In Case You Missed It

In case you missed it is Men of the Scarlet and Gray’s semi-weekly look at items that would interest the casual and hard-core Ohio State fan, be they news items, interesting blog posts or funny memes you probably saw on Reddit last week. It’s all here and it’s all for you. Have a tip that should be included in the next ICYMI? Send it our way!

Yikes. The blogging slump was more prolonged than I thought. Let’s get to this before it goes any further:

THIS SHOULD BE ONE OF MANY. If you’ve been on Twitter in the last forty-eight hours, you’ve already seen this linked a million places, but if not, Braxton Miller is on the cover of the March 4, 2013 issue of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, part of SI’s Spring Football Preview.

JIM BOLLMAN, MAN OF MYSTERY. Jim Bollman continues his foray across the country, this time showing up in East Lansing, posing as the offensive coordinator of Mark Dantonio’s Michigan State football team. Sometimes I think this is all a huge joke, that Bollman is just throwing job offers against the wall and seeing which one sticks.

JOHN SIMON, OHIO BORN AND BRED. WFNY links to an article that the Cleveland Browns (among other NFL teams) have met with and interviewed the real Johnny Football, John Simon, and that the meetings were “positive”. The Browns are prepping to install a 3-4 defense which may not be the best fit for Simon, but his drive and determination have to give NFL scouts reason to at least consider him a possible draft target. As a Browns fan, I’ve longed for the days that the Brownies would give some Buckeyes a chance to prove their mettle. Hopefully Simon fits that bill and is on the Browns sideline this coming season.

THEY HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY, BUT DO THEY HAVE THE SPEED? The SEC and other conferences will be chipping football players this upcoming season to monitor things like speed and direction of movement of football players, all in the name of… maybe it could lead to safety?

They obviously won’t be using these in the B1G because the speed is slow and the direction is forward. Nothing to see here, move along. (Actually, it would be great to see this track Braxton Miller’s movements. How many yards did he really gain on the five-yard scramble?)

THINK UCONN HAD IT TOUGH? The obvious parallels of UConn’s magical 2011 run and if the Buckeyes can make it out of the B1G Tourney as champions should give us at least a glimmer of hope that there still could be some magic up Coach Matta’s sleeve.

EXTRA POINTS: Consider the Johnny Loophole closed. (And with it, another blog post the sportsMonkey and I don’t get to write) Joke about fans of Michigan football being ashamed of themselves and the shame it brings on their families goes here… Got some time to kill? Watch this tour of the Ohio State Football weight room, it’s like an episode of Cribs for really committed football fans.