Buckeye Blogger NetworkA great game on Monday night led to a great result- Michigan didn’t win. I’m sure that was as exciting for you as it was for Rick Pitino, right?
Congratulations to the Louisville Cardinals on their season, and to Columbus’ Trey Burke on his college career. Thanks, too, for deciding to go pro so I can actually enjoy your talent without being sick to my stomach.
Closer to home, the BBC Bracket Challenge has a winner… artist extraordinaire, Kevin Dearth, whos “RIP Homer” entry won by one point over two other challengers. The neat thing about this entry- it’s named in honor of his step father, a Louisville fan who passed away earlier this year.
Kevin wins the prize package- a shirt from The Buckeye Room, an autographed copy of Maurice Clarett’s new book, some swag from our friend Mekka Don, and the chance to grace the pages of tBBC with a guest post.
For staff bragging rights, The Wonder From Down Under edged out yours truly by one point as well- I knew Charles had some of that Australian mojo going for him.
Thanks for participating in this year’s event… Go Bucks!
Some weekend, eh? Grab your coffee and let’s get right to it.
Men’s Basketball
A week that started out fairly well, then crashed and burned. In the NCAA’s, they’ve managed to dust Iowa State 78-75, Arizona 73-70 and then fell flat against Wichita State 66-70. I don’t have much to add to the fine recaps, above, however you can bet that after some musing on my part, I’ll have something to say next week. It seemed that Thad was pushing the right buttons and the team responded in the first two games. On Saturday, things were pretty disjointed. I’d hoped the 2nd half effort against Arizona would carry into the WSU game, but alas, no. Although the offense gott significant points from senior junior DeShaun Thomas and LQR, that was it, unfortunately.
General Thoughts
I hate to do this, but let’s start with a definition: to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward; detest: to hate the enemy. Read More
It’s championship week here at tBBC, and we’ll have all your B1G Tournament coverage coming up until the Buckeyes cut down the nets. So, it only makes sense, then, to have our soundtrack for today be the latest from OSU alum and friend of the site Mekka Don, who’s scored an exclusive deal to provide music for their coverage. From the press release:
The intersection of music and sports is prominently on display during high profile sporting events. Almost every sports arena has a DJ; players submit playlists to be played during warmups; and networks license music to help create excitement for their broadcasting. Mekka Don, an independent hip-hop artist and former NCAA athlete (Ohio State football), has inked a multi-song licensing deal with the Big Ten Network to provide music for the upcoming Big Ten Tournament games and coverage. The Big Ten Tournament begins on March 14th on the Big Ten Network.
And here, in an exclusive for tBBC readers, is the the title track for tournament time:
You can support Mekka Don and download this at his site on iTunes… just in time for March’s Madness.
Buckeye 411
Heacock is going WHERE?
Welcome Back? Rumors have been swirling all week that former Buckeye Defensive Coordinator Jim Heacock would be returning to the WHAC in a “quality control” capacity; huge tip, it seems, to Nevadabuck from the Scout site for dropping the knowledge first. The position would be similar to what a number of schools (most specifically Alabama) are doing in expanding their staff, and you’ve got to think that it will not only strengthen the Silver Bullets but also maintain the relationships that Heacock had with area high school coaches. In addition, it provides a fallback of sorts should the defensive staff lose a member to another opportunity.
Sexier than the swimsuit issue
Today’s soundtrack is brought to you by 70 degrees and sunny skies in Los Angeles. Oh, and a little bit of EW&F.
Buckeye 411
What a long and full day of excitement. Nothing will ever replace or beat my experiences in 2002(I don’t think), but this came very close to being as enjoyble.
There was so much happening after THE Game in 2002 that really the best part that I remember is being on the field with 100,000 screaming fans. I still look at the picture from time to time to play Where’s Waldo and find me. Yesterday will go down as the best day for THE Game because I got to spend it with some good friends and some awesome fans in my section.
Being two hours away and knowing the traffic would be ridiculous, I had to get up at 4:45 to head to meet Gary, Robby and Jerry in Zanesville. We got to our usual lot without any fanfare but we just missed the mayhem. We walked over to Lane Avenue as we usually do to pick up some drinks and a snack or two and saw this ugly thing on the way.
Stink Weasels Equipment truck
I gave our fearless leader (Mali) a call to see where he was and as fate would have it, he was only about a block away so we met up with him for a few minutes. After seeing him for the first time ever, we went into the 7/11 and got drinks for the brunch that we have with other ushers on D-Deck before the last game of the season. It’s always good food and fun. We headed up the avenue to see Roy and Maurice and check out the DRIVEN tent and see how things were going. Ran into Mali again with his wife, brother Scott, and a friend.
Roy Hall, Scott, Maurice Clarett and Mali
Heading back to the stadium for the brunch and to man our posts, I must say I was not surprised with the traffic but was surprised the area between St. Johns and the Shoe was like a ghost town. Very few booths set up and not at all very many people. The line had started for the Skull session but that was the extent of the crowd around 9am. Read More
This past Saturday at Thomas Worthington High School in Columbus, The DRIVEN Foundation hosted it’s Flag Football game featuring former Buckeyes and benefiting the Stefanie Spielman Fund. Several former Buckeyes were participating as well as others representing The Columbus Christian Center Church who also sponsored the event.
The weather may have put a damper on the attendance, but it did not put a damper on the spirit of the event or those playing. The day started with Driven founder and President Roy Hall organizing everyone and getting them ready to play by leading them through warm-ups. He also took the time to have a pre-game get together in the locker-room with all of us to do a meet and greet and Pastor Davis Forbes led us in a wonderful prayer. Let’s take a look at who took the field.
Black v. Pink
BLACK. Pastors- David C. Forbes Jr.(Pastor at Columbus Christian Center Church) , Minister Rick Davis (CCC), Former Buckeyes- Roy Hall, Maurice Clarett, Antonio Smith, Stan Jackson, Gary Berry. Cory Waite (Columbus resident, plays baseball at BW), Jeremy Ford, Darren Hawkins(Frosh @ DeSales)
PINK. Former Buckeyes- Maurice Lee, Nate Oliver, Trevor Robinson, Matt Trombitas, Dimitrios Makridis. Dominic Jones(CCC, played at Minnesota). Members of CCC Church; Dexter Dodson, Dave Walker, Tarquin Carroll, Onesiaum Glass. Christian Yanok (Kicker for both teams and plays at North Albany) Read More
It’s amazing isn’t it? That in the history of the stadium, and all of the great match-ups that have taken place there, it took the last time we’ll see Nebraska until 2017 to set a new attendance record over the likes of TTUN, Texas and USC. I am sure homecoming and the fact that there were a lot of former players in attendance made the difference for this game between two of college football’s most storied programs peeked their interest.
I have always enjoyed the night games in Ohio Stadium and have always had a good time being there all day for them. I didn’t have to be in the stadium until 5:00pm this time and was bringing my son Philip with me so I took the opportunity to help out at the Driven Foundation tent.
While there I had the chance to hang out with and talk to Roy Hall and Maurice Clarett again. We had some awesome visitors on the day and met some wonderfully giving people who have become good friends of the foundation now. The future of Ohio State football’s backfield happened by in Ezekiel Elliot and he and Maurice gave me a great past and future photo op.
Future star Ezekiel Elliot and past star Maurice Clarett
While we are on the subject of past Buckeyes, Stanley Jackson stopped by for a good while and it gave me a chance to get my wife a great gift in an autographed #8 jersey and to get a picture for her. Stanley is a great guy and spent a good part of the afternoon texting with my wife on my phone! He was recently appointed to the State Board of Education by the Governer and I wish him the best of luck in his new job. Read More
The life of an Ohio Stadium Usher can be interesting to say the least, especially for someone like me who lives two hours away. Due to being a high school football official and working all over the state, I can get home pretty late on Fridays, only to get up at 5:30am to head to the Shoe. This wasn’t the case this past weekend as I had a very close to home game at my alma mater and was in bed and asleep by 11:30!
I had my reservations about the game but not the day as me, my daughter Kristiana and those with me were going to try to get to the Driven tent on Lane Avenue and meet the man that provides me with daily inspiration. Roy Hall is doing some amazing things with the foundation that he has built with former Buckeye walk-on then starter Antonio Smith. Please click the link to their foundation on our homepage and see what you can do to help.
One of my favorite moments as a Buckeye fan
Roy and former Buckeye Maurice Clarett have forged a friendship that is paying huge dividends for the foundation and for their lives. Maurice was in town shooting the ESPN special 30 in 30 and has been hanging out at the tent and signing autographs with Roy. I could not pass up the chance to meet them both on Saturday and it turned into one of my favorite moments in meeting former Buckeyes. Both were gracious in meeting me and it’s clear that their faith is what carries them now. It was a great time for me meeting them face to face and I am sure to never forget it. There are some great things on the horizon that I am involved in helping Driven and I hope you’ll join me!
Spent a good portion of Saturday’s pregame hanging out with my middle child Kristiana, giver her a follow plz. She is a huge Ohio State fan and is currently working her bottom off to get to Columbus and go to school. She and I have always had a great sports relationship as she has always been very athletic. She plays basketball and runs track in club sports at her current school of WVU-Parkersburg and need to stay active as I believe it’s what has kept her healthy over the years. If you don’t know me well then you don’t know that she has Cystic Fibrosis and has been amazingly well. God has taken wonderful care of her. That and my son’s conviction has contributed to my faith greatly over the years. Read More
