College Football

Posted on College Football, Michigan Wolverines, Ohio State Buckeyes

we’re still #1

what happened to that great defense we were supposed to see today? i didn’t see it. the buckeyes need to work on that for their next game…which just happens to be the national championship game.

ohio state beats michigan again 42-39. that was definitely a closer game than it needed to be. tressel now officially owns lloyd carr. troy smith has three wins against michigan. the record is now 5-1 for tressel against those wolverines. i think we will keep him around.

who will step up and play OSU in the title game? who cares?

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2 Comments Posted on Baseball, College Football, Ohio State Buckeyes

so close

i should be used to crushing disappointment by now. after all, i AM a recovering cleveland browns, indians, and cavaliers fan. i also, along with many other ohio sports fans, had to deal with the tragic john cooper era at ohio state, when losses to that team up north and in bowl games was pretty common. it was a time where former ohio state prez e. gordon gee actually called a tie with michigan one of the greatest wins in their history, or something equally stupid. i survived john elway’s infamous drive against the browns, jose mesa giving up game 7 for the tribe, and michael jordan applying the dagger to the cavaliers with “the shot”. it’s always something or someone keeping those teams from getting to the big game. that’s too many heartbreaking losses for a sports fan to take.

then the mets somehow make it to game 7, in spite of having only one consistently good pitcher in their whole playoff rotation. who really expected weaver and suppan to be as great as they were in the NLCS? i sure didn’t. you could make the argument that it was actually cards pitching coach dave duncan who was the real MVP of this series. there was absolutely no reason to believe that there would be a game 7. the cardinals had the edge in nearly every pitching matchup, but a funny thing happened on the way to the world series. john maine and oliver perez showed up in a big way in games 6 and 7, and gave the mets an excellent chance to end their six-year world series drought.

the expectations changed once the mets won game 6. we actually started believing that the mets could still win this NLCS. game 7 finally started. we looked at the way oliver perez was pitching and knew we had a chance. then endy chavez makes that outstanding catch to rob rolen of a home run. that was the turning point right there. it had to be. sure enough, the mets get runners on in the 8th. scoring position. no hits. yadier molina hits the home run for cardinals. yikes. ok. there’s still the 9th inning. the mets have runners on in the 9th. enough to win the game. but the big hit never comes. game over. that’s it. the mets are out and the cardinals are in.

i can’t believe that the ride is over for the mets. they had such a great year this year. i am so happy that they got as far as they did with only one solid pitcher in the rotation. it’s a credit to minaya, randolph, and the whole team that they didn’t make excuses and played hard with the guys who WERE healthy enough to participate in the series. if we can come away from this NLCS with two new quality starters for the starting rotation next year(in addition to a mostly healthy pedro and glavine), that’s even better.

this will take a while to get over. at some point, i will acknowledge how well the cardinals played in this series, and give them proper credit for their victory over the mets. i’m not there yet, because i’m still thinking about all the mets’ missed opportunities in this series. so please, cards fans, give me a little time here. the wound is still fresh.

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5 Comments Posted on College Football, Ohio State Buckeyes

winning ugly

an ugly win counts the same in the standings as any other win. that’s a good thing for the ohio state buckeyes. their offense was totally non-existent in the first half, and troy smith might not want to send the tape of this game to those heisman voters. side note: I just don’t get this heisman hype surrounding troy smith. he’s better than I thought he was, no doubt about that — but I just can’t see him winning the heisman.

ohio state is known for all of its scary offensive players, but it was their defense that showed up in a big way late in the game. that’s always been a characteristic of national championship-caliber type teams — winning games with defense.

they have now beaten texas and 2005 co-big ten champ penn state. that’s a great start. look at their schedule and then try to explain why they don’t deserve to be ranked #1.

good luck with that explanation.

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1 Comment Posted on College Football, Michigan Wolverines, Ohio State Buckeyes

we’re number 1

i am definitely late in posting this, but i would like to offer my belated congratulations to THE ohio state buckeyes on their win over texas last week. in case there was any question at all about this, the longhorns are a different football team without vince young. it’s still a very quality win, and the schedule sets up well for the buckeyes the rest of the season. (thanks for coming, cincinnati bearcats…)there are a couple games i’m concerned about, but the last game is not one of those games.

so the michigan wolverines beat the much over-hyped notre dame team. as shania once said…that don’t impress me much. it also doesn’t mean that they can beat ohio state. i’m going to go on the record and predict that michigan will lose to ohio state again this year. i’m not ready to predict that ohio state will be undefeated going into the michigan game. there are a couple obstacles still in their way.

what is up with the mets? swept by the pirates? come on. i know i didn’t just see those boxscores. it must be a bad dream, right? hopefully they will show up against the fish, and figure out those pesky lefty pitchers before they hit the playoffs.

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Posted on College Football, Michigan Wolverines, Ohio State Buckeyes

apology

i apologize. i was wrong, and i need to admit it. the jury’s still out on ohio state backup QB justin zwick as far as i’m concerned, but i have vastly underrated current starting QB troy smith. sure the opponent wasn’t the best, but he played pretty well, and i have to give him credit for that. so, troy smith…i am sorry i doubted you. i hope that you play just as well next week against texas. the buckeyes need everybody to play well in order to have a chance to beat the longhorns…and i think they can do it this year. that doesn’t mean i will be stupid enough to make a prediction on which team will win next saturday. i CAN predict that i’ll be watching the game.

college football season has now officially started, so expect more related posts on this subject. go buckeyes! oh yeah…and MICHIGAN SUCKS. that is all. 🙂

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Posted on College Football, Michigan Wolverines, Ohio State Buckeyes

ohio state beat michigan again.

WOOHOO! 25-21 over that team up north. understand this about me: i have only three teams i live and die with. the ohio state buckeyes football team is on that list. this is becoming a habit for ohio state every year. jim tressel — he’s no john cooper…and thank God for that. john cooper couldn’t beat michigan very often. he wasn’t so good in bowl games, and couldn’t produce any national championship for the buckeyes. all that is thankfully ancient history now. the buckeyes are co-big ten champs, AND michigan has four losses. the way i feel about the wolverines is the same way i feel about the new york yankees –any time they lose, i’m very happy. but that’s normal right? of course it is. read the outstanding recap of OSU/that other team here.

for the updated 2006 post, click here.

if you’re looking for the serious political stuff…just scroll up. 🙂

Posted on Michigan Wolverines, Ohio State Buckeyes

the first official chaos open thread/trackback party

but first a word from pti’s tony kornheiser, a very funny guy:

“michigan sucks.”

and on that note, we begin the first official chaos open thread/trackback party. but this isn’t just any trackback party. this is a special OSU/Michigan game trackback/open thread just for UM haters and buckeye fans. i know they are out there.

so, here are the simple rules.

1) keep it clean. you know what that means. i reserve the right to delete stuff.
2) trackbacks must link to this post.
3) leave your best rants against the team from up north in the comments to join this thread.
4) if you have a special post on the OSU/that other team game this weekend, feel free to send me a trackback so that my small but loyal group of readers can experience your brilliance.

that’s it. have a good friday…and go buckeyes! 🙂

Posted on Baseball, College Football, Michigan Wolverines, Ohio State Buckeyes

ohio state wins again…and other interesting sports events

i hate regional programming with college football games. for some reason, being in south carolina means that games on in my area will rarely include ohio state. someone actually thinks that people here care more about clemson, north carolina, nc state, et. al, than teams up north somewhere. don’t they get that most of us came in here from somewhere else and may not care about those teams? while i’m ranting about things, i would like to slap the person who thought that it would be a brilliant idea to embed an audio/video ad with no mute or stop button in the scoreboard page. ok. rant over.

here’s another reason why XM rules. i actually got to listen to the ohio state game without paying a cent over my plan. the game was actually more dominant for the buckeyes than the final score. the defense was fantastic again. two fumbles in the red zone for the buckeyes prevented a similar shellacking to what usc did against oregon. thanks to wisconsin for defeating michigan.

in saturday’s baseball action —

yankees lose, the yankees lose…and the red sox tie it up in the al east. if i’m a sox fan, my team would make me very nervous. but as i’ve previously pointed out, it is good for the country for the yankees to lose and to miss the playoffs entirely. whatever has to happen for that to take place…i’m in favor of it. well…except for targeted assassinations and kidnapping randy johnson. one has to draw the line somewhere.

the mets win, as if it matters at this point. it’s nice that glavine has started pitching better. i wish he had started this process when it actually meant something. the indians and white sox win also. very impressive collapse in progress by the white sox. if it continues this way, at least they will be spared the embarrassment of imploding in the first round of the playoffs.

the AL has some great races going on right now in all divisions. i’ll write more about that later. i will get to the NL at some point, but the mets are out, so i don’t care quite as much about that.

enjoy the NFL. try not to lose any money or join the fantasy team cult.

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Posted on Baseball, College Football, Michigan Wolverines, Ohio State Buckeyes

tennis, football, and baseball in just one post!

as we are reminded daily…you can’t always get what you want. that’s part of being a sports fan. it’s a good thing that real life interferes with sports, because being depressed for too long can’t be healthy for us.

andre agassi is one of the greatest tennis players ever. roger federer may be the best i’ve ever seen. i really wanted agassi to win, as the highly partisan crowd in new york did, and he had a good chance in that third set. he had a great run in the u.s. open…and for three sets, it was a competitive match. i’m sorry that the match ended the way it did for andre, but i hope he keeps playing. he is fun to watch.

as for my beloved ohio state buckeyes, their loss to texas doesn’t surprise me. after watching justin zwick and troy smith struggle at QB, i have decided that i don’t like either of them. try someone else. here’s what we need to do. work on the runnning game until it actually becomes a threat to the opposition. throw more long passes to holmes and ginn. continue to unleash carpenter and a.j. hawk on the opposing QBs. the weekend wasn’t a total loss, as the michigan wolverines went down in flames to notre dame.

what can i say about the new york mets? apply the sharp, pointy fork. they’re done. sure, it was somewhat impossible to climb over four teams, including three division opponents, to get the wild-card slot. i can still call the last few games a pitiful choke job, because that’s what it was. i suppose ending the season with a winning record is too much to ask. we shall see.

coming up in this here blog — my theory on why fans of ohio sports teams are so pessimistic about those teams, the radical cult-like nature of fantasy sports, and the abuse of information by televised sporting events.

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Posted on College Football, Michigan Wolverines, Ohio State Buckeyes

ramblings about sports part I

it is time now to discuss the wonderful world of sports, starting with college football.

  • usc –they will beat everybody else. to the otherwise perfect matt leinart: the facial hair has got to go.
  • the university of michigan – humiliate and destroy them. may their opponents have great success.

during the football season, my allegiance belongs to the ohio state buckeyes. one can only marvel at the success of jim tressel in only a few years. we should have dumped john cooper and his apologist e. gordon gee a long time ago.

IÂ’m unsure about the QB situation there. I think Zwick looked good in the opener and deserves another start. itÂ’s going to be a tough game against texas on saturday, but a good chance to see how good ohio state could be this year. a win would move them past texas, but I am not comfortable predicting a victory in this game.

I would like to take this opportunity to rant against the geniuses at the networks keeping us from seeing interesting games without having to pay extra for the privilege. not all pure capitalists are good people.

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