Good lord, no -- not the beer.
Braxton Miller gets the start against Colorado. He’s going to make more mistakes than Bauserman would, but hooboy, the upside is tantalizing. And after last week’s debacle, I’ll take making some plays — and dealing with some mistakes — over doing absolutely nothing.
As we discussed back in July, Ohio State will once again participate in Nike’s Moneygrab Alternate Uniform Freakout* program in 2011, and as I mentioned back then, I had some concerns about the leaked picture that purported to show this year’s version, shown below:
I wondered about the wisdom of wearing all-black unis for a night game — Nike is dressing the Bucks for this year’s home game against Wisconsin — and these seemed to astray from the other two versions in that they didn’t at least attempt to mimic a uniform of the past.
When I’ve come across these leaked pix in the past, they’ve turned out to be accurate. This time? Not so much.
Nike and the university released pictures of the 2011 unis on Tuesday, and they are indeed throwbacks, this time to the undefeated 1961 team:
Wow. Rod Smith's gotta be happy that his number is being used in the Nike promos.
I’m good with these. I still have doubts about the necessity of Ohio State’s participation in the program — with a climbing number of schools boast about having dozens of potential uniform combinations, I’m still happy to see that Ohio State has only two — but if we’re going to participate, a continued emphasis on honoring teams of the past is the right way to go for us.
Unless we Nike proposes a uniform based on the Ohio state flag. How cool would that be?
(Insert eyeroll here.)
*You may also know this program as the Nike Pro Combat uniform.
It was supposed to be like this anyway...
We’re two weeks into the season. The tailgates have been good, the parking has been ideal and the football … well, I’m not sure about the football yet. Here’s a rundown:
The Parking: Hooboy, this has been the best part about the season so far. you’ll recall that we felt pretty good about getting back to our usual lot before the season started, and so far, that’s worked perfectly. We have shade, we don’t have crowds and we have nearly all of the things — with the possible exception of grass — that we’ve enjoyed in the past. It could be that no one has questioned us about being there because no one has noticed us, but with each week, I’m feeling better about the prospects of us just being able to stay there.
The parties: As is often the case attendance was a little light the first week, but we recovered nicely on Saturday. The noon games are tough — tough on me, because I’m up at 5 a.m., and tough on the rest of y’all, because there just isn’t a whole lot of tailgate party to work with before it’s time to pack up and go inside. I am hopeful we won’t have many more noon starts for the rest of the year.
And did we eat well? Yes we did. Bud volunteered to make his breakfast hash for the first week; we’ve covered that recipe here before, and in spite of some technical difficulties with the propane skillet, it was as good as it always was.
I did the Groundhog-standard eggless breakfast casseroles on Saturday, and they were apparently popular. The basic recipe is here, but of course, I made some changes. One was simple — the base, but I substituted two pounds of bacon for the two pounds of sausage. The other was tweaked a little more. I used a pound of regular ground sausage and a pound of spicy; I also added a couple diced jalapenos to the mix, enough for flavor but not so much that it would blow anyone’s head off.
And it was good.
The pigskin: Damn, we looked good against Akron. Bauserman had the kind of day I didn’t know he was capable of, the receivers were sharp — THREE TOUCHDOWN CATCHES BY A TIGHT END WHAT? — and we didn’t appear to miss the suspended starters a whole bunch. It was the kind of game that made you feel good — but you realize that the opponent was good enough that you learned a whole lot about what to expect from your team later on.
And then there was Toledo.
I’m hoping that the near-upset was because of a couple of things: the fact that the Rockets are really good (we’ll find out more about that this weekend, when they host Boise State), and the attention of the Buckeyes was focused more on Miami this week than the game last week. Whether or not that’s the case, here’s one thing that’s certain — if Toledo hadn’t racked up the penalties they had, we would have lost that game. To an in-state team. For the first time since 1921.
Ouch.
I don’t think a lack of focus will be a problem this weekend, but hooboy the competition gets a lot better. We don’t know if the NCAA will let us have the Charity Three — as opposed to the Tat Four — back for the game against the Hurricanes, but their guys who were suspended in Week One, including quarterback Jacory Harris, will be back on the field, if they don’t crash any more Jet Skis into yachts in the interim.
How good is Ohio State? I think we’ll know the answer to that question by about 11 Saturday night.
New video, first posted on Facebook today, by Archie:
Sure, I put up a post about the deliciously cool weather Sunday morning; I wax rhapsodic about the coming season because of a slight chill in the air.
And then I looked at the actual forecast. Or, rather, three of them:
The National Weather Service:
Accuweather:
The Weather Channel:
Crap. At this rate, I won’t be able to wear a jersey into a game until November.
Speechless.
Did you feel it this morning? I did.
I’m sure it has more to with the northerly wind pulled down towards Pittsburgh by Hurricane Irene than it does an actual change of seasons, but when we walked out of the house today to hunt down some breakfast, I was hit by a cool breeze crossing our front porch.
And it felt like fall.
We’re just a few days away from the start of the season, one that felt like it would never actually get here. It’s going to be an unusual one, with the suspensions, the addition of a new rival that could win the conference in its first season … and the possibility that the NCAA could still drop a nasty surprise in our laps before the end of November.
That’s all real, and it will all have a bearing on what happens in Columbus in the fall of 2011.
But once I felt that breeze this morning, none of it mattered.
What does matter? Arriving in Columbus on Friday. Visiting Buckeye Corner and The Andersons and Giant Eagle. Checking on all the gear Friday afternoon. Checking it again Friday night. Trying, unsuccessfully, to get enough sleep on Friday night that the alarm going off at 5 Saturday morning won’t be too painful. Getting in the lot — whichever lot it turns out to be — at 8, pulling out chairs, starting up the stove, having the first bloody mary, welcoming friends back for the first time since the end of November — that’s what matters.
In terms of the weather, I don’t think it’s going to feel much like fall on Saturday — it’s supposed to be close to 90 by the time the game against Akron is done — but that won’t matter either.
Fall is here. Football is here. And I’m ready to go.
As the season gets closer, the energy we have to spend on The Unpleasantness seems to dwindle each and every day. Sure, we’ll have one more day to think about all that stuff — when the NCAA announces its findings and whatever sanctions it has ready for us — in two or three months — but in the meantime, we’re going to be thinking about football.
However.
There is no question that the most recent off-season is going to at least color everything that happens during the season, from picking a quarterback to waiting on some very good players to finish up their suspensions to enduring what I’m sure will be endless carping about the program during televised games, especially on those televised by our friends at ESPN (Tip: Just don’t listen to anything — ANYTHING — that comes out of Mark May’s mouth for the rest of 2011).
Yes. No matter what we want to happen, The Unpleasantness isn’t going away anytime soon. It’s going to be the elephant in the stadium all year. And it’s going to be a challenge for everyone connected with the program — players, coaches, administrators and fans.
How does one approach a challenge? A former coach we’re very familiar with suggested you embrace it (unless the challenge involves potentially ineligible players, I guess). And that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to take on the haters, and we’re going to enjoy it while we do.
We’ve just added the above designs — available in multiple colors and in men’s and women’s styles — to the Killer Nuts Tailgating store, and we’re hoping that you’ll see fit to have one or the other ready for the Sept. 3 season opener. We’ve spent weeks and weeks being appropriately ashamed, shocked and/or contrite (well, sort of); now that the season’s here, it’s time to put that crap behind us.
(And yes, we’re aware that 0-13 isn’t technically what happened to the 2010 season, but we don’t care — it’s funnier this way.)
You’ll find the store here, and ridiculously detailed directions on placing your orders here. Of course, the lovely “we are killer nuts” and “I blame the tailgate” designs are still available and, as always, if you need a different size or a different color, just let me know and I’ll make it happen.
Yes. Yes I am.
Killer Nuts Tailgating 