Buckeye Blogger Network
The Sandman And Friends
With today starting the 2012 Ohio State football season, we’re going to be hitting you with odds and ins during our regularly schedule inanity. Here goes-
Yosemite = Buckeye Nation
On Tuesday, I was impressed by Danny from 11W posting his “OHIO” photo from the top of Mt. Baker, for a couple of reasons. First, I’ve lived in WA and skied at Baker all the time. Second, I was hoping to have a similar photo from the top of Mt. Whitney under my belt by the end of this summer, but a couple of family issues prevented me from enhancing the highest peak in the continental US in such a glorious way. Finally, I love shots of the outdoors, and just got back from a week long trek as well- the photo on the right is much lower than Danny’s, but includes at least one Michigan fan. Always good to spread the gospel, right?
It’s good to be back… right before the team goes camping as well. And here… we… go…
Buckeye 411
A bit of a damper on the July 4th celebration, as Andy Griffith passed away on Tuesday. Since he represented a slice of America for so many folks, it only makes sense that he’d leave us this close to America’s birthday.
Not enough firepower for Urban
Buckeye 411
Next Stop, Ann Arbor
It’s Wednesday, halfway to what’s sure to be another glorious June weekend. Big thanks to “Darth Grant” for finding the inspiration for this week’s title and lead photo- Eric may have some more on this story a bit later in the summer, but for now, here’s one of the men behind that amazing flying machine.
Buckeye 411
So as we stare down the coming 2012 college football season, a billowing cloud of fury and excitement just now beginning to peak over the late-June horizon, it becomes apparent that no matter how bad things got in Columbus last year, that the Buckeyes were merely down on the mat for a short time. The cartoon birds flew in quick circles as Ohio State shook its head and looked up at the rest of the Big Ten standing over it grinning. But the birds have gone away and the Buckeyes are back on their feet.
We interrupt our regularly scheduled naval gazing to bring you this update.
As you may remember, the Four Letter Network sued the Ohio State University to gain access to documents that it felt were being shielded from public view. I’m sure they were only interested in getting the truth out to the masses.
The University’s decision was based on the Federal Educational Right to Privacy Act, which limits student information being released without the student’s permission. ESPN held that emails regarding the relationship between Terelle Pryor and Ted Sarniak did not meet the standard of “educational records”, but the Ohio Supreme Court disagreed-
Because, for the most part, Ohio State established that FERPA and the attorney-client privilege prohibited the disclosure of the requested records, we deny the writ to that extent. For those limited records that should have been disclosed—at Respondent’s Evidence, Vol. III, Part 2, pages 668, 829-835, 859- 863, 999-1001, and 1009-1012, following the redaction of personally identifiable information, that is, the names of the student-athlete, his parents, his parents’ addresses, and the person associated with the student-athlete mentioned therein— and were thus not exempt from disclosure based on FERPA, however, we grant the writ.
We also deny ESPN’s request for attorney fees.
This shouldn’t be a surprise, given the large number of educational advocates and groups that came to the defense of Ohio State’s FERPA interpretation. If you’d care to read the entire ruling, here ’tis: State ex rel. ESPN v. Ohio State Univ., Slip Opinion No. 2012-Ohio-2690.
In an email from Dan Wallenberg, the University has also issued a response.
Ohio State appreciates the clarity given today by the Ohio Supreme Court affirming the university’s interpretation of federal student privacy laws. Our student athletes are treated the same way as all of our 64,000 students, and we take seriously our obligation to protect the confidentiality of all of our students’ education records. At the same time, the university also takes seriously its obligation to provide public information in accordance with Ohio law. The university provided ESPN with thousands of pages of records during the course of our NCAA investigation, and as now affirmed by a unanimous court, it acted responsibly in responding to the many varied and broad public record requests it received.
It’s interesting that the four letter network has taken to suing Ohio State while simultaneously trying to profit from their brand.
At any rate, this is good Tuesday news. If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some Cee Lo to listen to.
Ah, the joys of a new server to bring you the midweek morass that is SBP. Thanks to everyone’s patience as we had a bit of a sabbatical earlier this week to upgrade the hamsters in the wheel.
Circle of Life
Buckeye 411
Before we get into the usual links and fun-making, I wanted to talk a bit about fan expectations.
Over the past few days, Buckeye Nation has seen both sides of the loyalty of young adults, and hopefully our amazingly rabid fan base can gain a bit of perspective.
First, we watched in shock as Ohio State Senior (and tBBC favorite) Michael Brewster went undrafted in the NFL selection process. Even more shocking was that several centers from inferior programs did not suffer the same fate- Western Oregon? Michigan? C’mon…
While there are surely lots of reasons that this happened, including, as our friend Jeremy Birmingham pointed out, really REALLY poor coaching during his college career, it’s difficult to pinpoint one specific instance that led to Michael falling from a first rounder as a junior to an afterthought as a senior. It could be some of the season’s struggles- Michigan State and Florida both indicated that they could get a jump on their rush due to his rhythm (Might also explain Shugarts’ issues); at times his shotgun was a bit off target as well. It could have also been the “post-season”; reports that he had some challenges at the senior events, rumors of a rift that led to a last minute change of agent. Or, like many members of last year’s team, perhaps all of the off field drama and change caught up with him all at once.
But for Buckeye fans, our feelings of empathy and sympathy for Mr. Brewster were also tempered with another realization- this happened, in part, because he is a Buckeye. No, I’m not insinuating that the NFL is intentionally snubbing Ohio State players- the data proves that to be less than accurate. Instead, I believe the Michael cost himself lots of money because his loyalty to the program and to the coaches wouldn’t let him cut and run in the middle of the chaos.
Granted, we don’t know what went on behind the scenes other than this- of the members of the “Block O/Brew Crew”, Michael was the highest profile recruit and player to not find himself in the papers on a regular basis for off field issues, particularly during the past 13 months. To the contrary, as his friends and teammates (some of whom he helped bring to Columbus) continued to make decisions that led to last season’s issues and were over and over again sanctioned in ways that hurt the team, Brew was the anchor that sought to keep things together. During a time when it would have been easy to jump to the next stage in his career- first round projections, programmatic instability, loss of friends and coaches, Michael chose to stay in the Scarlet and Gray.
And that decision, in part, cost him on draft day 2012.
Let me be clear- Michael Brewster doesn’t need me to be an apologist for him. He’s landed with his home-town team (although Kansas City would have been nice for family reasons), and is bringing the positive attitude and hard work mentality to his current situation in the same fashion that he showed in Columbus. Tuesday’s Dispatch has a great article on where he’s currently at, including this great quote-
Just more people that I get to prove wrong. I think it’s an exciting challenge.
But you’ve got to wonder- if you took off your Ohio State glasses for a minute, and imagined that he was your son or grandson or family friend; If you knew in January 2011 how the season would end up for the Buckeyes, what would you tell him to do? Would you ask him to be loyal to his alma mater, or pursue his dreams in “The League” even if that made Ohio State weaker in a key position?
You’d hopefully choose the career option in your advice- particularly if you had the wisdom of hindsight. And yet, as fans, we often want young adults to think not of their own needs and dreams, but to have the same needs and dreams that we do- to be enthralled with Carmen Ohio no matter the cost.
And that brings us to Lewis Neal. Read More
Here’s your mid-week morning menudo of links and love
@BuckeyeEmpire Takes Over The Four Letter Network
Buckeye 411
In their past six games, they are nearly 10 percent off that while not relying that much more on the three over the two. No coincidence, probably, that in five of those games, they faced teams that rank among the top five in the Big Ten in field goal percentage defense: Michigan State, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan. In the other game, they shot 52 percent and scored 87 points against Purdue, which ranks dead last in the conference in field goal percentage defense.
Jim Davidson – Jim is a professional photographer who is credentialed for the O-Zone, an internet-based fan site. We became aware of Jim selling photos of current athletes in 2009, and met with both him and the O-Zone editor, John Porentus to explain our policies and gain their cooperation. Jim also sold photos to football parents, and we had a follow-up meeting with John about this issue in 2010 when we heard he had continued to sell to parents after our mandate to stop.
Time for the hump day look around the world of college sports, with a soundtrack from a reunited legend. We look at playoffs, SEC controversy, NCAA hypocrisy, and other items this week.
There's Your Problem
Buckeye 411
Playoffs?
