Another day, another penny. *grabs platinum microphone*
- Jim Delany has moved the Big Ten's 2017 men's basketball tournament to the B1G's traditional seat of power: Washington D.C. Is this but a preview of what's to come for the B1G "out east"?
- The Big Ten and the Big East will now have a regularly scheduled basketball challenge, akin to the one the B1G already has with the ACC.
- Highly coveted dual-threat QB Torrance Gibson has announced his Top 15 schools. Ohio State is fourth. Yes, this is news.
- Buckeye fans solved the dilemma of their "rent-car" having Michigan plates in a unique way.
SAY IT AIN'T SO JIMMY. While it would have pained me to see Jim Tressel prowling the sidelines of any school not named Ohio State or Youngstown State, it would have been negated by the fact Jimmy T was back in these streets swagging and ball-controllin' on his enemies and lookin' like a scholarly gentleman while doing so.
Sadly, Tressel is in the final pool for both the Akron and Youngstown State presidencies, and it appears his coaching days are finished.
From Doug Lesmeries of the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
“I did it for 38 years and enjoyed every minute of it,” said the former Ohio State University football coach who was forced to resign in 2011 because of NCAA violations.
The NCAA imposed a 'five-year show-cause penalty' on Tressel, which means any NCAA program that wants to hire him has to 'show cause for why it shouldn't be sanctioned. The order expires on Dec. 19, 2016. The Indianapolis Colts hired him as game-day consultant during the 2011 season.
“I do not wake up in the morning and say I wish I was coaching," Tressel said. "Sometimes I read the paper and say I am glad I am not coaching. But on Saturdays or Sunday afternoons during playoff games it is exciting and I may yell ‘Call a time out!’ But I do not foresee any interest in coaching. I have got more important things to do. Not that it (coaching) is unimportant.”
Wow, President Lincoln aged more gracefully during the Civil War than that five-year show-cause penalty with which the NCAA whacked Tressel. There are colostomy bags attached to 400-pound men leaving Chinese buffet restaurants filled with less shit than that penalty. (And people wonder why I take an ax to the NCAA any time I can.)
Sorry for the crude imagery, but it makes me angry to think about that fall-out because Tressel was a quality teacher, not only of football but of life. (This is why thinking should be avoided, kids.)
But hey, at least Bobby Petrino's redemption tour is still on track.
THOMPSON IS OFF TO SCENIC COUNCIL BLUFFS. Former four-star recruit and Ohio State safety Jayme Thompson has found a school where he'll continue his career.
Thompson has committed to play at Iowa Western Community College, where he hopes to play one season before transferring to a major-conference program with three years of eligibility remaining. A redshirt freshman, he will be eligible to play both this fall and immediately in 2015 if he joins a Division I program. (Thompson would have had to sit out a year if he left Ohio State for another Division I school.)
Thompson will join Iowa Western — one of the nation’s top junior colleges — in good academic standing after he requested his release from Ohio State last month. A former four-star recruit, he missed last season with a severe high ankle sprain. But he returned this spring and, while he faced tall odds to crack the rotation at a deep safety position, started for the Scarlet team in the Buckeyes' annual spring game. He had three tackles and a pass breakup in the exhibition.
Ain't no shame in rolling the JUCO route. Best of luck to Jayme Thompson in his journey and career.
BRANDON WIMBUSH TO ANNOUNCE TONIGHT. Four-star Brandon Wimbush is another highly coveted dual-threat QB in the 2015 class. Alabama recently offered him, but Ohio State has been coming at him hard too. In a surprising move, he's announcing his commitment tonight:
I will be committing with @BleacherReport tomorrow evening... #VTech#OSU#Miami#PSU#BC
— brandon wimbush (@BrandonW_7) May 5, 2014
There's a lot of buzz, however, Penn State will continue their recruiting blitz:
QB Brandon Wimbush committing Tuesday evening. Rumors have been out there for #PennState so we'll see.
— Mike Farrell (@rivalsmike) May 5, 2014
Given the fact PSU is still sanctioned and won't even be eligible for a bowl game in the ruins of Detroit if they run the table, I will give James Franklin props. Even without Wimbush, he's killing the recruiting trail. (There are also rumblings four-star OL Sterling Jenkins commitment to Penn State isn't too far off either.)
There's still a long way to go until Signing Day 2015, but man is Ohio State's trip to Happy Valley this fall going to carry some ramifications. Hopefully the Buckeyes burn that place to the ground and leave a message from philosopher Kirk Barton scrawled in the ashes: "Come to Ohio State or lose to Ohio State."
REPORT RELEASED ON WINSTON'S HEIST. Yesterday, I saw some poor sap getting stuffed into a CPD cruiser for shoplifting when I went to Kroger to pick up supplies for The Starcat. If only he were a defending Heisman Trophy-winner and had high-priced lawyers willing to defend him pro bono.
As he was leaving the store, [Jameis] Winston appeared to pause in front of a Leon County deputy who was working in-store security detail at the time. The pause, the incident report said, appeared to be an attempt to avoid walking in front of the deputy. He said Winston then walked behind the deputy, past all registers and out of the store.
A Publix employee told deputies he noticed Winston walk out of the store and assumed he hadn’t paid for his purchase since he didn’t have a grocery bag. He and his manager watched Winston walk out of the store because they thought he was grabbing a shopping cart. They soon realized Winston walked out without paying when he didn’t return.
[...]
The cost of the crab legs, crawfish and butter is valued at $32.72, the price the sheriff’s office said he took. Winston, however, contends he did not steal the butter, the report said. He told deputies he left it in a bin before he left the store because he realized he did not need it.
The investigating deputy went back to Publix and looked in the bins where Winston said he put the butter, but none was found.
The graphs about the butter slay me. Who do you think was more thrilled: Jameis Winston doing community service as a janitor at a YMCA or the Tallahassee police deputies tasked with locating a missing stick of butter?
It also appears the TPD searched harder and longer for stick of butter than they did for the truth behind Jameis Winston's alleged sexual assault. But credit where it's due: Tallahassee police are actually capable of investigating something, although it appears they're still working on the end result. (*In my Jack Bauer voice while fingering a cattle prod* WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THE BUTTER, JAMEIS?)
CLEMSON WAS LET OFF THE HOOK, Y'ALL. r/cfb does "MSPaint Mondays," and yesterday's theme was "Epic Choke Jobs." Here's an OSU fan's fitting submission:
The 2014 @OrangeBowl #MSPaintMonday pic.twitter.com/KsDw0QO3Fb
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) May 5, 2014
People are crazy with the MSPaint skills these days. I could barely draw a square on that thing, but then again, I've met broken crack vials in dimly-lit alleys with more artistic skills than me. Such is life, I 'spose.
(And hopefully the ghost of Woody Hayes isn't condemned to walk the realm of the undead for another 36 years before Ohio State can finally grant him the peace his soul deserves.)
THOSE WMDs. Josh Barro says home-ownership is overrated... Butch Jones is bringing in Pacman Jones to talk about character... Where can we find a copy of Dave Brandon's old blog?... B1G, SEC reign supreme in spring game attendance... Ominous: The End of Food... Why is Facebook promoting bogus stories in its related links?... Nick Young is my least favorite Laker player in the last decade... Another chapter in "When Keepin' It Real Goes Wrong".... Man About Town: A profile of rapper Bun B... Director's Cut: The Kentucky Derby is decadent and depraved...
