It's no Buckeye football Saturday, but the Senior Bowl kicks off at 2:30 p.m. ET on NFL Network.
PANTHERS RIDE BUCKEYE CULTURE TO PROMISED LAND. The Ohio State–Carolina Panther connection is well known by anybody reading a Saturday Skull Session in January.
But that connection is something they take seriously in Charlotte.
From espn.com:
"We tell each other, 'Play like a Buckeye,'" Brown said. "That's what we do. Take pride in being a Buckeye."
That pride has permeated throughout Carolina's practice facility. Safety Kurt Coleman, who played his last season for Ohio State in 2009, was among the league leaders with seven interceptions in 2015. This has been Coleman's most complete season.
[...]
"We take a lot of pride in our work. There's a professionalism; there's a confidence," Coleman said about venturing from Ohio State to the NFL as a seventh-round pick in 2010. "I think there are very few schools where you can come into an NFL locker room and say you've been playing with these type of athletes my whole career, right out of college. Ohio State is one of those schools."
Jim Tressel mentioned Coleman told him upon his arrival in Charlotte it was the first time since his OSU days he felt his team could accomplish something special.
The older I get the more I realize the importance of culture and picking your allies. Urban Meyer stresses it, and it's something the Panthers did too.
Compare that to Mike Pettine's "Play like a Brown" motto. Cleveland finished 3-13.
SPENCE READY TO GET REPETITIVE. Noah Spence, along with Braxton Miller, stole the show this week during Senior Bowl practice. His stock is rising, but next comes the NFL combine where teams will pepper him with questions about his past substance abuse issues.
From washingtonpost.com:
“I already knew it was going to be real hectic towards to end, but shoot, I’m ready for it,” Spence said. “I’ve got nothing to lie about. It’s all out there. Shoot, the most I can do is just tell people what the story is and hope for the best.”
[...]
“I feel like they can flip on both tapes,” Spence said. “You can watch my tape at Ohio State, you can watch my tape at Eastern Kentucky – I really didn’t lose much. I felt like I got better as a football player.”
When in doubt keep it real. (But not too real.)
By the way, I plan on pretending Spence left Ohio State for the NFL directly.
ADOLPHUS STILL GRINDING. Adolphus Washington is another guy that will face some uncomfortable questions at the next stage of the draft process.
He, like Spence, is going the "keeping it real" route with his questioners. I also appreciate his Zen wisdom on not regretting anything.
From yahoo.com:
"[Pittsburgh Steelers head coach] Mike Tomlin asked me that: How do I go about answering the questions? He told me he thought I should attack it," Washington told Shutdown Corner. "I did it, so I have to deal with the consequences. I have to explain to them my situation, what occurred."
[...]
"I’m not embarrassed by it at all," he said. "And I don’t regret doing it because I don’t regret anything I do. Everything you do is a learning experience, positive or negative. This happened to be a negative, and I have to deal with it."
"You hear it over and over, but I brought this on myself," he said. "I don't have [anyone] to blame but me."
I know those feelings as only a master in self-sabotage can.
As an example: Had I been in Adolphus' shoes and somebody asked me "What happened?" I would sardonically reply, "Well, coach, when a man loves a Backpage ad and has a few extra pennies in his pocket..."
CAMPUSPARC PAYS IN STRAIGHT CASH, HOMIE. Ohio State privatized its parking, and it can't hear any complaints over the sound of cash raining into its account Scrooge McDuck-style.
From dispatch.com:
Three and a half years after Ohio State University turned its parking operations over to a private contractor, customers haven't gotten any happier but the deal has poured millions into university coffers and promises more each year.
Of $83 million in total payments from the endowment, the biggest chunk, $34.5 million, went toward recruiting and hiring faculty members, OSU trustees were told Thursday. Searches for nearly 100 faculty members are underway and 35 tenure-track positions have been filled.
Nearly $26 million has gone to operate the Campus Area Bus Service and other sustainability projects. More than $14 million has funded student scholarships and $8.6 million went toward development of an arts district in the area west of High Street and 15th Avenue.
Seriously, it can't hear you:
Customer-service statistics kept by CampusParc suggest the age-old problems of parking on campus — not enough spaces, ticket machines that don't work, long waits on the phone when you need help — aren't improving.
THOSE WMDs. #Teen illegally scales the Great Pyramid of Giza... Frosted Flakes blocked a bunch of furries on Twitter and they're freaking out... Man hunting for $2 million treasure disappears... Quasimodo, the dog with the shortened spine... Baby swordfish looks wild.
