Box Score: (3) Ohio State 77, (2) Michigan 55
March 10, 2012Buckeyes Flatten Wolverines, Advance To Big Ten Title Game
March 11, 2012While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.
Good luck, Browns. No pressure or anything. “Yes, RG3 would have been a dynamic player at a position where the Browns desperately needs to improve if they want to compete. But he was not and is not the only option when it comes to solving the 13-year long quarterback conundrum.
First, there is free agency, which begins at 4 p.m. on March 13. PeytonManning is the biggest prize, but Browns have said they are not interested in his services.
They will look into Matt Flynn. Flynn only has impressed in two-career NFL starts under his belt in Green Bay. He is looked upon as the answer at the quarterback position for teams struggling in that area. The Browns surely fall in that category.
If Manning goes to Arizona, suddenly Kevin Kolb becomes available. Kolb did not have a great first season with the Cardinals, but he is considered a perfect fit in the West Coast offense.
There is still the draft, where quarterbacks like Ryan Tannehill, Kirk Cousins andBrandon Weeden are options.
Finally, the third option resides: Stick with Colt McCoy.” [Don Delco/Orange and Brown Report]
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I, for one, am super excited about Shelly Duncan as the everyday LF. “Without boring you with another trip down “Karim Garcia Lane” (that was done in November), let’s remember that Kelly Shoppach was one of the best hitters in the AL in the 2nd half of 2008 (better than A-Rod and Miggy that year post-All-Star Break), and ended the year with an .865 OPS as a 28-year-old. In case you lost track of Kelly, he’s posted a .625 OPS since leaving Cleveland and has yet to replicate the success that he enjoyed for those few magical months in 2008. Maybe that’s unfair to Duncan as it needs to be noted that the other player that surprisingly thrived in the 2nd half of the 2008 season was Choo, who took full advantage of his regular playing time to post terrific seasons from that point through the 2010 season.
Maybe you want to argue that this has the look of an opportunity that can be seized by a player that has largely been a career minor-leaguer/role player to this point, the way that Casey Blake took advantage of opportunity in 2003 and similar to how Jack Hannahan made the most of his situation last year. That may be true and Duncan could certainly come out gangbusters in 2012 as the starting LF, but let’s remember that the Tribe team that Blake was trying to break into had won 78 games in 2002 and would lose 94 games in Blake’s 1st year as an Indian. Similarly, Hannahan was entering a situation where the Indians had just lost 97 games in 2009 and 93 games in 2010 as they were unquestionably still attempting to build a core for the team. Compare those situations to the one facing the Tribe in 2012, with the Ubaldo trade signaling the “window” of opportunity, when the Indians need to maximize every chance they have to take advantage of the assembled talent that they have before players have the option of leaving via FA.” [Paul Cousineau/The Cleveland Fan]
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Trying to make a “but at least Irving’s ROY chances improve!” joke and just can’t. This stinks. “Ricky Rubio has a torn ACL and will miss the remainder of the 2011-12 NBA season. We’re way past the days when an ACL could end a career, which is good. Still, Rubio’s injury pretty much guarantees the Timberwolves won’t make the playoffs, obliterates all the buzz and outside interest that the team had going this season, and robs the NBA of one of its most exciting, and least risky, young attractions. Jeremy Lin is a good player in a shaky situation. Ricky Rubio is an incandescent, undeniable talent. His game is pure beauty, in most Euro-sporting sense, and even the most hetero dude has to acknowledge his baby-faced, shaggy-haired charm. Sidenote: Along with Monta Ellis, he is my baby’s favorite athlete to see in close-up on the television set.
Still, none of this quite explains why the immediate reaction to Rubio’s news was so pained. It’s being taken as a tragedy, a cosmic offense perpetuated not against the Wolves, but we, the viewers. No one wants an NBA without Ricky Rubio; without him, we run the risk of being plunged back into an unhappy place where the comparative evil of LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, and the careerist angling of Dwight Howard, are the major plot points from day-to-day. Lin may have already been swamped by Knicks dysfunction, which is to say, his net effect has been forcing us all to talk about the Knicks’ problems way more than we want to.” [BETHLEHEM SHOALS/The Classical]
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Ohio State faces Michigan State for, well, some of the marbles. “Yesterday OSU dispatched the erstwhile B1G co-champion Michigan Wolverines in rather dominating fashion, pounding the boards and owning the paint on their way to a 77-55 victory. Meanwhile, the Spartans took care of their end of business by clubbing the Badgers of Wisconsin over the head 65-52 in the first game of the day.
The implications of this game go beyond mere conference hardware. With Syracuse, Duke, and Kansas losing in their respective conference tournaments, the list of teams to get #1 seeds in the NCAA tournament has become a bit more crowded. The winner of today’s game will hold bragging rights as the best team in the nation’s best conference, and will have an excellent argument to join Kentucky et al on that elite list when the selection show begins to reveal the much anticipated NCAA dance card.” [Joe Beale/Eleven Warriors]
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Vote WFNY. Vote early, vote often. [Cleveland Magazine]
2 Comments
I want OSU to win today, but I want them nowhere near a #1 seed. They don’t deserve it (& I don’t think they have any chance at all of getting it) and it would probably lead to the type of play we saw at times this year. What this team needs is a chip on their shoulder & and a lower seed than they deserve could do that for them.
I want OSU to win today, but I want them nowhere near a #1 seed. They don’t deserve it (& I don’t think they have any chance at all of getting it) and it would probably lead to the type of play we saw at times this year. What this team needs is a chip on their shoulder & and a lower seed than they deserve could do that for them.