There's no "I" in apathy

Missed this column from The Dispatch's Bob Hunter yesterday. I believe the title really sums up the problem, "OSU doing a poor job selling basketball."

The noticeable lack of support in Columbus for what has turned out to be a very good basketball team has been discussed at length on the local sports talk radio airwaves over the last few weeks. It took fourth-ranked Purdue coming to Ohio State for us to see the first sellout of the season at the Schottenstein Center. The Cleveland Plain Dealer ran this article several weeks ago, "Sharp attendance decline for men's basketball catches OSU's attention: Big Ten Insider."

From the Plain Dealer:

With a shot at the Big Ten title and a leading national player of the year candidate in Evan Turner, Ohio State is headed toward its lowest average attendance in the 12-year history of Value City Arena.

The Buckeyes are averaging 13,411 fans per game, which ranks sixth in the Big Ten and is more than 4,100 fewer fans than Ohio State averaged during its run to the Final Four three seasons ago, 2,500 fewer fans than last season. Athletic director Gene Smith said he's dumbfounded. Coach Thad Matta called it odd.

And yesterday from Bob Hunter:

One of my Ohio newspaper colleagues posed an intriguing question last Sunday at Illinois:

"If the basketball Buckeyes and the Blue Jackets were both having comparably good seasons, which one would Columbus have the most interest in?"

I hesitated. The Buckeyes seemed the most likely answer. Basketball is more mainstream than hockey, and the Ohio State brand can sell just about anything, including toilet-seat covers and hot dogs. But after that question sat there for a while, it gradually morphed into another thought:

Given the success the Ohio State men's program has enjoyed over the past 70 years, should that question even have to be asked? And why doesn't the program have more support than it does?

More from Hunter:

Whenever one of these crimes against OSU basketball is committed, we round up the usual suspects:

Ohio State is a football school. The atmosphere in Value City Arena isn't the best. The best seats are committed to seat license-holders. Many longtime ticket-buyers were treated like third-class citizens when the team moved from St. John Arena and have moved on to other things. The nonconference schedule looks like it was designed by a coach who doesn't care about the fans.

Maybe we should add two more: The athletic director looked intently at all those empty seats and determined that it was still a good idea to raise ticket prices next season. And the mentality of a growing number of football fans -- a national championship or nothing -- might have poisoned the air on the basketball side, where simply having a little success in the NCAA Tournament isn't enough.

I think that Bob Hunter and I agree on one thing for sure here. The onus is on THE SCHOOL to get butts in the seats at the Schottenstein Center and to create buzz around the basketball program. I've listened to the 'heads on the radio chastise the fans for not showing up. That's BULLSHIT. Even in a cow town like Columbus in the middle of winter there are many distractions and many ways to spend money other than at Ohio State basketball games.

A little creative thinking is obviously needed at a place used to doing and charging whatever it wants. Cheaper, not more expensive, tickets might help, especially when the ones available are two rows shy of the moon. Do whatever it takes to get more students in the building. A nonconference schedule with opponents such as Dayton, Xavier and Cincinnati would help sell season tickets and keep fans from waiting to join the season in progress in January, if at all.

Yes, Ohio State is a football school, but only a handful of colleges have a more impressive basketball tradition than OSU does.

If you can't sell this team and that tradition, then frankly, you're not trying that hard.

EXACTLY.

E-to-the-T

I have to admit whenever I watch the Buckeyes this year I get more "wow" than I do from Evan Turner. No one in the country fills up the stat sheet like he does though. From today's Columbus Dispatch:

Evan Turner was named Big Ten player of the week for the sixth time this season today, a record for the conference award. Turner shared the previous record of five with Glenn Robinson of Purdue.

It was Turner's ninth such award for his career, also a record. Two weeks ago, he broke the record of seven he shared with Robinson and former Ohio State star Jim Jackson.

Turner has been healthy for 11 of the 15 weeks the award has been given this season, so he's won it more than half the time he's had a chance.

Turner averaged 24.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists in a loss to Purdue and win at Michigan State last week.

He leads the Big Ten in scoring (19.5 points per game) and rebounding (9.3) and ranks second in assists (5.77).

Impressive win for Los Buckeyes

For some reason a three-point loss to a very good Purdue team really soured me on this Ohio State team. I had ZERO confidence that the Buckeyes would win at the Breslin Center yesterday. I even had to resort to watching much of the game with no sound.

Truth-be-told, I was supposed to be doing homework at the time too. And I'm sick of these early Sunday afternoon games. Hard to get the juices flowing after 90 minutes of Charles Osgood.

Buckeyes were up early, looking impressive. The second half starts and...here we go again. Michigan State starts to come back...I've seen this movie before, most recently in Morgantown, WV.

I was wrong though. Buckeyes held on and even pulled away a bit late. The defense was a bit lax at times down the stretch but Evan Turner was a MAN (as usual) the team wasn't bad from the charity stripe when it mattered.

The Buckeyes are a game behind Purdue and tied with Michigan State in the Big Ten standings with three games left to play. Wednesday night at Penn State, Saturday at home against Fuck Michigan and then wrapping it up at home the following Wednesday against Illinois. Ohio State will definitely be favored in all those games.

Conversely, Purdue has four games remaining including at Minnesota and in West Lafayette against Michigan State. If the Buckeyes can win their remaining three they have a real shot of at least sharing the Big Ten regular season title.

Incidentally, Purdue is now #3 in the Coach's Poll and Ohio State is now #9. Clearly Purdue is playing for more than the Big Ten title at this point, they're playing for a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

As of today, ESPN's Joe Lundardi has OSU as a three seed in the tournament. Buckeyes could potentially move as high as a two depending on what other teams do. I would certainly be very happy with a three seed though.

Also of note, that was Ohio State's third win in their last five trips to East Lansing. Prior to that the Buckeyes had not won there in 13 years. Yikes.

And HEY! LOOK AT THAT!! MICHIGAN STATE HAS STUDENTS SURROUNDING THE FLOOR! That's just crazy, isn't it?

I think I'm going to start printing 'Raze the Schottenstein Center' shirts.

AN INTERVIEW IN MIME WITH JIM TRESSEL

After the jump...

This will never, ever, ever, ever, ever get old

The mock gator chomp is the best part...

Speaking of Curling...

The Canadian women's team lost to China yesterday.

A rough day for the Canadian Olympic team.

And this graphic

----------------->

is hilarious.

Curling Fever.

Turns out Columbus, OH has its own curling club.

I am seriously considering the two-hour beginner clinic.

I have WAAAAY too much spare time these days.

Suck it Canada

Nice win for Team USA Hockey. A 5-3 thriller with an empty-netter in the final moment to ice it (no pun intended).

U.S. goalie Ryan Miller (with the NHL's Buffalo Sabres) was utterly bad-ass, stopping 42 of 45 Canadian shots. Minutes after the third period ended, Ryan Miller's Wikipedia page had already been updated with the nickname Ryan "The Canada Killer" Miller.

The good guys finished pool play with the number one overall seed heading into elimination game. They'll have a first round bye.

The U.S. had not beaten Canada in Olympic play since 1960.

Coincidentally, 30 years ago today, the United States hockey team defeated the Soviet Union in the 'Miracle on Ice'.

For what it's worth...

From the Columbus Dispatch's Bob Hunter:

More fodder for those skeptical of recruiting "experts": ESPN ranked Ohio State's 2007 football class No. 20 in the nation and Iowa at No. 24. Now, SI.com's Andy Staples has re-ranked the classes based on the players' contributions. He moved up Ohio State to fifth and made Iowa eighth.

The Run-up to the Great Big Nothing

The Great Big Nothing

Tiger will speak!

Who gives a shit?

Why people are clamoring to see Tiger Woods is beyond me. Want to know? Look at the picture to the right. That's what you're going to see, except without the hat.

I'm not sure why people think Tiger Woods is going to look different or sound different or smell different. He won't.

And by the way, even and enraged, embarrassed wife ninety-nine times out of 100 is not going to bash her jack-ass husband in the face with a golf club. Now consider also that Tiger is the ultimate "meal ticket". Again, I don't care how pissed you are, you don't play homerun derby with the golden goose's face.

This will be the ultimate ESPN event. The din of the "coverage" will be 10X louder than any noise actually made by Tiger.

I want to apologize to my wife, my children and my family for my indiscretions. I also want to apologize to my fans and my sponsors.

I hope to put this behind me and move on with my life.

That's about it folks. Now watch all the 'heads analyze the shit out of those three sentences.

The notion that Tiger Woods needs to "get it over with" and answer questions or whatever is ludicrous. He really doesn't have to do shit. All he has to do is get back on the golf course and start kicking some ass again. And he will. He was the best golfer in the world when he was juggling 15 chicks at a time. How good do you think his game will be when isn't dealing with a harem?

The only thing that would be remotely interesting to hear Tiger say tomorrow is that he's going to get back to pro golfing soon. My guess is he won't be gone long. What's he going to do instead? Sit around getting glared at by his wife?

Score one for the Winter Olympics

From the Associated Press:

With the trio leading a record haul of six medals for the Americans, NBC's telecast of the Olympics clobbered Fox's "American Idol" in television ratings Wednesday night.

During the hour that the two shows went head-to-head, the Olympics were seen by 30.1 million people while 18.4 million watched "American Idol," the Nielsen Co. said.

It was the first time any show has beaten "American Idol" since May 2004, when a special Monday edition was topped by NBC's "Fear Factor." With the exception of one "Idol Gives Back" special in 2008, it was the least-seen episode of "American Idol" since 2003.

And while Lindsey Vonn is hanging out here at Level 6, I should point out that downhill skiing at the Olympic level is one of the most bad-ass sporting events there is, PERIOD. Personally I think at that level is really all about balls. Great big giant balls. There's not much technique when you're hurtling down the mountain at 80 MPH.

These guys are nuts.

And for pure lunacy, there's always speed skiing. Point yourself straight down the mountain, put on a stupid-looking helmet and take off. Watch this guy wipe:

This douchebag...

Speaking of The Lantern, here's another story. To me, this is the guy that gives Ohio State fans a bad name worldwide. I mean look at this dude.

Who would have guessed that when he's not dressed up as an a-hole he's a computer supply salesman?

I would have.

What I wouldn't have guessed however is that John Chubb (that's his name) once pulled two people from a burning car that had crashed. He apparently spends a lot of time with charitable organizations and also reads to underprivileged children. So he only LOOKS like a jerk-off.

Oh, and he ruined a 1970 Chevy Impala too:

Chubb goes to every home and away game, dressed up in full outfit to represent the Buckeyes. He even transformed a 1970 Chevy Impala into the “Buck-I-Guy Mobile.”

The car took him 10 years to totally restore and customize. It is a convertible with a custom Buckeye interior, custom tires, axles and footballs with the letter “B” on the wheels. He drives it to the home games and local events.

Did you know?

Ohio State has its own dodgeball team? Complete with uniforms, practices and trips to other universities for competitions.

Ridiculous? Of course. I guess that's better than smoking doobies all day. Then again I don't think there's anything to indicate that the two are mutually exclusive (dope and dodgeball).

The good news is this is a club sport which means these clowns have to raise all their own money. No, taxpayer dollars are not shipping a bunch of guys around the country to play dodgeball. Should these guys be trying to get laid or something anyway?

Watch the guy get smoked in the face ten seconds in...

Pur-don't?

Wrong. Purdue.

Buckeyes looked a bit meek last night. The Boilermakers did what they wanted to for most of the game and won 60-57 with Jon Diebler missing a lame attempt at the buzzer.

Frankly, Ohio State was lucky it was that close. They were down by ten at some points during the game and it seemed like Purdue could run away with it at times.

The good news? Even with a lot of snow on the ground and an early tip (6:30) the fans showed up and produced what may have been the first sellout of the season.

Thad Matta better figure something out because the toughest test of the remaining regular season is this Sunday, noon, at East Lansing.

On a related note, The Ohio State University student newspaper, The Lanter, ran a feature today called 'A Day in the Life of Evan Turner'. Here's the highlight:

In fact, Turner said before this season that the one qualm he had about returning for his junior year was the nightly dose of reading, writing and thinking.

Thinking? Apparently that's optional for NBA players.