Special shoutout today to America's veterans, who helped secure and defend all the rights we love and know today. May you all enjoy a day of tranquility in the lap of luxury while eating succulent foods. It's the least you deserve.
This week's NSFW ANTI-WORK #BANGERS:
- Dave Chappelle comedy half-hour.
- The best of George Carlin.
- Unsung Hollywood: Charlie Murphy.
Some TV notes:
| SPORT | TIME (PM) | MATCHUP | LOCATION | TELEVISION |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WOMEN'S B-BALL | 12:00 | DUQUESNE at OHIO STATE | ST. JOHN ARENA | BTN+ |
| SOCCER | 8:00 | MEXICO at UNITED STATES | CREW STADIUM | ESPN |
| MEN'S B-BALL | 9:00 | OHIO STATE at NAVY | NAVY ALUMNI HALL | CBS SPORTS |
EMBRACING THE STANDARD. It's not fun replacing a legend. For one, you never start out as good as the legend. Neither did the legend, but people never remember that.
Such is what happened to Mike Weber. A former blue-chip recruit, Weber replaced Ezekiel Elliott, a Mount Rushmore Buckeye running back who currently leads the NFL in rushing.
While it's unfair to expect Weber to replace Elliott without drop-off, Urban Meyer didn't win three championships by demanding mediocrity. It's a message Weber rebuffed at first, but no longer.
From dispatch.com:
“Try to be Zeke,” he said. “The thing we try to do around here is (meet standards). Go be Vonn Bell. Go be (Joey) Bosa. Go do what that position is supposed to do.”
Weber, a redshirt freshman from Detroit, said he was taken aback at first by Meyer’s immediate expectations.
“I was like, ‘Dang, man. You don’t want me to be myself?’ ” he said. “He does it for a reason. He’s done it for a long time. I’m pretty sure he knows what he’s doing. I just listen to him and take on everything he tells me.”
Weber is clearly developing. Heading into a game Saturday at Maryland, he has gained 842 yards, averaging 6.0 per carry. According to CFB Film Room, Weber had gained 37 percent of his yardage after contact entering the Nebraska game. Elliott gained 35 percent of his yards that way in 2015.
Weber is developing, though he's currently rehabbing a dinged shoulder in effort to play Saturday. (Feel free to take the week off, Mike! Demario McCall is ready to shoulder the load!)
The rushing game will become more potent as the offensive line solidifies. These next two weeks offer chances to put it all together, because it's going to be crucial when Michigan comes knocking in three weeks.
HOOKER NICKNAME ALERT. Folks! Big news to pass along here.
I've racked the barren, drug-addled mind for an appropriate nickname for Malik Hooker all year. I resigned myself to him already being in the NFL before a stroke of genius hit me.
As it turns out, the nickname was right in front of us... in New Castle, Pennsylvania.
From usatoday.com:
It was back home that Hooker’s basketball prowess earned him the nickname “King of Castle,” with that athleticism on clear display during Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Luke Fickell’s trips to evaluate the three-star prospect from within the Buckeyes’ 250-mile recruiting bubble.
[...]
“When I made my decision that I was going to come here and play football, I really didn’t think it through,” he said. “I mean, think about it. You play one year of (high school) football and Ohio State comes knocking on your door asking you to come play football here. There’s no way you can turn that down.”
Given his limited football experience, Hooker spent his first semester on campus as a self-described “nobody,” far behind in his fundamentals, swimming during film study and taxed by the program’s ferociously demanding strength program. He was, in short, completely miserable.
King of Castle. I love it, because Hooker is like the final boss of Ohio State's defense. Oh, you just got to the second level? Here comes Bowser with his flamethrower to turn your dreams to ash.
It's also ridiculous Hooker played four years of football and will be in the NFL next year. That speaks to his talent and hard work, obviously, but it also speaks to this staff's ability to identify and develop talent.
It's a travesty we only got to watch him start one year, but it's not like the two guys who started over him last year work as Ponderosa cooks right now.
SHOUTOUT TO WILL MUSCHAMP BEING BAD. Yesterday, we talked about how Jamarco Jones almost flipping to Michigan State. On another hellacious timeline, Florida linebacker Jerome Baker is preparing to face the man who earned his Gator commitment, South Carolina coach Will Muschamp.
Cleveland Benedictine linebacker Jerome Baker is a Florida Gator. pic.twitter.com/p3qSBKsLS6
— Kyle Rowland (@KyleRowland) July 11, 2014
Jerome Baker and Benedictine head coach Joe Schaefer declined to talk to the media.
— Kyle Rowland (@KyleRowland) July 11, 2014
Thankfully, it didn't hold. And we have Muschamp's mediocrity to thank for that.
From cleveland.com:
Asked if Muschamp and his staff were never fired if he would have stuck with his commitment to the Gators, Baker said yes.
"Potentially ya, I believe so. I'll say ya," Baker said. "I really just wanted to be comfortable going in, and knowing they weren't going to be there and not knowing who is going be there, it was kind of scary.
"The biggest thing is they got fired, so I felt a little uneasy. I didn't want to go into somewhere I didn't know the whole coaching staff. But I'm a family guy, so staying in Columbus, two hours away, worked out fine for me."
Also shoutout to Baker's mom, who put an Ohio State offer letter on the fridge and refused to take it off even after her son committed to Florida.
That story on Baker is a #goodread. I recommend it in full.
BRIAN KELLY: STILL MAD. Former Alabama quarterback John Parker Wilson (I miss the days when all Bama QBs had three names like an assassin) and running back Trent Richardson came back to Tuscaloosa last week and ran on the scout team ahead of the team's big game against LSU.
This is allowed by the NCAA for some reason as long as the school doesn't publicize it when it happens. It worked, though. LSU QB Danny Etling posted 92 yards and an interception. Leonard Fournette ran for 35 yards.
Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly is upset about this.
Brian Kelly on teams bringing former players for scout team: "I think it's absolutely ludicrous..doesnt sound like college football to me."
— Laken Litman (@LakenLitman) November 10, 2016
You know what's not ludicrous? Notre Dame being 3-6.
That's amazing.
COLUMBUS: NO. 1 IN OHIO. Columbus is the most prosperous city in Ohio. It's also the drunkest.
Note: The CDC defines binge drinking as the consumption of four or more drinks for women and five or more drinks for men during a single occasion. Heavy drinking is defined as the consumption per week of 15 or more drinks for men, and eight or more drinks for women.
From 247wallst.com:
35. Ohio
> Drunkest city: Columbus
> Pct. of MSA adults binge or heavy drinking: 19.2%
> Pct. of state adults binge or heavy drinking: 19.1%[...]
Adults in Ohio are slightly more likely to have unhealthy drinking habits than adults across the country. In the Columbus metro area, 19.2% of adults drink excessively — the largest share of the state’s 11 metro areas. Excessive drinking is more common in high income areas, and the typical Columbus household earns $58,192 a year, more than in any other metro area in the state.
While binge and heavy drinking are relatively common in Columbus, other unhealthy habits are not. Only 18.3% of area adults smoke, and only 24.5% are not physically active — smaller shares than the corresponding 21.0% and 26.3% statewide shares.
Looks like Cleveland and Cincinnati need to step their games up!
THOSE LINKS. Why seabirds love to gobble plastic floating in the ocean... India's crackdown in Kashmir... Designing a better death... Reconciling ecology and economics... Our precious urban lives... Chabuduo! Close enough.
