While The Americans slow rolls its way to an inevitably explosive finale, Billions is the best episode-for-episode cable show currently airing.
Just my #take. Sorry if it offends.
ICYMI:
- Urban Meyer said Dwayne Haskins, Joe Burrow, and Tate Martell combined for their best practice Wednesday.
- Defensive tackle Tommy Togiai became the first member of the 2018 recruiting class to shed his stripe.
- Big Ten spring teleconference recap.
- The Situational returns for the spring game.
- Michigan cancelled its spring game.
- Reserve your (or your business’) spot next to the life-size statue of Woody Hayes coming to Newcomerstown!
Word of the Day: Impervious.
PRIDGEON MAKES A MOVE. Urban Meyer's winning conditioned me into an ungrateful prick. A win over Michigan, a Big Ten championship, and the dumping of USC in the Cotton Bowl still leaves me forlorn about missing the playoffs.
I also expect every recruit to become a future Hall of Famer. Sometimes it happens immediately like Joey Bosa. Other times it takes a couple years like Malik Hooker. Lesser times not at all.
I figured former JUCO transfer Malcolm Pridgeon to factor into the depth chart somewhere last year. Even for the most talented JUCO player, however, it's still a stiff learning curve in Columbus.
He may have broken through this spring. While he may not start, he should provide valuable depth.
From Young Adam Schefter, whom you should follow on Twitter:
Might not be an obvious spot for him on the offensive line right now, but Ohio State coach Urban Meyer also said Malcolm Pridgeon has made a real push to earn playing time this spring.
— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) April 11, 2018
Guys, I'm starting to think the local team may be a national contender this year. Just gotta make sure the QB derby doesn't result in a debacle like 2015 (Urban — jot that one down) this team could be the most talented since that year.
This year's penultimate game is a trip to Maryland after a trip to East Lansing. It emits the odious stench of a trap game. Thankfully Urban Meyer crushing former assistants is the safest bet in college football.
HOW TO COBBLE A SHOE. I had a friend who recently worked in the Horseshoe. It's a cathedral. It's also dilapidated in the bowels and inner confines just like the rest of us in 2018.
Ohio State is in the middle of a three-year renovation and will be reduced by 18,000 seats for the already sold-out spring game. The construction will add suite seats and reduce some of the Shoe's obstructed views.
From Tim May of The Columbus Dispatch:
Because of the renovations in B deck, approximately 2,600 seats will be lost for the upcoming 2018 season, dropping the official game-day capacity to 102,854, according to the university. Once finished, the additional suites and loges are expected to return 525 seats, bringing the capacity to 103,379, short of the 104,944 it had been since 2014.
But as Patko and athletic director Gene Smith pointed out when the project was announced, many of the seats lost in B deck had obstructed views because of the steel columns used to support C deck in the original construction of the stadium, which opened in 1922.
Once the current project is completed, the university said, those with obstructed-view seats in B deck will have better lighting, larger TV screens to make up for the interference, and an enhanced sound system.
Hard to argue against that rationale. Crowd sizes will continue to shrink for every non-Michigan game as broadcast technologies continue their eternal march.
Suites will always sell out, though.
NEW AUTHOR. People who have never lived in Ohio are incapable of understanding it's a lucid land of fantasy.
While scrolling through the hell fires of Twitter yesterday, a blessed image courtesy of an "exotic animal tamer" in Ohio emerged from the pits of flame
via @chillingseymour/Twitter
One cool fact about Ohio is every animal has worn Buckeye regalia in some form. The fastest squirrel in the state probably runs around Cleveland in a bootleg Demario McCall jersey.
It's good to know we will have lemurs at our side if the Buckeye State should ever be forced to call the banners against an enemy. Lemurs have no concept of the afterlife. They make brutal enemies.
BULLDOG 11 GOES AWRY. A cool thing about cracking a cold one with your boys is it instantly morphs you into the smartest men in the world. There is no problem you can't solve with some combination of your dashing good looks, cosmic brains, or iron fists.
The problem occurs when the cold one wears off. Suddenly you are a mere mortal, possibly in the custody of other mortals that have the power to throw you in jail.
Such is what sounds like happened down at the world renowned university of Mississippi State, where four men thought they could burgle Alabama's palace.
And no, I ain't talkin' about the governor's mansion.
From tuscaloosanews.com:
Four Mississippi State University students were arrested after police said they broke into the Mal Moore Athletic Facility and stole memorabilia last week.
The University of Alabama declined to answer questions about the investigation Wednesday, including what was stolen and whether the items have been recovered.
According to court documents, the four young men were caught on surveillance video breaking into the complex at 1102 Coliseum Drive at 2:17 a.m. the morning of April 4. A UAPD officer wrote in charging documents that items stolen included “various items of memorabilia from within.”
These scholars tried to rob the Devil himself. It'd make sense if there were $300 million in gold bricks sitting unguarded in the lobby. I'll be damned if I'm committing a felony for another man's trophies.
YIKES. When we last saw Purdue giant Isaac Haas, he tried to play through a fractured elbow before ultimately falling short. According to a $1 million lawsuit, he also fell short in informing a sexual partner about his herpes and chlamydia.
From jconline.com:
Alyssa Chambers filed a $1 million civil lawsuit in Tippecanoe Circuit Court Tuesday accusing Haas of lying to her about having a sexually transmitted disease — and subsequently, infecting her.
Chambers and Haas engaged in a brief sexual encounter on May 15, 2017, according to a notice of civil tort filed with the lawsuit. Chambers was found to be infected with herpes two weeks later, according to the filing, which also names Purdue University and Madison Millsaps as defendants in the case.
...
Haas told Chambers he'd been treated for chlamydia and was clean by the time he and Chambers hooked up, according to the lawsuit filing.
Yikes, if these allegations are true ol' boy was throwing STDs around like a Caribbean pirate. He should lose more than money for that.
THOSE WMDs. Franklin County struggles to overcome high rate of evictions... Experience: A hippo swallowed me... Sidelines at the center of Martin Amis’s photographs of racing in England... The real story of the Hawaiian missile crisis... Hannah and Andrew.
