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“When I got my first football helmet for Christmas at age five, my grandma came over to the house. ’Hey, Chris’ she said, ‘you wanna play some football?’ I tackled her right there in the living room. I mean, I took her out. She bounced right up, though. You could tell she was a Spielman.”
A quintessential line from Chris Spielman that made me laugh out loud and in some ways, what I expected when I bought “That’s Why I’m Here” by Chris Spielman and Bruce Hooley. On the flip side, there is obviously no question I expected this to be extremely depressing considering the journey and ultimate outcome for Stefanie Spielman was no secret at all. As with any good book about a life story, there needs to be a balance between joy and pain. It doesn’t have as much to do about the flow as it does to make you truly ‘feel’ and become engaged…at least in my opinion.
That’s exactly where my problem came in. I consider myself to be an open and honest person with people I have grown to trust, but that “feeling” part is different territory. Unfortunately, my recruiting background has taught me to be more cautious and pessimistic than I’d care to admit at this point. So halfway through reading this book, when I decided to write this article, I started to get nervous. Not only would I have to become more transparent, but my opinion is no longer what it has been when writing/talking about sports. It is not an analysis just of X’s and O’s. It is not just a matter of perspective either. Well, it is, but this new perspective can actually have a hard line of being wrong. It is a sole person’s view of the suffering a family had to endure for over a decade and trying to articulate that is more intimidating than it may appear.
So what is “That’s Why I’m Here” really about? Football? Cancer? Tests of faith and family? Love? Yes. Read More
One thing is for sure when you take over as the head coach at THE Ohio State University, you better know what it means to be an Ohio person. A lot of people believe Coach John Cooper got the top post at Ohio State back in 1988 simply because he beat TTUN in the Rose Bowl the year before while at Arizona State. Truth is he really probably got the job because of his history as a head coach and as a person.
Coop. There he is.
John Cooper grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee in the 1940’s and 50’s. He went into the U.S. Army right out of high school for two years before playing college ball at Iowa State. People then knew he was going to have a special talent for coaching with his abilities on the field that eventually led to him being team MVP and captain his senior year. He stayed on as an assistant coach with the Cyclones before taking a similar position with Oregon State. He made stops at UCLA, Kansas, and Kentucky before landing his first head coaching position at Tulsa in 1977.
His first season with the Golden Hurricane was 3-8 but they became pretty good after that winning five straight Missouri Valley Conference titles. Tulsa was in and out of the MVC for a year and when they returned Coach Cooper had them loaded. He began to put together a system for how he would recruit players and used it to bolster his resume. In the Top 25 ranked season of 1982, Cooper and the Golden Hurricanes went 10-1 and their only loss on the season was to Arkansas. This same year that SMU had the Pony Express, Coach Cooper had himself two 1,000 rushers in Michael Gunter and Ken Lacy and was called the Palomino Express. Despite its ranking and great season Tulsa wasn’t invited to a bowl game. Coach Cooper had the makings of a top-notch coach and was hired to take over at Arizona State in 1985. Read More
This is part two in my series on who we should honor next in the retire or not to retire saga at THE Ohio State University. Last week I covered the basketball greats here. This week I am going to take a stab at football and really, for all intents and purposes, this should be called #Who2TheHorseshoeRafters. This can be done in a lot of ways but the “ring of Honor” has already started with the Heisman Trophy winners: Horvath, Janowicz, Hop Cassidy, Archie Griffin, Eddie George, along with Bill Willis’ #99 and Chic Harley’s #47. We have to assume that Troy Smith’s #10 will be there soon, so this will give us a look at the rest of the candidates.
Lets begin with one of the most coveted awards outside of the Heisman Trophy. The Lombardi Award is awarded annually to the best lineman or linebacker. It has gone to Ohio State six times, with one of them winning it twice with Orlando Pace, at one time considered a no brainer for jersey retirement. Jim Stillwagon won the first ever in 1970.
Jim Stillwagon had a nose for hitting - First Lombardi winner ever - Should 68 be up there?
Meyer and his crew
It has been awhile since the last shots from the Schott article, but all these early weekday games and blowouts haven’t left much time for any good info other than “hey, we looked great and blew another team out at home.” We have had one game at home that we didn’t win by double digits. That was the Florida game, which was a 7 point victory. Today marked the 2nd smallest win on the season at home and it was a 17 point spread.
Here are my thoughts after watching the Indiana game live. Read More
Since I had the opportunity to attend the game in the Horseshoe today, I wasn’t able to do my usual recap. Because of that, I instead took a series of notes and jotted down some thoughts from the game to share. Hopefully I can provide some insight that wasn’t obvious from the television broadcast.
Also, I want to thank Joe D for covering me so ably on the recap this week. Without him, I might not have even been able to make the game!
Pregame
Braxton Miller attempts the Stiff Arm of Justice.
This article originally ran on September 8th, 2010 in the week leading up to last year’s battle between Ohio State and Miami. We post it again heading into tomorrow’s game with the Hurricanes.
This? This could be legal.
There have been few calls in the history of college football that have had earth shattering impacts on the entire collegiate fanbase. The mysterious 5th down in the Missouri/Colorado game comes to mind as one of the absolute worst. But in more recent times the first call that will pop off the tongue of anyone old enough is the “Pass Interference” call in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl.
There has been an awful lot of time wasted in discussion of the topic. Absolutely everyone has an opinion on it whether or not their favorite team was directly involved in the game. It has gotten absolutely out of control despite some attempts to end the controversy and despite a few posts of a more vociferous variety. Of course, there have been more than a few attempts to exacerbate it and turn it into a larger than life disaster of epic proportions.
ESPN has begun talking up the pass interference call, along with other major media outlets, mostly because they know the topic sells. This is, of course, one reason why I’m going to get my shot in on the argument – I’m tired of the fact that this is the one play from that game that everyone remembers.
My hope is to objectively analyze the play from the very basics of the rules. The question in mind is “Does the defensive player clearly violate the rules as set forth in the College Football Rulebook?” Of course, in this day and age we’re capable of doing that simply by downloading the appropriate rulebook (pdf)!
Yea yea, that’s not the 2002 rulebook. I pull that one out later. That’s the current rulebook which I desperately wanted an excuse to toss out there for you, our loyal readers, to see and enjoy this season.
Lets start off by first setting the stage. During the first overtime of the 2002 National Championship, Maimi of Florida held the lead after scoring a touchdown on their attempt. Ohio State was trying to drive the 25 yards but had met stiff resistance. A spectacular 17 yard play on 4th and 14 to Michael Jenkins put the Buckeyes in good field position but it was squandered. With the Buckeyes looking at 4th and a 3 from the 5, Craig Krenzel dropped back to throw..
Band Director Dr. Jon Woods
In a stirring moment during today’s Skull Session, Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee announced the retirement of Dr. Jon Woods, Director of the Ohio State University Marching Band. Now entering his 28th season as director, and his 38th season with the band, Dr. Woods has one of the most storied careers in the long, proud history of the band.
The OSUMB official page discusses his career in more detail, including this:
A recipient of the School of Music Distinguished Teaching Award, Dr. Woods is recognized nationally as a clinician and adjudicator for both marching and concert band festivals. He received his Bachelors Degree from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, his Masters Degree from The Pennsylvania State University and his Ph.D. from The University of Michigan.
Dr. Woods has received untold honors and accolades over his illustrious career as a band director and a music educator. In 2010 Dr. Woods topped them all when he was awarded one of the most prestigious honors in collegiate music – the College Band Directors Association Lifetime Achievement Award.
Dr. Woods will surely be missed.
Charles at Our Honor Defend will certainly have more to say later this week about this fine member of the best Ohio State traditions.
Update: Dr. Woods will finish this season with the band. Dr. Jon Waters, current Assistant Band Director of TBDBITL, will serve as interim Band Director next year.
The Buckeye Battle Cry hits hard and fast with another Preseason Radio Hour! Eric sits down with former Buckeye and BBC contributor Jason Winrow to discuss Ohio State’s Saturday preseason scrimmage. They talk all positions, particularly the offensive line and quarterback, as well as receivers, the corners and the D-line and linebackers.
A special shoutout is given to LS Bryce Haynes, and Winrow gives his thoughts on the current Jersey Scrimmage format, and Ohio State’s coaches.
All this and more on this weekend’s Radio Hour!
Don’t forget, you can subscribe to us via iTunes! Just search the iTunes store for “The Buckeye Battle Cry Radio Hour”.
Lastly, special thanks to Kevin Dearth for our new rocking logo!
