white noise

D and I are huge fans of the Olympic games – especially ever since making the trip to Atlanta 12(!) years ago. After being in the Virgin Islands and not catching much of the week 1 events, I’ve really been making up for it in week 2. We’re watching a good 4+ hours of coverage a night – all with a slight DVR delay so we can skip commercials of course.

I’ll admit, it took me a little bit to warm up to the games this time around with all the torch run shenanigans and human rights and environmental issues surrounding the host country. But sure enough, play that Olympic theme a few times and I’m ready to paint the five rings on my face.

Something very cool this time around is that with the popularity of blogging you can now follow a lot of athletes online and hear about their experiences first hand. It’s a fascinating glimpse at the day to day trials and triumphs of the athletes. You also get stories about life in the Olympic Village, meeting other athletes, and sights around Beijing. Here are a few:

• David Oliver (USA 110 hurdles)
• Jackie Edwards (Bahamas Long Jump)
• Jessica Steffens (USA Water Polo)
• Elise Marcotte (Canada Synchro Swimming)
• Dave Durante (USA Gymanstics)
• Carissa Gump (USA Weightlifting)

The games come to a close Sunday night so get your Olympic fix while you can!

After 42 years and 902 wins, Bobby Knight steps down from coaching. Love him or hate him, you can’t have grown up in Indiana like we did and not have some entertaining memories of him over the years. Here are some classic clips:

Vulgarities aside, keep in mind you probably can’t find a better example of a cleaner program with more graduating players than any of his teams.

Although the midseason timing was a surprise, this being his last season isn’t too shocking. In an very fortunate stoke of timing, about two weeks ago I bought D and I tickets to see him speak at a one-time engagement in Nashville, Indiana in April. Should be interesting.

It’s a fucking difficult time to be a Buckeye fan. Three national championship game appearances in two years (football 2006, basketball 2007, football 2007) and three flat out ass kickings. Talk all you want about the honor of playing for the title. I’m done with that story. I say sign the Bucks up indefinitely for the Papa John’s No-One-Gives-a-Shit Bowl and we’ll kick the snot out of second rate schools in mid-December that no one watches on TV.

Sure, you can point to all the money the championship games have brought to the school and the Big Ten, but at what cost? Kirk Herbstreit (ex-OSU quarterback from my school days) hit it on the head when post-game he said that this loss sealed the Big Ten’s perception as the weakest of the BCS conferences (ranking at or below C-USA and MAC). From the season opening Appalachian State win over Michigan to the season ending blowouts of Illinois and OSU in BCS bowls, it seems the conference was hell-bent to prove that true in 2007.

But football’s over for 2007 and it will be a few months before preseason polls put OSU back in the top 5. Eyes focus now on prime time bball. Buckeye fans can heal up as there are no lofty expectations for their NBA draft depleted team already with three preconference-play losses. Now Michigan State and Indiana (ranked 6 and 10, respectively) get their turn to show what the conference is(n’t) made of.

In one of the craziest, most upset filled, college football seasons, Ohio State has landed back in the number 1 spot at just the right time. Last weekend, former #1 Missouri and former #2 West Virginia both fell flat on their face while skipping toward the BCS Championship game. Very wacky to see both top ranking teams get replaced on the eve of the bowl pairings.

So, it’ll be OSU going down to LSU territory in New Orleans for the big game on Jan 7th. The number 2 LSU, with one more loss than OSU and the only team with two losses to ever play in the BCS championship, will almost certainly be a heavy favorite. Besides the home crowd advantage, many fingers will point to the cupcake, practically intramural, schedule OSU has had. And they would have a good point. Others will point to the shellacking the Bucks took last year in the championship game when they had a much more potent offense. And they would have a good point. And others will point to the 50-day layoff between the annual Michigan spanking and the showdown in the Big Easy.

But the Buckeyes have some pluses in their favor. First off, they’ve been steaming over the loss to Florida for a whole year. Tressel and the rest of the staff haven’t let them forget with constant reminders like using the embarrassing score as the team training center’s key code in the offseason. Second, Beanie Wells has had a lot of time to heal up (even though the wear and tear was rarely reflected in his numbers). And third, there’s no Heisman hoopla distracting our QB this time around. In general, I think the offense will be more level-headed and focused than last year’s squad and the defense should be as solid as last year’s should’ve been.

So for sure it’s not going to be a easy game for the Bucks. Still, to lose eight player to the NFL draft (including the Heisman winner) and be right back in the thick of it is pretty damn cool.

Donna and I lucked into a pair of tickets to the Ohio State game last weekend versus Northwestern. It was the perfect opportunity to catch a game since Al from San Fran was visiting for the weekend and already planned to go to the game with our old buddy Troy. I usually get to a game every year or two, but Al hadn’t gone to one in 15 years and Troy hadn’t been in 5.

We bought the tickets at face value (still pretty pricey at $60 a piece) without knowing where they were. Walking into the stadium with low expectations, we were amazed how incredible the seats turned out to be. We were at the endzone, first row, probably 20′ from the endzone’s corner marker. After seeing so many games in the ‘shoe, it was really cool to see this new perspective. At nearly ground level you get a real look at the players’ field of vision and a real appreciation for their speed. There was plenty scoring to watch as the Buckeyes destroyed the Wildcats, 58 to 7. The pictures from my phone just don’t do it justice:

Donna and I headed out to Bloomington, IN to take in the Hoosier’s home opener against Indiana State on this first Saturday of college games. By any measure it was a great Saturday indeed. To sum up the day in no particular chronological order:

First, there was the requisite partying. It started with pregame tailgating with our pal Dave, his new lady friend, Christian, his buddy, Mark, and Donna’s nephew (a two-week-old freshman at IU), Justin. This led to during game gulps of whiskey and coke, while we were joined by more of Dave’s friends from Indy, Heather and Keith. Which was followed by post-game bar hopping, where we were joined by Nigel and Saretta.

Then to sweeten the day was a little score coming from the Big House in Ann Arbor. News of which I got first from Al, all the way out near San Francisco. It was an upset which completely deflated the preseason #5 ranking of every Buckeye’s arch nemesis; An upset which goes into the history books as the first time a 1-AA football program beat a ranked 1-A team. And they did it on Michigan’s turf. Appalachian State, I congratulate you and I thank you!

Lastly, to officially log this Saturday as one to remember, I met Greg Oden. Right before the game our group was walking toward the stadium and right along one of the grass parking (tailgating) lots stood Mr. #1 Draft pick…all seven foot of him. There’s little mistaking Oden when you see him, but it still took me a minute to process it..him? at a football game? in Bloomington? Actually it makes enough sense since only a year and a half ago he was attending high school in Indy. I imagine he has friends who went to either IU or ISU and was having a little fun before he starts cashing checks in Portland. EDIT – Turns out Greg blogged about his weekend here.

There was a little commotion around but now much, so I walked over and Donna snapped the pic below. I told him how I went to OSU way before his time, and thanked him for the awesome season and wished him luck.

And let me tell ya…Oden doesn’t look 19 when you’re right up close either. Weird.