’ and go back to the Big Ten.”
Fair enough… you’re an SC grad, makes sense that you’d root for your alma mater. Classless? Yes. But then:
“I cannot stand the Buckeyes… It’s amazing to hear what those guys think about that university and what they think about that football program and Tressel and all the crap I gotta put up with being back there.”
Uh, Carson? C’mere. I know you’ve been here in Ohio for a few years now, but maybe you don’t understand something. You’ve gotta be out of your mind to quarterback an Ohio football team and then complain about Ohio State. Your team shares the exact same fans.
There are certain realities about Ohio, and one of them is that Buckeye football resides at the top of the heap. I’m sure that’s a shock from LA, where the spotlight is split between the Lakers, Dodgers, Angels, Clippers, Kings, Ducks, Bruins, and Trojans; not counting the teams from the rest of the state.
But here in Ohio, it’s all about the Bucks. Even Braylon Edwards, who’s opinion on Ohio was forged into his DNA in Ann Arbor, is classy enough to love and respect the football fans here.
So there are three options:
- If you have a radical opinion, at least be good enough of a player to have it respected. Being the QB of Ohio’s third best football team doesn’t count, especially when OSU pulls in more attendance for its spring game than you do when you play your cross-state rival.
- Shut.
- Up.
Thank you.
H/T: Fanhouse
— UPDATE —
Palmer is backpedaling faster than a cornerback covering Ted Ginn, Jr.
“I really do respect the Buckeyes, and I know their fans are passionate, too. I hope they all understand I’m just looking forward to a big game for my school against a very tough opponent, and that it’s all in the good fun of a rivalry. You don’t have a real rivalry unless both sides are great teams.”
Carson, you’re not talking your way out of this. It’s over. Your legacy is set. This isn’t LeBron wearing a NY hat, pulling for his favorite team. This is you making fun of your own fans, and badmouthing another team’s coach. Go on, win the Super Bowl, it won’t matter. Beat Favre’s passing yardage mark, it won’t matter.
Oh, and by the way: “Rivalry?” Kinda strong, don’t you think? OSU and USC haven’t had anything resembling a rivalry for over 30 years.
Maybe Chad Johnson is the one who’s been right all along, eh?
Kellogg takes Packer’s place
July 15, 2008 by 1 Comment
OSU great Clark Kellogg has taken Billy Packer’s place as color analyst for NCAA Basketball broadcasts.
“An industry source characterized it this way: CBS wanted to promote Kellogg, and Packer agreed not to stand in the way.”
At press time, there is no word on any possible conflict of interest when Ohio State makes the Final Four next March.
Image credit: OhioStateBuckeyes.com
OSU Blue Ribbon Preview
July 15, 2008 by 3 Comments
The MTV of the sports world has published the Blue Ribbon College Football Yearbook‘s 2008 Ohio State Team Preview.
It’s a must read. It contains enough scary language to shake the knees of Big Ten offensive/defensive coordinators – mostly stuff we already knew, like:
“The talent and depth is amazing. Traditionally, quarterbacks make big improvements in their second full year of starting, which bodes well for Boeckman. With a horse like Wells at his disposal, experienced receivers, and a veteran line in front, he doesn’t need to try and do too much… The addition of Pryor and emphasis on using backs such as Saine in the passing game will be interesting to watch.”
However, the Yearbook’s research revealed some interesting changes to the Buckeye offense that we may see this season:
“His workload is not likely to increase this year, however, mainly because the Buckeyes are trying to diversify their offense a bit. As part of that effort, OSU spent much of the spring working on a formation that features two tailbacks on the field at once, a so-called ‘pony formation.’ The reason behind that effort is to get more out of sophomore Brandon Saine (6-1, 217), Ohio’s Mr. Football in 2006 and a high school track star.”
Pony formation? Wow. I’ve said it before: could you imagine the possibilities for this offense if Pryor replaced Boeckman in near-goal-line situations, with Saine and The Stiff Arm of JusticeTM in the backfield, and the Brians and Nichol on the line?
Defensively, the analysis gives the Buckeyes the following kudos:
“Defensively, the front needs to step up. But with all four tackles and three experienced ends returning, that should happen. Laurinaitis, Freeman and Jenkins are All-America caliber, and again, the defense has incredible depth. No question, this is the favorite to win the Big Ten, which would be the first time a team has won three straight outright league championships.”
It’s a bit odd that the review talks up the superiority of the OSU defense but then gives them a grade of ‘B,’ but that seems reasonable to me, if for no other reason than no other defensive squad dropped 15 interceptions last year (which is also mentioned). Still, if this year’s team can get the butter off its hands… they could easily control most Big Ten offenses — just like they did last year, but more consistently.
Enough! I’m getting sucked into analysis already, and we’ll have enough of that over the next month or so. For now just be sated with the Yearbook’s Preview.
H/T: Sean @ ATO
Tressel’s Wisdom
July 13, 2008 by 2 Comments
Or, how to be Tresselized: “The Winners Manual: For the Game of Life“
Available Tuesday, it includes about 200 quotes Tressel has gathered since his first season at Youngstown State in 1986. The real enlightenment for Buckeye fans comes from the peek into Tressel’s psyche. From his love and respect for his father, to the explanation – complete with a top-10 list – of why he doesn’t like his players to swear, this is the blueprint for Tresselization.
From the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
We’re up, we’re up…
July 12, 2008 by 2 Comments
el Kaiser and I have been like a couple of hibernating bears this summer, arising only long enough to hit the snooze button with an occasional Ohio-sports related article.
But as the summer wears on, the hot southern winds are carrying a familiar scent… which creates a craving, and initiates a hunger.
College football.
The days are warm, the tomatoes are ripe and full of hot juice, and the Milky-Way stretches over the already waist-high corn at night.
And college football nears.
The same thing seems to happen each summer, in that dead space after the NBA Finals and the annual non-playoff-appearance by the Jackets. We write ourselves into a deep slumber. Occasionally we get jazzed up about Ohio’s summertime teams long enough to string together a few paragraphs. I tried writing about the Crew once, but ended up talking about bratwurst.
But as college football nears… we feel like rising, rubbing the sleep out of our eyes, and charging up our laptops. After all, the name of the site is Men of the Scarlet and Gray.
So, “we’re up, we’re up.” We’re up, and awake. Expect a surge in content here soon.
And in case we don’t say it enough, thanks for stopping by, and thanks especially to those who participate in the comments sections.
What to think?
July 4, 2008 by Leave a Comment
I avoided posting during the few days of craziness, in the hopes of avoiding over- or under-reacting to anything shocking that might have happened.
The drama started last weekend, when Duvie was put on waivers. I guess we saw this coming. Great attitude, but he never really reclaimed his status after the 2006 injury, so with the young ones of the future making waves behind and around him, this wasn’t much of a surprise.
Then Zhil-Bayer was handed his hat to make room for Rafael Torres, who’s only got one good ACL working. As long as he can get back to 100%, I get the sense that most feel this is an overall positive move.
Speaking of positive moves, Howson snagged Mike Commodore. We were hoping for a more offensive blueliner, but at least the club has spackled the hole left by Adam Foote.
…and then… just wow. At the risk of using an inappropriate metaphor, what the heck – this came out of freakin’ left field. The one thing the club desperately needs is goal scorers, and what a shock to see Nik – the #2 scorer last season – get shown the door. The fact that the team invested in him through the drama of the past couple of years seemed to indicate they were willing to be patient – I, personally, expected one more year before they cut strings. If you’ve read this site, you know I like Zherdev, and the cynic in me says that we are going to watch him grow into a talented veteran, but wearing another team’s sweater. Losing Fritsche was painful, too. He was a fan favorite for a reason. I can’t put my finger on it, but his impact was noticeable even if his stats weren’t; he played with energy and self-sacrifice.
Yeah, Huselius, that should help, but we wanted someone who could put up good numbers alongside people like Zherdev, not ‘in place of.’ We’ll see.
What we know now is that the club appears to be stacked with solid defensemen. There is still a hole left at center, and sadly, there are no notable top-notch centers left. Reports are indicating that Peca is being courted again, and that may help a little, but I can’t help wondering if this was part of the plan all along, or if something big was supposed to happen after Zherdev/Fritsche, but it fell through and Peca is Plan B.
Either way, my overall feeling on these moves is a bit melancholy. I guess a silver lining would be to consider an old hypothesis – that Columbus’s mediocrity has always been due to some form of self-fulfilling prophecy. Talent was never an issue, development and consistency were. Now that the team is so radically different than what it was just two years ago, perhaps it’s possible that this team will form a different overall attitude, and maybe won’t have the black cloud of lowered expectation following it around.
At least in the meantime, the Jackets have something they’ve never really had before – some commodities. If and when further adjustments are needed over the upcoming seasons, the team will actually have quite a few players that other teams may want or need. If they can’t land a franchise center this year, perhaps they’re setting themselves up to be in a better position to land that dream center next year.
And with that, I’ll bid a fond farewell to Nikolai Zherdev, with my favorite memory from his tenure here:
