Brutus Buckeye before he got all "mainstream"Good morning fellow Buckeyes, and welcome to the Friday Skull Session. Many of us are headed home this weekend for Easter/Passover/General family get-together. While I won't have far to travel, for those of you taking the long road, be safe. For those in the Columbus area, there is also a little event called the "Spring Game" this weekend. It's a pretty obscure thing, you've probably never heard of it. Be sure to stock up on your sports hipster bonafides, at $15 a ticket, and support the team. Afterward you can grab some Buckeye Donuts, drink some PBR at the Blue Danube, and buy a new sweater at Urban Outfitters.
Jesse Owens: Not a crier. A couple of weeks ago, Florida unveiled statues of their Quarterback pantheon, with a special emphasis on new favored son Tim Tebow. Now, Ohio State has decided to honor a REAL American hero and unveil their own statue of great Nazi-vanquisher Jesse Owens. I suppose it's yet again up to the Big Ten to show the world the right way to bronze
Chutzpah, they has it. Andy Staples writes about the high stakes game of chicken the BCS is constantly in the process of running. The powers-that-be claim that the death of the BCS would revert things back to the old bowl system, a frightening prospect for the Boise States and TCUs, as well as the ACC and Big East. Staples writes:
If they do, they'll face two choices: the old system, which would bring in far less money, or a playoff, which would bring in far more. Common sense suggests presidents would pick the playoff, which conservative estimates peg at $300-$400 million a year in rights fees on top of what the remaining bowls would bring, but the anti-playoff forces are powerful, influential and firmly entrenched.
This is one area where, unfortunately, the Big Ten is firmly on the side of the reactionaries. Whatever the reason, Jim Delaney and co. are publicly and powerfully on the side of the BCS and against a playoff. While any real possibility of a playoff is out of the question until the expiration of the current BCS contract, it's in the interest of all of those who favor a playoff to cheer on the state of Utah and it's quixotic court case. Quixotic, of course, is an adjective that can describe just about anything to do with Utah.
Would the next member of Linebacker U please stand up. Adam Rittenberg writes about Etienne Sabino and his starting spot this coming season. Apparantly having his best spring yet, Sabino brings a size and strength that's been missing at the position the last few years. Quoth Rittenberg:
Along with Sweat, Sabino will anchor the linebacker group this season, and he has spent the spring fine-tuning his game, trying to keep his pads lower and employ better technique. Ohio State says goodbye to seven defensive starters, the most production lost since after the 2005 season.
Andrew Sweat was a known quantity by last year's end. Etienne Sabino has that chance this year, and I'm excited to see what he does with it.
The SEC has speed on the training staff, though. Every time someone points out that the SEC isn't really much faster than anyone else, the goalposts get moved progressively further. First, it went from "it's not speed at skill positions, but everywhere else." Then it became, "It's on the defensive line." Now, according to SI's rankings of defensive end prospects, the SEC was incredibly sparse at the position while the Slow States brought the bacon. No doubt the true strength of SEC speed lies in the waterboy's ability to quickly hydrate southern players.
In case you missed it. Apparantly Skynet went live a few days ago and the Nuclear Holocaust was last night. If you're reading this, we somehow survived the Robot Apocalypse intact. Or, more likely, they're keeping the interwebs alive because Killer Robots love ragecomics even more than humans.
