Good morning, Scarlet and Gray aficionados. Or good evening, depending on your internal clock. I'm writing this on Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., so I'm not even sure which category that fits.
It may not be the busiest time of year for sports, though the NBA Finals began last night and because Thunder Road is a better song than The Heat is On, I'm backing Oklahoma City. For the patient sports fans, there's baseball and soccer, and tonight, Urban Meyer will be throwing out the first pitch for the Ohio Cup battle between the Reds and Indians1.
While I actually venture outside during these summer months, I still keep up with the world of television. It's a disservice to the quality of Mad Men to label anything the "worst", so let's just say it ended its least great season this past Sunday. Next season, how about a lot less Megan and a lot more of the richly drawn characters whose screen time she stole?
True Blood started up again and it remains an over-bloated mess that I, perhaps in vain, wait to rediscover its fun side. Aaron Sorkin's new show, which is hopefully more Sports Night or The West Wing than Studio 60, premieres later this month, as does season three of Louie.
And, of course, we've got just over a month until Breaking Bad returns, and based on what Aaron Paul has said, we should all be stocking up on diapers.
BEHIND ENEMY LINES. Before taking in the baseball game, Urban Meyer is the keynote speaker this morning at the Sound Mind, Sound Body Football Academy held in the Detroit suburb of Southfield. The camp, which will be attended by 600 players, will welcome members of Meyer's staff as well.
Although Brady Hoke will also speak today and Mark Dantonio is scheduled for tomorrow, that wasn't the case originally.
As relayed by camp director Curtis Blackwell:
"The last couple of years, Michigan and Michigan State have been coming down here talking at the camp and Michigan was kind of dragging their feet a little bit about doing some instruction," said Blackwell. "So it was open. The new coaches were saying at Ohio State, 'Hey, we'll come up there and do whatever.' We always give (Michigan and Michigan State) the first right of refusal."
I think you can guess what happened next2:
"So after that, Michigan and Michigan State are running down saying, 'We're going to be there.' We said you have to treat it the same every year. The Ohio State coaches said it's a priority to be in this area. They said they know the 2013 class is locked up, but for every year moving forward they're going to be in on it."
Michigan may have the higher-rated class right now, but Urban knows what he's doing.
DAVID JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON. David Jones of The Patriot-News has been putting together a series that outlines the reasons why Penn State can win the Leaders Division. According to one article, Ohio State's postseason ban could help the Nittany Lions:
By the time Ohio State visits State College on Halloween weekend, the lack of a clear season-end goal could be kicking in and motivation could be a problem for the Buckeyes. Not only that, OSU figures to be a little beat up not yet having enjoyed its bye which doesn’t arrive until the season’s 11th week.
I don't really buy that the Buckeyes will suddenly stop caring about their performance on the field simply because they can't play in a bowl game. Nevertheless, Jones suggests that it could be Penn State's best shot at getting a W against Ohio State when Urban's around.
Of course, another of his articles cited an improved Matt McGloin in PSU's favor, and even though I guess their QB play can't go anywhere but up, it's still laughable to think that McGloin is worth much more than the occasional punching bag.
ALL THAT IS NECESSARY FOR THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL. As we are painfully, disgustedly aware, the Jerry Sandusky trial is going on right now. Dan Wetzel has been doing great work covering it and wrote an extremely difficult to read piece about Victim #1's testimony. The 18-year-old, along with several jury members, cried as he described the sexual acts Sandusky inflicted upon him when he was younger.
Mike McQueary also took the stand, revealing that when he found Sandusky sexually assaulting child in the PSU locker room, he informed his higher-ups, including Penn State's president, Graham Spanier; vice president, Gary Schultz; and athletic director, Tim Curley. Those officials did not pass along the information to the police.
But neither did Joe Paterno or McQueary, who kept his distance from Sandusky since that incident a decade ago. Wetzel claims that the former assistant coach's regret was evident when he admitted, "Physically (I) didn't remove the young boy from the shower or go and punch Jerry out."
Former linebacker LaVar Arrington was another Nittany Lion who felt apologetic. In a column he penned for the Washington Post, he lamented that he was oblivious to the real reason why one of the alleged victims was often in a glum mood. Unlike others, though, Arrington had never seen or heard anything that would make him realize that his defensive coordinator was molesting young boys.
Ugh, words cannot express how sickening this scandal is. Let's move on to something we can find humor in: Michigan football.
Can she hack Twitter accounts?JERSEY BOYS. Like Ohio State, Michigan hosted a football clinic for women this past weekend to raise money for cancer research. The event, which has taken place for 14 years, brought in $144,000.
Both players and coaches helped run the drills, including Denard Robinson, presumably to pick out his next, uh, date.
And, then there was this quote:
"This is classic Brady Hoke," said athletic director Dave Brandon. "He likes to do things big."
Well, I think it would defy the laws of physics for him to do anything small3.
Meanwhile, Angelique S. Chengelis of The Detroit News reported that in a money grab to honor former Wolverine greats, Michigan is unretiring three jersey numbers this season. Those "Football Legends" jerseys, which will be worn by players who have yet to be selected, belonged to Gerald Ford (#48), Ron Kramer (#87), and Bennie Oosterbaan (#47).
COULDA BEEN A CONTENDER. With the caveat that the most recent Heisman winners weren't the preseason picks for the award, Yahoo's Mike Huguenin listed his top 10 preseason Heisman contenders. Unsurprisingly, USC quarterback Matt Barkley is #1, followed by Wisconsin running back Montee Ball at #2 and Denard Robinson at #3.
Although Oregon WR De'Anthony Thomas and Georgia LB Jarvis Jones were among the ten4, the trophy will most likely go to a quarterback or running back. Besides Barkley and Robinson, four other QBs were included: West Virginia's Geno Smith, Arkansas' Tyler Wilson, Oklahoma's Lance Landry Jones, and Clemson's Tajh Boyd. South Carolina's Marcus Lattimore joined Ball as the other RB on the list.
LINK DIFFERENT. National champion Christina Manning is Ohio State's Female Athlete of the Year... Mike Adams was not very studious spring quarter... But Philly Brown was... An oral history of the Dream Team... A recipe for beer ice cream... The Complete History of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles... Meme-inspired cakes... Mr. Boogedy doesn't reside here then?
- 1 I wonder if Urban will have to sign a letter denouncing his affiliation with Ohio State while he's in Cincinnati's city limits, since everyone in Cincinnati hates the Buckeyes, amirite?
- 2 After Dantonio glared and Hoke ate an entire Jimmy John's franchise, that is.
- 3 Maybe Dave Brandon meant to say, "he likes to eat things like Big Macs" instead.
- 4 No, Tyrann Mathieu was not in his top 10, and please, don't call him the Honey Badger. Unlike Brady Hoke jokes, that got old very quickly.
