Well, one for two on the day isn't bad. Ohio State squeaked out an ugly one in Champaign, but Syracuse couldn't get it done at home and dropped a second straight game to a top-10 team. Let's start with some notes on the Orange:
-While they seem to be a more complete team this year as compared to last, in that they have a lot of good role players who do their job well. However, the key difference seems to be that they don't have any one player in particular who can take a game over, and put the team on his back in the second half.
-Kris Joseph seems to be the closest to that role, but although 16 of his 23 points came in the second half, he was held scoreless in the last 3 minutes of the game, the pivotal point at which Syracuse went from pushing a good run to draw within 4, to forcing 3-point shots every time they got possession on Villanova's side of the court after a few bad turnovers and missed looks.
-I don't want to get totally down on KJo, because his 23 and 4 was definitely impressive in his first game back after a head injury. Rick Jackson's 16 and 15 didn't go amiss either.
-How is Fab Melo still getting playing time? Much less starting? He plays about 9 minutes a game, averages just 2.2 points and 1.8 rebounds/game...and is 7 feet tall. 7 feet! If you can touch the rim without jumping, those numbers are pretty inexcusable.
Now on to the Buckeyes:
-My man-crush on Jared Sullinger continued to gain steam today. 27 points, 16 boards, and 3 blocks...Fab Melo, you should really be taking notes. These numbers are scary good, and number 0 doesn't seem to show any signs of slowing down.
-Runner-up for MVP of this game has to go to Aaron Craft. His numbers were far from impressive, just 5 points and 4 assists in 31 minutes off the bench, but "clutch" doesn't show up on the stat sheet. He beats the press better than any guard in the country (watch the last 10 minutes of the OSU-Florida game from earlier this year), and showed it again today. Not to mention that 2 of his 5 points came on free throws with 16 seconds left, to make it a 3-point game that was sealed when David Lighty came up with a huge steal on the other end just moments later.
-That makes 20-0 for the #1 Buckeyes this year, but they play 5 ranked teams in their next 7 games, including another showdown with Illinois at home and a trip to Minnesota to play the #21 Golden Gophers, who came within 3 points of an upset the last time these two faced off.
All for now...in the words of a comic (whose name I don't know) at Scarlet and Grey cafe the other night: O-H! I-O...thousands of dollars in student loans.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Music For The Day
Not sure why the videos I embed are so small...anyway, here's a throwback from Blessid Union of Souls. Gotta love the Steve Buscemi shoutout in the chorus.
Monday, January 17, 2011
AFC Championship Mess
By no stretch of the imagination am I a Patriots fan, but God, did it hurt to watch that game tonight. Not only does my dream of seeing great white hope Danny Woodhead (aka the Small Chadron Collider) get a Super Bowl ring get put on hold for at least another year, they had to fall to the Jets, of all teams, to lose that dream. Now we are faced with a championship game in the AFC that, in my mind, is a lose-lose. Let's break it down:
-On the one hand, a team that has already won 2 titles in the last 5 years with more bandwagon fans than any professional sports team other than the Yankees, boasting an (alleged, in the same way that OJ is an alleged killer) rapist at quarterback, a cheap-shot-loving star wideout, and a star linebacker that makes his intention of taking head shots at the opponent clear, versus:
-A team with 2 wideouts with less character between them than the whole lineup in The Usual Suspects, a linebacker that directly threatens the livelihood of opposing players, a starting cornerback that has fathered more illegitimate children than Thomas Jefferson, and a head coach who encourages fighting rather than improvement. Not to mention a quarterback that gets a free pass in the media despite a shakier delivery than UPS on a snowy day.
Who the hell do I root for? Can I even in good conscience watch this game? I'll cheer for a comet hitting the field instead, and maybe Goodell can just hand Green Bay the championship.
-On the one hand, a team that has already won 2 titles in the last 5 years with more bandwagon fans than any professional sports team other than the Yankees, boasting an (alleged, in the same way that OJ is an alleged killer) rapist at quarterback, a cheap-shot-loving star wideout, and a star linebacker that makes his intention of taking head shots at the opponent clear, versus:
-A team with 2 wideouts with less character between them than the whole lineup in The Usual Suspects, a linebacker that directly threatens the livelihood of opposing players, a starting cornerback that has fathered more illegitimate children than Thomas Jefferson, and a head coach who encourages fighting rather than improvement. Not to mention a quarterback that gets a free pass in the media despite a shakier delivery than UPS on a snowy day.
Who the hell do I root for? Can I even in good conscience watch this game? I'll cheer for a comet hitting the field instead, and maybe Goodell can just hand Green Bay the championship.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
College Students Love Compliments More than Drinking Or Sex...Right
Healthland- It's hard to imagine anything young people might value more than food, getting an extra paycheck or even having sex, but according to the results of a recent study in the Journal of Personality there is one thing prized most among college students: a boost to their self-esteem. In two consecutive studies of a total 282 students, researchers at Ohio State University showed that the majority of students chose kudos over more primal rewards like food, alcohol and sex as well as more sentimental rewards, like seeing a close friend. They even chose accolades over cold, hard cash. But why?
http://healthland.time.com/2011/01/12/young-adults-choose-self-esteem-boost-over-sex-and-money/#ixzz1BDwSqvMLFirst of all, let's be sure to note that it was researchers at none other than tOSU that carried out this groundbreaking study. Putting in extra hours at the lab while everyone else is out at O Patio. That's the Columbus difference.
Secondly, I think the most important part of this article is the very last quote. Any college student could explain this phenomenon to you, much as Carol Landau does: "Sex and alcohol are readily available on many college campuses and within students' reach. Their accessibility could explain why students are more motivated to get good grades and positive feedback, which may be harder to come by."
I would put down money that the data for this survey was collected on a Sunday or Monday, when a whole weekend full of horrible food, alcohol, and sexual choices has just passed. Between Sunday and Thursday, there is no way you're convincing me that I want Natty Light or Raising Cane's at all, much less more so than a good grade or some sort of compliment. 2 or 3 nights of beating the hell out of my body with the aforementioned substances (note: Keystone and Flying Pizza can be substituted for Natty and Cane's) doesn't exactly make me yearn for them during the week. But hey, come Friday, we all seem to forget these side effects and do it all over again, no matter what the consequence. Scientists refer to this as a "lack of permanence", or "being 20".
Becoming A Better Buckeye Basketball Fan, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Jared Sullinger
Let me start this post off with a confession. I cannot truthfully say that at any point in my life, I have considered the success of the Ohio State basketball team pivotal to my overall happiness. The closest I had ever come before this year was watching Oden and Mike Conley's squad fight for a national championship against an unreal Florida team in March 2007. I think the degree to which I cared had more to do with the amount of shit I knew I was going to get the next day at school, from people who knew what a huge OSU fan I was in general. Sure, they lost, but was I going to cry myself to sleep the way I was prepping myself for during the 1997 Rose Bowl when Jake the Snake Plummer almost broke my heart? Or the way I may or may not actually have after consecutive national championship losses in the '06 and '07 seasons? No.
Like many people, Buckeye football had been far and away my main college sports focus for my whole life. Not to mention the added problem of (note: another confession coming) my upbringing in Syracuse leading me to believe that the Big East put forth a much better brand of basketball than the Big Ten could ever hope to. I have never been as excited for a basketball game in my life than I was for Syracuse's title game against Kansas in April of 2003. That was one of those tournaments where, like the '04 Red Sox World Series, I can remember where I was for every big moment, and as sports fans know, those kinds of games are few and far between in a lifetime- as they should be.
But it is my sincere hope that all of that will change for me this year as someone who has a newfound love for the Ohio State basketball team. As the minutes wound down in the OSU-Penn State game last night, I began experiencing a feeling I had previously reserved for OSU Football--simultaneous nervousness about the game's outcome, and pessimistic self-assurance that they would blow it and lose potential number 1 status. Sound familiar?
However, Jared Sullinger proved me wrong by taking over the game singlehandedly in the last 90 seconds, including an impressive 3-point play that proved to me that no one else is even on the radar for the best freshman in the country. In a college basketball year starved for true big men with a refined low-post game (called the most valuable commodity in college basketball by South Carolina coach Darrin Horn), JSully has averaged 17.6 points and 9.9 rebounds per game, an average that impresses even more when one considers that the Big Ten is a league in which teams win scoring 65, not 105. I'm trying to savor this season as much as I can, before Sullinger becomes an easy lottery pick and Lighty and Lauderdale graduate. As the game's closing seconds wound down, I experienced another strange feeling: actual happiness and relief at the outcome, and the pride in a team that I usually reserve for the one that plays in the Horseshoe.
Like many people, Buckeye football had been far and away my main college sports focus for my whole life. Not to mention the added problem of (note: another confession coming) my upbringing in Syracuse leading me to believe that the Big East put forth a much better brand of basketball than the Big Ten could ever hope to. I have never been as excited for a basketball game in my life than I was for Syracuse's title game against Kansas in April of 2003. That was one of those tournaments where, like the '04 Red Sox World Series, I can remember where I was for every big moment, and as sports fans know, those kinds of games are few and far between in a lifetime- as they should be.
But it is my sincere hope that all of that will change for me this year as someone who has a newfound love for the Ohio State basketball team. As the minutes wound down in the OSU-Penn State game last night, I began experiencing a feeling I had previously reserved for OSU Football--simultaneous nervousness about the game's outcome, and pessimistic self-assurance that they would blow it and lose potential number 1 status. Sound familiar?
However, Jared Sullinger proved me wrong by taking over the game singlehandedly in the last 90 seconds, including an impressive 3-point play that proved to me that no one else is even on the radar for the best freshman in the country. In a college basketball year starved for true big men with a refined low-post game (called the most valuable commodity in college basketball by South Carolina coach Darrin Horn), JSully has averaged 17.6 points and 9.9 rebounds per game, an average that impresses even more when one considers that the Big Ten is a league in which teams win scoring 65, not 105. I'm trying to savor this season as much as I can, before Sullinger becomes an easy lottery pick and Lighty and Lauderdale graduate. As the game's closing seconds wound down, I experienced another strange feeling: actual happiness and relief at the outcome, and the pride in a team that I usually reserve for the one that plays in the Horseshoe.
Music for the day
I probably shouldn't have jumped on this idea at 2:30 in the morning. Here's some music to check out, from Syracuse native/Aaron Rodgers lookalike Joe Driscoll.
Getting Started
Trying my hand at this whole blogging thing for the first time. There's no real intended focus at the moment, more than likely the majority of this blog will deal with the age-old disputes that seem to shape the bulk of the conversations I have on any given day. LeBron or Kobe? AL or NL? Big Ten or SEC? Aniston or Angelina? Who the hell was supposed to do the dishes this week? Also be on the lookout for music that I want to share, funny/interesting videos, maybe even contributors, if I can figure out how to work this site.
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