The Ohio State Buckeyes are the best! – WFNY Podcast – 2015-01-14
January 14, 2015Mike Mayock talks about Cardale Jones’ NFL draft stock
January 14, 2015Happy Wednesday, awaiters of next year. I hope that the glee from Ohio State’s victory over Oregon is still alive within you, and that yesterday’s work and/or school went by a little quicker for it. It was a fine win, a strong win, a forceful win, the total effects of which I may not be fully feeling just yet.
We are proud to have produced some fine work on the Buckeyes, which I invite you read (again, if you have read already). Mitch Joseph wrote a game preview that turned out to be Nostradamus-level prescient. After the game Kirk Lammers, Ohio State alumnus, sang the Buckeyes’ praises and delighted in his alma mater’s performance. Kyle Welch was in the building for it all, and wrote about his experience in Dallas. And I, not an Ohio State alumnus, sought to explain how I came to support the Buckeyes in the first place.
Some other relevant content includes Ezekiel Elliott getting the Sports Illustrated cover, Nike’s fantastic congratulatory ad/poster, and Urban Meyer deflecting questions about jumping to the NFL.
It’s easy and natural to jump forward and think about what this team will look like next season, but I politely advise you to pump the brakes and reflect on the squad we saw beat the Ducks Monday night. Think about how nuts it is that a third-string quarterback beat a Heisman trophy winner for the ‘ship. Think about how Ezekiel Elliott ran for 141 yards in the season’s first three games combined, only to eclipse 200 in each of the last three.1 Think about all the ways that this season could have ended, and then think about how it actually did.
Drink it all in, gang. We know better than most that this stuff don’t happen often.
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The Buckeyes are finished, and it is now up to the Cavs to get us through the rest of the winter. This is a mildly terrifying thought given the difficulties that the wine and gold have faced this year. Through two quarters and change Tuesday, it looked like more of the same frustrating ball that we’ve come to know and hate from this team. They made it exciting down the stretch, but it goes into the books as another loss.
Cavs Twitter went a little nuts during and after this game. I suppose that’s to be expected, as Twitter is welcoming to few things more than immediate overreaction. I understand the frustration and anger, but let’s all take a deep breath. It’s still relatively early. There are 43 games left. We have yet to see this team at full strength.
Remember that patience has been the buzzword from the jump. I want to see more from this team, just as you do. But getting all mad won’t help matters. It may make you sound a little crazy and unhinged, but it won’t help.
It’s a long season. It’s winter. It’s cold. The holidays are over, and it’s time to go back to work or school. We’re all a little grumpy. But when you feel your blood bubbling and you want to throw a brick through your television in Cavs-fueled, take a deep breath. At least we have our health, I hope. So here’s to health.
(ok you’re right i’m just trying to talk myself off the ledge this all looks so bad oh man i hope they figure it out soon)
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Finally, I would like to talk tunes, for there are few things I prefer discussing. Music has played a substantial role in my days on this planet, and I am comfortable assuming that the same is true for more than a couple of you.
It can help us celebrate, and it can help us mourn. It can be a vehicle for understanding the plight of another, or of gaining better awareness of our own troubles. You can listen while you work out or while you chill out.2 In certain circumstances, it is irreplaceable.
To that end, I found myself thinking about those who have helped shape my musical taste, if you’ll allow me to call it that. It began, as all things do, with my parents. They would often spin Motown when I was a wee lad, but also had the range to play classical on Easter morning. It may have all been white noise to me at the time, but I like to think that some of those Temptations lyrics and Beethoven sonatas sunk their hooks in my little brain.
It continued with my brother, who is both a player and listener of jazz. Since big brother dug it, I pretended to dig it, and I even remember answering “jazz music” when a third-grade worksheet inquired as to what music made me feel tranquil. I remember some of the jazz albums he had, including Dave Brubeck’s Jazz Impressions of Eurasia.
It wasn’t all highbrow, though. He’s a Gen-X’er, and he unwittingly introduced me to the sounds of grunge and hip-hop. Beyond the Brubeck CDs, I remember Nirvana’s In Utero and Salt-N-Pepa’s Very Necessary, the former of which I almost certainly stole. He has long been a lover of the Blues Brothers, and through that I came to hear names like Elmore James and John Lee Hooker, even if I didn’t know a thing about them.
I would love to say that I had a discerning ear from a young age, but that’d be a complete lie. I owned albums by ‘N Sync and the Backstreet Boys. I believe it is an important to admit such things.
I had the good luck of having friends in high school and college who turned me on to more of the good stuff. My friend Hank introduced me to tunes that weren’t on the radio, by the likes of the Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Misfits. My buddy Brian, a guitarist who I would later drum for, turned me on to blues players like T-Bone Walker and Lightnin’ Hopkins. I listened to a good bit of hip-hop prior to that, and between blues and hip-hop I re-discovered the same soul music that my parents had played decades earlier.
I would be remiss if I did not share my experiences with Dr. Tammy Kernodle, professor of musicology at Miami University. I was fortunate enough to take five of her classes at Miami, each of which is among my most cherished. She taught me about jazz, blues, soul, gospel, and hip-hop. She knows the material frontwards and back, and her passion for it is contagious. Thanks to her, I got to listen to James Brown, Ray Charles, and Jimi Hendrix and call it homework.
In my very first History of Jazz class with her, she sat down to the piano to demonstrate what blue notes were. She started by playing and singing “Mary Had a Little Lamb” straight. Then she played it again, this time bending notes, playing with phrasing, adding syncopation, and otherwise turning a nursery rhyme into a gospel song.3 It was beautiful, as it was every time she tickled the ivories. If you’re reading this, Dr. K, all I can say is thank you. My knowledge and appreciation of music would be lesser if not for you.
If you’re a present or future Miami student, get in one of her classes. I don’t care how they fit into your program requirements or if you even like music that much. It’s worth it. She’s friendly and funny and sharp and, for me, as much a part of college as cheap beer and questionable decision-making. You’ll be so busy enjoying yourself that you won’t even notice that you’re actually learning about music and its role in twentieth century America.
This is all to say that I think music is dope, and I hope you feel the same way. To that end, I leave you with a song by Allen Toussaint, among the finest purveyors of New Orleans rhythm and blues to have ever tasted gumbo. It is my opinion that listening to this song automatically makes your day at least one percent better. Give it a play, sit back, take a couple deep breaths, and see if it doesn’t work for you.
May this Wednesday be your finest yet. Thank you for reading.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl0ncH8Fd_0
- And, for better or worse, he brought back crop tops in the process. [↩]
- But please, no Chill Mode. [↩]
- This isn’t her, but it gives you an idea of how she did it. [↩]
45 Comments
Still smiling.
Go Bucks!
http://usatftw.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/ohio.gif
The most beautiful thing in sports, annually. But why does the gif end before the i gets dotted?
so that each one of us can imagine that it is now our calling to go and dot the i.
It’s bad when your “most beautiful” sports thing happens during half time. Just saying.
It’s the most beautiful thing that happens annually – as in, every year – and it happens during the pre-game. Just saying.
“I owned albums by âN Sync and the Backstreet Boys. I believe it is an important to admit such things.”
It may be cathartic, but I believe it is better to bury those things deep, deep down!
Based on your selection, thought you might also like a little Bill Withers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVy5yOs0NSA
That doesn’t make it any less lame. Sorry.
Have you ever been in the Shoe during the pre-game? From the ramp entrance, to Across the Field, to Le Regiment (Script Ohio), to the team entrance, to the National Anthem, it’s really a beautiful spectacle. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.
So curious: What to you is the most beautiful thing that occurs every year in sports? The Super Bowl half-time show?
One of the most soulful, hypnotic grooves ever in pop music.Of course in those days it didn’t seem special when others were popping them out so regularly. I’ve had this Sly classic stuck in my head recently.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdorgC9qUkI
I’m simply saying that it might be beautiful but I’d rather opt for something that happens in game rather than around it. I’d take Vlad Guerrero really getting into one or a pulling guard putting one on a linebacker. They don’t happen like clock work, but that’s part of the allure.
You are right on; he’s on the shortlist of my all-time favorites.
Okay, so you’re talking about something completely different than I am. Cool. That’s certainly not lame, but I wouldn’t put either of those things in the same category as what I’m talking about.
Beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beerholder. But why be a hater? Just tired of the Ohio State talk?
Hmm I thought he was going to go with Santa Claus getting batteries thrown at him by the Philly fans and then the Whos in Whoville getting their presents stolen.
Or Browns fans not filling the stadium until the 2nd Quarter. Or the Indians making that “fart in the wind” pre-season free agent acquisition.
I think my favorite non-sports sporting event is probably the NFL draft. Even though I don’t follow college football. As overblown as most of it is, what’s not to love? I wish I were single again so I could get a bucket of fried chicken and some beers and just completely geek out.
Another actually sporting event: opening day. The only baseball game I make of point watching year in, year out.
Yeah. Always been an OSU hater. It’s cool if you went there or have some ties to the place, but I’ve never understood cheering for a school that you are no way affiliated with (I know too many of these types). People love a winner, though.
Wow. Speaking of “sad” and “lame.” Why let it bother you?
Well single, married or under religious vows—every man should partake in a little cut loose to do the heart good. Fried chicken and beer sounds like the right ingredients…in fact, I’ve heard that Francona encourages his pitchers to engage in such a regiment.
It doesn’t keep me up at night or anything. It bothers me in the same way Ravens fans bother me, which is to say not in any real world way. Also, hate isn’t a finite resource.
For the edification of all:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXTfsJIy2F0&feature=player_embedded
Agreed. Who doesn’t want a chicken bone in there hand while watching an indignant Mel Kiper go nuclear because the Raiders picked the wrong fat, white lineman? I have to choose my cut looses though and I usually reserve those for Browns games (since I’m not in market).
Neither is beauty!
Truth is beauty, beauty truth, sir!
But the truth can be harsh and disturbing! How can that be considered beautiful?
Well, we sure sucked the fun out of that poem.
I have a feeling we’re all going to need a good food coma to help us deal with this year’s draft.
Wow. Thought I was the negative one.
Turnabout is fair play.
Last year’s draft was SO fun around here.
I’m already stockpiling gifs. đ
I can’t wait! Mostly, though, to see for whom you have gifs. I can’t, off-hand, think of anyone that I absolutely want the Browns to draft. There is no Sammy in this bunch.
Last year’s draft had pretty a clear path: Draft SAMMY, win Super Bowl.
Buuut, we know how that turned out. >:/
This year’s draft is a little more murky, right now.
At this point I’m hoping we can score Amari Cooper.
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lo1879e1LH1qb9tp3o1_500.gif#ANDERSON%20COOPER%20%20GIF%20466×262
I’m going to have a hard time topping the Alex Mack gif. lol
Hopefully it’s now retired for those purposes.
but, apparently, it might have been: draft Sammy, have HC quit in a hissy fit
I don’t get it, maybe he was a big OBJ fan? but, the facts are the facts (at least how I twisted them there).
This year’s draft strategy should revolve around this:
KEEP JIMMY AWAY FROM THE WAR ROOM, AND BLOCK HIS PHONE.
give him a candygram right before we go on the clock?
http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbot65KKNj1qlzduwo1_500.gif
“my favorite non-sports sporting event is probably the NFL draft.”
….Ahhh, a Browns fan. Sorry about that.
“we can score Amari Cooper”
…Ray is not amused.
“Never understood cheering for a school you are no way affiliated with”
NUCLEAR MELTDOWN IN 3…..2……1
Let me ask you something, did you attend the University of The Cleveland Browns? Didn’t think so. You root for them? Why, you didn’t attend the school? Its ridiculous to root for a team that you are not affiliated with.
Oh, you are from Cleveland? They are your “hometown team”.
Well, I’m from OHIO, The State School just happens to be The Ohio State University which makes me affiliated with them in the same manner most people believe they are affiliated with any of their hometown teams.
And even if it wasn’t, begrudging anyone for rooting for any team seems kinda like wasted breath.
Yet the vast majority of Clevelanders don’t cheer for CSU or OU. Ohio funds a number of state institutions and I don’t see even a percentage of a percentage of people supporting those out of some imagined affiliation. Is it really about some imagined state connection or is just because they’re a winner?
Cheering for a team that is located in the city you live in makes sense. So I can completely get someone in Columbus supporting the Buckeyes. Somebody in Shaker Heights? Not so much.
And I’d hardly say I begrudge anyone anything. I said I don’t understand it and I don’t. To me, it’s a step away from those people that arbitrarily decide to root for the Cowboys or the Lakers or Alabama (they’re all in America, right?). By all means, root for whomever you want. Don’t deny me the right to give you the side eyes.
Ohio State is the only major college program in the state. People in the MAC or Horizon can take offense if they feel the need, but neither is on par with the Big10.
Also, imagine you are a 6-10yo in Cleveland who loves the idea and spectacle of college football. Who do you cheer for? Picking Akron (closest FBS program), then struggling to even watch their games on TV because MACtion isn’t kid friendly and you have curfew really won’t work. And, even in their best seasons if everything goes right, they go to relatively minor bowl games.
Ohio State is the closest tied major college program for most kids in Ohio (Cinci is the one place with an argument otherwise). So, you start watching when you are young and unless you go to a FBS school, the odds are you continue it when you get older.
Fair enough. The whole concept of treating the college game as equal-to-or-better than the pro game is foreign to me too. So I guess the thought of a kid loving college football doesn’t make much sense to me either. To each their own.
I loved all sports. Even had time for tennis and golf in those days đ
I’d actually argue that both CSU/OU have a strong basketball following in the area since that is what both those schools are known for and a large alumni as well.
There are a million reason combinations as to why someone roots for a specific team and sport.
I mean the same could be said for why anyone would continue to root for the Browns regardless of where they were born or currently live.