Not to get political, but it's legal to respond to people over the age of 12 who say, "May the Fourth be with you" today by punching them in the nose.
This ad has been paid for by Sane Citizens Against the Proliferation of Tired Star Wars Puns.
GOTTA LOVE NUMBERS. I hate numbers—unless they can be used to turn my opinion into fact.
How impressive was Ohio State's performance in the 2016 NFL Draft? Would you believe the most impressive since 1946?
From fivethirtyeight.com:
Using the draft value chart, which assigns the average marginal approximate value produced by each draft pick, we can give more weight to the best picks to provide a more accurate measure of class strength. [...]
Incredibly, Ohio State had five players drafted in the top 20 and another five in the top 100. As a result, a total of 151.2 points of draft value was used on Buckeyes players. That’s the most — by a very large margin — in 70 years. The table below shows the top 25 draft classes as measured by points of draft value used to select players:
| YEAR | TEAM | NUMBER OF PICKS | DRAFT VALUE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1946 | NOTRE DAME | 16 | 170.4 |
| 2016 | OHIO STATE | 12 | 151.2 |
| 1955 | NOTRE DAME | 9 | 128.8 |
| 1945 | NOTRE DAME | 15 | 126.6 |
| 1968 | USC | 11 | 122.2 |
| 1954 | NOTRE DAME | 12 | 121.7 |
| 2004 | MIAMI (FL) | 9 | 114.0 |
Using this methodology, the best draft class between the 1970 merger and this year came out of Miami in 2004. And yet this class beat that mark by 31.7 percent! That Hurricanes draft was great, with Sean Taylor (fifth overall), Kellen Winslow Jr. (sixth), Jonathan Vilma (12th), D.J. Williams (17th), Vernon Carey (19th) and Vince Wilfork (21st) all selected in the first round. But after those six players, Miami didn’t have another player drafted until the seventh round. By contrast, the Buckeyes had five first-round picks, two more in the second round, three in the third and two more in the fourth. As a result, it stands out as the most impressive draft class in modern history.
It's clear to me now why most Notre Dame fans are over 60, but the 1940s and 1950s are more recent than I would've guessed for the last era of Irish dominance.
Glad to see it's settled then, thanks to numbers. Ohio State's draft class is the most dominant in history. I expect a recruiting graphic commemorating this accomplishment to be released by Urban Meyer's Twitter account later today.
BRAXTON MILLER AND VANNETT GET TECHNICAL. Braxton Miller and Nick Vannett wanted to hone their receiving skills, so they turned to former Arkansas State wide receiver standout Dwayne Frampton for help.
Frampton flew to Columbus on Tuesday and worked out the Buckeye duo.
Via @GoBucks2204, here's Frampton showcasing his route-running ability before trying to haul in a pass from Braxton Miller.
I should've caught that @BraxtonMiller5 lol my bad. pic.twitter.com/QhltMD8yxY
— FRAMPCAMP (@FrampCamp) May 3, 2016
Granted, it's not a live throw but still cool to see Braxton throwing nonetheless.
Here are Miller and Vannett working drills:
Working on zone sitting with the good gentlemen @BraxtonMiller5 and Nick vanett pic.twitter.com/KLhcmy6nM4
— FRAMPCAMP (@FrampCamp) May 3, 2016
College is more structured than the NFL, which requires its stars to be self-starters. It's early but looks like Miller and Vannett are on the right path.
BUCKEYE BUZZ. The NFL Draft is over, and Buckeye draftees are starting to get introduced to their teams.
From ohiostatebuckeyes.com's excellent rundown of NFL teams gushing about their newest weapons:
Exclusive First Interview with Joey Bosa
"I'm just going to give San Diego everything I have every day. I just want to get better and be the best possible player I can be. Along with that, I want to win some games. I don't expect anything else. I am going to bring it every day."[...]
Why did Giants decision makers choose CB Eli Apple?
"[He is a] combative, physical corner who interviewed great. [He] tackled well on tape. We like his size, we like his length, good ball skills -- that showed up, which is something that he is working on, and we are excited to get him in here."[...]
Texans select Braxton Miller in Round 3
"I think we're going to play him (Miller) in a few different places, but definitely the slot is one of them," Bill O'Brien said Friday. "There are a lot of different things that he can do for us in the slot, we think he can do things for us on the outside, there's things that he can do for us at the number three spot, special teams, he can help us in that area too. Like I said, very excited to get going with him."
Texans are wise take a jack-of-all-trades approach with Miller, though a professional football coach that failed to do so with a talent like him should be jailed for criminal negligence.
CARDALE'S SPOT: GOOD? I wouldn't have chosen to send Cardale Jones to the Buffalo Bills, but after 72 hours of reflection I realized the number of worse places outnumber the better ones.
My thinking was surmised by espn.com:
Ohio State’s Jones could have been a high pick had he come out following the 2014 season, when he started just three games but won a national championship. Jones likely wouldn’t have been anywhere near ready for the NFL at that point, however. Jones’ decision to return to the Buckeyes, where he lost his starting job and perhaps a lot of money, can be criticized after he ended up in the fourth round (139th overall), going to Buffalo. But here’s the good news: Jones won’t be pronounced the team’s savior right away. The Bills have a clear starter in Tyrod Taylor, though he’s unsigned beyond this upcoming season. They’ve also got EJ Manuel, meaning Jones can hold a clipboard on game days and continue to work on his skills during the rest of the week. Buffalo is a small media market where there won’t be much of a spotlight on him for a while (though, hopefully, Jones will continue to entertain us on Twitter).
Jones remains somewhat a boom-or-bust project. But as a fourth-rounder, he’s much more likely to either be a pleasant surprise or a mild disappointment. Whether he can harness his immense skills and become a legitimate NFL starting quarterback is still a question. But Jones is in a great situation to figure that out.
I do like Buffalo is a small media town and the Iron King won't be hailed as a savior (although he's proven to have that "savior gene" as mediocre sportswriters like myself would say).
The one thing I don't like is he's coached by Rex Ryan, who is an overrated blowhard that could be fired within the next two years. I hope Dale doesn't get lost in the shuffle, which can happen to players when regimes change.
TAYLOR DECKER MEETS TAYLOR AND DECKER. The Columbus Zoo named two baby clouded leopards "Taylor" and "Decker" after its former intern, Detroit Lions offensive tackle Taylor Decker.
Decker, looking svelte after months of training with LeCharles Bentley, met his namesakes Tuesday:
.@TDeck68 got to meet 'Taylor' & 'Decker' - the clouded leopards named after him by the @ColumbusZoo pic.twitter.com/15tAzX3FXo
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) May 3, 2016
Apologies to the Cleveland Browns, but I may have to break tradition and prophecy a Detroit Lions Super Bowl victory in 2017. There are clearly mystical forces at work here.
THOSE WMDs. United States nuclear targets in 1956... Relax in this dry-pool and feel like you're floating... Is the tech bubble popping? Ping pong offers an answer... Three potentially habitable planets found in our cosmic backyard... Plugging a 1986 Mac into the modern web.
