Here's 52 reasons to be happy today: There are only 52 days remaining until Ohio State's spring game.
DOLODALE THE BENEVOLENT. Because cynicism is a lifestyle for me (don't knock it 'til you try it), I'm leery of people whose charity work always seems to be done in front of a throng of television cameras.
Cardale Jones, who was outed by a Redditor as a Meals on Wheels volunteer earlier this week, is not one of those people.
Nothing like giving back
— Cardale Jones (@CJ12_) February 24, 2015
I personally don't like getting a lot of recognition or attention for volunteering. One, I enjoy volunteering, helping people, & giving back
— Cardale Jones (@CJ12_) February 24, 2015
those are things I am passionate about. The people who volunteer in places like soup kittens and meals on wheels day in and day out
— Cardale Jones (@CJ12_) February 24, 2015
are the ones who deserve the national & media recognition. You guys are true role models, giving up your free time to help those in need.
— Cardale Jones (@CJ12_) February 24, 2015
To all volunteers around the world, I salute you #GoBucks
— Cardale Jones (@CJ12_) February 24, 2015
Soup *kitchens
— Cardale Jones (@CJ12_) February 24, 2015
Due to my supreme faith in Dolodale, I didn't see the typo. I seriously thought he'd discovered a new species of cat and the Happy Jamarco scale was about to be shattered.
It might not be fair, because J.T. Barrett and Braxton Miller are quality dudes as well, but how do you sit Cardale Jones at this point unless somebody beats him by a country mile? Wasn't the knock on Cardale that his immaturity stood in the way of his talent? Well, what's standing in his way now other than expectations?
Because as we know, expectations are no match for the Iron King:
@TaylorRooks lol who cares
— Cardale Jones (@CJ12_) February 24, 2015
ABOUT THAT LOVING SUSPENSION THOUGH. In retrospect, the suspension of Marc Loving might have had more of an impact than we I thought.
From Eric Seger of TheOzone.com:
When Loving was shelved, the Buckeyes sat at 6-3 in the Big Ten and had won three straight games including back-to-back victories against ranked opponents Indiana and Maryland. Pulled from the starting lineup Jan. 22, Loving responded and averaged 12.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game in the three games after. He also shot a blistering 72.7 percent on 3-pointers in those three games, including a white-hot 5-for-5 from beyond the arc on his way to 19 points in Ohio State’s 80-56 victory against the Terrapins. It was perhaps the best and most efficient performance of his career and without a doubt his team’s best win of the season.
“I think Marc’s done a great job getting his groove back,” said senior guard Shannon Scott Feb. 3, the day before Loving’s suspension was announced. “I think last game he had a tremendous game for us. If he plays like that, we’re going to win a lot of games.”
Then, the sharpshooter from Toledo, Ohio, was gone.
They barely lost to Purdue, and after blasting bad teams like Rutgers and Penn State, the Bucks were routed by Michigan State and worked over with a pipe by a guy named Spike in Ann Arbor.
Seger has the deeper dive, but to me, the Loving suspension was like a tire going out just as Ohio State's bus was trying to merge onto the highway of legitimate Top 25 teams. Now they're hours behind schedule and everybody is surly.
Unless something drastic changes, I fear it will be known as the 2015 turning point.
OSU'S MADNESS BID ON (THIN) ICE. Speaking of the Basketbucks, they're still solidly in the tournament field, but it's about that time.
From Stewart Mandel of FoxSports.com:
The Buckeyes (19-8, 8-6 Big Ten), currently my last No. 8 seed, have long seemed a safe bet, especially after making appearances in the AP and coaches polls. But with less than three weeks to go, Thad Matta's team boasts just two wins over top-50 foes -- Maryland and Indiana, both in January. Last weekend's loss to a .500 Michigan team did not help. Ohio State needs to win three of its last four to feel safe.
OSU's remaining schedule: Nebraska, Purdue, at Penn State, and Wisconsin.
If Loving's suspension was the turning point of the season, then another loss to Purdue might be the nail in the coffin, because I'm not feeling froggy about OSU's chances against the Badgers.
I suppose beating homeless Nebraska is the first step, however.
JAQUAN LYLE TO GO UNDER THE KNIFE. JaQuan Lyle, a talented 2015 Ohio State basketball commit and a guy who thinks Silk Russell will return next year, has a date with a surgeon.
Surgery on my meniscus Friday.
— JaQuan Lyle (@JMamba5) February 25, 2015
Me and D.Rose getting the same surgery...
— JaQuan Lyle (@JMamba5) February 25, 2015
(Yes, Derrick Rose is injured again.)
You know, all these injuries to basketball players makes me wonder if they know about my lifehack for avoiding injuries on the basketball court. It's genius is in its simplicity: Don't ever jump or cross either team's three point line. (I played pickup basketball for years and never had more than a rolled ankle.)
I'M GOOD ON THAT CONCEPT, BRO. The Browns took two years to "rebrand" their logo in a way that only took this guy 25 seconds, and yesterday, their labors were unveiled. (I, for one, can't believe an organization run by a carpetbagging son of a millionaire is having a hard time relating to the yeomen that fill the Dawg Pound, but that's another rant for another day.)
Thankfully, however, the Browns' efforts weren't as bad as this Ohio State concept helmet produced by Deeyung Entertainment:
I dig every other helmet except Ohio State's. If Ohio State announced that as its new helmet the Olentangy River would turn red scarlet due to all the blood that would have to be spilled to satiate the streets. (A helmet logo makes the Buckeye leaf stickers problematic, after all.)
HARBAUGH IS ONE STRANGE CAT. Is Jim Harbaugh trying to go the Les Miles rout of just saying baffling shit so nobody in the media really presses you about anything serious? Because if so, I approve 100%. It's much more entertaining than Brady Hoke's pop psychology tricks and mumbling.
From the official transcript of yesterday's press conference:
Q. Tomorrow's the first day of practice. You're going to have a whistle around your neck and a team to coach here for the first time at the place where you played. What are your thoughts and emotions?
A. It's like Thanksgiving. It's like New Year's Day. It's like a family reunion. And having it all rolled into one. Most people think of January 1st as the start of a new year. To people who espouse to Catholicism and Christianity, they might correlate that with the birth of Christ. Us in football, the start of spring practice and the first day of summer training camp are what you look at as the New Year with fireworks going off, it's your birthday. It's being born back into football, it's a happening.
Q. So it's the birth of a new team?
A. Yeah, it's like coming out of the mother's womb. You're in a nice, warm, cozy environment -- safe. And now you are out into the chaos and bright lights. It's a happening. It's all those things rolled into one.
I'm not saying it's going to go bad for Harbaugh for Michigan ― the opposite, actually — but, hypothetically, if Harbaugh did fail, it would be an explosion that would light the night skies for months.
Like, imagine where we, as a fanbase, would be right now if Urban Meyer was only a handful of games over .500 after his third year at Ohio State. It's painful to even think about.
Oh yeah, tack on a decade of futility before Urban Meyer's arrival too, and take our celebration and multiply it by about 50. (Remember: John Bacon, a venerable and good writer, unironically compared Harbaugh's hiring to to V-J day.)
Now, go read that insane quote again. (Let's just say I have a panache for recognizing the ramblings of an insane man.) Those are the words of a man on which the expectations of entire generations of Michigan Men ride. Those are the words of a man basically in charge of a Fortune 500 company.
Again, I'm not saying Harbaugh will be bad, but I am saying I'm now that much more thankful for the straight shootin' Urban Meyer.
THOSE WMDs. From @rdubbs007: How a Soccer Star is Made... How Madden Ratings Work... This 10-year-old is smarter than me... If you buy snow for $89 you're too rich... Banned since WWII, Mein Kampf set to return to German bookshelves... How the "Blurred Lines" trial could change music forever... Ohio State planning 15th Ave overhaul for "cultural gateway."
