Well, we did it. We did the dang thing. We survived, and now we're on the gates of another Big Ten Media Days. Our media days primer will drop at 8:35 a.m. ET. The first leg of the two-day event starts at 1 p.m. ET and will be aired on BTN and BTN2GO.
Follow our boots on the ground on Twitter: 11W, Eric Seger, and Tim Shoemaker.
Urban Meyer's opening session is slated for 2:30 to 2:45. His individual podium session is from 3:45 to 4:15. He finishes with a roundtable from 4:15 to 5:15.
Taylor Decker, Joshua Perry, and Adolphus Washington make-up Ohio State's contingent. Their individual podiums will be from 3:15 to 3:45. Individual roundtables go from 3:45 p.m. to 4:45.
THAT TIME WOODY HAYES RANG PRESIDENT NIXON. When some Americans disagree with the President of the United States they vote for an opponent, protest, or leave a poorly-written jeremiad in a non-11W comment section (among other things).
Woody Hayes, meanwhile, was about that action.
From Ryan Ginn of Scout.com's interview with Columbusite John Johnson, a former graduate assistant under Hayes and a legendary boxing manager.
BSB: Do you have any particularly memorable stories involving Woody?
“Martha Mitchell was (United State Attorney General) John Mitchell’s wife. She had said that Richard Nixon should resign. Coach Hayes said, ‘You don’t think he’ll do that, do you?’ Our meeting room had a phone jack but it didn’t have a phone. You had to go get a phone if you wanted to use it. So he said, ‘Go get me a phone.’ I bring the phone in and he calls the White House. At the time, I had called it a couple times before for him. What they did since there was no Caller ID was ask what number you were calling from. They must have somehow had a way of knowing who you were.“So he calls the White House and they answer. He said, ‘This is Coach Woody Hayes, let me talk to the president.’ Two minutes later… ‘Mr. President, one of my coaches came in and said Martha Mitchell said you should resign. Well you’re not going to resign, Mr. President. You hear me? You listen to me.’
“One thing I found out from being around him talking to Gerald Ford and Bob Hope and others: Coach Hayes would say something and the other person would say, ‘Yep, you’re right, Woody.’ He just totally dominated conversations. He was a very dominating and strong person. But that was crazy. I mean, he just called the president – and did all the talking, too.”
Richard Nixon quitting on Woody is a bigger disgrace than Watergate. Yeah, I said it.
THEY FOUND FONG Y'ALL. There were rumblings — started by 11W member Bucky Buck — of a man named Fong on Ohio State's football roster.
That man's government handle is Chris Fong, and he's a sophomore walk-on defensive lineman — who never played varsity football in high school and now has a championship ring.
From Doug Lesmerises of Cleveland.com:
He joined the roster after school began last year, not part of the 105-player limit for preseason practice, but added later when the roster expanded into the 120s. A scout team member, he never dressed for a game, and his first experience when he was even allowed to stand on the sideline was the Michigan game. His second was the Alabama win in the Sugar Bowl. His third was the National Championship game.
He has a ring, maybe the only player in the country without a snap of varsity football in high school and national championship hardware in college. He called the playoff a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But then he said the spring game was better.
Seventeen snaps. He counted. He lined up at nose tackle for both the scarlet and gray teams in the fourth quarter.
He played.
"He's a great service player for us," defensive line coach Larry Johnson said. "He comes to practice every day, he goes as hard as he can, and he loves it. It's an amazing thing."
Hot damn, that's an ascendency that would make Warren G. Harding raise his finest glass of lean.
Here, now, in the flesh, is the young beast from Troy, a city I know and love (except when they play Piqua):
RAHAL RIDES THE DRAGON. Columbusite IndyCar driver Graham Rahal got the celeb treatment at the Woody Hayes Actually Was the President Athletic Center back in late June. Four days later, he won his first race in seven years.
Rahal is looking to harness that sweet Buckeye voodoo again this weekend in Lexington, Ohio.
From Tim May of Dispatch.com:
IndyCar driver Graham Rahal has been motivated this year by competing for a season championship and by Ohio State pride.
He plans to put both on display this weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, heading toward the Honda Indy 200, which will be run there on Sunday.
Sitting second in the season standings behind Juan Pablo Montoya with three races left, Rahal said he thinks he has a car to contend for a second victory this season. And the New Albany native will be easy to identify in his open cockpit, wearing what amounts to a replica of an Ohio State football helmet.
When May writes Rahal "will be easy to identify," well, he's not exaggerating. Here's Rahal's helmet, which shows just how versatile Ohio State's iconic helmet design is.
THE SPECIALISTS ON THE GRIND TOO. Look at Ohio State's specialists not only showing they're on their grind, but also showing some serious comedic chops:
Our 40's may not be sub 5.0, but that doesn't mean we're not the best grinders on the team pic.twitter.com/ore5rXQIs3
— OSU Specialists (@BuckSpecialists) July 29, 2015
Thank you to Cam Johnston, who I think is the first person to make me laugh during a "hype video." (Consider me the founding member of the "Cam Johnston to the Browns" swagwagon. Perhaps the Browns have been looking at this all wrong, and what they need is not a good QB but a good punter...)
WHAT THE HELL, RICH ROD? Like most folks in this region... I have nothing but fond memories of Rich Rodriguez, who did nothing but fine work up in Ann Arbor. It perplexed me when I saw the heart of America catch this stray:
Rich Rodriguez on Big Ten country: They have two seasons: winter & August"
— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) July 29, 2015
Even if we only had two seasons (we have four), it's still preferable to Arizona's one: Literal Hell on Earth. Seriously, I've been there. Their meteorologists are all CGI-animated Satans laughing in your face.
THOSE WMDs. Cat Yoga Is Perfect for People Who Like Cats More Than Yoga... What it feels like to go viral... Twitter nooooo... Still slays me... Dan Mullen's radical idea to change college football.
