It's Wednesday, which is not as good as Thursday but not as bad as Tuesday. It makes you think, ol' Wendesday does. Of all the week's days, Wednesday is an historical wildcard.
Tread lightly today, my friends.
#ELITE15 CARRIES FUTURE HEISMAN WINNER? I used to think recruiting was bad and creepy, but I've since issued a #DJByrnesFlipFlop on the issue. I'll never aspire to the Lord of Whispers' heights, but it does make for interesting fodder to pass the offseason.
Could there be a future Heisman winner en route to Columbus? Yes, says Scout's Jamie Newburg:
For Torrance Gibson to truly succeed at the quarterback position at the next level he has to find the perfect fit. Ohio State is that school for this South Florida standout. He’s ideal for Urban Meyer’s zone read scheme. This kid is an incredible athlete who excels at running this offense. Gibson needs work on his passing mechanics. If that part of his game ever catches up he has a chance to be scary good. It’s also a great situation in Columbus because he can sit and develop until it’s his turn.
Auburn, who may have already poached Miami CB Carlton Davis from Ohio State, looks to be making a late push for Gibson as well.
I don't know if Gibson does or doesn't end up in Columbus, but if I had to choose a Heisman winner from Ohio State's current 2015 class... give me Athens' Joe Burrow.
BUSINESS IS GOOD FOR OSU FOOTBALL. It's recklessly naive/fun to think of Ohio State football as a scrappy gang of local amateur athletes, but at the end of the day, it's a billion dollar institution, and business is a boomin'.
From Daniel Wese of BizJournals.com:
Ohio State University's athletics department saw its net income jump during fall semester thanks in part to raising the price of tickets for the Buckeyes' game against the University of Michigan.
According to an update on its finances for OSU trustees, the athletics department's bottom line improved 36 percent to $16.9 million during the five months ended Nov. 30, a span covering the entire seven-game home football schedule. That was up $4.44 million from $12.5 million a year earlier.
The department's revenue jumped $8.6 million, or 14 percent, to $69.3 million, an increase the university attributed in part to premium football ticket pricing.
It's funny to me Dave Brandon, he that rose through the corporate pizza chain to overlord over a shitty football program somewhere outside of Detroit, never learned a simple lesson during all that education and corporate ascension: Despite what the Cleveland Browns would have you believe, winning football games is the best thing for the company's bottom line.
ESPN SHOWS OSU SOME LOVE. I try to make it a point to not watch any ESPN programming outside live sportscasts and the Grantland Basketball Hour, but will I complain about the media behemoth showing love to my favorite university? (No.)
From Derek Volner of ESPNMediaZone.com:
Campus Connection: ESPNU’s National Signing Day presence extends across the country with 14 reporters embedded on college campuses, including Ohio State, the 2015 College Football Playoff National Champions, and Alabama, which has had the top recruiting class each of the last three years on com. The reporters will provide up-to-the-minute news and interviews throughout the day on both ESPNU National Signing Day Special and SportsCenter.
Well, I guess I wasn't planning on watching anything else on February 4th. Penn State and Michigan (lmao) are the only two other Big Ten schools being covered. (I'm sure Iowa is furious about not making the cut.)
NO MATTER HOW YOU CUT IT, PATIENT 0 IS GOOD. Ohio State's men's basketball team doesn't tip-off again until tomorrow night against Maryland, but until then, here's another article about how insane D'Angelo Russell has been this year.
From Alex Cook of That Blog Up North:
He followed that week up with incredible performances against Northwestern and Indiana, averaging 27.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 8 assists in those two games. The rest of the Buckeyes have been somewhat underwhelming since the start of conference play, but not Russell: he’s gone supernova in a way that very few freshmen ever do at the college level (and, by the way, he leads the nation in scoring for a freshman). His precocious game seems limitless: he can score the ball in a ton of creative ways, he passes the ball better than most point guards, and he’s capable of taking over a game in an extremely uncommon way.
At this point, it’s hard to overstate his impact: he singlehandedly dominated Northwestern and carried the Buckeyes to a win; his stat lines from that game and others are, quite frankly, insane[.]
[...]
From an objective standpoint, it’s a treat to watch such an excellent freshman play well in a tough conference. Fortunately for Michigan fans, Russell only plays the Wolverines once more (or twice, depending on the Big Ten Tournament) before leaving for the NBA. It’s clear from watching him that he’s physically mature and skilled enough to make it in the league – his attitude seems great as well (as far as I can tell). He’s something.
Cook also put this graph together showing the caliber of Russell's production:
Those are some grown men on that list, and Russell will be better than all of them. (If you enjoy reading articles about Patient 0, Sporting News profiled him yesterday as well.)
OSU PARKING: STILL A JOKE. I never bought a parking pass at Ohio State. I just parked in the Tuttle Park parking lot behind that Holiday Inn on Lane they turned into a dorm. Even then I realized what a racket that system was, because driving around looking for a parking spot is the third circle of Hell for me.
OSU has 200 student parking spaces for 50,000 students.
— Stephen Collier (@S13Collier) January 27, 2015
Going on 30 minutes driving around waiting for something to pop open
— Stephen Collier (@S13Collier) January 27, 2015
And God forbid you park on grass cause Campus Parc loves ruining days
— Stephen Collier (@S13Collier) January 27, 2015
Going on an hour and 15...
— Stephen Collier (@S13Collier) January 27, 2015
Took an hour and 30 minutes but I found a spot #gobucks
— Stephen Collier (@S13Collier) January 27, 2015
After ten minutes I would have went home and taken it as a divine sign I wasn't meant for class on that day. (I guess that sheds some light on why I'm the one embedding tweets right now.)
THOSE WMDs. Surreal dipping volley in the AFCON... The Hardest Places to Live in the US... Striking images of the first war that felt like a video game... A Holocaust victim's liberation story about departing Dachau... Two ex-Vanderbilt footballers convicted of all charges in rape trial... It's a mutual lovefest for Chippendales, Iowa women.
