Even honest Abe had a few in the closet.Good morning Eleven Dubskateers. Welcome to your Monday Skull Session. Some of you I'm willing to bet are reading this after a seemingly longer overdue extra couple of hours of rest. For the rest of you (present company included), another day as cogs in the machinery of American industrialism. Onward and upward.
President's Day is a chance for anyone working for local/state/federal governments (and related industires) to put their feet up and live life the way virtually all of our preisdents did after getting out of office. The notable exception between William Howard Taft who went onto fulfill his actual life long dream of serving on the United States Supreme Court. Talk about a modest brag [via resume emboldening].
It's also a chance to remember that Sunday, February 20th, 2011 never happened. Kobe Bryant was not the Most Valuable Player of yet another NBA All-Star Game. Kanye West did not emerge from a cloud of smoke to perform "All of the Lights" with Rihanna during said half time show. Libyan leadership did not continue to blow steam up their people's behinds. Inexplicably, in spite of the increasingly rare phenomenon of a one day weekend and a six day week, Ohio State's schedule indicates they may have suffered a second loss as the result of some kind of accounting irregularity. Weird, but certainly better than losing to a bunch of superficial-chips-on-their-shoulders trolls who were pick 'ems at a majority of sports books across Las Vegas and the offshore scene. That would've probably really sucked, I imagine.
OHIO STATE WINS. PURDUE LOSES. ALL IS RIGHT IN THE UNIVERSE. Okay, so maybe Sunday did happen. At least from around 3:30 pm EST on, anyways. Brittany Johnson hit a three pointer with just seven tenths of a second to go to push Ohio State past a very game Purdue side 76-74. Despite being picked as low as fifth in the conference in pre-season by some national media types, the perennially tough Boilermakers brought their A-game but ultimately just didn't have enough when it mattered most. Boilermaker bloggers and fans alike shook their digital fists at the Buckeyes for ruining their weekend, going as far as to wish many of them a coarse worst wishes on their drives back to Columbus. Despite years of sustained perennial success, from both a conference and national standpoint, the insistance that somehow the Boilermakers are some great independent spirit overcoming the tyranny of the evil Big Ten machine seems oddly miscalculated given how strong they've played all year and how many national and regional pundits alike still lent them much creedence. Just imagine how nettlesome a loss in this highly anticipated game would've been. We wish the best to Travis Miller of Hammer and Rails who joined us Thursday for the Dubcast to preview this much hyped contest. We hope the guys doing alright; losing's never easy.
He's the cheeiest... And I mean that in the most absolutely laudatory way possible. Aaron Craft is probably my favorite non-Sullinger thing about this group of Buckeyes and Maria Ridenour of the Akron Beacon Journal has a must read on the Findlay product:
Football coach Tim Nichols can't forget Craft's ultimate highlight, a 97-yard touchdown run in the regional final against Patrick Henry in Craft's junior year when he should have been sacked 6 yards deep in the end zone. Nichols still marvels at Craft's vision, burst and ability in the open field, but he also misses Craft's uncanny ability to know when the opponent was beaten.
''He'd always come over — it could be in the first half, it could be late in the fourth — and he'd smile and he'd say, 'We've got 'em now,' '' Nichols said. ''I'd say, 'Why? What's going on?' and he'd say, 'They're starting to argue with each other' or 'They're coming apart out there.' You'd see the same mannerism, he always has what he does with his fist. And he would be smiling about it. 'We got 'em this time.' ''
Not only is Aaron Craft basically the best human being alive, but he's also a heck of a dancer evidently. Are we sure there's no chance he could keep TP's seat warm until the fourth or fifth game of next season too?
Spring ball: it's almost here. TWWL's indispensible Adam Rittenberg has the goods on change around B1G land and all the reasons why your heart should pitter patter as you get lost thinking about 2k11 on the gridiron:
After succeeding at just about every level of football, Kill steps on the big stage this spring in Minneapolis. He'll be working with more talent than he ever has but plans to stick with the schemes and philosophies that got him here. Among his first priorities is integrating a dynamic offensive system around MarQueis Gray, who moves back to the quarterback spot full time after playing receiver this past fall.
The spring will bring quarterback competitions at places like Penn State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana and Nebraska. Ohio State faces the unique task of preparing for the impending suspensions of five players, including quarterback Terrelle Pryor and three other offensive starters. Northwestern and Purdue both will go through the spring without quarterbacks Dan Persa and Robert Marve, who are working their way back from injuries. The practice field will be a welcomed site for Iowa, which endured a rough offseason marked by the hospitalization of 13 players with rhabdomyolysis.
Illinois and Michigan State are among the squads looking to replace elite defenders such as Corey Liuget (Illinois) and Greg Jones (Michigan State).
/Swooooooooon. Sounds as though conference play in 2011 will be anything but dull. Rittenberg also touches on the league's newest ambassadors, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, as well the mountain Brady Hoke has in front of him in Ann Arbor in the coming year.
Are you a top four basketball team? You lose. Angry Old Testament Basketball God was particularly unchill this past week. Kansas, Texas (despite Nebraska's best efforts), Pitt, and ALLEGEDLY some team from the Big Ten (though I can neither confirm nor deny this) all found themselves victims of college hoop's oldest trick in the book: the late season conference road game. What does it mean? Absolutely nothing! Sure, maybe it helps Nebraska's bleak tourney hopes and may give additional credence to likely already in K-State and St John's, but come late March, these games won't provide anything more than an answer to a trivia question in 8-10 years when a talking head asks, "when was the last time all four top four teams went down in the same week?"
Gallimaufry. This ruined my morning. This and this (NSFW via violence) restored my faith in humanity. This is why I live in the best non-Columbus city in America. And this is just real talk, y'all. Happy President's Day.
