Pop culture generally makes me want to stick my head into a bucket of chloric acid, but plump middle-aged men telling me "women dig this, actually" and the media's gleeful regurgitating of it have unlocked levels of Hell in my life that I previously did not know existed.
Now there's a bunch of misguided dads out there who just fast-tracked their divorce because they think they're sex icons. Somebody is going to end up sued over this.
THE BALLAD OF MIKE CONLEY. Given that Kobe Bryant is dead (and that, in retrospect, he was a delusional asshole), I have now decided that Mike Conley is my favorite NBA player.
From Alex Siquig of Vice.com:
The worst thing you can find about Mike Conley on the internet is that his comfort food is mac and cheese or that he and his best friend Greg Oden once spent some time hanging out with Gene Simmons. He has, slowly and steadily, become as complete a point guard as there is in the NBA. And yet, in any discussion of his position, Conley routinely winds up shoved so far down the depth chart as to be an afterthought, at least when he and his team are not disemboweling your darlings. He's not going to save basketball; he can't destroy it.
[...]
His game is a less-annoying version of Tony Parker's, all floaters and tear drops and weaponized fearlessness. He gives a shit on defense and will lock your ass down if he has to. He never seems unstoppable, and yet at certain times cannot be stopped. The loyalty he inspires from the toughest and grouchiest team in the league was no one's gift. Conley inherited a great deal—he is a member of one of the most distinguished black families in American history; there's hardly a discipline where the Conleys have not made their mark. He has earned even more.
Mike Conley eats mac and cheese... on purpose? Who knew?
Last night, however, didn't go as planned for Mike Conley's Memphis Grizzlies, who were beaten at home by the Golden State Warriors, 101-84. (The series is now tied at two games a piece.)
Conley dropped 10 points, 7 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals. (Kosta Koufos chipped in 2 points and 2 rebounds.)
MEYER AND HARBAUGH LOVE THE WHAM. Outside of football and having families, there aren't many similarities between Jim Harbaugh and Urban Meyer, but there are a couple.
From James Light of JamesLightFootball.com:
Jim Harbaugh and Urban Meyer will be doing battle on the gridiron for the foreseeable future as the head coaches at Michigan and Ohio State respectively. While the two programs are fierce rivals, the head coaches are very much alike in terms of how they approach the game. The foundation of both head coaches offenses has always been built on a powerful running game. Both have been proponents of the Wham blocking scheme. But they block it differently. Harbaugh blocks the wham as a gap scheme, where as Meyer blocks the wham using zone principles. The wham play is named for the block by the H-Back or Tight End. It is a trap block from the outside-in that’s referred to as a wham block.
[...]
While they have different methods for how they go about doing it, Harbaugh and Meyer’s offensive goals are virtually the same. They both have built their programs everywhere they have been on the philosophy of dominating the line of scrimmage and running the football.
Like Ohio State, Michigan has a bit of a QB conundrum on its hands. Unlike Ohio State, Michigan's QB choices range from "couldn't start at Iowa" to "a QB named Shane that's not Shane Falco."
Take it from a Browns fan: It's a lot harder to run the ball when there are eleven players stuffed into the box.
MORE FIRST PITCHES. Surprise, surprise... an MLB squad is using popular student-athletes as a marketing gimmick:
O-H! NCAA wrestling champions Logan Stieber/Nathan Tomasello will throw out first pitches 5/13 vs. STL. pic.twitter.com/xsX1KqWoWB
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) May 12, 2015
TERELL HALL HONORED. Folks, it appears Urban Meyer has an eye for talent evaluation. Here's 2016 DE commit Terrell Hall:
Blessed to announce that I've been invited to the 2016 Under Armour All-American Game! #IWILL @TomLuginbill @TomVH pic.twitter.com/sqoA4DnC8w
— Terrell Hall (@_TrillTrell_) May 12, 2015
Hall could be a special one at Ohio State, but after years of typing "Terrelle Pryor," the spelling of "Terrell" looks like a dang typo to me.
SOLAR PAVEMENT!? This would be cool.
From Tom Knox of BizJournals.com:
Parking lots at Ohio State University could someday become home to solar-activated test pavement that produces power and melts snow.
The technology is a long way from widespread commercial use, but the company that manages Ohio State’s parking lots and garages says it's interested in testing the futuristic pavement. It could be a small lot, a stretch of road – somewhere to see how useful the technology could become, said CampusParc CEO David Teed.
[...]
Solar pavement can heat up, clear snow and, if scaled widely enough, become a sizable source of electricity. Though there are government and business interests in the technology, solar-powered pavement from companies such as Solar Roadways faces obstacles, particularly high costs.
Given the amount of tickets handed out by CampusParc, I assume its CEO gave this interview while sitting upon a pile of $100 bills.
THOSE WMDs. The saga of Richie Parker... Inhibitors Make Rare Landing On Longstanding Anticancer Target Ras... Bill Simmons is a shitty writer... 2015 Pulitzer finalists... When metrics drive newsroom culture... The Real Mayors of SimCity.
