Folks, you're probably going to be surprised by this but a man went on sports radio yesterday and wild out:
"Penn State will smoke Ohio State in late September...Penn State will be a home underdog and they will beat Ohio State by double digits" - @DannySheridan1
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) June 1, 2018
Y'all know me. Predicting the local team to steamroll its enemies is my business, and business is boomin' under Urban F. Meyer, a man and I who once watched a Sister Hazel concert together.
The Buckeyes could lose that game. They won't get smoked though. If they lose by 17+ I'll personally apologize to Danny Sheridan and Pumpkin James Franklin.
ICYMI:
- The biggest remaining questions entering 2018.
- Have a tailgate recipe Buckeye Kingdom needs to know about? Submit it to the Official 11W Tailgate Cookbook. The author of the highest-voted recipe receives a $50 gift certificate to the 11W Dry Goods.
Word of the Day: Argute.
OHIO STATE NAMED 3RD BEST ROAD TRIP. David Jones of PennLive.com spent the last 25 years covering Penn State football, which is 400 years in sports journalism. His Big Ten road trip rankings hold a lot of sway.
Jones ranked Ohio State behind Northwestern (eh, what is Chicago other than a dirtier, overcrowded, and more-expensive Columbus?) and Wisconsin (fair).
The Columbus I knew when we moved away three decades ago was only just beginning to turn into the cosmopolitan city it’s become since, really the coolest Midwestern city outside of Chicago. Terrific restaurant town, lots of distinct neighborhoods and districts, full of young adults and the youthful vibrancy that goes with the populace. You can make a great 3-day weekend out of this town.
A sizable section of the fan base is a little zealous and obnoxious, so there’s that. You can run into trouble with hillbilly drunks who really have nothing to do with the school but have latched on to the football program as their religion. Get a little booze in them and there’s no reasoning. You know the type; they surround every major program, just a few more here.
But man, there is no 4-hour game experience in the league that compares to the Shoe. The architecture of 96-year-old Ohio Stadium beats every other in the league by a lot. The band and its entrance are by far the most dramatic. And they tend to have a pretty competitive team.
You can make a great three decade life here, and keep the change on that "hillbilly" talk, too. We're from Ohio and talking trash runs in our wolf blood. Secondly, you don't have to pay thousands of dollars for a Biology 101 class (no, I'm not bitter about it, why do you ask?) to be a fan of the Buckeyes. It's a state enterprise, aided in part by tax dollars.
And those that live outside paradise and arbitrarily picked the Buckeyes for their winning ways? Well, having good taste has never been a crime in America.
Jones did nail the Michigan Experience, though:
The campus is fine. Better than fine if you’re into an overabundance of button-down Oxford cloth and overpriced craft beer. Contrasting with their counterpart rival Ohio State fans who aren’t self-aware enough to attempt hiding their gauche manner, Michigan fans are unduly tweedy and laboriously collegiate. They all seem to think U-of-M is right on the verge of replacing Dartmouth to take its rightful place among the Ivies. They’re just all tiresome.
Jones' only mistake is thinking Ohioans would hide our gauche manner if only we were aware of it. We were built for college football cultural warfare, unlike Michiganders.
THE SHOW ME CITY. I first learned about St. Louis as an eighth grader in 2000 when I heard Nelly and the St. Lunatics' "Country Grammar," a banger about a drive-by.
Things I have learned since without visiting outside the airport. It hosts Anheuser-Busch and the reprehensible Cardinals. It also has a style of pizza that is ketchup on cardboard.
Is it the Midwest? Folks, it's hard to say. But the Buckeyes have a national brand, and they've targeted St. Louis since the days of Ezekiel Elliott. Kamryn Babb and Cameron Brown are the latest imports. It's part of the city's rising football profile.
From cleveland.com:
[Brothers coach Terrence] Curry thinks it's the latter, and credits it to more emphasis on football and strength training all year long.
"These guys got ample opportunity to be way better than what we were and have outlets, you know, as far as like becoming faster, stronger, quicker," he said. "That's allowing them to expose their talents and be recruited by a school like Ohio State."
A good example of the type of athletes starting to come out of St. Louis is another OSU target, four-star Cardinal Ritter receiver Jameson Williams. At the Missouri high school state track meet, the 6-foot-2, 160-pounder took first place in Class 3 in both the 400-meter dash (48.68 seconds) and the 300 hurdles (37.47). He also finished second in both the 100 and 200.
They keep sending players like Elliott, Babb, and Brown this way then maybe I need to move St. Louis up on the "weekend excursion" list. Definitely wouldn't be during baseball season, though.
GET DUMPED, EVERYONE BUT BAMA. Here's an internet poll, the most accurate kind of poll, from a veritable organization surveying the perceptions of blue blood programs.
The Buckeyes beat everyone but Alabama.
Over 65,000 votes.
— Pick Six Previews (@PickSixPreviews) May 23, 2018
% that view the program as a "BLUE BLOOD"
91% Alabama
90% Ohio State
89% OU
83% USC
81% Notre Dame
72% Texas
67% Nebraska
64% Michigan
- - - - - -
55% Penn State
50% FSU
50% Miami
42% Tennessee
37% LSU
36% UGA
35% UF
26% Clemson
13% Washington
Michigan trailing the Buckeyes by 26... 'bout right.
BUCKEYE BUILDERS. Urban Meyer is using former tight ends to mentor current tight ends about post-football careers:
#RLW - @Jake_Hausmann shadowed former player, @TheJakeBallard to learn about the real estate business.#RealLifeWednesdays #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/n5LpRNZ50W
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) June 1, 2018
Meyer is a helluva recruiter. But not many of his competitors can offer alumni connections like OSU.
THOSE WMDs. Leonard vs. Pepsico, Inc... Vermont will pay you $10,000 to move there and work from home... A soldier died before his baby was born, so his Army family welcomed her with open arms... Self-driving cars could be coming to Cincinnati... How to be happy.
