There’s a great piece in the New York Times (reg’n usually required; h/t: Ohio State Online) about Troy Smith. Read the whole thing, of course, but here are a few thoughts I had while reading.

Class can mean a lot of thing, from playing fairly on the field to staying out of jail, but it’s largely a matter of perception and is most useful for its karmic quality. For example, if Ohio State beat archrival Michigan, but Ohio State’s quarterback was later found to have run afoul of the N.C.A.A. or the local Police Department, Michigan fans could take solace in the fact that Ohio State, while victorious, was “classless.” On Internet message boards, fans of Ohio State’s rivals tabulate Buckeye transgressions to measure the program’s collective depravity, and Smith in particular has provided them with a great deal of psychic satisfaction.

The writer, knowingly or not, distilled the grudge and competition between fan blogs in mere sentences. It’s as if the writer regularly reads the M-Zone and Deadspin or something. Stay classy, guys!

It’s also a great to read about the tutelage and iron-fist father-figure that Ted Ginn Sr. was in Troy’s (and Ted Ginn Jr.’s) lives. As a boy without a father, Troy definitely benefited from the tough love that Ted Ginn Sr. gave. He definitely seems like a no-nonsense kind of guy. I love that Ted Senior told Troy he hates sunglasses. You know why he hates them? I’ll venture a guess: they hide people’s eyes. And as someone who teaches character and integrity, Ted Senior can probably look you in the eyes and bore a hole into your soul. Sunglasses prevent him from soul-boring, so he doesn’t like them. I have a feeling that if you look him in the eye and you’ve got secrets, TGS will know it. And you will crumble under that gaze.

“Those eyes. They will haunt you“

A few other tidbits that can be gleaned from the article – this is the Video Game Generation. These guys (by design) live pretty boring lives and video games provide a little escape from their celebrity status. And believe me, they are celebrities here. They have to constantly fight off special treatment and freebies you and I would gladly accept.

Last year, Matt Leinart, the Heisman-winning quarterback at the University of Southern California, used his senior season as a kind of public victory lap — dating starlets, becoming a fixture at Hollywood parties and soaking up the kind of sybaritic pleasures that only a 22-year-old would have the audacity to dream up. Smith’s life is comparatively monastic. He graduated in June with a communications degree, and his coursework for the fall could be minimal. Jim Tressel, Ohio State’s head coach, compares him to a medical resident: part intensive study (in the film room, with the coaches), part thrilling on-the-job training (in Ohio Stadium, in front of 100,000 scarlet-and-gray-clad fans).

That’s not to say Troy and company don’t have fun. They do. In fact, I love that when Troy does go out for a night on the town, he uses T.J. Downing and Roy Hall as body guards. Downing is an obvious choice, but Hall? Yeah, those guns could do some damage. But even though they are superstars in Columbus, they don’t exactly live like it:

The two pour themselves into the video game, saluting their virtual teammates for good plays (“Who got the pick-off? Nate-dog?”) and taking short breaks to discuss weighty matters like whether Ginn has any A.1. steak sauce back at his apartment. Playing with virtual likenesses of themselves and suspended in a kind of childlike animation, they seem happier than they’ve been all day. In Smith’s and Ginn’s stripped-down lives, football — the practices and the film study and the endless media interviews — is a thing to endure. Video games are a thing to do.

…

Smith is standing outside his garage door wearing an expression that looks like a mixture of sleepiness and bemusement and, I think, a little sadness, and he is saying, “I’m telling you, man, this is what we do all the time.”

“This” meaning winning football games beating down Michigan. I’m glad that’s what they do all the time.

Remember our Linebacker preview from a few weeks ago? Yeah, so maybe we were a little off. The O-Zone is reporting a few tweaks to the two-deep for the linebackers:

According to linebackers coach Luke Fickell, the depth chart at linebacker has James Laurinaitis as the number one middle linebacker, Marcus Freeman as the leo linebacker, and John Kerr at the will linebacker. Laurinaitis is backed up at middle linebacker by Larry Grant, Freeman is backed up by Curtis Terry, and Kerr by true freshman Tyler Moeller. Ross Homan, who was considered to be challenger for a starting position, has been out a week with a hamstring problem. Fickell described Moeller as “someone you notice, someone that when the ball get to the line of scrimmage, he’s always there.”

I wonder what prompted the changes? I’ve always thought Kerr would be a quick middle linebacker, maybe more suited for the outside, but putting him at will linebacker is an interesting move. Laurinaitis at middle linebacker is even more interesting. I guess he bulked up some and got stronger. He is a big guy to begin with, so I don’t see it being a problem with him in the middle. Backed-up by Larry Grant is good to see. At least we almost got Freeman right!

Another thing that surprises me is the absence of Austin Spitler from the two-deep. We are big on Spitler here at MotSaG, so color us surprised to see true freshman Moeller backing up Kerr, not Spitler.

There are a lot of people excited about watching the Buckeyes practice this coming Monday night. Planned to be held in the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium, the coaching staff probably expected a moderate crowd of hard core fans and their offspring. With the hype and expectations of fans this year, I don’t know what they were thinking. Opening the practice to the public is one thing. But throw in an autograph session before practice starts and free parking and you’re asking for problems. There’s now way they can fit everyone that shows up in the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.

The JOMS has a capacity of about 10k people. That’s approximately how many people will show up before 10 AM (the autograph session doesn’t start until 7). So now it appears that the powers that be have wised up and changed the practice venue. It looks like it will now be held at The Horseshoe. I haven’t found any links to the change, so I may be completely wrong here, but it might be something to keep in mind if you’ve been on the fence (either way) about going to the practice. It should be a good time and a great chance to see how the Buckeyes are progressing.

Okay, that was fast. BuckeyeXtra.com has confirmed the change:

The location for Ohio State’s open practice and autograph session Monday night has been changed to Ohio Stadium, the OSU department of athletics announced today.

The event originally was scheduled to be held in Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. The change is being made to accommodate the large number of fans expected to attend.

Gates will open at 6 p.m., and a one-hour autograph session with the players and coaches in the stadium concourse will start at 7. Practice will follow at 8 and continue until about 9:45.

The Owens stadium has a capacity of about 12,000, including standing room. The original plan was that if that figure was reached, the gates would be closed.

Autograph seekers will be limited to one item per player.

Media Day, usually held in Ohio Stadium, was rained out and had to be held indoors, but that didn’t stop the Dispatch from capturing this endearing moment as Brandon Mitchell tenderly adjusts Marcus Freeman’s man jewelry. How precious. (This photo is screaming out for a caption):

“Caption Me“

More pictures at The O-Zone.