Good morning and congratulations to you for surviving your final weekend without college football of another long and cruel summer.
It's game week and we have you covered with a revamped ed calendar and several press opportunities lined up for Kyle. If you like your Buckeyes smothered, covered and chunked (like Evan Turner does), you're going to love this site for the next three months.
Here's a quick sampling of what we have in store this week:
Today: We reveal our preseason BlogPoll ballot and will provide coverage of Urban Meyer's first weekly presser. We'll get a chance to talk to Everett Withers and Ed Warinner following Meyer's Q&A and we'll get player availability later in the afternoon.
Tuesday: Urban Meyer joins the Big Ten's weekly coaches teleconference for the first time and we'll have an opportunity to chat with players following practice.
Wednesday: The Dubcast and Joe Beale's flashbacks return as weekly features, we'll have a recruiting notebook and we'll get another chance to talk to Urban Meyer after practice. Wednesday is also Deshaun Thomas' birthday, so plan accordingly.
Thursday: Elika is back with Across the Field, we'll preview the weekend's games and we'll open thread it up at night, because, you know, FOOTBAW!
Friday: We'll do a team roundtable, deliver your Bucknotes and give you the only preview you need for Saturday's game.
And that's just our weekday coverage. If you thought we were all over games in the past, just wait until you see what we have planned for the weekend.
QUICK CALS ARE COMING. You heard about them last week, but now here's video of a "Quick Cal" practice session performed by Block O Saturday in the Shoe:
No pressure at all, students. Just John Simon, the four other captains and Mickey Marotti putting you through the paces.
If you're interested in additional coverage from Saturday, the Buckeye Battle Cry has a pretty solid recap of the event from a student's perspective.
Jim Tressel! Wearing beads! (via)BLACK STRIPELESS TALLY. Sarah touched on this yesterday, but I wanted to revisit the removal of freshman running back Bri'onte Dunn's black helmet stripe.
After the emergence of Dunn's traffic stop video, in which his girlfriend is heard asking him why he lied about the marijuana found in the car, local talk radio was having a field day with the question of whether Dunn should even be allowed back onto the team. Meyer ended any of that speculation Saturday when Dunn was promoted from untouchable to real life Buckeye with the removal of his stripe.
Regardless of what the audio from the stop reveals, Dunn was not hit with drug charges, and the city of Alliance is fine with that:
After a complete review of police reports, supplemental narratives from officers, witness statements and an approximately 30-minute police cruiser video, Alliance City Law Director Andrew Zumbar has authorized the filing of disorderly conduct and seat belt violation charges against Ohio State freshman running back Bri’onte Dunn and his passenger.
When the city does not press charges, you can't expect the head coach to punish a player beyond whatever punishment Dunn has endured for the disorderly conduct and seat belt charges. It's as simple as that.
If you're keeping score at home, you know that Dunn is the 9th Ohio State freshmen to lose his stripe. The other eight (in order): Devan Bogard, Noah Spence, Tommy Schutt, Taylor Decker, Adolphus Washington, Warren Ball, Cardale Jones and Joe Burger.
ANOTHER ROUND OF NETWORK-CARRIER CHICKEN. Most of you probably remember the dance between Time Warner and the BTN when the fledgling network was launching five years ago. With both sides posturing, Time Warner sat the inaugural season out, forcing Buckeye fans to head to bars and other establishments to catch Ohio State in games against Youngstown State and Kent State.
The two parties were still far apart in the summer leading up to the 2008 season, until Gene Smith published an open letter 10 days before the opener against Youngstown State imploring fans to switch to one of Time Warner's competitors. Five days later, a deal was in place and everyone lived happily ever after.
The satellite provider's original five-year agreement with the BTN expires Friday, August 31st, which means thousands of Buckeye fans that subscribe with DISH face the real possibility of missing the opener against Miami. Six weeks later, Ohio State will appear on the network again when they face Indiana in a night game in Bloomington.
Earlier this summer, DISH dropped AMC, leaving fans of shows like Breaking Bad, Mad Men and The Walking Dead scrambling for a new provider. Should they not come to terms with the BTN, expect even more Midwestern subscribers to flee to DirectTV or cable options.
COACH'S COACH. I missed this back in February, so apologies in advance if you've already seen it, but here's a raw 28-minute interview with Shelley Meyer conducted by NBC4 a mere months after Urban took the Ohio State job. There she sits, in her soon-to-be vacant Gainesville home wearing an Ohio State t-shirt.
She touches on a variety of topics, including sympathy for Jim Tressel's actions and what his resignation meant for the Meyer family.
"When he resigned, I was very sad for him. And I also knew. I knew what was coming for us. I knew they'd talk to Urban. I knew it way back then."
"And what was your reaction to that?"
"Well, when he resigned, I said 'Ah, shoot. Shoot... shoot... shoot.' Because I know Urban hadn't been out of football for that long. He went on a break from football. I wished at that time it had happened later -- if it was going to happen I just wish it was two years down the road or something, because I didn't want us to have to face that decision. And of course, ultimately we did."
ETC. Scarlet and Gray Legacy... Woo, it's a photo gallery of the new look Shoe at night... ESPN's college football images of the decade... You've all heard of the fresco of Jesus that restored recently in Spain, but Redditor DenimDenimBACKPACKS sees Brutus in the new version, so not all is lost... A partial survey of student ticket allotments... Marquette, Ohio State's opponent in the Carrier Classic this fall, cans an assistant and suspends head coach Buzz Williams one game for a recruiting violation.... SportsCenter, now just a parody of itself.
