Confessions, Volume III

Today is one of our favorite days of the year. You see, today is the one day of the year where the confessional is open and you're free to confess your sins – real or perceived – against Ohio State athletics.

Like years past, we'll step forward, confess our own sins and then turn things over to you guys. Your peers here at Eleven Warriors will honor your bravery by sparing you the downvote rod, regardless of how unpopular your opinions might be.

I'll start things off by confessing my sins.

I thought Darron Lee would never see the field for Ohio State based on his prep credentials and the myth/joke that he had to camp a dozen times before securing an offer. Hats off to Luke Fickell for that one.

I believe that Dontre Wilson is the most overrated player on Ohio State's roster. I still hope he'll break out into a star, but for now, all he's known for is being a defender-seeking missile on kick returns and of course, giving a bunch of chumps hands in Ann Arbor.

I don't think I've ever called for an Ohio State coach to get the axe – even in the depths of the Bollman malaise, I was pretty restrained – but I think Thad Matta could stand to replace a particular assistant who works with the bigs.

I know he's endorsed by the First Lady of Ohio State football and one of the sharpest writers on the beat, but I think @FakeUrban is awful and rarely funny. How does Nebraska end up with the brilliant @FauxPelini, while we get this:

This reminds me of that time when we beat Oregon and won the inaugural College Football Playoff. pic.twitter.com/z8s73HMXcY

— Fake Urban Meyer (@FakeUrban) May 17, 2015

(Sorry, Shelley.)

I still hate the OH–IO chant and won't answer one in public, Twitter or in any other environment. The O-H-I-O stadium chant is the best, though, particularly on the road.

Unlike his predecessor, Jim Harbaugh will be very, very good for Michigan football. Ohio State still has the better coach, though.

Well, that felt good.

Jeremy Birmingham

If I’m in public, like an airport or something, and hear people yell “O-H” I never reply with “I-O” and I think it’s one of the most agitating thing Buckeyes fans do. Does the logo on my shirt not illustrate my rooting interest better than irritating a group of strangers?

While I respect what he accomplished on the field, I think that people are far too lenient towards Troy Smith’s off-field transgressions just because he won a Heisman and beat Michigan three times.

I think Jim Tressel’s teams hit their ceiling and that the Buckeyes would not have won another title under him because he was too comfortable and had too many “yes men” working for him.

Chris Lauderback

Entering the 2014 season, I wasn’t sold on Ezekiel Elliott as the primary tailback to the point I thought he and Samuel should at least split carries. I wasn’t sure EZE had the vision to pop home runs. Related: I'm an idiot.

What's up, Chris?

I, too, fight back rage every time some fan realizes I’m a fan too and shouts “O-H” expecting me to reply with an “I-O”. 

I have great admiration for how they represented the university but I believe Aaron Craft and Craig Krenzel are the two most overrated/overhyped stars in their respective sports in school history. 

Matta haters make me insane because they aren’t smart enough to realize Ohio State simply can’t do better than Thad. That’s not a knock on Thad or the hoops program. It’s just facts. 

I’ve been more wishy-washy on Luke Fickell than probably any other OSU sports related topic. After the back-to-back losses to Michigan State and Clemson, I was more than ready for Ohio State to can Fickell. Beyond the yards/points given up, I thought it was criminal that Vonn Bell had a year of eligibility wasted and wanted Fickell to pay the price. Now, I’m so glad Urban is paid to make staffing decisions instead of a bonehead like me.

I can't generate any outrage over alternate uniforms because the game is for the players and they love alt unis, but I can't stand when Ohio State organizes whiteouts and crowd gimmicks. The whole thing seems contrived and does nothing to keep blue hairs from telling you to sit down so they can enjoy the game. I say leave those gimmicks for the Penn State's of the world. In other news, get off my lawn.

Johnny Ginter

I think I might've enjoyed watching the game against Minnesota more than any other Ohio State football game other than the Sugar Bowl. It's my dream to be able to attend a game in an environment like that. I love you, Dilly Bar Dan.

The overall gameday atmosphere inside Ohio Stadium has gone down significantly in the past 10 years. There are way, way too many boosters/legacy tickets, and the excitement level reflects this. An Ohio State football game should not be for the rich alone.

Urban Meyer is definitely pushing the envelope with recruiting. He's not doing anything differently than 90 percent of what other coaches do, but I think he's also selling kids on Ohio State in a way that Tressel never would.

Kevin Harrish

I love the band, but the pregame Skull Sessions are very underwhelming.

I love everything about Jim Harbaugh and can't seem to stop. The Gatorade in his cereal, the lighting kids up in laser tag, the shirtless football with recruits – it's all awesome and I love it.

I think it's embarrassing that Ohio State claims eight National Titles. There's no way 1970 should count, and 1961 is debatable.

Michael Citro

I will say that I missed about 1/4 of the hoops games this year because I knew the team wasn't as good. I generally miss from 0-2 per year.

“I secretly started hoping Tom Herman would leave after the Virginia Tech game and part of me wondered if Urban still had it.”

I didn't stop watching but I mentally gave up on the Buckeyes after they fell behind two scores against Alabama. I was all..."well, it was a good year, all things considered."

I secretly started hoping Tom Herman would leave after the Virginia Tech game and part of me wondered if Urban still had it.

Mike Young

I didn't enjoy this past season's national title as much as I did in 2002. There are a number of reasons for that, but I guess the biggest one is, simply, I'm not a kid anymore and child-like enthusiasm does not apply to the most recent championship. Back in January of 2003, I was only 12.

I idolized Craig Krenzel's toughness, thought Maurice Clarett was the greatest running back I've ever seen and bought a Michael Jenkins jersey after the season – poor foresight, after one year it turned into a Justin Zwick jersey. I'm now older than anyone on Ohio State's roster, so it would be incredibly weird to worship individual players like I once did, even if we're talking about Cardale Jones.

Between that and covering the team for 11W or 97.1 The Fan, I was more concerned with the day-to-day news surrounding the team than enjoying what they accomplished – which, for the record, I'm still stunned by. Maybe the shock still hasn't worn off.

Nicholas Jervey

I once tried to submit a FOIA request for Alabama's scholarship numbers. Saban's cheating, Pawwwlll!

I neglected my sister's wedding reception to watch the Wisconsin game in 2012.

For most opponents, I'd rather attend an OSU men's hockey game than a home men's basketball game.

I thought Rod Smith would be the best running back on the team three years in a row.

My candy Buckeyes are terrible, not even worth eating if they were free.

Kyle Jones

I celebrated the National Championship in a TGI Friday's. (Good job, good effort, Dallas!)

Last year's Virginia Tech game marked the first time I'd been in Columbus for more than 24 hours in almost four years.

Although I love Katzinger's, I'd choose Zingerman's in Ann Arbor over it 11 times out of 10  (go with the #00, D-$'s Cuban Conundrum if you ever find yourself in the mitten state)

Ramzy Nasrallah

I decided in 2011 Tyvis Powell would be my favorite player for the next 4-5 years because he signed up to be a Buckeye when Ohio State was in flames. He was an underdog who I figured would be a fun Richard McNutt-for-Heisman type guy to ironically root for. Instead he closed down the 2013 Michigan game and 2015 Sugar Bowl with clutch game-ending interceptions and was the Defensive Player of the Game in the CFP title game. I never intended to literally be the first guy on the Tyvis bandwagon; I was just trying to find some sunshine in the rain.

I personally know Penn State truthers who believe Joe Paterno (who used to find out when his players got speeding tickets in other states before they even returned to Pennsylvania) had no clue what Jerry Sandusky was up to in the building where he worked, despite, you know, reporting it to his superiors and then continuing to take him along on bowl trips for years after he abruptly retired. They are intelligent, thoughtful and otherwise reasonable people in just about every capacity - but are full-blown radioactive batshit when it comes to Penn State.

Penn State truthers are a byproduct of the second tragedy this century that transformed college football from a bad drug habit for me to something that actually feels healthy. The first was 9/11, which was the day I stopped hating Michigan and, with the exception of a few brief lapses during the heat of the moment – mostly when Jim Bollman was calling plays – hating anything at all. The obsession and hate are all gone, and it feels great.

I've been the only guy sitting inside of Michigan Stadium twice. Once was in 2000, several hours after the Michigan-Wisconsin game (I went to the game; it was an OSU bye week) and the other was about a month ago. Both times I sat on a random bench and quietly took in the ambient sounds. The first time in 2000 it felt like I had broken into the apartment of the asshole who stole my girl. This time it felt like I was the asshole. Thanks, Tress. You too, Urb.

Vico

With each passing year, I think I enjoy college football less and less. It's definitely not for lack of recent titles for Ohio State. The older I get, the more difficult it is to reconcile that preposterous facade of amateurism and why many prestigious institutions of higher education should be so concerned with this peculiar (albeit multi-million-dollar) entertainment package it now feels compelled to offer. The sport seems to be becoming faster (and more brutal) for young athletes still growing into their body. Notwithstanding recent efforts to promote player longevity through safety initiatives, there is nevertheless no real impetus behind promoting player longevity as long as there exists a large talent pool of high school players that can push oft-injured college athletes to pasture.

A quick stop-gap would be to pay players, though universities clearly do not want to do that and compensation (however justified) creates additional headaches for athletic departments who have to teach an entire roster on how to file taxes and report taxable benefits. Urban Meyer should get a lot of credit for his Real Life Wednesday program. I've heard player parents (almost to a person) speak highly of it. But, contrast that with low graduation rates at other universities for football players. Contrast that with Ole Miss bragging about a team GPA below a 3.0. Heck, contrast that with what happened at UNC, which---seriously---is the most ambitious case of academic fraud committed in American university history and no one fucking cared when it was first reported. College football can be a lot of fun, but at what societal cost? I struggle with this.

I really wish Ohio State fans would hold their breath for a second and appreciate that Ohio State even has a Thad Matta, let alone had him for 10 years running. Ohio State fans should expect to be good at everything. However, the give-a-shit level for football well exceeds any other Ohio State sport offering. If Ohio State basketball was Penn State basketball, our fans would be none the wiser. Pump the brakes on wanting to give Matta the heave-ho. Ohio State fans can make that argument when the home-game atmosphere and attendance mirrors the blue blood programs (e.g. Duke, Kentucky, etc.).

They won't say this out loud (but I know they're thinking about it and have likely said it in private), but Urban Meyer and Mark Pantoni wish Ohio State fans were on Penn State fans' level. I'm not sure I'd disagree. Penn State fans are way more involved in influencing a home-game atmosphere.

I never drank a beer before going to a football game when I was a student at Ohio State. To be honest, I think it's kind of silly.

Being drunk as a skunk while watching Ohio State football games is an entirely different story. I was not at the 2006 Ohio State-Michigan game, and don't remember much of it either. I drank a bottle of vodka (and a few beers) during the course of that game being so paralyzed with fear of the thought of Ohio State losing that game.

DJ Byrnes

The “O-H,” “I-O” response chant is obnoxiously overused. It’s always some drunk in search of attention by shouting it at strangers as he (always a he) stumbles into the Horseshoe. I always wish people would ignore them, but it never happens because Ohio State fans — by and large — are too kindhearted for it.

I also think @FakeUrban is a war criminal who should spend the rest of his days locked in solitary confinement for high crimes against The Ohio State University. Polio is funnier than @FakeUrban, and yet thousands of people follow him? Why? He has nearly 10,000 tweets, and every single one of them are awful. Every. Single. One.

You've heard our confessions. Now hit us with yours.