Draft Day Suit

Look at what showed up in my mailbox!  Sigh.  The Sports Illustrated College Football Preview is here and that means the time is near.

What does this mean?  Well, it means that my Buckeyes will be soon be taking the field.  I can almost hear the snap, taste the stadium dogs and feel the earth reverberating. 

I see the blue sky and sense the crisp fall winds blowing the Big Ten (Eleven/Twelve) flags around the top of Ohio Stadium.  I picture cringing at Cameron Heyward when he sacks Iowa’s Ricky Stanzi, a cringe which is followed closely by my screaming, “Yeeeeeeaaaaahh!” and a lot of high-fiving.

There is nothing better than a good sack. 

That’s what she said.

Really, though?  There is nothing better than college football. 

Can my boys win a sixth straight Big Ten (Eleven/Twelve) title?  Probably.  Do they have a good chance at making it to the BCS Championship again?  Possibly.  Will I go ape-shit crazy when they take the field even if they go 4-8?  Likely.  (I originally had those stats at 2-10, but that’s really pushing it.)

I have been one of the Buckeye faithful since I was a child.  I have followed them all over the country, including Arizona for their loss in the 2007 BCS Title Game.  My heart, it hurts.

I have seen them win at Michigan, Penn State and Illinois.  I have watched them lose at Indiana, Pittsburgh, Purdue (where I was assaulted by one of their fans…which may have had something to do with the megaphone on which I was blaring our fight song…I SO deserved it) and an Outback Bowl in Tampa.  Why I travel to bowl games, I’ll never know.

Not true.  I know.  I go because they are my team. 

I go because I am a fan.

I am tradition and history.  I am Woody Hayes, Archie Griffin and The Best Damn Band in the Land.  I am Cris Carter, Block “O” and the Victory Bell.  I am Eddie George, Mirror Lake and “Carmen Ohio.”

I go because I am a Buckeye. 

I am Ohio State.

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Joe Montana is selling his championship rings on eBay for bail money. Bid now!

Let’s pretend for a moment that you are Joe Montana, legendary Notre Dame and NFL quarterback and three time Super Bowl MVP.

Life is good, you’re probably hanging on a beach somewhere, maybe doing some speaking engagements and enjoying your retirement.

Then your son gets arrested at a party for underage drinking in South Bend, Indiana.  But really, who can fault the kid?  It’s South Bend, Indiana.  What the hell else should he be doing?  I suppose there’s always cruising the main drag or people watching at WalMart.

Anyway, so, you’re Joe Montana.  Are you more embarrassed that your son got arrested, or that the publicity it stirs up lets everyone know that your kid spent last season as a back-up quarterback at Pasadena City College?

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The NCAA announced Monday that is expanding the NCAA men’s basketball tournament field to 68 teams. But there is a catch. Those extra four teams will play a “first-round” game before the tournament actually starts.

Confused?

There will be 4 extra teams chosen to participate. The final two teams to receive at-large bids, and the final two teams to automatically qualify, will play against each other to decide who moves on to the Big Dance and the field of 64.

They have been talking about expanding the Tourney for years. Every year there is bound to be many bubble teams who don’t make the tournament and every year those teams and their fans call for expansion. There was talk of expanding to 96 teams, which is just kind of ridiculous, so I’m glad the NCAA went this route.

These “First Four” teams and their games should start the tournament off on an exciting foot. No longer will it be just two small schools playing against each other to determine who gets their ass kicked by the number one seeded team.

Now these games are going to be more hyped up, with schools that have larger national audiences and fan bases. These will no longer be throw-away games. Well, one still will be. The automatic qualifiers will play each other, and that game will still be for a chance to lose to number one seed. But the other game, between the final two at-large teams, will be for a chance to be higher than a 16 seed. Those two teams will fill in as a number 12 or number 10, wherever that at-large bid was placed in the seeding.

“The teams selected for these games will be like teams,” tournament selection committee chairman Dan Guerrero said. “We felt if we were going to expand the field it would create better drama for the tournament if the First Four was much more exciting. They could all be on the 10 line or the 12 line or the 11 line. We won’t know until the seeding takes place and the principles and procedures are used and the teams are slotted appropriately.”

In addition, the even bigger news is that this will be the first time that the final “at-large” teams will be revealed. In the past the at-large teams were scattered around the bracket, usually no higher than a 12-seed. Most people guessed who the at-large bids were. But this year it will be publically announced and you’ll know just how close your team was to the bubble.

What do you think of this new Tournament expansion?

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So yeah, guess who just got busted on June 30 for DUI in Georgia? I can only imagine what the Georgia smokey must have been thinking when he discovered the driver he pulled over was none other than the University of Georgia’s Athletic Director, Damon Evans. Not only did the trooper smell booze, but something else in the car caught his eye: a pair of red panties. Being a consummate investigator, the trooper asked Evans about the underwear.  According to the official report Evans offered a perfectly reasonable explanation regarding why he was in possession of his 28-year-old passenger’s unmentionables:

“She took them off and I held them because I was just trying to get her home.”

Of course! As the driver, it was his responsibility to handle her panties. So that’s what Evans meant in the PSA when he urged,

“Choose a designated driver before each game and have a safe drive home.”

Evans is set to appear in a Georgia court on July 12.  It is unclear as to whether he was fired by University officials or if he resigned, but either way he will be getting a three month severance package amounting to well over 100 grand.

What the hell?  Evans commits a criminal act and garners a six figure severance package. Great.  Crime pays and evidently so does the University of Georgia.  If I were a parent of a UGA student I would be livid. What kind of lesson is the university teaching with that sort of reward for criminal behavior? Especially when the accused is caught red handed, admits to what he did and there is no doubt as to the validity of the charge.  And if the severance wasn’t in his contract, and the UGA attorneys offered the pay out as a “settlement” than that’s just as wrong.  Drunk drivers kill people. This is serious shit and it is outrageous Evans is being paid anything at all. I don’t give a rat’s ass if the severance appears in his contract or not. Wrong is wrong. Illegal is illegal is illegal.

Evans should make a designation of his own and donate the severance money to charity, as long as it doesn’t cause hardship for his wife and kids.

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