Respect

Just in case you haven't seen this yet.

Writer's Block

Lately, I have had a nasty case of writer's block. I'm not sure what causes this but most of the stories I read either cause me to say blah, or if it does interest me, I don't feel like writing about it. It usually takes something infuriating to snap me out of it, and then the words flow.

I did see the Ohio State basketball game last night in which the number one Buckeyes managed to get by also-ran Penn St. After the game, Thad Matta got a little testy with reporters asking for the reason Greg Oden didn't get more touches. From the Dispatch:

"It’s a pretty good issue," Matta said. "We’re 25-3. We’re doing a couple of things well here. I’d like to get it to him every time. We’re 13-1 in the Big Ten and have 25 wins, and I’m sitting up here like I don’t know what I’m doing here."

Yea, that's true. But I still have to question some of the moves Matta made last night as well. While it is true that Penn St was packing in a zone defense last night begged to be shot over, OSU wasn't hitting from the outside and Oden was effective when he got the ball.

To make matters worse, with roughly ten minutes left in the game Oden drew two straight fouls leaving two of Penn State's interior players with four fouls and one with three. Oden's touches following that exchange were still insufficient, and we still continued to play with four guards. Neither Othello Hunter nor Ivan Harris saw the floor again last night. In fact, other than Oden, Ohio State's big men tallied only twenty-eight minutes combined.

If one of those two would have been inserted to play alongside Oden, I'm fairly confident Ohio State could have blown the game open at that point as they simply couldn't have stopped them without fouling out.

Eh, what do I know.

For The Locals

Posting has been pretty light as I have been somewhat under the weather. My cold finally seems to be going away, and for those of you who are locals, MK is having a party for the game tonight. Also, I've heard a rumor that for the game Kroger is selling gator meat. Has anybody seen any?

OSU Basketball

Last night I finally got to see the big man, Greg Oden, in person. He is truly a man among boys. He didn't have his best game, and for some reason he was not only wearing a brace on his left hand, but also had his right hand taped up, but he still dominated, scoring 18 and altering numerous shots.

The player that continues to amaze me though is Mike Conley. I'd only seen him play once when he was in high school and I figured he was just a throw-in to land Oden. He is most certainly not. In fact, I think he might be as a freshman one of the top five, or at least top ten, point guards in the country. He can simply take anyone off the dribble and he finishes.

Living Up To The Hype

Well, the Ohio State / Michigan game certainly lived up to the hype this year, and Michigan does retain the number two spot in the BCS poll, although it looks like they will need losses by both USC and Florida to make it to the Championship game.

It's The Game, Stupid

People from around the country might not understand this, but this is the way we do things here in central Ohio. Anyone who wants to learn the outcome of the Kilroy -Pryce House race is going to have to wait an extra day. Why? The first day counting can begin is the day of the Ohio St. Michigan game and absolutely nothing gets done that day which doesn't involve beer and brats.

For the record it's about 197 hours to kick-off. Woo Hoo!! Go Bucks!!