Buckeye Blogger Network
Oooooh! A Summit!
If you think the “Final Verdict” segments of College Gameday are amazing places for rhetoric and logic, you’re probably excited for the beginning of the Presidential Debates tonight. Me? I’d rather argue about college sports… compared to politics, the BCS makes sense.
Buckeye 411
Courtesy SammySilv Designs
Gotta have the right ammo
If you’re reading this, you’ve survived Bloody Tuesday… don’t you just hate corporate bonding retreats? Here’s some happy music to get you through the day.
Buckeye 411
 Godspeed. UPDATE: 10TV is reporting that a memorial service will be Thursday at the Fawcett Center at 4pm. We’re sad to inform Buckeye Nation that Sunday evening our friend Jason Winrow passed away unexpectedly in his sleep. He was 41. Jason was recovering from surgery on both of his feet, and had a history of other, minor health issues. At this time, the cause of death is unknown, and reports indicate that there were significant attempts to revive him. “Mr. Wincredible” played at Ohio State from 1989-1993 under Coach John Cooper, and was a member of the team that finished 10-1-1 with a Holiday Bowl win over BYU. He was teammates with current Ohio State coaches Luke Fickell and Mike Vrable. Following his tenure at Ohio State, he played for the New York Giants for several years; a significant “conflict” that he loved to joke about, since he grew up a Philadelphia Eagles fan. Most recently, Jason could be seen on the recently discontinued Ohio News Network and heard on 97.1 The Fan doing commentary in addition to his occasional articles here at tBBC. A native of New Jersey, Jason lived in the Columbus area and leaves behind a wife and three children, one of whom is an offensive line prospect being looked at by several schools during his senior season. As someone who talked with Jason relatively regularly, I cannot easily describe how full of life and passion he was. Jason always seemed to be in the middle of a great story or preparing for another opportunity to share his insight and wisdom about the game that he loved so much. Rest In Peace, big man… you will truly, be deeply missed. |
The Head Coach
“Time and change” are two key words in the alma mater of The Ohio State University, Carmen Ohio. Unfortunately, too many alumni, fans, and critics skip right past these words to belt out the last few syllables, O-HI-O. Also unfortunately, many alumni, fans, and critics forget about “time” and only want “change” whenever the football team experiences setbacks.
Ten years ago, the Buckeyes made a change and took a chance on a coach from Division 1AA Youngstown State in Jim Tressel. I clearly recall many fans and critics calling for the hiring of Glenn Mason, former OSU assistant. .”What does this Coach Tressel know about coaching in the Big Ten? He’s never been the head coach at a huge program. What does he know about being a Buckeye?”
Almost two years to the day Tressel was named head coach of The Ohio State University Football Team, he was laying lips on the Sears Trophy, awarded to the National Champion. Not too much noise was heard from the critics and doubters because their mouths were full of crow sandwiches. These same critics were later seen dressed in their fines sweater vests and gray rimmed glasses. In their eyes, Jim Tressel could do no wrong.
Prior to the start of training camp for this year’s Buckeyes, they faced down several encumbrances that no team expects heading into the preseason. This team lost their head coach, seven starters on defense, and their starting quarterback, who by the way accounted for 70 percent of their offense. Ask yourself this question. What would have happened to that 2001 Buckeyes team had Jim Tressel been faced with those circumstances?
Ready... aim...
It’s finally here… the first SBP of the 2011 season. No more preseason talk, no more countdowns- it’s time to squeeze the trigger. Let’s do this.
Buckeye 411
Come Sunday morning, the first thing I do when I come in is I put on the special teams reel and I’m going to put on the fourth quarter. I want to see what your body language is like, your competitive nature is like. I don’t care if you’re a third team, a first team guy. If you’re on special teams, I want to see how you compete. I want to see your body language looks like in the fourth quarter whether you’re up 35 or down 35, whether it’s a tie ball game or not. Those are the things we want to see. Read More
Eric welcomes new tBBC member Jason Winrow with a podcast all his own!
Jason played Offensive Line (Guard) for Ohio State from 1990-1993, eventually being drafted by the New York Giants. He now writes for us here at the BBC, as well as his own blog “The State of College Football”.
Jason and Eric talk the NCAA/OSU situation, Amateurism – with a special look at Jason’s vision for a College Football Playoff – Jim Tressel and Luke Fickell!
Jason has some fascinating things to say, so make certain not to miss it!
Also, make sure to subscribe on iTunes so that you’ll be up to date with the latest from our writers and guests.
For the past few months, we’ve been really fortunate to be a part of some amazing growth.
Breaking out the fancy welcome mat
Just this time last year we were breaking the news that Nebraska had been invited to join the conference, leading to a number of people choosing to make us a part of their day. When Jeff left for bigger things, we added Jay and Joe, which allowed us to bolster our coverage of hoops and recruiting.
We began to podcast, and were surprised to find that people actually cared what we said in spite of what we sounded like. We connected with great sources close to the program and to the national market, and were also able to find some partners who brought their own areas of expertise to the party. And there are even some additional things brewing that we hope to build on for the future as well.
Through the highs (Big Ten Championships in football and basketball) and the lows (the obvious), we’ve continued to work to ensure that we were good stewards of your time- that when you clicked to our little area of the internet, you could find both the latest in Ohio State news and also our particular slant on what this might mean. And you’ve continued to read and respond- we cannot say “thank you” enough.
We’ve added another writer just about a month ago, as Joe Dexter joined us after his work at Scarlet and Game. Our intro was briefer than he deserved, but he’s jumped right in and done an amazing job; already taking the lead with our coverage of Jim Tressel’s resignation and Coach Fickell’s first press conference. We’re excited to have him on board.
Today, we are also excited to announce that we’ve added yet another voice to the conversation. Former Buckeye Jason Winrow has agreed to come on board and give us his perspective on what’s going on in college football and other sports at the national level.
Jason’s take on sports is unique, and fits in well with some of the things that we’ve been discussing here over the past year. When I got an email a couple of weeks ago linking to his site The State Of College Football, the sender said “Hey… here’s a Buckeye that sounds like you”. While I’m not sure that’s a compliment to Jason, I was impressed with what he was saying, even when he was doing it in 140 characters or less. After talking with the rest of our staff, it was a no-brainer to reach out and see if he’d be interested in partnering with us.
And, in case anyone was wondering, the fact that his name starts with “J” absolutely sealed the deal in our minds.
