He appeared at our tailgate after the OSU-OU game.
Archive for September, 2010
20
Sep
10
the buckeye beast.
20
Sep
10
hit of the week.
As I didn’t see any of Saturday’s game — and saw very few highlights later that night — I’m guessing this was probably the best tackle my alma mater could muster against Ohio State all day:
Also: I’m hoping someone is going to step up and fill us in on Saturday’s festivities. Anybody? Bueller?
20
Sep
10
decent?
So. How was your weekend?
Hey, that sounds good to me.
- danish
- coffee
- fritoes & hummus
- assorted snacks
- turkey sloppy joes – they were great!
- slaw
- cookies
- brownies
- buckeye bars
- assorted libations
13
Sep
10
tropical depression.
My voice is mostly back, I’m kind of caught up on sleep and I’m still pretty pleased about the day we had Saturday. Here’s a look at what happened:
FOOTBALL: Ohio State’s special teams are indeed, uh, “special.” When Marshall broke a long kick return the week prior, I mentioned to Juan that Miami would likely have faster, better return guys and if the Bucks couldn’t get that straightened out, we might have some problems. And we did, to the tune of a kick return and a punt return for touchdowns. It wasn’t all bad — we had a couple of long returns our own selves — is everyone else happy to see Jamaal Berry finally on the field? — but the negative outweighs the positive here.
And that’s a shame, because it took away from an excellent defensive performance. Yes, the team gave up a lot of yardage, but they did so to a fast, solid offense; even with those numbers, the D surrendered just 10 points, for a total of, uh, 10 points on the season. My guess is that the defensive coaches were doing their best to guard against big plays, and that was largely successful. I’ll take that kind of effort every single time.
The offense was not spectacular, but it got the job done, scoring when the defense gave them the ball after a turnover or four, and although we didn’t hold the ball as long as I would have liked, putting points on the board is the name of the game. TP didn’t have a great game throwing the ball, but he showed off the other side of his game — largely ignored a week ago because it wasn’t needed — and turned in over 100 yards rushing.
PARKING: I mentioned last week that I wasn’t sure how this was going to go. As it turned out, we had little to be worried about. Crappydad got a pass for the South Lincoln lot — wihch the university’s parking and transportation folks said should be open through October — but we parked at Parks Hall, where we’ve always parked. Our usual spot has some kind of construction stuff going on, but our secondary spot — which was actually our original spot — was as accomodating as ever. It may turn out that we’ll be forced to park in the polo field lots by the end of the season, but for now, we have plenty of more pleasing options.
PARTY: In part because of the parking concerns, we got there early, as in about 8:15 Saturday morning. That’s leaning towards crazy-early for a 3:30 game, but it ensured we got to park where we wanted. And it was a nice morning, too — that extra time would have dragged if it had been as hot as it can be for the second game of the season, and it certainly didn’t feel like we were out there for six and a half hours by the time we packed up. Pat’s going to post the full menu, and Mrs. Crappy has promised a post about the specifics of the main dish, but I can say that we ate and drank well.
NEXT: Mrs. Crappy and I are skipping the OU game (I know!) in favor of Podcamp Pittsburgh 5, so I’m going to be relying on the other KNTers to fill in the blanks for this week’s party. Y’all ready?
09
Sep
10
a little help from our friends.
The freaking wackos will be ready for you, Randy.
Bud gets partial credit for this, as he just sent me an email with the link to the OZone.net. I don’t want to give this more intro than it needs, but here’s the gist: Apparently Randy Shannon, the U’s head coach, recently made the following remarks about Saturday’s game:
You see a lot of traditions in small towns and little cities like Columbus. But the guys (his players) aren’t enamored with it because of what we see when we go out. You may see an Alex Rodriguez, a Wayans brother or Dwayne Wade. Those are big name guys.
Yeah, OK, coach.
Among the responses on the OZone’s message boards was this one, from a purported Michigan fan named Thom Dartt:
Randy Shannon does what people who don’t understand Ohio State football and its fans tend to do: Underestimate them and RUN THEIR MOUTHS. Shannon, who obviously has his Doctorate in Geography, referred to Columbus as a ‘small town.’
Pssssst! Randy! Over here! Yeah, um Miami has a population of about 362,000. Mmmm hmmm, and Columbus has a population of about 710,000. That’s TWICE the size of LITTLE Miami. In fact, Miami would be the 4th largest city in Ohio, JUST ahead of Toledo and Dayton.
Then he says his team sees ‘stars all the time’ like THE WAYANS BROTHERS. Hang on just a second. I have to check my definition of ‘star’/’celebrity.’ Yep, I thought so. NONE of the Wayans brothers, sisters, parents or grandparents are stars or celebrities, unless they were at the Bellbrook festival. And even then…
See, what this idiot fails to realize is that this game is about the Ohio State fans. None of the players even remember 2002. Few, if any of Miami’s coaches, were on their staff in 2002. Some of Ohio State’s were.
Ah, but the fans were all there THEN and they’re all here NOW. And the Scarlet and Gray legions have had to hear over and over and over and over how they got lucky to win the Fiesta Bowl, that Miami REALLY won that game, that Miami was robbed…
Guilty. I was one of the ones that said they were lucky. After further review, Ohio State out-played Miami.
Anyway, Ohio State fans have been seething about those comments and couldn’t wait for this game. Nope, it’s not a ‘rematch,’ but to Ohio State’s fans this means A LOT!
So, Randy, as a Michigan fan, whom the Buckeye faithful HATE, let me help you to understand what you’ll face on Saturday: 100,000+ FREAKING WACKOS who have had time to let that hate and anger for that stupid U build for nearly eight years (And they WON! Can you imagine if they had lost on that call???), who have an anger management issue with people who talk smack about their team/town, who will have several hours to enjoy a few adult beverages, and who want to win every game like their lives depend on it.
They will yell incessantly, cheer every one of their good plays (followed by the chords of various Buckeye songs after those plays), REALLY cheer every one of your bad plays, and never sit down. Oh, and unlike the LITTLE stadiums you play in, this one is BIG and it will be FULL, and IT WILL BE LOUD.
See, Randy, this isn’t Boston College, North Carolina or even Florida State you’re playing. Those LIBRARIES would be sweet compared to the insane asylum that awaits your team on Saturday. Trust me. I’ve been there five times for Michigan games, and several more for other games.
You made a mistake and the Buckeye fans do NOT forgive.
Oh, and one other trivial matter: YOU WILL LOSE. Badly.
Thanks, Thom. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Love, one of the Freaking Wackos in 14C.
09
Sep
10
a day in the park.
Our spot for the Marshall game. It worked well, but the lot we really wanted is in the background.
I mentioned after last week’s game that parking was something of an adventure, largely in part because of the lack of reliable information about where — and when — we could show up on campus for the Thursday night game.
The university had been saying for a couple weeks that with the exception of the RV and stadium lots, on-campus parking wouldn’t open until 3 p.m. on gameday, so we planned to leave the house around 2:30 and get into a lot right at 3.
Which lot we’d be getting to was a whole different question. For years, we’ve parked outside of Riffe Hall, but because of a new construction project involving the medical center, we had heard that lot wouldn’t be available to us this season. The lot is still there, but it’s been blocked off; I actually called the university’s parking folks, and they said that lot — along with all the others between there and the towers — wouldn’t be open.
When I arrived in Columbus Wednesday night, I scoped out a couple decent spaces in the polo field lots — where we had been told permit holders would have to park this season — and we hoped for the best.
And then around 10:30 on the morning of gameday, Matlock called my folks and said there were already people in a tiny lot just south of Lincoln Hall — even after days of warnings that tailgaters who showed up before 3 would be turned away.
Crap.
We packed up quickly and headed over to Cannon Drive; after talking Bud out of parking at our old space — that lot was still empty — we eased in to the South Lincoln lot and got set up. A university parking truck came through the lot, twice, but the folks inside never said a word to us. And finally, the woman who was running the lot told us we could stay — for that game only.
She said in subsequent weeks we’d need a different pass, one specific to that lot. And as we watched our regular lot slowly fill up, she offered us a glimmer of hope — she said she had been told that we would be able to park there if we had a handicapped hang-tag.
And thanks to Bud’s bum leg, we do.
However — through the rest of the day, we heard other stories, mainly that none of our lots would be open, and that everyone with the pass we hold would be herded into the polo field.
What does that mean for this week? We have no idea. It’s pretty clear to me that the university threw up its hands for the Marshall game, given that they were dealing with a huge crowd trying to get to campus on a weeknight; I’m equally certain things will be a lot tighter on Saturday.
We’re going to show up at 8 a.m. on Saturday. And we’ll see what happens.
08
Sep
10
shhhh.
This poor young man seems to be misinformed:
CORAL GABLES – Let’s be bluntly honest: The Horseshoe is over glamorized.
It isn’t intimidating. Nor is it much of a hostile environment.
He will know differently by Saturday night.
UPDATE: Every Day Should Be Saturday, SEC people though they are, seem to agree that this poor young man doesn’t know what he’s talking about:
We’d love to accuse the Big Ten in general of being just as sleepy and geriatric as many of its stadiums indeed are, but Penn State and Ohio State are both loud as Satan’s pizza-and-beer farts, and just as noxious to play in as an opponent.
Heh.
07
Sep
10
forecast.
I’m wondering about the possibility of having to deal with a hurricane — or, at least, the remnants of one — as we deal with the Hurricanes on Saturday.
04
Sep
10
the first tailgate menu.
- assorted snacks
- beef brisket
- baked beans
- potato salad
- missing green salad
- chips
- buckeye bars for dessert
- beer, wine, cosmos, & mannies
Killer Nuts Tailgating 