Who would have thought that May 26th would be an important day for Buckeye Nation?
Well, we anticipated this day for a long time, because today is the day we start our Countdown To Kickoff!
There are 99 days until the season begins at Ohio Stadium, so today we tip our hats to Luke Fickell.
Fickell has been around the Buckeyes his entire life, and it shows. He graduated from Columbus DeSales High School (oh, and by the way, he won a State Championship in wrestling while there), and then went on to The Ohio State University, where he started as a freshman at nose guard.
Now starting his 10th year as an assistant coach at Ohio State, he’s the man who will coaching the big names on the defense. Ross Homan, Brian Rolle, Etienne Sabino….these are the men who will crush the opposition under the guidance of Fickell.
Oh, and if you needed another reason to admire Fickell, try this on for size. Last year, he declined an offer to coach at Notre Dame. Hell yes.
Late last night, The Buckeye Battle Cry reached a big milestone, and we’d like to take a moment to celebrate it.
A few minutes after Midnight, when most of us were coming down off our “Lost” high, tBBC was visited by our 500,000th Buckeye fan*.
Half a million visits may not be a big number for our amazing friends at 11 Warriors and Bucknuts, but we’re all raising a glass at this corner of the world.
You know the story of this site. Less than four years ago, it was just a tiny little place for one guy to spout an opinion and make videos. Now it’s home to some of the best damn writers in Ohio (and beyond….see MaliBuckeye), and clearly it’s home to a lot of you scarlet and gray fans.
While the credit goes to you, the loyal fans of tBBC, I will again state that this website would not be at all relevant without Jim, Eric, Rob Harley and the aforementioned Californian. Nearly half of our total hits came since we expanded the staff 10 months ago.
They’ll be running the show throughout football season this year, since Fox Sports Ohio hired this site’s fifth-best writer. I know that my baby will continue to grow and prosper, and your visits are the proof.
Thank you VERY much, Buckeye fans! I propose a toast to all of you! Grab a drink and take a swig of it. It’s on me. Let’s drink to old Ohio til we wobble in our shoes!
* – It was probably Ian who pushed us over half a million. He’s all over the Buckeye Blogosphere. You have school in the morning, young man! Get some sleep!
We’re usually pretty rough on the Wolverines at tBBC, and as the Owner/President/CEO of this site, I feel it’s time that I admonish Jim for publishing two straight days of “point and laugh” articles at our friends up North.
It’s fun to pick on those guys, but even we should promote happy tidings when they point towards prosperity for UM.
So, to counter Jim’s writings of late, I decided to scour the news and find something that will be good news for Michigan fans. It didn’t take long to find good news for the enemy to the North…..
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A bowl game is supposed to be a reward for a good season. Now, with the glut of postseason contests, a team with a losing record might get an invitation.
“I think it stinks,” former Nebraska player Aaron Taylor said Wednesday in a text message. The CBS college football analyst said the sport “is becoming perilously close to losing the purity and amateurism that separates it from it’s pro counterpart.”
Finding enough winning teams to fill bowl slots is a fairly recent concern. The number of bowl games has nearly doubled from the 18 held in 1996.
So, chins up, Michigan fans!!! There’s something to hope for in 2010!
The bar has been raised**! Slide under it while you still can!
———-
** – The BBC apologizes profusely if former Michigan Head Coach Gary Moeller was at all confused by our mentioning a bar.
Quick summary – LeBron James has had an aggravating elbow injury for some time now, and because he eased up on it and carried it gingerly at the end of the game last night, it’s become a major story.
However, breathe easy Cavalier fans. The elbow is just fine. It told me so;
Whoever created this Twitter account did so shortly after Midnight last night, and has been growing followers hand-over-fist since then. Pure brilliance.
As the spring game gets ready to kick off, I’m perched in the press box at Ohio Stadium and I’m ready to discuss Ohio State football again with you….I’m hosting a live chat at Fox Sports Ohio today, and I’d love for you to come over and enjoy the conversation that we all are so used to online.
So please, be my guest at Fox, and GO BUCKEYES!!!!!
As MaliBuckeye reported earlier this week, I’m currently in the hospital. I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you who sent me e-mails and posted comments here and on Facebook. You guys are the best, and I’m truly touched by your best wishes.
Wednesday at 11am I’m going in for surgery. My gall bladder has gone bad and it’s gotta be removed. Originally I was diagnosed with ulcers, then with stones in the gall bladder (both incorrect). Turns out the organ itself is diseased.
When all is well tomorrow, Mali will get a text and he’ll let you know. But I wanted to tell you how awesome you are. See you soon!
The schedule for the NBA Playoffs is out. This is the year Cleveland Cavalier fans get their vengeance on all the Michael Jordan memories that were thrust upon them.
Cleveland Cavaliers (1) vs. Chicago Bulls (8)
Game 1 – Saturday, April 17th, 3pm at Cleveland
Game 2 – Monday, April 19th, 8pm at Cleveland
Game 3 – Thursday, April 22nd, 8pm at Chicago
Game 4 – Sunday, April 25th, 330pm at Chicago
Game 5 – Tuesday, April 27th at Cleveland (if needed)
Game 6 – Thursday, April 29th at Chicago (if needed)
Game 7 – Saturday, May 1st at Cleveland (if needed)
Back when this site was on the SBNation network, we made a concerted effort to stick to all things Buckeyes, and not write about other teams, college or pro. The network had blogs from just about every team/sport out there, so we thought that writing about topics that weren’t related to Ohio State would be the equivalent of stepping on someone else’s turf.
Three things have happened since we agreed to that stance.
1) We’re not on the network anymore.
2) It’s spring, and there’s less OSU topics to cover daily.
3) I have an exclusive contract with Fox Sports Ohio and can’t discuss Buckeye football here, and I wanna write, dammit.
So I hereby change that policy. The BBC is a Buckeye-centered blog, but we’ll discuss whatever the hell we want from now on. When the Buckeye news hits, we’ll be all over it….but we’re going to expand the horizons a bit, too.
With that, comes discussion of the Cleveland Cavaliers (yay).
Tonight, the Cavs take on Atlanta is a virtually meaningless game. Cleveland has secured the #1 seed, and there is nothing left to gain. Same thing goes for the Hawks and their #3 slot being solid. This is the time for the main superstars to get some rest and prepare for Game 1 of the first round.
So, even though Shaquille O’Neal is activated and ready to play again, we won’t see him tonight. Same thing for LeBron James. I’m willing to bet that the rest of the starters get about 20 minutes in before they hit the bench.
The only genuine interest in the NBA tonight comes from two other teams. If Chicago wins tonight at Charlotte, the Bulls get the 8th seed and will be our first-round playoff opponent. If Chicago loses, and the Toronto Raptors win at home against the Knicks, we’ll play Toronto in the first round.
If both Chicago and Toronto lose, we get the Bulls.
The playoffs begin Saturday, but we’ll see when our first game is sometime tomorrow. If it’s against Chicago, expect a Sunday 1pm or 330pm tipoff. More potential viewers will give us the prime Sunday time slot.
Frankly, I want the Bulls. The perfect playoff run is being setup for us, and I want it.
Round 1 – Chicago. Revenge for all those Michael Jordan nightmares
Round 2 – Boston. They’re the 4th seed and in line to face us in the Conference Semifinals. Revenge for two years ago.
Round 3 – Orlando. Do I need to explain the revenge factor?
The Finals – L.A. Lakers. Let’s settle this once and for all.
OR
The Finals – San Antonio. Revenge for 2007.
Either way, this weekend begins the quest for what Clevelanders deserve. A championship.
While you’re waiting….here’s a present for Cavalier fans everywhere. Rasheed Wallace scored on his own basket last night with nobody around him. Savor it. Nom nom nom.
In case you’re confused by the new/old look of The BBC, allow me to explain….
We’ve moved back to our old server.
There, that’s the explanation.
All of the guys here at The Buckeye Battle Cry have some things they want to say publicly, now that we’re not being watched so heavily. Since it’s my blog, I get to go first;
Not many people across the nation gave Wisconsin much of a chance to beat the high-powered Miami Hurricanes, especially after the Badgers embarrassing loss to FSU in their bowl game last year.
This isn’t last year.
Wisconsin used smash-mouth offense and clamp-down defense to beat the Canes 20-14 in the Champs Sports Bowl, giving the Big Ten their first bowl win in the 2009-2010 campaign.
For our friends out west who have been hanging their hat on the “Ohio State will lose because the Big Ten sucks” hook….let’s look at the progress of the bowl season so far.
December 22nd – Las Vegas Bowl
18th-ranked Oregon State, the team that was one drive away from being the champion of the Pac-10 gets humiliated by BYU, 44-20. That’s right…the second-place team in the Pac-10 got more than doubled up. By Mormons.
December 23rd – Poinsettia Bowl
California struggles through most of the key moments of the game, turning the ball over three times in a 37-27 loss to Utah. Cal at one point allowed the Utes to rip off a 37-7 run that lasted more than three quarters. They lost by 10. To Mormons.
December 26 – Emerald Bowl
USC shows that maybe they have some bowl experience and the Trojans turn a close halftime score into a 24-13 win over Boston College. Don’t get too excited, Pac-10 fans. Notre Dame beat BC also.
December 29 – EagleBank Bowl
UCLA struggles the entire game against Temple, trailing by 11 points at halftime before pulling out a 30-21 win over the Owls. Temple realized that they were Temple sometime around the start of the 4th quarter and the game unraveled. But it still took UCLA a long time to put away Temple. Yes, Temple.
The Pac-10 is 2-2 in bowl games, and none of them have been impressive for the conference, save the great game by USC QB Matt Barkley.
Meanwhile, the 15th-ranked Miami Hurricanes just got pushed around by Wisconsin’s special brand of midwestern football.
There’s lots of games to be played left in the bowl season, but the “weak conference” argument is certainly losing it’s power as of this moment, wouldn’t you agree?
Good thing for the Pac-10 that there’s no more teams with a multitude of Mormons, huh?
Our readers will have to forgive us for this….but we’re going to be posting a series of previews today and we’ll probably have 7 or 8 posts today alone.
Tomorrow, we go live to our new home at SB Nation, and we want to reserve the entire day for the switchover.
We have to do a full export from our current WordPress home to the new servers
We have to re-adjust to the new dashboard we’ll be using
We need a live chicken to take the curse off Jose’s glove
We need to prepare the new site for the Rose Bowl liveblog
We’re dealing with a lot of shit here.
So this is our preview of two bowls…..
Missouri (9-4, 4-4 Big 12) vs. Navy (9-4, Independent)
December 31, 2009 3:30 PM ET
Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas
Buckeye fans will have their eye on this game, because we’ve been taking a lot of grief over our close game with Navy, a 31-27 win in the season opener. Of course, when Navy knocked off Notre Dame, some of the chirping calmed down, but it’s still there. A solid game out of the Middies will be a feather in the cap of Navy and it’ll look good for us too.
Missouri is two seasons removed from a near-miss at the National Championship game. Chase Daniel’s parents were on the TV more than Tom Brokaw, and Tigers fans were devastated by a late-season loss that sent them to a non-BCS when they were one quarter away from playing for the title.
In other words, this game is about respect for both squads.
What to look for? Navy’s 4th-ranked rush offense vs. Mizzou’s 12th-ranked rush defense. That’s the key.
Who Are We Picking?
Jeff at the BBC: Navy
Mali: Navy
Jim: Navy
Eric: Navy
It’s unanimous. But that’s probably because we’ve all seen Navy play. They’re better than you think.
——————–
Iowa State (6-6, 3-5 Big 12) vs. Minnesota (6-6, 3-5 Big Ten)
December 31, 2009 6 PM ET
Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Arizona
A lot of times you think “how did that team make a bowl? They’re 6-6 and didn’t really have much in the way of quality wins.”
You can say that twice today.
Minnesota shocked Michigan State for their big win. Iowa State did the same to should-be Big 12 champion Nebraska. But other than that, these were two mediocre seasons.
Who Are We Picking?
Jeff at the BBC: Minnesota
Mali: Minnesota
Jim : Iowa State
Eric: Minnesota
Clearly, we’re only interested in this game because of the Big Ten connection. We’re all hoping the the conference does us proud. Here’s hoping Minnesota can make us 2-0 after Wisky pulls off the big upset tonight (hey, their basketball team beat Duke, they have the upset spirit in Madison)
—————-
Sorry so short….see you on the flip side tomorrow at our new home!
We’ve been hoping that we could make a switch to the SB Nation family of blogs before the Rose Bowl on Friday night, and our wishes have been granted.
Officially, we’ll be moving to our new home sometime Wednesday. This will not be much of an issue to you, our loyal readers, as the website’s address will be the exact same. However, if you want to comment at our new site, you’ll need to sign up at SBNation. You can wait until we launch and sign up directly through the BBC.
But this means a lot to us. We’ll be able to do our Live Chat during the Rose Bowl from our new home, and we’re all excited about that.
Thanks again for your support and your love for all things Buckeye!
Who would have thought that May 26th would be an important day for Buckeye Nation?