Leg Oden Minus The Leg Say it ain't so Greg! Oden, the one-time promising star at OSU, will miss the entire NBA season while undergoing yet another micro-fracture surgery. What did this kid ever do to deserve this? He is a great guy, works hard, and does tremendous things for his community, yet can't catch a break. Who's sticking the pins in the Greg Oden voodoo doll? Our prayers are with you Greg. We hope one day you can actually play an entire season and show the world what you're capable of.
Buy Me Some Peanuts And Cracker Jacks If you didn't already know, this weekend will feature not only one, but two college football games being held in baseball stadiums. Illinois will take on Northwestern in Wrigley Field, which will also be the host of College Gameday. With the set up of the field being so close to part of the outfield wall in this game, there will need to be some adjustments made by the two teams, according to Pat Fitzgerald. The other game this weekend will square off Army and Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium, which should be a throwback conjuring lots of football ghosts. I'm definitely excited to see how these two venues play out this weekend, especially since there is some chatter that the Yankees are trying to bring the Buckeyes to the Bronx circa 2013 or so.
He Took The Money Dang It! Yep, that's right, I'm ready to say that I think Cam Newton is guilty. Whether the culprit be him or his father, there is just too much going against the kid in this situation, as more evidence has come out this week suggesting that the Newtons, in one way, shape, or form, asked Mississippi State for money besides an athletic scholarship for Cam to become a Bulldog. Now nobody is accusing Auburn of paying Newton (although it's highly likely), but if it is found that Cam or his father Cecil tried to solicit a pay to play situation, that is a NCAA violation and Cam may be ruled ineligible, meaning any games he played in may have to be forfeited. The Tigers took a chance on a kid with character issues and likely thought it was a low risk-high reward situation, but this may turn out to be a humongous risk for the program in terms of flushing a tremendous season down the drain.
How About Them Hoopyball Buckeyes? I still cannot get enough of this team, and while I know it's early, I'm excited for some more Buckeye basketball. Channeling his "inner Jim Tressel", it appears Thad Matta's halftime speech provided the team with just the spark they needed to tear apart the Gators in Tuesday night's game. Matta continues to prove he is one of the country's best coaches, and continually gets better every year at recruiting, in-game management, personnel management, off-season preparation, and half time adjustments. You cannot ask for more from a coach and he may go down as the best coach in OSU history when it's all said and done. Continuing his tear includes picking up Amir Williams yesterday to complete "The Thad Five-Part II". Reggie Rankin has some insight on the signing, and if you're a Buckeye fan, you have even more reason to be excited about this program. Now if we can just get fans to show up to the games and cheer a little....
Buckeye Blitz Ken Gordon thinks OSU needs to start stronger in their games, and who can disagree? It will be particularly important this weekend, as you saw what Iowa did to MSU in their previous contest after dropping a game. Adam Rittenberg of ESPN has the keys to the game for both teams. Doug Lesmerises of the Cleveland Plain Dealer shows that Terrelle Pryor is just "so-so" against Top 25 teams. TP said yesterday that the Iowa gameplan is his favorite since coming to Columbus, so hopefully that changes. Finally, Ross from ATO takes a look at analyzing last week's game plan against the Penn State defense. Our own Keith did a nice job breaking down the Buckeyes' Cover-2 defense against the Nittany Kitties if you missed it.
Around The Big Ten Here is the latest standings for the Big Ten 2010 Season Awards. Penn State can't seem to stay out of trouble off of the field. Maybe if they focused more on what's going on, they wouldn't be getting McGloin'd so often this year. Here's a look at the three candidates for the Rose Bowl, which obviously includes OSU, Wisconsin, and Michigan State. Brent Yarina of the BTN takes a look at each of the conference games this week. John Clay may miss the Michigan game, which would be awesome if the Wolverines want to improve their odds of pulling off an upset and thus helping OSU out to Pasadena. Finally, this shirt is awesome, this one not so much.
