I thought I should take a couple of minutes between filling out tax forms and wandering the halls looking for a vending machine to formally introduce myself and give you some insight into what makes me tick.  Obviously, I’m a huge Buckeye fan and if you’re reading this you probably are too.  If so, all that remains to be said is “O-H!”

There’s a small chance that you’re just some mischievous troll who pokes around blogs dedicated to teams other than your own looking for opportunities to take cheap potshots at whatever miscellaneous pseudo-scandal is currently plaguing them.  If that’s the case, I’m glad you’re here too.  Even though I’ll never understand your motivations, I like to assume that there is some value in everyone’s existence.  For instance, it was recently discovered that cockroach brains produce antibiotics far more effective than current medicines.  I would gladly support cracking open your skull in the name of science.

Anyway, here a few OSU-related things about me that may come in handy in the future:

1. I am 100% sold on Tresselball. Yes, it can lead to frustrating white-knucklers on a near-weekly basis, but it’s hard to argue with results.  We win a lot of games this way, and the underlying principles are sound.  Despite its inherent conservatism, it’s still flexible enough to take advantage of the individual talents of players.  While there’s probably no way to prove this, I’d bet that most of the breakdowns under this philosophy are on the execution side rather than the scheme side.

2. I hate the BCS. And that’s an understatement.  After more than a decade with the oft-tweaked system in our lives, I think it’s safe to say that it has not been a significant improvement over the old way.  It has created more problems than it’s solved and turned what was once a day full of top-notch match-ups into a weeklong excuse to employ Mark May during which maybe two good games occur.  It’s essentially the same thing that happens when someone at Saturday Night Live says, “We should make this into a movie.”

3. I think Sully should enter every game inside of a giant egg. Just saying.

4. I’m not sure I want Michigan to ever be good again. I know I’m supposed to want them undefeated when we play so that the win is more satisfying for us and the loss more heartbreaking for them, but have you ever actually tried to cheer for them against anyone else?  I just can’t do it; the hate is too strong.  There was a time when Michigan was always going to be at least good, and during that time I believed that was the best thing for the rivalry.  But now that I’ve seen what it’s like when they’re pretty terrible… I kind of like it.  With the new divisional format and Nebraska joining the fold, Michigan’s success may not be the requirement for national conference respect it once was.

Well, I better wrap this up and get back to orientation before I miss where they keep the highlighters.

Later.

A quick programming note: The MotSaG staff is growing as we add another writer to the staff. Here at the site he’ll be known as “Cloud of Dust” but if you’ve been reading Men of the Scarlet and Gray for a while you’ve already read his work on the “Poll Dancing” series during football season.

I’ll let him introduce himself however he likes but we should be seeing content coming from the Cloud of Dust shortly. Join me in welcoming Jason into the fold.

(via 30fps)

I don’t know for how long, but Jim Tressel’s The Winners Manualis available for free on the Kindle.

I should have done this ages ago, but I finally got around to modifying the site to handle mobile browsers like iPhones and other web-capable smart phones. It won’t look pretty but hopefully it will be a little easier. If there are any issues, please let me know.

In that vein, I’d like to do a quick reader poll. I know I could dig into my logs for this information, but this is a quick and dirty poll — how do you visit the site (and read the content)?

[poll id=”5″]

So I’ve never really done one of these before, but here we are at the beginning of the fifth season that has been chronicled here at Men of the Scarlet and Gray. I figured I would take a second to step back see what’s gone on and what we’ve got on tap going in to this season.

First of all, if you’re new to the site, Welcome! Drop a note in the comments how you found the site and what you think. Whether it was following a link from another site, from a Facebook or Twitter link or Google search, we salute you. You can learn a little more about the site, including our commenting policy (updated!) and our writers (hint: some of the writers need to update their blurbs). If you’ve been around for the last few years we thank you. We have the best readers in world.

As for the next few months, content here will take on a consistent schedule. We won’t be deviating from the format during the season we’ve had in the past. We’ll have game previews and reviews, we’ll have open threads and prognosticating contests and we’ll be reporting and commenting on most comings and goings in Buckeyeland. I’m not sure what we’ll be doing for the actual games each week. Last year we participated in the Live chats that a handful of sites participated in and had quite a good time. For now, we’ll probably continue that trend unless something else presents itself.

We’re also social. We love social networks! They provide so much, especially when you get essentially unfettered, uncensored access to people (athletes) we watch every Saturday. So that’s why I’ve got a Twittering Buckeyes page so you can see what current and former Buckeyes are on Twitter and what interesting or inane things they’re saying. You can catch some of us on Twitter (I’m i_aint_yer_pa, sportsMonkey is monkeyPi and YNBA is teamyzerman). Follow us! We also have a Facebook Page, because it’s 2010 and your dog has a Facebook page. For the love of all that is holy, Like us!

Another thing I wanted to mention was the increase in new OSU blogs that have entered (and promptly left) the Ohio State Blogoshoe in the past few months. I’m sure you’re aware of the new Sports Nation blog, Along the Olentangy (I would have went with “On the banks of the Olentangy” but that would be a rather unwieldy URL). Other new sites that have appeared on the Blogroll recently include Inside The Shoe, The Ohio Sports Journal (which is edited by a good friend of mine) and The Duane Long Report (I know Duane’s been around for a while but I just recently started following his blog). And we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention our good friends over at uber OSU blog Eleven Warriors just went through a major overhaul of their site.

So where does that leave us? I don’t know if it came through the past year or two, but the monkey and I got pretty burned out blogging about the Buckeyes. As anyone will tell you, it ain’t easy to do this week in week out. We have real jobs (and are doing EVERYTHING we can to keep said jobs). That’s why I brought on three new bloggers in the last year or so. We needed an infusion of new blood and excitement and I think we’ve accomplished that goal. I also think the monkey and I are getting back into the groove. At least we hope we are.

So that’s where we are on College Football Eve’s eve. Is it Thursday yet?

(Also: Don’t forget to vote for your favorite preview video! The polls close tomorrow!)

We are looking to add a news editor to write for Men of the Scarlet and Gray. If you’ve ever wanted massive amounts of fake internet fame and wealth (or you just wanted to write about the Buckeyes), now is your chance.

We are looking for someone that can commit to writing 2-4 posts a week, mostly blogging about the current Ohio State news. In keeping with the MotSaG state of mind, we’d like to keep it on the light side, humorous when appropriate and downright hilarious if it involves Michigan.

It’s also expected that the new writer participate in “the discussion,” commenting when appropriate and more specifically when your own posts generate comments.

The initial focus will be on news posts with the plan to eventually have you more involved in the editorial type content.

Pay will be initially in pats on the back and imaginary internet dollars with the hope that that will become more. (Don’t forget about that internet fame!)

If you’re interested, please send us an email to motsag@gmail.com or send us a note from our Contact Page. Please include a couple samples of your writing or links to things you’ve written online. Experience with WordPress is nice but not required.

This goes out to our Columbus/Midwest/Satan’s Armpit readers:

Football and the fall can’t get here soon enough. 57 days left.