Meet Will Gibson and hear about the CSU Vikings beat – WFNY Podcast – 2014-12-16
December 16, 2014Adrian Wojnarowski really, really doesn’t like LeBron James
December 17, 2014
Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman is taking the head coaching gig in Houston. I suppose it is a tad unrealistic to think that he wasn’t going anywhere after this season, so I suppose I’m just glad that he isn’t taking one of the Big Ten openings.
Urban will have to replace him though, and Eleven Warriors dug into the possible replacement list. I’m not as sold on the Buckeyes luring current OC’s from other programs to the Buckeyes (like Mississippi State’s Brian Johnson) but if anyone can do it, Meyer can. Certainly the Buckeyes would pay Johnson more, and maybe the former Meyer QB recruit is itching to reunite with the coach.
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The Bo Pelini “I’m Coming Home” video didn’t take long. I think this was a terrific hire by Youngstown State, and good for Pelini deciding that there was something else besides chasing the next D1 job. He would have found one, but he can make a bigger difference at Youngstown. Tressel approves.
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I have been a little surprised that there hasn’t been more said and written about the suicide of Ohio State football player Kosta Karageorge, at least as it is related to concussions.
The defensive end walked on the team as a senior, but was a wrestler throughout his college career. Did he suffer from concussions during wrestling? Is there a link between concussions and depression and suicidal tendencies? Will we really ever know for certain?
“Perhaps this is all best summarized by the conclusions from a recentneurological study of 45 retired football players. The researchers found evidence of trauma-related neurological problems in some of the subjects, but they also found that the majority of players had fairly normal-looking brains. The authors suggest that perhaps the view that professional football “frequently leads to chronic brain damage” is overstated.
Some professional footballers have suffered serious consequences, almost certainly linked to their play. But from an epidemiological perspective, the evidence doesn’t yet suggest that suicide risk is broadly elevated among professional football players overall.”
I know enough to know I have zero answers to this subject, but I do believe this issue will ultimately lead to the decline of football. I’m not stepping onto a narrow ledge there.
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On a much, much lighter note: there is a new board game cafe opening up in Hudson. The Malted Meeple will be opening in January (according to a response to a Facebook comment) and boasts they will be your local hangout for craft beer, mega milkshakes and hobby gaming. Look forward to it.
For those wondering what in the world a ‘Meeple’ is, well they are wooden tokens shaped roughly like people that represent players or workers in a board game.
You may remember that there is a board game cafe opening in Ohio City called the Table Top Cafe. This opening has been delayed a few times as the owners await licensing. I was in contact with the owner on Tuesday and while they are frustrated, they are pushing forward and have just one permit left to obtain and are waiting on the city to finish. Hopefully we will have news of their opening soon.
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Speaking of board games…If you missed it last week, I published a board game gift guide. I am also in the process of putting all my previous reviews into the same format with the board games tag, in order to be easily searchable here at WFNY. I really enjoy doing these reviews and will be doing more of them, including at least one this week.
If there is a game you would like to see reviewed, please tell me and I’ll try my best to do so. I’m always up for a conversation on gaming, so please feel free to hit me up on twitter @rickgrayshock.
21 Comments
Hey, Rick, nice to see you again.
As for Kosta, it seems like many people just assume that his behavior was caused by concussions. But does anyone know for sure that he suffered a lot of them? Maybe he did; I sure don’t know. It’s certainly a popular (easy) narrative. But we should wait for the facts to emerge before we reach conclusions.
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Thanks Rick, I somehow missed your board games post from the other day. I’m planning to buy Sushi Go as a Christmas gift for my sister after reading. Great recommendations.
Great game. We’ve been playing for months now and it doesn’t get old.
I also went for King of New York on my own wish list. Pumped for Christmas.
Nice.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/ohio-state-dl-michael-bennett-says-kosta-karageorge–never-reported–his-concussions-213533152.html
There is anecdotal evidence that he suffered 4-5 concussions without seeking any treatment or taking recovery time. Again, anecdotal, and some hindsight bias may be in play, but still concerning enough to support the hypothesis that multiple untreated concussions were an important variable in Kosta’s mental health
RE: Replacing Herman
I’m not concerned. Urban scouted Herman out of Iowa State loving his scheme with the thought “what if I gave him OSU level talent?”
This is exactly the type of hire I would think to see again. Urban surveying the landscape for an offensive scheme to which he can apply our recruiting talent to.
At some point Offensive Coordinator at a school like OSU with a head coach of Urban’s recruiting ability and cache becomes “plug and play”.
tell that to Florida’s offense. still have to be careful and make a good hire but there is obviously quite a bit of wiggle room here for the reasons that you mention.
agreed, I am not on the short list of possible coaches.
I just don’t think we need to be concerned about “luring the top name away” from some SEC school as some do.
I am all for hiring Mike Leach and using all 5 freaking QB’s on the roster next year in some ALL QB ALL OPTION BACKFIELD offense.
Nice to be seen by the way.
oh boy. now you are getting somewhere.
my favorite possibility for an offense involves having QB-capable players at H-Back, RB, QB, and potentially even WR (Sammy Watkins or M.Sanu are 2 guys who were good passers there).
if you have capable passers from those spots, then you can take the spread offense to the next level. not only are you spreading the defense laterally, but you are constantly spreading them vertically because they have to account for the potential pass from these guys on toss-sweeps, reverses, and counters.
it adds so many variables for the defense while the offense continues to run a small variation of plays just with different end-points based on reading the defense.
and, the Buckeyes have 3 somewhat proven capable QBs who can run this offense. don’t think that thought hasn’t crossed my mind.
My friends and I exhausted a fantasy playbook one night involving JT Barrett in the pistol with Braxton and new QB recruit Gibson behind him and Marshall spread wide.
That’s 4 guys who could potentially throw a TD, run a TD or catch a TD all in on the same play.
Re concussions, I’ve reached the following conclusions: 1) the human body is extraordinarily frail, but can sometimes endure an extraordinary beating; 2) each human’s body is entirely different; 3) as with anything, an individual human’s susceptibility or resistance to concussions is unique to that person.
Since the door is arguably open, I’d like to pose the following question:
If the Buckeyes somehow pull off 2 consecutive wins in the playoffs and win a National Championship (improbable, but certainly not outside of the realm of possibility), who’s the frontrunner for starting QB next year?
In my opinion, it would have to be Cardale. He presumably would have had 3 excellent performances in 3 of the toughest games that the team has faced in years, and will have done so in consecutively.
Man, I hope we have this problem.
does it count if it comes against Alabama’s pseudo-defense though? sorry, getting an early start on my Saban and Tide digs.
I want this problem. It would be the best QB controversy ever including the Joe Montana/Steve Young.
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sadly, we all know that Braxton is moving on once he gets his degree because he gets to use the Russell Wilson-rule. Oregon is the leader, but I have read a bunch about how there are people in his ear telling him he needs to go to a pro-style offense in order to boost his NFL stock and potential career (ala Wilson).
I hope that it wouldn’t be Wiscy or Penn State, but those are the first 2 schools that came to mind.
Assuming he stays out of the Big10 and is destined to leave, then Duke is the school that I want him to choose.
(1) Boone is a senior, so he’s not pushing an established starter to the bench.
(2) Cutcliffe is a respected QB-guru by the NFL (both Mannings swear by him)
(3) It’s DUKE!!! As much as I dislike them in bball, it’s the exact reason I would cheer for it to happen in football. Lowly program makes right but cannot break through, then gets major player added to it to compete with the power (FSU). Great story.
And, you didn’t even mention Cardale Jones at fullback yet.
Call it the “spread-T” formation?
WRL——LT–LG–C–RG–RT——WRR
———————–QB———————–
———–HBL——-FB——-HBR———–
Cardale is no average 3rd string QB by any stretch of the imagination; but he was also on the receiving end of the greatest game all three phases of the team this year so far.
He was no doubt the catalyst for the offense, but also remember the defense played out of their minds in that game while ST was burying the Wisky offense inside the 5 on every kickoff/punt.
If we were to win the next two it’s because we get the same performance out of all three pieces.
……and then the job goes back to JT because Braxton will transfer and he already beat out Cardale once.