It's another Saturday without Buckeye football, but at least the Rightful King of Ohio and his troops return to Cleveland with revenge on their mind.
ICYMI:
- Joe Burrow selects LSU over Cincinnati
- A Farewell to Mike Slive, Friendly Nemesis of the Big Ten and Jim Delany
- An early look at TCU, Ohio State's first big opponent of the 2018 season
Word of the Day: Embrocation.
JEAUX BURREAUX. The biggest free agent in college football has found a home: Joe Burrow will join Les Miles' squad in Baton Rouge.
Excited to be playing in Death Valley next season. Ready to get to work.
— Joey Burrow (@Joe_Burrow10) May 19, 2018
The decision reportedly came down to Cincinnati and LSU, and as much as I would have loved to see Joey Football light up the American next season, he made the right choice.
LSU routinely has a roster loaded with NFL talent, but hasn't even had a competent quarterback since... Zach Mettenberger? JaMarcus Russell? He'll play immediately with a talented team.
It's also a win for Urban Meyer. Not only does it eliminate the possibility of a 2019 showdown between Burrow and the Buckeyes in the 'Shoe, it puts one more obstacle in front of Nick Saban.
GOOD TRY, GOOD EFFORT. Just a few months after creating a recruiting graphic exclusively featuring five Ohio State offensive line greats, Michigan's design team is at it again.
It appears Jim Harbaugh and his squad distributed a recruiting graphic featuring the faces of coaches Greg Mattison and Don Brown on the bodies of the famous Legion of Doom professional wrestling tag team.
The big problem is, one of those wrestlers is Joseph "Animal" Laurinaitis, father of Ohio State All-American James Laurinaitis. Neither big, nor little Animal was enthused.
— James Laurinaitis (@JLaurinaitis55) May 18, 2018
#LOD are and will always going to be Buckeyes! #Ohio State #Champions #nice try Michigan Coaches pic.twitter.com/pkRSHyldzi
— RoadWarriorAnimal (@RWAnimal) May 18, 2018
This is nowhere near as egregious as the previous blunder – which speaks volumes considering the imagery clearly plays on an Ohio State All-American's famous father while trying to appeal to Ohio recruits – but it's certainly something.
The most amazing part of it all is that they thought this would be appealing to #teens in the first place. "Two middle-aged men photoshopped onto the bodies of professional wrestlers who reached their peak before I was born? Sign me up!"
COLLEGE TEAMS WANT THEIR CUT. Earlier this week, the Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on state-sanctioned sports gambling, and in an absolutely predictable turn of events, people across the country are trying to figure out how they can cash in.
College athletic departments are no exception, as a few schools are already exploring options for profiting off of the imminent legal sports gambling industry.
From ESPN.com
On Thursday, representatives from Missouri, Rutgers and UConn participated in a conference call with Major League Baseball to consider options, including potentially creating a mechanism where a percentage of the amount wagered on events involving college teams would be funneled back to the schools. Major League Baseball, along with the NBA and PGA Tour, has been lobbying for similar fees to be paid to the professional leagues based on the amount wagered.
The professional leagues have asked for anywhere from 0.25 to 1 percent of the action bet on games and events, although states have been resistant to this point.
That sounds fair and fine in theory. After all, there is no gambling without the leagues regulating the games. But I'm not convinced the states are going to go for it or that the leagues have any leverage to change their mind.
What are they going to do, refuse to play the games until they get a cut of the gambling revenue? We'll see how this plays out.
TENNIS TEAM KEEPS ROLLING. We're in the middle of May and a few Buckeye teams are still in the hunt for national titles. The closest one currently is the men's tennis team, which punched its ticket to the quarterfinals on Friday.
Buckeyes advance to the quarterfinals and will face Mississippi State on Sunday.
— Ohio State M Tennis (@OhioState_MTEN) May 18, 2018
Recap, highlights and interviews of today's win: https://t.co/1dTCT5LOM3 pic.twitter.com/CnyW7lDwld
The team will face Mississippi State on Sunday afternoon with a chance to advance to next weekend's semifinals.
Competing for rings is a year-round event in Columbus.
FOLKS FLOCK TO THE BUS. If you don't have property in Columbus, now is the time.
Last month, Columbus reached No. 4 on Realtor.com's list of the nation's hottest housing markets – its highest ranking yet. Ohio's capital city was behind just midland Texas, Boston and San Francisco.
People are flocking to Columbus, and the supply of homes can't keep up.
From Tristan Navera of Columbus Business First:
"It's kind of a perfect storm," Sara Walsh, president of Columbus Realtors, told me.
She noted 86 consecutive months of home inventory going down. Readily available education, a diverse economy, economic growth and a lag in home building all play into the market. "We offer so much for so many different groups of people."
Central Ohio is projected to add 1 million residents by 2050, so today's strain could well be tomorrow's full-blown crisis.
Mark my words, folks: property in Franklinton is the modern day gold rush.
THOSE WMDs. 14-hour marathon sex sessions driving Australian marsupials to extinction... DB Cooper possibly identified as an ex-paratrooper from Michigan... Couple finds rusty safe with $52,000 with of cash and jewels inside... Kidnapper uses alligator to hold man captive... Get your royal wedding souvenir condoms...
