So Easy To Hate

I swore after i complained about them a little bit today, I would let it go. But I just can't. Today has made me realize, even more, why I hate Ohio State so f'ing much. I thought maybe this loathing may even be a little unnatural, but i was quickly reminded as to where the hate comes from. And let's make no bones about it, hate is without a doubt the proper word usage. Most of this hatred is seeded in their arrogant fans who feel they are entitled to be in a national title conversation every year, even though the best teams they beat in their "powerhouse" conference are 7-5. Guess what, the Big Ten sucks now. Sorry it's not the 80's anymore. Now I understand that every fan base as their share of assholes and idiots, but Ohio State's seem to consist of a much higher percentage of this type than any other team I can think of. I'd say a good 75% of Buckeye fans are perfectly regular people who can enjoy a sporting event without being a prick. Unfortunately the rest ruin an entire school's reputation. Hey did you win the National Championship in '02? I don't remember. You better remind me again. And you have officially proven that you can spell the name of your four-letter state over... and over... and over again. Nice work on perfecting that brain-buster. I mean I have never seen a pack of clowns who legitimately think they are the best, when in reality they have won one National Championship in the last 41 years, and it was a gift. In the others, I'm pretty sure they got routed. They are perennially the most overrated team in the country, thus just making these people feel even more entitled to be spoken of as an elite program. I spoke with my cousin, fellow blogger, and OSU alum during the Sugar Bowl last night. For the record, he falls in the 75% that aren't douchers. He joked a bit and gave me some ribbing as OSU built a big lead in the first half, but nothing ridiculous. He actually has the ability to enjoy the game. I use him as an example to then show you the other side. I have some actual quotes from one of Ohio State's 25 percent-ers which completely exemplify the moron-a-thon I had to go through when trying to discuss the Sugar Bowl. I merely said that Ohio State was lucky to escape with a win, because Arkansas' receivers dropped a ton of passes, three of which should have been touchdowns. Also, there was Pryor's fumble that turned into a TD among a few other things. This is what I get, "I need someone to explain how a receiver dropping a football is luck. It's lack of concentration on the receiver's part. Not luck for the opposing team." Basically he's saying, "Luck? Never heard of it, and we don't need it." Alright chief, allow me to explain. When your team blows coverage and a dude is streaking down the field ten yards behind the defenders, open like a 7-11, and drops the ball, sure it's his fault, but it's still lucky as hell for you. It's not like it was the game plan to let people run wide open and hope they dropped the ball. I call that luck, even though no Luckeye fan will ever admit it. Then came this gem, "So I guess everytime Tiger misses a putt, a puck hits the net, or Kobe misses a shot it's luck for the other guys?" Seriously, man? How do those even compare. These drops were the equivalent of Tiger missing a two inch putt or Kobe missing a break-away dunk. It doesn't happen, and if you are playing against him and it does, then yes you are damn lucky. For the life of me I don't understand why they are so afraid to say they were lucky. It's nothing to be ashamed of, they still won. Luck is part of every sport, and every team gets lucky. Their moment of luck happened to come in a bowl game. The difference is, most teams' fans can just suck it up and say "Damn, we got lucky." Instead we will hear them brag about being the second best team in their conference and beating the second best team in the SEC until next August, when they will undoubtedly be ranked way too high in the preseason.

You know what else I hate, Tressel. He's a jerk-off and he's overrated. Sorry, but its true. He's just not a very good coach, as his play calling late in the game last night showed. Yes, he can recruit good players, but he also pays them. That has been proven. For some reason he gets a pass from the NCAA. He also tends to recruit more than the typical amount of thugs. All schools have them, but OSU has more.

On this topic I come to the 5 players who shouldn't have played in the Sugar Bowl. Now obviously what they did is not criminal, but it's against the rules. We have rules for a reason, right? Since when is punishment not assigned immediately? Hell with the seniors. Tell them sorry, your teammates are dumbasses. Using the rest of the team as a reason would be like me telling the cops not to arrest me because it will disappoint my parents. Can't it wait until later? The NCAA wanted people to watch the game and they knew that wouldn't happen if Pryor, Herron, Posey, and Thomas didn't play. And all of them played huge roles in the outcome of a game in which they should have never been allowed to participate. Moreover, if the NCAA didn't punish them, the University should have, just as most other schools almost certainly would have. But not Ohio State, big surprise.

The mascot sucks, too. It's stupid. It's a nut that falls off of a tree. Might as well make necklaces out of them, proving even further that there is nothing to do in Ohio.

And the "THE" Ohio State University thing, totally unnecessary. There's only one. We know which one you mean. Putting "the" in front of something is to differentiate in case there is more than one, which, thank God, there isn't.

But for those who think the Sugar Bowl breaks your curse with the SEC or makes a statement for the Big Ten, then they are sadly mistaken. First of all, Ohio State failed to discipline their players... excuse me, stars, who broke the rules. And we all know if they were bums or back-ups they would have been in street clothes. Next came the lucky bounces that all seemed to go Ohio State's way, from Pryor's fumble into the end zone, to Arkansas' inability to catch the football. Ohio State basically played their best half of football all season while Arkansas played their worst, and still almost pulled the ol' OSU choke. Act like you weren't all scared when the momentum and score both started going the Hogs' way. And with it went all the Big Ten pride you that was built up in the first half. You would think with that potent offense of the Bucks could have picked up a couple first downs with under five minutes left and sealed the deal, but they couldn't. They gave the ball back to Arkansas, twice, in prime position to score and take home the win, twice. And a dominating first half, turned into a sweaty-palmed, nail-biter that ended up proving nothing. A team plays differently when it's playing not to lose instead of trying to win, and that's exactly what OSU ended up doing. Tressel and his play calling were as much, if not more, to blame as the players failure to execute. But fate dealt Arkansas just one more blow when Mallett threw an interception and Ohio State was simply able to take two knees and win (Tressel's best two play calls of the half). Ohio State won the game but didn't make the statement the Big Ten hoped they'd make. Were it not for a fumble recovered in the end zone or any number of other plays that could be either be counted as lucky or unlucky, Ohio State and the Big Ten leave with nothing but ridicule and scorn, and the same rep they went in with. Does the Big Ten co-champion barely beating a perennial "also-ran" SEC team that could arguably be the third or forth best team in their conference, with all these funny bounces and dropped balls, really save that much face?
Well a win is a win, but no statement was made as a 21 point lead faded into a five point win, that probably should have been a loss in all reality. Even though I know you Ohio State folk don't like dealing in reality. You can take the W, but little dignity was saved for the Bucks and the Big Ten.

Kudos To Coach Tomlin

There were a lot of factors coming into the 2010 season that would have made any Steeler fan a bit leery. I know I was. First, and most obviously was the loss of our starting QB, Ben Roethlisberger for four games. What we did in those first four games was imperative to the rest of the season. Most of us were hoping to, at best, sneak in with a 9-7 or 10-6 record this year. And that wild card was going to be tough to get with the Ravens and Bengals both picked to perform well. Cincy was a huge let down so that helped us a lot. But for once, we didn't need help. And I credit that to Mike Tomlin.

Allow me to elaborate. In the '09 season the Steelers came out 6-2. But then they dropped five straight to the likes of the lowly Raiders, Chiefs and Browns on their way to a dismal 9-7 finish and a well deserved stay at home during playoff time. Call it what you want, playing to the level of our competition, or just plain not beating the teams we should dominate. All of those memories from the '09 season factored greatly into our skepticism coming into this year. Why would it be any different. We had a tougher schedule, we were losing our QB for the first four games (one of which was against Baltimore), and we were going to play without our two starting tackles. The deck seemed stacked against the Steelers unless something greatly changed. It did. Without Ben, the first four games defined the season. It could have been over before it started. But the defense rose up, the back-up QBs did not make mistakes, and we leaned heavily on our feature-back-in-the-making Rashard Mendenhall. And all of a sudden Ben was coming back to a 3-1 football team. Hopes rose a little, but we still remembered how we played down the stretch last year. If there was one thing we learned, it was that you just never know with the Steelers. Well, that wasn't the case this season. Pittsburgh torched Cleveland in Ben's return and that was a sign of things to come. The Steelers continued to beat the teams they should and their only losses were to legit title contenders.

But what exemplifies my point about Coach Tomlin the most, is when the Steelers were sitting at 10-4 with Carolina and Cleveland remaining. We needed to win both games to ensure a division championship, a first round bye, and at least one home playoff game. So of course a little bit of '09 doubt had to creep in. I had friends tell me "If I know the Steelers, they'll blow one of these games and end up with a wild card." And I call you a liar if that thought didn't creep into your head. Shades of 13-6 in Cleveland kept me up at night. We would find a way to blow it. The Ravens would win the division and we would end up with a wild card, playing in New England in the first round. It was going to be awful. All because we were going to take the Brown too lightly... again. But this was a different year altogether my friends. The black and gold left no doubt in either of their remaining games, dominating them from the opening kickoff. There would be no let down for Steeler nation this year, and to me that is a credit to the coach. The Steelers conitnued to show up week in and week out and play some good December football. And look where it got them. In a rare season where Pittsburgh was picked to underachieve, they did just the opposite. Predicted at 8-8 or 9-7 early on, here we sit at 12-4, a division champ, and welcoming someone to Heinz Field after our first round bye.

Now we see what we are made of. Of the four AFC playoff teams that the Steelers met in the regular season, three of them have beaten us. It's not the Panthers, Bills, and Browns anymore. Now we are sure to face a few of those contenders that got the best of us earlier in the year. It's playoff football, baby, Loser goes home. Let's see if Tomlin has the boys ready to play. My guess is, he sure as hell will.