Tuesday Skull Session

How kind of you to drop by for the Tuesday Skull Session. Why don't you pull up a chair?

Like the rest of the year, May has been chillier than usual¹ but we're finally getting into quality summer weather. OSU students are trying to understand what it's like to not have any classes in May after running into June for so many years. It's quite confusing to the senses, and to old habits. For instance, this would be the perfect time to sunbathe on the Oval, but with most people gone the main campus reminds me of Oberlin more than OSU.

The year is winding down for most Buckeye sports teams, but in the professional league playoffs some Buckeyes are doing work. In the NHL, former Buckeye Matt Bartkowski of the Boston Bruins couldn't have picked a better time to score his first career postseason goal, as his team defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 to advance in the playoffs. In his third year in the league, Bartkowski has only seen spot time, but for the rest of the playoffs he'll receive more notice.

In the NBA, Mike Conley Jr. once again was sensational, guiding the Memphis Grizzlies to a 3-1 series lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Conley, who was just named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team, led the Grizzlies in points, assists, and steals in a 103-97 overtime win. Outside of people named "Stephen Curry", nobody in the NBA is hotter than Conley right now.

 RECRUITING TIDBITS. Recruiting never ends, to the delight of many. Some tidbits, courtesy of our own Jeremy Birmingham:

• Recent commit Lonnie Johnson has been getting acclimated to Ohio State through fellow 2014 commit Damon Webb.
• Mike Vrabel and Luke Fickell went to visit 2014 LB Raekwon McMillan yesterday; to send two "big guns" at once is a big push from the coaching staff.
• OSU has offered 2015 defensive end/tight end Garrett Williams; more on the offer here.
• Alabama has now offered 2014 QB target Kyle Allen, in whom Ohio State has interest.

When more things happen, we'll report on them.

 FOOTBALL SHOULD BE FUN. NFL pregame shows have a very different tone compared to College GameDay or any of the other major sports' pregame shows: the fake laughter, weird freakouts, the enormous panels of analysts, et cetera. While those other shows are informative and reasonably intelligent, the NFL shows are showy and leave viewers with a distaste for the artifice. SB Nation's Spencer Hall says that this is symptomatic of the NFL, which perpetuates a kind of self-seriousness that stifles independent, creative media coverage:

There are islands of competence and even charm out there. And obviously, if you're reading this, you're not included in that criticism. (You are clearly brilliant, beyond reproach, and already reading the right things, you sexy devil, you.) The NFL Network does a decent enough job of sounding human-esque, but even that may be the most damning criticism of all: the NFL's official network, owned and operated by the league, feels greater independence and exhibits greater candor than those covering it.

Writing without insider access, as many bloggers do, the kind of access that connected reporters and media companies have creates a lot of envy. And yet with few exceptions people with that access are so beholden to the NFL that they become corporate lickspittles, or get caught in the drudgery of the league's soulless invulnerability, or shill for the league's hyper-masculine branding, or a combination of the three.

Goodbye Jacksonville, hello San Diego?

Be thankful for college football's chaotic and varied coverage: a dozen sappy Tom Rinaldi features are more pleasing and more informative than one episode of NFL Today. The decentralized nature of college athletics helps to keep the coverage fresh and independent, as does the input of fans which is listened to more often. Contrary to what George Carlin suggested, football is joyful and should be portrayed as such.

 BOWL MATCHUPS. The mess of New Years Day bowl games has not worked out the way Jim Delany would've liked, and as such it's no surprise that the Big Ten is looking for a more diverse set of bowl games.

The Big Ten and ACC are negotiating access to the Pinstripe Bowl, which would be the first ACC/Big Ten bowl tie-in since the Champs Sports Russell Athletic Bowl. The Big Ten could also get involved in some bowls with old tie-ins:

The Music City Bowl had a Big Ten tie-in from 2002 to 2005, and the Holiday Bowl had the same from 1986-1994. The Holiday Bowl in particular is known for its wild shootouts and upsets.

I would have thought the Gator Bowl the most likely game to turn over, but its larger payout must make the difference. Nevertheless, were the Big Ten to flip the Gator and Texas Bowls for the Holiday and Pinstripe Bowls, it would be a huge gain for the conference. San Diego and New York City are more appealing travel destinations than Dallas and Jacksonville, and playing more bowl games outside of the grossly over-represented southeast is a positive as well.

 THAT NEWS ITEM UP NORTH. The Michigan football program has gotten some attention as of late. Coach Brady Hoke saying that Notre Dame is chickening out of the Michigan series is one such attention-grabber:

"The Notre Dame game, that rivalry, which they're chickening out of," Hoke said Monday during the West Michigan Sports Commission Annual Luncheon at the J.W. Marriott in Grand Rapids.

[...]

"They're still gonna play Michigan State, they're gonna play Purdue, but they don't want to play Michigan," Hoke continued. "I don't know how they made that decision ... I really do ... But anyway, that's a great national rivalry game. It's a great game."

Notre Dame's motivation could be explained as hidebound deference to tradition as Notre Dame has played the other two schools about forty more times than Michigan. Ditching the Michigan series for the less competitive Michigan State and Purdue series still isn't a great look.

Also well known and crowed about is Michigan's recruiting, which is going gangbusters for now. A less-promoted story has been the attrition of Michigan's undesirable players.

On National Signing Day 2013, Michigan signed 27 players. Since then Michigan has lost a few players; Kaleb Ringer last week, Mike Jones and Marvin Robinson this week, and a few more are expected. None was expected to make a significant contributions in the future, and shortly after Ringer's transfer suspended punter Will Hagerup was reinstated to the team, though not for the 2013 season.

This is not to claim that Michigan has done anything unseemly; there isn't enough information to make a persuasive claim. But: when you claim the moral high ground on oversigning (or anything, really), you had better judge yourself by the same standard later.

It's curious how, among those expressing righteous fury about forced attrition, some will soft-pedal the criticism when it comes into their own program. Taking a hard line on not going over the 85 scholarship limit on National Signing Day when other programs do it loses its impact when one's school is a few over and "letting natural attrition sort things out" is the worry-free answer. Criticizing programs for possibly pushing players out but accepting the euphemism of a school's coaches explaining that they could get more playing time elsewhere is another slip, and the new coach changing the body types of athletes in the program is yet another.

To Michigan fans' credit, they're exceedingly generous in charitable donation for good causes. If they want to preach about Michigan Men to the godless heathens they see all around them, that's the sort of thing they ought to focus on.

 ENDER'S GAME. Andrew Wiggins, the top-rated prep player in the class of 2013, is set to make his college decision today. One of North Carolina, Florida State, Kansas, or Kentucky will contract his services to their great advantage.

It's rare that a May event could determine a basketball national championship for the following April, but that could be the case this afternoon. If Wiggins chooses Kentucky, John Calipari will have assembled what is without a doubt the greatest recruiting class of all time in college basketball: seven players ranked # 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 13, and 18 in the nation.

For the sake of everyone else in college basketball, here's hoping the phenomenal Wiggins goes with one of the other three schools. Kentucky may have bombed out to Robert Morris in the 2013 NIT, but failing to win a title with this kind of talent would be inconceivable. 

 LINK SAUSAGE. Ohio State's campaign to fight gay stigma continues...A prototype of Detroit's RoboCop statue... Roses are red, violets are blue, Rick Reilly is terrible at poetry, oh it's true... It's hard to feel bad for this alleged elephant poacher... Color footage from a 1947 Ole Miss/Georgia Tech football game... Paté or dog food?... Admit it, you'd want to ride in a Buckeye helmet car... Pole vaulting is not for acrophobes... Michigan State plans a $20 million renovation of Spartan Stadium... 1977 Marquette's dapper team photo... Massive rugby hits are the next best thing to football hitting.

• ¹ I had to scrape my car on Sunday morning. Again, it is mid-May. ↑