Wednesday’s weekend reflections and meh…

Alright…I have had a few days to take in the massacre and it’s effects

Extreme situations often call for extreme measures. These measures do not include Todd Boeckman on a QB run on 2nd and 22. My god JT, wtf was that? Then again, maybe Todd was rolling out to throw to the TE..*laughing so hard there is significant pain in my side regions*

Every team that plays OSU knows that they are damaged goods right now. I havent seen an OSU team quit like that since Iowa in 2004. No heart…no fire…ridiculous.

Positives from the weekend for OSU…ahem..let’s just move onto another topic.

  • Oh wait…Terrell Pryor gets to play a lot more this weekend…or so we are led to believe.

Positives from the weekend for YNBA and some other jottable notes…

  • Watched Oklahoma demolish Washington. Seriously Buckeye fans, thank goodness the team wasnt spending the past weekend in Norman. Sam Bradford was nothing short of incredible (18-21, 300+ yards, 5 Touchdowns). Oklahoma (Not USC) looked like a well-oiled machine this past weekend, but the hype wasnt there with the game occurring in LA. Granted, this was Washington’s defense, but OU’s performance was efficient and lethal from the beginning of the game until the very end.
  • It was nice to see one of my teams show up this weekend. Liverpool FC decided that it had seen enough of Manchester United’s shenanigans and finally beat them (2-1) for the first time in Premiership play in almost five years. With the exception of a John O’Shea OG, it had almost been the same amount of time since Liverpool had actually scored a goal of any kind against ManU. The Mascherano-Kuyt-Babel connection put the game away in the 77th minute to set the Anfield faithful into a frenzy (Cue Seven Nation army and chant ‘Jav-i-er Ma-scher-a-no‘ over and over again). For the non-soccer types, pace and momentum matter just as much in soccer and football, and Liverpool carried the play to ManU for a good portion of the first half and dominated in the second.
  • The Columbus Crew settled for a 1-1 draw in Canada against Toronto FC. This draw sealed the deal on Columbus maintaining possession of the Trillium Cup. This draw on Saturday was really a win, as there were no Columbus fans accosted by Toronto FC supporters outside of the BMO, which seems to be occurring with greater frequency as this rivalry continues to grow. Crazy Canadians…
  • Champions League Group Stage play began on Tuesday (If you dont understand how the Champions League works…ask…because it is confusing as all get out, then attempt to ponder how crazy College Football would be in this format). Liverpool took out Marseille 2-1, as ‘The Captain’ Steven Gerrard provided some magic in the form of two goals to rally the Reds from 1-0. FC Barcelona also won it’s opening match against Sporting Lisbon 3-1.
  • Seems like the media has finally started to lay off of the Buckeyes after this weekend’s performance. Even Pete Fiutak has provided some perspective (See Part III), which is refreshing in that it comes from a national media type, as even the Herbstreit’s of the world have seemed to bash or distance themselves from the Buckeyes as much as possible.
  • Painfully going back to the USC game…I am not an expert in the ways of football or schemes, but it doenst appear to me that OSU is any less athletic than other elite teams (NFL draft numbers will generally support this claim). Once you infer that OSU may actually have the same type of speed and athleticism on its squad, the question of what differentiates the teams comes into play. All I know is that from other sports that I do participate, the less you have to think the more effective you are on the field. This especially holds true on defense. If the OSU offense is as predictable as everyone believes, then most teams will be able to pin their ears back and go to town, as they will have a pretty good idea of what is coming almost every time. I am going to stop here on this topic, but think about every time the OSU offense is faced with a 3rd or 4th and short…you’ve already called the play. OSU is running a slow developing play to the tailback. It doenst matter which one it is…you just know it is going to be painful to watch and in a lot of cases it just isnt going to cut it

I think that it is safe to say that no one is giving up on the season (players or fans), but if the current trends including lack of creativity and utter lack of execution at any level continue…this will be a long season. Things dont get any easier this Saturday, as Troy comes to town and is still looking for a signature win against one of the D-I big boys. I hope the Bucks are ready for Troy’s best shot. Maybe it is time for the Buckeye faithful to start singing YNWA before every kickoff…to re-affirm thy friendship to the O-HI-O.

~YNBA~

West Ham Fans? Really?

CrewA short note on this one…

The Hammers of West Ham United FC (middle-of-the-road English Premier League soccer team) are currently on a short tour to play a few “friendlies” against the MLS All-Stars and started with a fixture against Columbus in Crew Stadium on Saturday evening.

Apparently a group of West Ham fans decided it would be a good idea to mess with the Hudson Street Hooligans at Crew Stadium, during the first West Ham “friendly” this past weekend. The H-Street Hooligans are an extremely rowdy section of Crew followers located in the northeast corner of Crew Staium that would be somewhat equivalent to “The Kop” at Anfield on massive amounts of valium. After a small altercation where the Ohio State Highway Patrol was called in to restore peace, there are a few questions that need to be addressed.

  1. How did all the six of the US contingent of West Ham fans find their way to Columbus?
  2. Can the MLS guarantee that this behavior will continue at every game? Toronto already does it’s part. I, for one, cant wait for Philly to get it’s expansion team. If yes, I may double the amount of season tickets that I may purchase for the Seattle Sounders FC in 2009.

Ahh…”The Beautiful Game”…Indeed.

Now back to regularly scheduled Buckeye programming.