Thursday Linkage

  • The Daily provides a good amount of Mattison fluff, including his ideas of "taking pride in the defense," "technique," "fundamentals," and (oh yes) "stopping the run."
  • Breaking news from Tattoo-Gate and the Tressel fallout... the lawyer that told Jimmy about the issues back in April was a former Buckeye player.  Fill in your own joke about Buckeye football players actually contributing to society.
  • UMHoops previews the Big Ten tournament, which starts Thursday.  Michigan plays Friday at around 2:30pm, Saturday at 2pm, and Sunday at 3:30pm.
  • Stolen grill?  Stolen hand welded trailored grill?  That suuuuuuuuuucks.
  • A treasure trove of Tressel news and opions linked on ESPN's Big Ten blog.  The article is by Ted Miller.  Wait, Rittenburg has a staff now?
  • Scans of OSU's letter to the NCAA from the M-Zone.
  • Watch more Sheen.  It's good for the soul.

Pants on Fire

I listened to the press conference, had all kinds of things I wanted to share...wanted to be clever...wanted to be funny...but EDSBS has already done a better job than anyone else will:

So I know I can talk in circles, but hopefully I've managed to clear this up here. in summary: confidentiality, drug trafficking, something about not being totally clear in my understanding of which lawyers to talk to, and then we resolved this with a sock puppet meeting with human resources, and overall I'm disappointed, but can I fit a recruiting pitch in here my mentioning how we're like family and I thought I was doing the right thing? I can?

Done, and done, and Bruce Pearl?  You have just watched how a master shows the world his dick and calls it a magical salamander. Step your game up, He-bro.

And we're done.

That was an embarrassing presser, even from north of the border.  Absolutely cringe-worthy.  And to suspend him for Akron and Toledo...sick.  What he did was much worse than what his players did.  Tatts for autographs is not so big of a deal...but covering it up from a position of power?  BIG F'N DEAL.  They got 5 games.  He got 2.

But nobody really cares.  It will all be forgotten in a couple of weeks.  Ohio State will go on pretending that they weren't fielding ineligible players in at least three of their last ten meetings with us, and I will go on waiting for an SMU-like bomb to drop on these asshats.

Remember what I said...Clarett was always telling the truth:

• Jan. 3, 2003 -- Dives into the end zone on a 5-yard run, the winning score in a 31-24 double-overtime victory over Miami to give Ohio State its first national title in 34 years.

• July 12, 2003 -- The New York Times quotes a teaching assistant at Ohio State who says Clarett got preferential treatment. She says he walked out of a midterm exam but passed the class after the professor gave him an oral exam.

• July 29, 2003 -- Ohio State confirms the NCAA is investigating Clarett's claim that more than $10,000 in clothing, CDs, cash and stereo equipment was stolen in April from a 2001 Chevrolet Monte Carlo that Clarett had borrowed from a local dealership.

• Sept. 9, 2003 -- Charged with misdemeanor falsification for the police report on the theft. The charge carries a penalty ranging from probation to six months in jail and $1,000 fine.

• Nov. 9, 2004 -- Alleges in an ESPN The Magazine article that coach Jim Tressel or his staff arranged for him to get passing grades, cars and money for bogus summer jobs. Geiger denies the allegations.

Goodnight.

Cry Baby...Cry

I know I ignored the aftermath of the game in my brief recap yesterday.  Brian does an impressive job of summing up the absurdity of anyone questioning Darius for that last lay-in.  That lay-in was the only moment in which I felt relief.  Which means until that point the game was in question.  What's not in question is that Izzo is an asshole, a hypocritical, angry little midget asshole.

And speaking of assholes, particularly crooked ones...seems that Teflon Jimmy is about to get his wrist slapped.  Dan Wetzel dropped a "journalistic bomb of the Freep kind" tonight claiming that Tressell knew about the "Tattoos for Autographs" program about 8 months before the University claimed he did.  Honestly, at what point are they going to go back and read the old Maurice Clarett interview from ESPN the magazine and realize that all that shit really WAS happening.

From Dr Saturday...

 If Tressel (or anyone at OSU) knew about the violations at any point before last season and failed to move on the information, all five players could be declared ineligible for the entire 2010 season, all 12 wins they participated in vacated and Ohio State's share of the Big Ten championship revoked.

To be honest, I just love that the pot is stirred up again.  I know that nothing serious will probably happen to the Buckeyes, but the way the NCAA moved so fast for them, and let them play in that bowl game, after they made us lame ducks for a whole year over 20 minutes of extra practice?!?  They thought it was all over.  They thought they could finally put it behind them.  And here it comes again.  Just awesome.

Could things be going any better here in Ann Arbor?

Spring practice is starting in a couple weeks.  We just swept Michigan State in basketball, and Tressell is under further investigation.

Happy Fat Tuesday.

My Coach is Better Than Your Coach

There's been a lot of tough Saturday's around these parts over the last few years, and during that time, we've learned something about ourselves, we've grown as fans (those that have stayed), and we've come to appreciate successes, even little ones, a lot more.  Wins mean more today than they did 10...even 5...years ago.  Yes, I am talking about basketball, and yes, I am rolling football into this discussion.  Around here it's always football season and Spring Practice is two weeks away so...ya.

The students were off for Spring Break for senior day at Crisler.  Regardless, many a Maize Rager cut the sun and sand short to catch one final glimpse of this improbable Michigan team, trying to do the seemingly impossible, sweep the Spartans.  And while I don't subscribe to the theory that Michigan State is an elite basketball program like a Duke or a North Carolina, I do recognize that in the present time, this is their game.  It's tough to argue with so many Final Four appearances.  It's also fun to laugh at their inability to capitalize on one in ten years.  It's even more fun to beat them at their own game.  Of course, I'm sure many Spartan fans would be happy to tell you about this feeling, since they currently hold serve with three victories in a row in football...decidedly OUR sport.  I am also certain that you will be hearing every green and white clad douchebag crowing about football today.  Basketball is over for them.  

Hello again, little brother.

Emotions ran high for me during Saturday's game.  Michigan State didn't put in a field goal in the first 6 minutes, but the lead was never more than 14, and I felt like we didn't properly put them away when we had the chance.  I knew in my glass half empty heart that at some point, the Spartans were going to heat up.  But it never happened.  There were too many late game mistakes by the Wolverines to even mention, but it didn't matter.  This seemingly poorly assembled bunch of random kids, playing together, working a system, made believers out of all of us.  My face half covered by my Michigan sweatshirt held up by hands held tightly in a prayer formation, I watched as Darius layed in the final dagger and the clock slipped to 0.0.  My eyes welled up just a bit.  Michigan had punched its ticket to the dance.

Embarrassingly, I mentioned post game that I couldn't believe Michigan didn't do anything for senior night...after which I took a good natured tongue lashing because obviously we have no seniors.  My faux pas aside, that's an important point to make.  This team is young.  And somehow, they owned MSU from tip to buzzer.  Sure it got close from time to time, but it was obvious who the better team was, despite the reality that there's probably not a Michigan player that would have found himself with a spot on the Michigan State roster at the beginning of this season.

That's a testament to the man in charge.

Michigan will not have to play on Thursday in the Big Ten tournament, a reward for coming in at #4 in the regular season standings.  The wacky bracket that somehow creates a single winner from an uneven 11-team field has us matched up with the Illini on Friday around 2:30pm.  The winner will likely have to face Ohio State, who we still owe for that half court bullshit that went down last year.  It's gonna be a fun few weeks.

40 days, 40 nights, 40 posts begins Tuesday...see you then.