Wednesday Skull Session

By D.J. Byrnes on March 19, 2014 at 6:00 am
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All regions of 11W's Heart of It All Classic are now open for first round voting. You can find all the information at the HOIAC hub. First round voting will remain open until Friday night, and the second round will begin on Saturday.

... And yeah, you're damn right Marionaire Warren G. Harding, the fightin' No. 12 seed of the Politics & Military region, is poised to pull the biggest upset of the first round.

Tecumseh, Whorin' Warren's likely second-round foe, may be the greatest Native American warrior in this country's history... but Harding has always thrived as an underdog. Let him tell it, and he has the haterz right where he wants 'em.

PRACTICE NOTES. Ohio State held their third spring practice yesterday, and our Kyle Rowland was on the scene to feed the streets afterwards. (His full report can be found over here.

  • Darron Lee and Raekwon McMillan continue to be impressive as young pups.
  • Urban Meyer on Cardale Jones: "Talk about a changed guy. He was a guy that couldn’t get out of his own way before. You know about the tweet. He’s a completely different guy.”
  • Despite Von Bell's injury, Urban Meyer expects to have plenty of depth at safety.
  • OSU will take a few days during spring practice to prepare for Navy and its cut block-fueled offense.

Aprops of spring practice, here's a video (via Corey Smith's Instagram) of Rod Smith busting a nice run during practice; (the second replay gives a better look):

Ezekiel Elliot is assumed to be the heir to El Guapo's throne, but don't rule out my man Rod Smith. I'm hoping this is the year he puts everything together, because he's a grueling, yet shifty runner when he's in form.

JUDGE WEIGHS IN ON ANTI-TRUST CASE VS. NCAA. Yesterday, I brought you news about an anti-trust lawsuit being filed against the NCAA by famous trial lawyer Jeffrey Kessler.  Later in the day, a federal judge weighed in on the case. From FoxNewsInsider.com:

Judge Andrew Napolitano assessed the case this afternoon, telling Bill Hemmer that if the suit is successful, "no college sport will ever be the same." Three other similar lawsuits are facing the NCAA, but Judge Napolitano called this one "the strongest and best written legal argument of the four."

Napolitano explained that whichever judge gets these cases may feel that it is not the proper role of the courts to decide such a momentous issue. He pointed out that Major League Baseball receives an exemption from antitrust laws from Congress, and suggested lawmakers take up the issue with regard to college sports.

"I would support Congress exempting college sports from the antitrust laws. The antitrust laws prohibit businesses from doing what the colleges are doing. That's why I said on its face, the colleges are violating the antitrust laws," he said.

Tick, tick, tick, NCAA. Tick. Tick. Tick.

THERE'S A NEW SHERIFF IN AUSTIN. Texas players apparently used to ride buses to and from practice. That was under the affable Mack Brown, but new Texas frontman Charlie Strong AIN'T HAVIN' NONE OF THAT:



Urban Meyer, who has some connections to ol' Charlie Strong, tried a similar approach when he arrived in Bowling Green. Only Urban's form of "walking back from practice" was 5 a.m. wind-sprints with trashcans on standby to catch player's ejected stomach bile.

I understand the iron-fisted approach by the new management, but the wins better follow. In 2000, Bowling Green went 2-9 (and got beat by arch-rival Toledo, 51-17). They fired coach Gary Blackney and hired Urban Meyer.

Urbz ran off so many players he had to place an ad in the student paper to garner some warm-bodied depth to his squad, but his first year Bowling Green went 8-3 and beat Toledo 56-21. The players never doubted him again and the rest is history.

Texas wasn't as bad in 2013 as Bowling Green was in 2000, but Charlie Strong obviously feels he needs to shape up his locker room. Which is fine, but players will only follow a tyrant if he leads them to wins. If not... well... the results will be nothing short of calamitous. (Not that I'd mine.)

JULIAN EDELMAN ZINGS FLORIDA. I have a friend who was a highly-touted high school recruit. As such, he got to take a lot of official and unofficial visits to college campuses all over this country of ours. While every most colleges at least turn a strategic blind eye to things that would violate the NCAA's rulebook, he was adamant the SEC was an entirely different breed.

"They just have a whole system down there," he told me once upon a time. "It goes on everywhere, no doubt, but they're just pros at that stuff in the SEC."

So naturally, this tweet about Kent State's Julian Edelman, who was a recently-courted free agent before re-signing with the Patriots for four years, made me smile:


FOR YOUR OWN HEALTH, DO NOT TRY TO FIND BO JACKSON. Speaking of the SEC... 


How much would it take for you to stand still with hands at your side and take a hay-maker from 51 year-old Bo Jackson? (Medical bills not deducted from payment, and let's also assume this would end up on WorldStar.)

I would like to think I'd need at least $10,000. But honestly, if somebody put $5,000 in cash in front of me, I'd let Bo cold-clock me. Hell, I'd probably do it for $1,000. (A win is a win, right?)

THOSE WMDs. Zydrunas Savickas set a new world record by deadlifting 1,155 pounds... Cleveland prevented an Idiot on the Court last night... Housing prices up around OSU campus... So yeah, Ronaldo is pretty good... But okay, Original Ronaldo was pretty good too... Still the coldest moment in S1 of True Detective... Josh Gordon's back tattoo is as ridiculous as it is cool... Pit Bull saves military vet from committing suicide... LOL: The view from the highest natural point in Ohio... 

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Prognosticating: Indiana

Dry Goods Contest

Ryan Day Gives Mic-Drop Response When Pat McAfee Tells Him Indiana is “The Real Deal”: “So Are We”

Ryan Day
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