Men of the Scarlet and Gray

Profile of Justin Boren: Is he the next Orlando Pace or Tyson Walter?

Justin Boren #65, Junior
Offensive Lineman – OL
Height: 6′3″ Weight: 315
High School: Pickerington
Hometown: Pickerington, Ohio

Buckeye Bits: transfer to the Buckeye program who will contend for the starting nod at offensive guard

2008 (Transfer): did not see varsity action sitting out his transfer year … scout team workhorse: Purdue

2007 (Michigan): all-Big Ten honorable mention (coaches and media) … started all 13 games, the first eight contests at center and the final five games at left guard … made first career start at center vs. Appalachian State

2006 (Michigan): earned first varsity letter … played in five games and made one starting assignment at right guard … became the fourth true freshman in modern times at UM to start along the offensive line

Personal: son of Mike and Hope Boren … dad played football (1980-83) and mom ran track at Michigan … younger brother Zach is a Buckeye linebacker

Rumor mill has it that Boren is nastier than a pair of Bill Clinton Underwear. I am hopeful he brings a lot of anger and intensity to the OL and helps them shed their softness.

What do you think?

(info via OhioStateBuckeyes.com)

In other news…

(Yes, the Big Ten Media stuff is going on. We’ll get to that soon enough.)

Like any ex-athlete (and I take extreme artistic license with that word), I hope my children are athletically inclined. If playing college sports is in their future, I will die a happy man. But they are dealing with the genetic hand they’ve been given (by me), so I know that, realistically, that won’t be in the cards. So I wonder if I can insure my kids’ brains. They all have a certain earning potential (provided they graduate from college) and it would be terrible for me (and the missus) if they aren’t earning enough to maintain the lifestyle I’ve become accustomed in my twilight years.

Is this thing on…

So the burnout of another season took it’s toll on the MotSaG…or more particularly YNBA…

Surprised? Not Really. It is tough to come up with brilliant material on a weekly basis when nothing is going on in the college football landscape. Here is a quick list of 20 general happenings over the last few months:

1. Tim Tebow did something magical…not quite sure what it was…
2. The CBJ made the playoffs and were happy to be there for a week.
3. Jamal Berry likes to carry the ‘sticky icky‘ in his car.
4. FC Barcelona won the Champions League against Manchester United and an angel got it’s wings.
5. Tim Tebow did something philanthropic…not quite sure what it was…
6. Carlos Hyde is a poor test-taker, or he is dumb, or he doesnt care, or he just really wanted to attend Fork Union next year.
7. Terrelle Pryor looks like he can read a defense and cleaned up his throwing motion (a little), but there are still 4 QB’s on the Penn State roster that are better than him and a few PSU trainers, as well (Source: Any Ohio State Thread on Audibles).
8. Ole Miss and North Caolina are in the top 10 in the pre-season polls. Thus fulfilling reason #4576 why polls shouldnt be released until the sixth week of the season.
9. EDSBS’s Digital Viking Series has won over a nation of blog readers
10. Deadspin…something is missing over there..well..besides Leitch, “Hirshey is the Closer”, and a gentle dose of “This Week’s Apologies”, but hey, they can embed youtube music videos like no other.
11. Real Madrid spent over 200 million euros on two players…and that is without including the player salaries for the non-soccer crowd.
12. The Cleveland Indians bi-annual YNBA soul killing exercise is in full effect this year.
13. We were kind of ‘witnesses’ to BronBron getting faced…in a Ferris Bueller 31-Flavors kind of way…
14. The Cavs got Shaq Diesel. Well maybe the Bio-Diesel Version. Doesnt this make Cavs fan hate Carlos Boozer a little more each year?
15. The US Men’s Soccer Team had a great and completely unexpected run in the Confederations Cup (Spain…really?) and Landon Donovan has been rejuvenated. Did you hear that? That was Bob Bradley getting up from sucking his thumb in the corner.
16. The Browns continue to be the Browns, but it could be worse…they could be the Seahawks (giggle giggle).
17. Our Honor Defend’s “Better Know a Buckeye” Series has been top notch work for a slow summer.
18. David Beckham came back from Italy to sounds of boo’s and a simple chorus of no one really giving a flying crap about David Beckham anymore. Beckham Experiment = EPIC FAIL
19. Rick Nash signs with the CBJ for 25 years. Oh alright…8 years. Sorry Maple Leaf Fans.
20. South Carolina really wants Ohioans to leave. It’s like a little kid running a lemonade stand asking someone with a ten dollar bill to get lost.

Dead, but not really dead

Hey, look! It’s the monthly post at Men of the Scarlet and Gray, proclaiming that, “We’re not dead.” It’s true!

In all honesty, the Monkey and I burned out this past football season, tried to get the gumption to continue regular posts through basketball season, but didn’t have much gas left in the tank. Now we’re simply running on fumes.

I’d like to say we’re jazzed up and ready to post like fiends, but that isn’t true. We are both insanely busy at work and family duties and other things keep our evenings and weekends occupied as well. BUT… this isn’t the “we’re quitting post.” I can’t speak for the sportsMonkey, but I know I am getting excited about this season of football and am looking forward to getting back to some regular posting.

Recently, the Monkey and I been having more and more regular lunch-time conversations about the Buckeyes. The 2009 football Buckeyes make for great lunch topics. (Other great lunch time topics: “Zombieland: Best movie of 2009 or best movie ever made?”). We are excited about so many unknowns being answered in the next couple months. And we’d like to start blogging about it again. Just let us get ramped up. It’s coming.

In the meantime, I’ve scheduled a few posts to go live in the “down time” that I thought would good to share. Those little bits of Buckeye that we all love. And I also think you should see this, because you will LOL (via Koo’s Corner):

Also, I love this picture.

So thanks for sticking around. Let us know what’s got you excited about the 2009 Buckeyes, and what you’d like to see us start posting about.

Nick Swisher is a funny guy

Who says all the Yankees are bad guys?

(via Pat Kindig on Twitter)

Two Thousand and counting

I love this so very much.

Quick hits

I had all these plans to watch a DVR’ed spring game, break down positions, comment on things like how good Boom Herron looked in the first half or how improved Brandon Saine looked in the 3rd quarter. And how Terrelle Pryor could be scary good this year and we actually see the potential Ray Small is full of. Or maybe how the defense is looking good while the offensive line still needs work.

But, as it turns out, I ran out of time and had to travel for two weeks for business. So you get that condensed version.

I did just recently read this article by Andy Staples and it’s got me even more excited about #2.

Also, in my readings, I came across this little piece by Bruce Hooley. He certainly could stand for some paragraph breaks, so if you make it all the way through I’m interested to know what you guys think. While I don’t always agree with Hooley, I hate to admit he’s got a point.

A snippet:

That’s six straight years without a single winning post-season record, meaning only three of the league’s coaches (Tressel, Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz and Penn State’s Joe Paterno) were in the conference when it last won more bowl games than it lost.

What do you think? Do you agree, or has the Big Ten had enough “moral victories” to still be part of the conversation?

Proudest Dad

I’m working on a Spring Game post (yeah for being a week late to the party) but before we get to that, I need to take a moment to show off.

There are moments, as a parent, when your kid does something completely unprovoked that makes “it all worth it.” For some, it’s their kid’s first steps or the report card with straight A’s or maybe becoming a doctor. For me (and hopefully, to a certain extent, Mrs. Kaiser) one of those moments was the morning before the Spring Game. My oldest was painting pictures with her brother in the basement. She asked me how to spell “Buckeyes” and “Michigan” for a couple posters she was painting. Innocent enough.

The results, as they say, brought a tear to my eye.

Here’s my daughter and her brother holding up her “signs”:

(They read “Boo Mich” and “Go Bucks” respectively. Yes, my daughter was aware that we weren’t playing Michigan. She also knows that Michigan is the team you boo. My parenting is good like that. She’s also a little miffed she didn’t get to hold the “Go Bucks” sign)

Get your football fix Open Thread

We’re planning on taking the kids to their first Spring Game today, so I doubt I’ll be able to watch much of it before they get bored, but the DVR will be working overtime so I can catch it on my own. Are you planning on going?

We’ll also be watching the NFL draft with interest when we get back!

Update: Spring game (the half I’ve seen already was great) but I just came in from some yardwork and saw that Beanie fell all the way down to the 31st pick? That was unexpected, to say the least.

Oops.

Double oops.

Compare and Contrast

As we are wont to do from time to time, we like to take a couple articles, clip a little nugget out of each and compare the two. Today’s articles look at the physical development of a couple of the future and present signal callers for the Michigan and Ohio State football teams, respectively.

First, we have Tate Forcier, commenting on his development, strength-wise, under the tutelage of Mike Barwis:

“Coach Barwis has definitely showed me a little bit of a different life,” Forcier said. “He’s doing a great job with it, and I’ve got to give a lot of credit to him. He’s trying to bring me along as fast as he can. … Coming here, you’re [bench-pressing] a 45-pound plate on each side, it’s kind of pathetic. He’s gotten me a lot stronger.”

To be fair, Forcier is a freshman and probably hasn’t had access to facilities or coaches like he will at U of M. But seriously? Benching one-hundred-and-thirty-five pounds? At 6′ 1″ and 187, he should certainly be stronger than that.

Compare that to what’s being said about Terrelle Pryor’s progress and growth:

“He’s been in there every day, and I am talking about two and three hours at a time,” Hall said. “What I see is how much bigger he’s gotten under Ohio State’s strength and conditioning program. He told me he weighs 238 pounds and, kidding him, I said, ‘You better watch it. They might make you a defensive end.’”

Again, we’re not exactly comparing apples to apples here. Pryor is a bigger guy with a year under his belt and an off-season with some of the best trainers in the country. So it’s to be expected that he’d not only get bigger, but stronger.

That being said, if Forcier does get any playing time of consequence, Big Ten linebackers are going to be licking their chops. I can hear Thaddues Gibson’s stomach growling already.

The Face of the Team

A real quick check-in post so we don’t fall completely off the radar.

As we hear the reports coming out of spring camp, I got to wondering how was going to be the poster boy of the 2009 Buckeyes. It’s no secret that a certain Mountain of a Man was our man-crush for 2007 and a particular Stiff Arm was the face (hand? arm?) of the Buckeyes of 2008. So who will it be this year?

I present two candidates. The first was an emerging beast of a man last year, one Thaddeus Maximus. He’s already on people’s radar with lines like “Destroy everything moving” and “You just have to know when to be aggressive”.

The other nominee, via The Silver Bullet, is incoming freshman Dominic Clarke who, as Drew says, certainly passes the “Look Test”.

So who is your nomination for the 2009 MotSaG man-crush Face of the Buckeyes?

Spring is in the air

As often happens around these parts around the end of the NCAA tournament, things have slowed to a crawl in terms of posting frequency and snarkacy. We don’t officially go into hibernation mode, but past performance has pointed to a reduced number of posts.

This year may change that, however, as I have a travel assignment that will have me on the road for extended periods of time for the next 5-6 months. That frees up a lot of time for reading and writing, so hopefully i’ll be able to keep things going at a decent pace around here.

In the meantime, we are vigilant of all things Buckeyes, especially now that Spring Practice has started. I’m already getting a vibe of excitement around the Buckeye camp. What things have you excited? Besides the obvious (Terrelle Pryor’s sophomore effort) I’m anxious to see the new look of the defense, especially how the linebacker corps is looking.

We also didn’t comment much about the sad state of affairs that was the basketball team’s sole tournament game. What a horrific display that was. Here’s to hoping for something better next year.

And because we can’t end on a sour note, here is your Ohio State NFL Pro Day Vernon Gholston Shot:

You can’t see the pipes, but they’re there. They’re always there.

(via Ohio State Buckeyes dot com)

Weekend Madness Open Thread

We missed yesterday’s (okay, and most of today’s) action, but our Buckeye’s weren’t playing, so WHO CARES? We’ve got a reason to watch and cheer this evening. It’s all been leading up to this moment.

Buckeyes tip off at 9:40.

A couple links for your enjoyment and perusal. First, we recently received a spam comment from Dr. Big Toe. At first I thought this was joke, but maybe the joke was on me?

The talk of whether or not Mullens sticks around another year isn’t dying down. Is this a reason for concern?

OSU 72 Siena 74 (Final, 2 OT)

Once again, if OSU’s big men assert themselves, this should be an easy game. Siena can’t match up.

Cleveland State (my upset special) is up on Wake, by the by.

Are they not allowed to dunk in the MAAC? The number of missed dunks by Siena is embarassing. (OSU 41 Siena 34)

So it comes down to this — 8 seconds, game tied at 56.

And now it’s overtime. (Oh, and Cleveland State is still beating Wake Forest)

Yeah, after that second overtime, I went to bed. No need to dwell on the game last night. We’ll post a wrap up later. Feel free to continue to comment on the weekend of fun, though. At least the Cavs play a couple times this weekend.

MotSaG Tournament Pick’em 2009

It’s that time again — the annual MotSaG Tournament Pick’em. We’ll be doing it over at Yahoo’s Fantasy Sports. We’ve already set up our bracket. If you participated last year, you should have received an invite already.

If you haven’t received an invite, or you’re interested in joining us this year, just drop us a note at motsag@gmail.com or send us a message through our contact page.

There will be a prize for the top bracket, but those details haven’t been finalized. Either way, enter early before the tournament starts!

Update – There’s only a couple more hours before the brackets are closed, so if you’re interested, get us your email ASAP.