Today President Obama is in town to deliver the commencement address at the Ohio State University graduation ceremony. He will be the third sitting President to address OSU graduates.
It’s like old times — or, at least, it’s like the run-up to the 2012 election, when the President and Mitt Romney and Joe Biden and Paul Ryan and their minions seemingly were somewhere in Ohio every day. Since then, Ohio has dropped off the political map a bit, and that is fine by me. It’s been nice to return to our daily lives and get to the point where a visit by the President is once again a big deal, rather than a tiresome cause of another pre-election traffic snarl.
I’m envious of the graduating students, and their parents, who get to hear the President today. I don’t remember anything about the speech given when I got my diploma from The Ohio State University in March 1980, although I have a vague recollection that the commencement address was an delivered by a female educator from a Midwestern university. Her remarks left no impression on me, one way or the other. I’m guessing that hearing President Obama is something that today’s graduates won’t soon forget.
What’s Michigan Week without a jump into Mirror Lake — the scenic little puddle that OSU students jump into every year before The Game against That Team Up North? Tonight’s the night for the traditional Mirror Lake Jump.
In any case, the study debunks the canard that men think about sex every seven seconds, which would mean that men think about sex 8,000 times in a 16-hour day. Instead, the study found that the male subjects reported thinking about sex between 1 and 388 times each day, and the female subjects admitted to thinking about sex between 1 and 140 times per day.
The story is based on an interview with Pryor’s attorney, who read a statement from the Ohio State quarterback. The attorney quoted the statement as saying: “In the best interest of my teammates, I have decided to forego my senior year of football at the Ohio State University.” It is not clear at this point whether the University has confirmed Pryor’s decision.
Owens’ athletic achievements were extraordinary. Most people know about Owens’ Olympic accomplishments, but 
The Columbus Dispatch story linked above quotes Coach Tressel as saying in a statement: “Throughout this entire situation my players and I have committed ourselves to facing our mistakes and growing from them; we can only successfully do that together. Like my players, I am very sorry for the mistakes I made. I request of the university that my sanctions now include five games so that the players and I can handle this adversity together.”
We are glad that the Ohio State Buckeyes, which won another Big Ten Tournament championship, are the overall number one seed. It looks like the Buckeyes fared well in the brackets, and it looks like the Big Ten did well, too.
I’ve read the Ohio State letter self-reporting the violations and listened to parts of tonight’s press conference about the matter, in which OSU Athletic Director Gene Smith, Coach Tressel, and OSU President E. Gordon Gee spoke. I have some questions about what happened, but I’d prefer to reserve judgment until more information comes out. I think a big part of the puzzle will be the e-mails between Coach Tressel and the attorney who advised Tressel of the potential NCAA violations — and who apparently requested confidentiality because the information was obtained in the context of a federal drug trafficking investigation. How were the e-mails phrased? Did their contents reasonably suggest that Coach Tressel should be concerned about the safety of the unnamed players who allegedly were involved?
Wexner graduated from The Ohio State University, started The Limited Stores in central Ohio and saw them grow into a huge retail conglomerate, and has never forgotten his central Ohio roots. 
As impressive as Wexner’s charitable activities have been, however, he has had an even more profound impact on central Ohio as a capitalist. The Limited and its various affiliates, subsidiaries, and spin-offs have employed thousands of central Ohioans and brought many new, creative people to our community; those businesses and the taxes paid by their employees have contributed millions toward the coffers of local governments throughout the area. The Easton Town Center, which Wexner developed, is one of the premier mixed-use shopping areas in the nation and attracts many out-of-towners to our fair city. And the house where Kish and I live wouldn’t be here but for Wexner and his decision to launch a new suburb in New Albany, a formerly sleepy farming community in the far northeast corner of Franklin County.
Coach Hayes 
At the time, some skeptics laughed at the quaint notion that the players had “given their word.” They said the pledges that Coach Tressel mentioned were just a fig leaf that would allow the players to participate in the bowl games but wouldn’t mean anything when the players had the opportunity to leave for the NFL draft. I’m happy to say that the skeptics were wrong. Each of the five players has kept his word; they all declined to declare for the NFL draft and will return to the Buckeyes next year. In fact, 
At times it seemed like this game would not end and the fates had decreed that Ohio State was destined to lose. There was a weird safety call. Lots of injuries to key players, including Chimdi Chekwa, Cam Heyward, and Terrelle Pryor. A fumble by Boom Herron on a crucial fourth-down conversion. And ultimately a blocked punt that gave Arkansas the ball in great field position. But somehow Ohio State’s defense refused to crumble. Solomon Thomas intercepted Ryan Mallett as Arkansas was on Ohio State’s doorstep, and that sealed the win.
