What about the fact that Ohio State and Michigan are in different divisions? Well, what about it? The divisions are phony constructs anyway, developed just to allow the Big Ten to play a conference championship and collect the additional TV revenue that every major college seems to crave above most everything else. The important thing is that the The Game will still have prominence as The Game — the tradition-rich, bitter, end-of-the-season capstone of the Big Ten regular season.
As for the divisions themselves, the Big Ten clearly tried to achieve competitive balance and probably did so. Two of the traditional football powers — Ohio State and Penn State in division X, and Michigan and Nebraska in division Y — are in each division and will play each other every year, and those teams also get a guaranteed out-of-conference game against one of the non-divisional powers, with Ohio State facing Michigan and Penn State facing Nebraska. In addition to Ohio State and Penn State, division X will include Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Purdue, and in addition to Michigan and Nebraska division Y will include Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan State, and Northwestern. Ohio State thus gets to continue to play Illinois every year for the Illibuck trophy.
It would be interesting to know whether the outcry about moving the Ohio State-Michigan game had any effect on the scheduling decisions made by the Big Ten, but we will probably never know the full story.
Yesterday an interesting story reported on signs posted in Arizona by the federal Bureau of Land Management. The signs warn that drivers are entering “an active drug and human smuggling area” and “may encounter armed criminals and smuggling vehicles traveling at high rates of speed.” The signs suggest that travelers drive farther north.
Given the presence of these signs, can anyone really question why Arizonans are so incensed about immigration problems and the lack of border security? If the Obama Administration insists that enforcement of federal immigration law really is an exclusively federal issue, as is the case in its lawsuit against Arizona, then don’t those signs confirm that the federal government has miserably failed in that task? Although Americans have many different views on immigration, I think a vast majority of Americans would agree that the borders need to be secure, such that “armed criminals and smuggling vehicles traveling at high rates of speed” can’t easily enter our country.
The cheerleaders and team rush the field to start the 2010 season
Richard, Cath, Brittany and I went to the Ohio State-Marshall game tonight. We sat in Section 28A, Row 32 of a packed Horseshoe on a hot and muggy evening and watched as the Buckeyes rolled, 45-7. It was a convincing win, and it was one of those games where there were many more positives than negatives — but still some kinks to work on.
Terrelle Pryor threw the ball a lot and threw the ball well. Although there were a few plays where he seemed locked in on one receiver, for the most part he appeared to see the field and went through his check-offs when primary receivers were covered. His protection was excellent, he spread the ball around to lots of different receivers — including making liberal use of the tight end and his running backs — and threw some balls with great touch. The long touchdown pass to Dane Sanzenbacher was one of Pryor’s fine throws, but there were many others where he floated the ball over the hands of defenders.
TBDBITL welcomes Marshall to the 'Shoe
The running game does not seem to be as ready for prime time as the passing game. Brandon Saine broke some nice long runs, as did some of the other backs, but the Buckeyes weren’t very consistent. At the same time, the run play-calling seemed pretty vanilla and was largely between the tackles. Ohio State may have been saving some of the flourishes for the Miami game, which is up next.
On defense, the Buckeyes looked good, but not dominating. The front seven controlled the line of scrimmage early on, and when Marshall fell well behind they pretty much resorted to a spread passing offense to try to get back in the game. When that happened the defensive line got some pressure, but frankly not quite as much as I expected. Brian Rolle’s interception return for a touchdown was an excellent athletic play, and the Buckeyes made some big hits to force fumbles and drops. I got the sense that the Ohio State coaches also were holding back a bit on defense. Other than the Tyler Moeller sprint blitz, the Buckeyes didn’t appear to use any of their blitz packages.
Ohio State’s special teams, which typically are a strength, were the weakest link for the team in this game. Marshall had one long kickoff return, there was a blocked field goal and a partially blocked extra point, and the Thundering Herd returned a blocked field goal for their only score. Ohio State’s punting was average, and most of the kickoffs did not reach the end zone. The special teams coaches will have things to work on between now and next Saturday when the Hurricanes come to town.
Richard, Cath, and Brit tailgating
For all of that, it was fun to tailgate again (thanks, KW!), fun to see old friends, fun to don the Buckeye regalia once more, and fun to sit in the Horseshoe, eat a hot dog, and watch the Buckeyes play. The Best Damn Band In The Land performed up to their customary level, and the alumni band made its appearance and assisted in the now traditional performance of a quadruple Script Ohio.
The college football season is here, and it is off to a good start!
Election Day 2010 is exactly two months away. In Ohio, the two races that seem to be receiving the most national attention are the race for the open Senate seat, between Democrat Lee Fisher and Republican Rob Portman, and the contest for Governor, where Republican John Kasich is challenging incumbent Ted Strickland. The polls indicate that Portman is slightly ahead of Fisher, with somewhere between 15 and 20 percent of the electorate undecided, and that Kasich has a more significant lead over Strickland, with about 10 percent of respondents declaring that they are undecided.
I’m not sure what such polls mean at this point. I haven’t heard many people talking about these contests or about the individual candidates, their positions on the issues, or their relative merit. My guess is that political addicts have been focused on these races and polling and fundraising data, but many average people haven’t paid much attention — yet. When you are dealing with a tough economy and your own issues, why think about an election that is months into the future?
After the Labor Day weekend passes and the barbecue equipment is put aside, the average person will start to pay attention. (They will be forced to, as the onslaught of political commercials begins.) People will begin to think about the issues and talk about the races with their friends and colleagues. During this period, candidates will have the opportunity to reach the undecideds, as they form their opinions about the races. Given the tough state of the Ohio economy, I think it will be a challenging sell for the Democratic candidates, but time will tell the tale.
Today, after I woke up and got out of bed, and as I dragged my comb across my head, I thought briefly of the humble comb.
An early Egyptian comb
The earliest tools made by human ancestors go back hundreds of thousands of years. Not surprisingly, they seem to be things likes axe heads, knives, and other implements that help with hunting, killing, and skinning animals; you would expect the struggling early humans to focus on getting food and making it edible.
Combs, however, are distinctly different. They aren’t essential to survival and seem to be a product of a more advanced civilization, where people were more attentive to their appearance and had the leisure time to do something about it. Perhaps they gazed into a pool of water, considered their reflection, and thought: “My hair looks like crap!” They dragged their fingers through their hair and noticed a slight improvement, and then they realized that just as tools helped with the killing and gutting of prey, so tools could help to make their hair look better. After some experimentation, the basic design of the comb — with its rows of tines working to tame and untangle unruly hair — was devised.
Ancient combs from Qumran
I don’t think archaeologists know exactly when combs were first invented. I’ve seen combs from ancient Egypt that were created more than 5000 years ago, and combs apparently spread around the world after the first century B.C. The combs shown on these links look pretty similar to the combs available today. Substitute antler bone, ivory, or hard wood for plastic, and there’s really not much difference. The basic design of the comb therefore seems to have pretty much stayed unchanged for 7,000 years. Is there any other man-made tool or device that has been used, continuously and without material change, for as long as the humble comb?
On today’s walk, as Penny and I enjoyed another dry, clear, starlit morning, we saw our first skunk.
It happened when we turned the corner from Route 62 onto Ogden Woods Boulevard. The skunk was waddling across the street, low to the ground and heading for a stand of trees (perhaps some of the last remnants of the original Odgen Woods). We saw its black fur with distinctive, bright white marking as it disappeared into the underbrush, but I don’t think it saw us.
We’ve seen deer, rabbits, raccoons, opossum, and other stray critters on our morning strolls, and most of them have seen us coming and then dart away. In this case, I was glad we were not a few moments earlier and thereby avoided startling the skunk as it passed. Getting hosed down with the rank contents of a skunk’s anal scent glands would not be a good way to start the day.
While I was on the road today I heard a curious story on NPR: the 109 non-management employees of the Ohio Education Association, which is Ohio’s largest teachers union, may go on strike if they don’t get a new contract to replace the contract that is expiring. The OEA’s non-management employees are members of the Professional Staff Union. The Professional Staff Union’s president says the possibility of a strike against a fellow union is embarrassing, but the OEA is “behaving as badly as the worst school boards and school administrators in negotiations with teachers.”
When one union guy says that about another union guy, that’s got to hurt — but at least he didn’t call him a “scab.”
Jim Traficant apparently will be back on the ballot in November, running for the seat in Ohio’s 17th Congressional District as an independent. Elections officials had previously ruled that Traficant lacked enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, but reversed that decision on reconsideration.
Traficant formerly was a Democrat who served 17 years in Congress. In 2002, he was convicted on racketeering, bribery and tax evasion charges, and then was expelled from Congress. During his years in Congress he became a well-known figure for his odd yet colorful speeches, his erratic behavior, and his bizarre, gravity-defying, bird’s nest hairstyle.
It’s hard to believe that Traficant, who got out of prison just last year, could actually be elected — but there is no doubt that he will make the election more interesting and unpredictable.
I saw RUSH in concert at Nationwide Arena on Sunday night and it was the best concert I have ever seen in person. I happened to see them years ago when I was younger, but I felt like this time around they were wayyyyyyy better.
I loved the fact that they pretty much played all of their hit songs during the three hours they were on stage and really gave everyone their money’s worth. Looks like this Columbus Dispatch concert reviewer agreed with me.
Our seats at Nationwide Arena were in the first row of the upper deck straight back from the stage so we had full view of the amazing light show, shooting fire and fireworks. Of course it wouldn’t have been a concert if I didn’t have a rather rotund gentleman sitting next to me spill water on me.
Their second set started with Tom Sawyer and they followed that up with Limelight followed by all of the songs on their 1981 Moving Pictures album. The thing I always liked about RUSH was not only the beat, but the words to their songs.
Man oh man that Geddy Lee can still hit the high notes. Not to mention Alex Lifeson’s unbelievable guitar work and Neil Peart’s drum solo. The concert was well worth it and I highly recommend going to see RUSH if they are coming to an arena near you !
There are lots of weird facets to this news item. For example, why is the United States “required” to file a report about its internal affairs with the United Nations Human Rights Council? (If we didn’t file the report, would the Council “flunk” us?) Why should we be reporting to a Council that includes such noted freedom-loving countries as Cuba, Libya, China, and Saudi Arabia (among other countries where citizens enjoy fewer freedoms than are found in the U.S.A.)? Moreover, do we really think that bringing a lawsuit that sought to enjoin the Arizona law before its enforcement was even attempted by police officers was really an important step in upholding human and civil rights?
The clear impression is that the State Department is pandering to an international community that is desperate to conclude that the United States is filled with angry xenophobes whose hate-filled bigotry is only barely being held in check through legal steps taken by our federal government. The reaction of the Arizona Governor reported in the story linked above seems overdone, but it does rankle to think that our own national government is suggesting that one of our states needs to be restrained from violating human rights — and then is broadcasting that suggestion to repressive governments who don’t afford their citizens even the most basic freedoms provided by our Bill of Rights.
I’ve posted on several occasions before on sloppy science related to climate change — see here and here, for example — so I was glad to see that an independent review has suggested changes in how the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change operates. The proposals are designed to avoid politicizing science issues and making the body more transparent, although it remains to be seen whether changes actually are implemented.
The crucial point, I think, is to return scientists to their role as objective evaluators who develop theories and then carefully test their hypotheses. When scientists pursue a political agenda, rather than simply trying to uncover the truth, the science obviously suffers.
The Buckeyes have completed fall camp and begin their season Thursday night against the Marshall Thundering Herd.
First games always make me nervous, and this game is no exception. The other team hasn’t played, and you don’t have any film or tendencies to study. In addition, in the past few years Ohio State has played their second or third game of the year against a marquee team — including Texas, USC, and, this year, Miami — and I always wonder whether the Buckeyes will look past their first opponent. It seemed to happen last year against Navy, and we’ll just have to hope that it doesn’t happen against Marshall this year. Buckeyes fans know that Marshall can come to Columbus and deliver a nailbiter; Marshall almost upset Ohio State back in 2004.
What do we know about Marshall? Not a lot. They hail from West Virginia and have a bison as a mascot. They have a new coach. They have three returning starters on their offensive line and an experienced quarterback who started 13 games last year and who has chemistry with a wide receiver who caught 60 passes last year. Having experienced players is a real plus when you are playing in a tough environment like the Horseshoe. Their leading rusher from last year turned pro early; two sophomores will have to pick up the slack. On defense, Marshall returns some capable defensive lineman and linebackers who look like they can hit and put pressure on the quarterback. However, the team seems to be thin in the secondary.
As for the Buckeyes, the big question will be whether the team will continue to progress in the same positive direction we saw in the Rose Bowl. Offensively, Ohio State has an experienced offensive line and a cadre of very solid, multi-dimensional running backs. Terrelle Pryor, now a junior, made significant strides as a passer last season after the disastrous Purdue game, and Buckeye fans will be hoping that the improvement continues. The receiving corps has been depleted but returns some quality receivers. Defensively, Ohio State lost some exceptional players from last year’s defensive line, but that unit looks to have great depth and a returning stud in Cameron Heyward. The linebackers are experienced, rangy, and able to hit. Ohio State’s question on defense will be the defensive backfield.
We’ll find out more about this season on Thursday night. It will be one of those games where I will be holding my breath.
It’s the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The media usually cannot resist anniversaries, particularly when there is powerful film footage to show, and this one is no exception. This CNN story on the anniversary is typical — a rehash of what happened, some hand-wringing about it, and plenty of retrospective blame being put on President Bush and the federal government, but curiously not much blame being apportioned to the State of Louisiana or the City of New Orleans itself.
I’m not sure what to make of such stories. With Katrina, the federal government did not cover itself with glory in dealing with an enormous catastrophe, and neither did the state or city government. People were marooned on the roofs of their homes, were not readily supplied with food and water, and could not be evacuated quickly from the hellish environs of the Superdome. We learned that the federal government is a ponderous entity that does not move with lightning speed. Was that unique to the Bush Administration? Apparently not, because we recently saw a plodding, uncoordinated federal government make a similarly muddled response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Katrina also taught us that the Louisiana state government and the New Orleans city governments were corrupt, inept and seemingly hamstrung by politics. Has anything changed in that regard?
If I had my way, every retrospective story on a disaster like Hurricane Katrina would focus not on what happened — we can safely leave that to historians — but on how things have changed to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. No blame-shifting politicians or social scientists could be quoted. Instead, facts would be the focus. Have the levees been sufficiently strengthened? Have cumbersome federal bureaucracies been streamlined to better deal with disasters? Are evacuation plans reasonable and capable of being implemented? If Katrina were to happen again today, would the results be any different? If so, why? Those are the tough questions that “retrospective” stories tend to leave unanswered.
I don’t care. Although I no longer eat Twinkies, they are a fondly remembered staple of my grade school and junior high packed lunches. And so, in the honor of the Twinkie and its epic contribution to the lunch times of generations of American children, I offer this bit of doggerel (with apologies to Walt Whitman and his poem, O Captain! My Captain!):
O Twinkie! My Twinkie!
O Twinkie! My Twinkie! The noon hour now draws nigh
My morning classes will be done, to you my thoughts do fly
The bell will ring, the rush will start, and we will race to lunch
The crinkled paper bag will ope, on PBJ I’ll munch
But O! Dessert! Dessert!
My hungry heart doth beat
For in my sack I soon shall find
A cream-filled sponge cake treat.
O Twinkie! My Twinkie! Your sponge cake damp and gold
And filled with tasty frosting, sweet and white and bold
The wrapper tears, my eyes grow wide, the sticky mass I grasp
And clutch to waiting bosom like Cleo and the asp
And so to eat! To eat! To eat!
With glass of milk, ice cold
Then lick till clean the bottom square
Of its crumbs, wet and gold.
O Twinkie! My Twinkie! My lustrous sack lunch friend
The sight of you gives rise to thoughts of lunch’s happy end
Your taste I crave, and I desire to see you on my plate
What about the fact that Ohio State and Michigan are in different divisions? Well, what about it? The divisions are phony constructs anyway, developed just to allow the Big Ten to play a conference championship and collect the additional TV revenue that every major college seems to crave above most everything else. The important thing is that the The Game will still have prominence as The Game — the tradition-rich, bitter, end-of-the-season capstone of the Big Ten regular season.
I’m not sure what such polls mean at this point. I haven’t heard many people talking about these contests or about the individual candidates, their positions on the issues, or their relative merit. My guess is that political addicts have been focused on these races and polling and fundraising data, but many average people haven’t paid much attention — yet. When you are dealing with a tough economy and your own issues, why think about an election that is months into the future?
It happened when we turned the corner from Route 62 onto Ogden Woods Boulevard. The skunk was waddling across the street, low to the ground and heading for a stand of trees (perhaps some of the last remnants of the original Odgen Woods). We saw its black fur with distinctive, bright white marking as it disappeared into the underbrush, but I don’t think it saw us.
e I was on the road today I heard a curious story on NPR: the 109 non-management employees of the Ohio Education Association, which is Ohio’s largest teachers union, 
Traficant formerly was a Democrat who served 17 years in Congress. In 2002, he was convicted on 
There are lots of weird facets to this news item. For example, why is the United States “required” to file a report about its internal affairs with the United Nations Human Rights Council? (If we didn’t file the report, would the Council “flunk” us?) Why should we be reporting to 
First games always make me nervous, and this game is no exception. The other team hasn’t played, and you don’t have any film or tendencies to study. In addition, in the past few years Ohio State has played their second or third game of the year against a marquee team — including Texas, USC, and, this year, Miami — and I always wonder whether the Buckeyes will look past their first opponent. It 
As for the Buckeyes, the big question will be whether the team will continue to progress in the same positive direction we saw in the Rose Bowl. Offensively, Ohio State has an experienced offensive line and a cadre of very solid, multi-dimensional running backs. Terrelle Pryor, now a junior, made significant strides as a passer last season after the disastrous Purdue game, and Buckeye fans will be hoping that the improvement continues. The receiving corps has been depleted but returns some quality receivers. Defensively, Ohio State lost some exceptional players from last year’s defensive line, but that unit looks to have great depth and a returning stud in Cameron Heyward. The linebackers are experienced, rangy, and able to hit. Ohio State’s question on defense will be the defensive backfield.
I’m not sure what to make of such stories. With Katrina, the federal government did not cover itself with glory in dealing with an enormous catastrophe, and neither did the state or city government. People were marooned on the roofs of their homes, were not readily supplied with food and water, and could not be evacuated quickly from the hellish environs of the Superdome. We learned that the federal government is a ponderous entity that does not move with lightning speed. Was that unique to the Bush Administration? Apparently not, because we recently saw a plodding, uncoordinated federal government make a similarly muddled response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Katrina also taught us that the Louisiana state government and the New Orleans city governments were corrupt, inept and seemingly hamstrung by politics. Has anything changed in that regard?
If I had my way, every retrospective story on a disaster like Hurricane Katrina would focus not on what happened — we can safely leave that to historians — but on how things have changed to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. No blame-shifting politicians or social scientists could be quoted. Instead, facts would be the focus. Have the levees been sufficiently strengthened? Have cumbersome federal bureaucracies been streamlined to better deal with disasters? Are evacuation plans reasonable and capable of being implemented? If Katrina were to happen again today, would the results be any different? If so, why? Those are the tough questions that “retrospective” stories tend to leave unanswered.
I don’t care. Although I no longer eat Twinkies, they are a fondly remembered staple of my grade school and junior high packed lunches. And so, in the honor of the Twinkie and its epic contribution to the lunch times of generations of American children, I offer this bit of doggerel (with apologies to Walt Whitman and his poem, 