Folks, the anthracites are back.
Tomorrow pic.twitter.com/Vn1LavI86e
— Ohio State Hoops (@OhioStateHoops) February 25, 2021
Bucks by 20. At least.
Word of the Day: Solicitous.
THE SCORE IS JUST A NUMBER. Folks, it would seem that Dabo Swinney is back on his bullshit.
It's been a hot minute since that sentient message board got behind a hot mic. The last time, it was to tell everyone that he has no regrets about ranking Ohio State No. 11 before they beat him 49-28.
Now, he's out here claiming that score be damned, the Buckeyes weren't actually that much better than his team.
Dabo explaining tOSU was better that day: "Bucs were better than the Chiefs THAT DAY. Were they that much better? No."
— Dennis Dodd (@dennisdoddcbs) February 24, 2021
I've come to realize that Dabo Swinney has the exact same brain as a 10-year-old playing Call of Duty on XBox Live.
He talks massive amounts of shit after beating up on his friends, then the minute he has to play against someone who actually knows how to play the game, he rage quits and blames the loss on a bad internet connection.
CARTON'S JOURNEY. Around this time last year, DJ Carton officially announced his intent to transfer from Ohio State after stepping away from the team due to vague mental health reasons.
DJ didn't owe anybody an explanation about the specifics of what was going on, but a year later, it seems he's ready to talk about everything he struggled with throughout his career and what went on at Ohio State.
Basically, Carton has been battling depression since high school and going off to college to play elite college basketball and the expectations that came along with that only made his mental health worse.
Carton's depression led to the development of an eating disorder which caused him to lose about 25 pounds during his time at Ohio State. It got so bad that he hadn't eaten in four days ahead of Ohio State's game against Northwestern (which, by the way, was the best game of his Buckeye career). He was throwing up in the trashcan during timeouts and had to run back to the locker room to get fed.
Again, he doesn't owe us this explanation, but I'm sincerely glad he's sharing his story because I promise he's not the only player that's dealt with this, and there's a chance his experience can help someone else.
I've also been rooting for him every time I see a Marquette game on my television. But more than that, I'm rooting for him every day off the court, too.
This video was part of a three-part series on Carton's mental health struggles, and I'll share the other two as they're released. The next one will detail his decision to step away from basketball and ultimately leave Ohio State.
UNSUNG HEROES. Ohio State's had somewhat shocking success at staying free of COVID-19 during the season with no player even missing a single game with a positive test so far this season.
I have no idea how they were able to pull that off or what all went into it, but I do know that it took sacrifices from a hell of a lot more people than just the players we see on the court.
The team's managers – who don't get enough appreciation to begin with – have had a wild ride this season.
While some programs have opted to make do without managers this season in order to cut down on potential infections on the roster, Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann decided early on that the risk of having a contingent of 15 managers far outweighed any possible negative outcomes.
“I wouldn’t trade them for anyone,” he said. “They are absolutely vital to the success of our day-to-day operations and overall program success. In a year like this with the pandemic, we have needed them and appreciated them more than ever.”
...
“Some have been in quarantine multiple times, so they’ve missed a lot and that’s very hard, but they understand we’ve got to keep this team safe and keep playing,” said Dave Egelhoff, the team’s director of basketball operations. “All of these managers, each of them does not want to be a guy who counts towards possibly shutting the team down.”
...
“Every move that you make outside of being at basketball and being at the Schott with the team, you kind of have to think twice about,” said Mastroianni, from McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania. “It’s definitely something that early in the year it was on a lot of our minds, but as we’ve gone on, it’s kind of become a new normal and part of our regular life now.”
Hats off to them. That's already a thankless job, but doing it during a global pandemic is truly another level. And the saddest thing is, they didn't even get to have their one shining moment during the intramural or during the Manager Games.
There's no way this has been easy, and it probably ain't all that much fun most of the time, but I promise it's all more than appreciated.
CRYPTOCURRENCY, BUT ALSO TRADING CARDS? I fear this is going to make your head explode for a variety of reasons, but folks are out here paying six figures for highlights you can watch online for free.
No, they don't own exclusive rights to it or anything like that. It's... quite a bit more bewildering than that.
On Monday night, a user identifying themselves as “Hardy” spent $100,000 on the very same highlight—not for an exclusive broadcasting license (it’s still right there on YouTube) and not to watch it in VR (it’s still just two dimensions, like every other dunk highlight). No, this person paid $100,000 to own a digital collectible, basically a crypto asset, available for trade on NBA Top Shot, a marketplace in which the NBA has partnered with the creator of the virtual cards.
In this space, basketball highlights aren’t highlights. They’re called “Moments”—but they’re really commodities like stocks, silver, or, perhaps most aptly, Bitcoin.
The $100,000 fee for Morant’s dunk is arguably not even close to the most jarring expenditure on the website, given some of the more pedestrian plays that have garnered big money. Someone paid $10,000 for a Marcus Smart layup. Someone else paid $5,499 for a Jonas Valančiūnas block. Another paid $3,185 for a nice OG Anunoby handle and two-handed dunk. Don’t forget $1,680 for a Nikola Vučević one-handed hook.
So basically, it's basically a gif trading card that doubles as cryptocurrency.
On one hand, my brain is doing somersaults trying to comprehend this. On the other hand, this is way cooler than any other form of currency we have, and unlike fiat money, it's actually backed by something of value (who needs a gold standard when your currency could be backed by a sports gif, instead!)
Personally, I'm all in and I can't wait to buy dinner with Marcus Hall's double-bird salute. I'll tip with a five-yard dump pass from Tate Martell to Binjimen Victor.
SONG OF THE DAY. "There's a Light That Never Goes Out" by The Smiths.
NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. Meet the people who decoded the secret message NASA sent to Mars... American Airlines confirms an encounter with an unidentified cylindrical object over New Mexico... Couples who started making porn during the pandemic tell us how it's going... A solar panel in space is collecting energy that could one day be beamed to anywhere on Earth...
