Buckeyes thrash Illini 52-22

Ohio State kept the only trophy that they play for each season as the IlliBuck stayed with the Buckeyes as Ohio State put 31 points on the board in the first half and cruised to a 52-22 win over Illinois at Ohio Stadium.
Carlos Hyde scored three touchdowns on the ground while Braxton Miller accounted for three scores as well,throwing for two and running for another.
The 10-0 Buckeyes have next Saturday off before finishing the season against Wisconsin and michigan...

Buckeye Leaves

1) This looked to be a mismatch and it was.Illinois lost their best defensive player in Jonathan Brown early in the game and the OSU running game confounded the Illini both on inside and outside runs...

2) Braxton Miller might not be the best player in the land,but he is the most exciting.
Watching Miller cut and maneuver with the ball in his hand reminds me of Barry Sanders more than any quarterback that I can think of...

3) Both touchdown passes featured exciting plays.
Corey Brown made about six guys miss on his play and Rod Smith was so wide open on his catch that I might have scored on the play!

4) Good game for the defense of the 22 Illinois points,the defense allowed only a red zone TD after a turnover and two field goals.
Illinois does not make you quake thinking about their offense,but a solid performance anyway,...

5) Ohio State did have a few personal fouls called against them and I hope to see that stuff stop.
Illinois was a chippy team,but don't sink to the level of the bottom dwellers...

6) Carlos Hyde is progressing well as a threat between the tackles.
Hyde has begun to keep the legs moving instead of just falling forward and that helps loosen the outside for the Braxton Miller runs...

7) I like trophy games,but no one gets excited about the IlliBuck.
It's a neat trophy and all,but losing to a lesser program is worse than losing the turtle.

Photo Credit;Marvin Fong Cleveland Plain Dealer

Time for a statement?

I have always thought that voting third party was a wasted vote.
I have also always thought that our country needed a viable third party to awaken the two major parties from their somnambulist ways of business in order to put country before party instead of their current actions of the reverse order.

So I have never pulled the lever or scratched the computer screen for anyone outside of the two main parties.
Which makes me feel like a hypocrite.
I,being a political junkie,watch tons of this stuff,so I consider myself pretty informed on the candidates and more than just the main candidates.
If C-SPAN shows a minor party,odds are that I have seen their candidate at one time or the other doing a stump speech,but I never seriously consider voting their way,no matter how impressed that I would be with that person.

I have been pretty unhappy with both candidates for similar reasons.
Barack Obama had a chance to do something special for the country and dropped the ball with health care.
I'm not an anti-health care person ( I actually think Obama's plan doesn't go far enough),but I think this bill is a sellout to the insurance industry and I am not a fan of deception.
I am not in favor of the mandate and in the 2008 Democratic primary,Hillary Clinton told the truth and said she is for the mandate,while Obama said he was against it,which means,of course, when it was closing time,he did just that.
That alone makes me not a fan of the President.

Willard Mitt Romney seems to be the slimy car salesman type that will tell you everything you want to hear and then reverse everything he said to you to the next guy to order to sell himself.
I hate those types of candidates as you just don't know what you are electing.
I would not say that Mitt Romney flip flops,that would be too kind to Mitt Romney to say he just has two sides,as there are many Romney positions and Romney's out there.
I am simply not comfortable voting for a guy that would say anything to get elected.
I would go as far to say that Mitt Romney makes me wonder more than any other Presidential candidate,not to say he's worse than some,just that he is so sleazy....

Considering that,where does that leave me?
I have always been passionate about politics since early childhood (check my recent post on George McGovern for more on that) and I could never understand how someone could be so ambivalent to not care enough to vote.
This year,I understand and despite all of that-I'll be there on Tuesday.

I was sitting at the PC and with an uninteresting Monday Night Football game on,I was bored and checking Facebook and saw a post by Steve Harris,who plays in several of my fantasy sports leagues about a third party debate.
Normally,I'm all over these things,but I missed this one,so I sat down and watched to pass the time.
In about 45 minutes,the Libertarian candidate had put himself in the running.
Gary Johnson seemed reasonable to me and made me think.
Oh,I think some of his platform is out in space a bit and I really think that if he had even the proverbial snowball's chance,some of his ideas would be modified insanely quickly.
An example would be his ideas for competing currency,which would be a huge mess),but some of his thoughts are very reasonable.

My main reasons for considering a Gary Johnson vote?
Well,mainly to be part of the five percent.
A five percent vote for any third party erases so many of the problems that third party candidates have-ballot access and will receive partial public funding for their campaign for both this election and the next one as well.
That would be the best way to hear more views and make things easier for a third party (Libertarian in this case) to get their candidate to seen and heard from.

Is Gary Johnson my ideal candidate? No,but he makes enough sense to make me think about him in a year that I have major issues with both mainstream candidates and I do believe that a shakeup is needed with the two party system,

The question now becomes do I actually show some courage and vote for Gary Johnson?
Tune in Tuesday to find out.

Bulled and Bullied

The Cleveland Cavaliers quickly realized the difference between the Washington Wizards and the Chicago Bulls as the Bulls took charge from the start and cruised to a 115-86 win at the Q.
Kyrie Irving led Cleveland with 15 points for the 1-1 Cavaliers.
Cleveland hits the road for the first time tomorrow night in Milwaukee against the Bucks.
I will not have coverage as the tip is at 8:30 and I have to be at the road office....

Swashbucklings

1) The loss was not as close as the final edge of 29 points.
Chicago dominated the young Cavaliers all night with physical play and defense.
The Bulls played tight defense (40 % shooting) and basically squeezed the Cavaliers out of the point,made them take contested jumpers and bullied them physically.

2) I did like Byron Scott's move in the game (before it got too out of control) to play Anderson Varejao and Tyler Zeller together on the floor for a bit.
That might be a look at the future for Zeller at center having the powerhouse rebounder Varejao at the four spot to add some rebounding to the lineup.
As the season goes on,I'd like to see Zeller and Tristan Thompson play together some as well...

3) Zeller quickly found himself in foul trouble,but I was impressed as he was one of the few that did not back down from the Bulls as he gave as good as he got in the push and shove game...

4) Kyrie Irving did lead Cleveland with 15 points,but it was still an off night as Irving took 15 shots to earn his points.
Considering the matchup that Irving had defensively against Kirk Hinrich,I would consider that a disappointing number....

5) I am reaching to find a fifth item in such a lousy performance,so let's go with Samardo Samuels,who shot  3 of 5 from the field and grabbed 5 rebounds in garbage time.Samuels might be in his final chance to be an off the bench contributor.

Photo Credit:Joshua Gunter:Cleveland Plain Dealer

Quick PPM

Another quickie because I have several things to post and I hope to tap them out tonight/tomorrow.

College
Ohio State over Illinois 36-13
Texas Tech over Texas 45-42
Ohio over Bowling Green 21-15
Game of the week
Alabama over LSU 16-7

Pro
Ravens over Browns 21-16
Saints over Eagles 36-31
Game of the Week
Giants over Steelers 24-20

Last Week:4-3
Season:39-19

Cleaning out the inbox

The inbox is filled quicker than usual,so it needs to be emptied sooner than usual..

We start with a goodbye to famed boxing trainer Emanuel Steward,who trained numerous world champions,but was usually connected with Thomas Hearns and his many champions from Detroit's Kronk Gym.
Milton McCrory,Mike McCallum,Jimmy Paul and many more were world champions in the heyday of the 80's on network television under the tutelage of Steward and made his boxers big names in the sport.
Manny Steward also was the trainer that fighters that needed a change would come to as Lennox Lewis,Julio Cesar Chavez,Oscar De La Hoya and Miguel Cotto,to name a few,came to Detroit and Steward to revitalize careers.
Most recently,Steward had been training both of the Klitschko brothers to heavyweight titles and had been one of the regular announcers for HBO's boxing telecasts.
Emanuel Steward seemed to be one of the few people in boxing that no one had a bad word about and in that game-that says more than I can write.
Rest well,Manny-those of us that were Kronk boxing fans will never forget your contributions to the sport.
Manny Steward was 68 and passed from colon cancer.

Former Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling champion Jeff Blatnick passed from heart failure at the age of 55.
Blatnick won his medal in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles after battling back from the affects of Hodgkin's Disease.
Jeff Blatnick was also an early influence of MMA as he served as a commentator and worked on establishing a unified set of rules for MMA across the country.
Blatnick might have been along with Kurt Angle and Rulon Gardner the most recognized American amateur wrestler of the last 30 years....

Well traveled outfielder in the 1970's,Dave May passed at the age of 68 in Delaware from complications from cancer and diabetes.
May spent time with five big league teams and six organizations,but his best seasons came in the early 70's with the Brewers after being unable to crack the powerhouse Oriole lineups in the late 1960's.
May's career year came with Milwaukee in 1973 as he hit over .300 and smacked 25 homers in making his only All-Star team.
Dave May's son Derrick spent some time as a big leaguer in the 1990's,most notably with the Chicago Cubs.
May is also notable to me for two reasons.
The first is one that many remember him for as May was the player traded to the Braves so that an aging Hank Aaron could return to Milwaukee and spend the final two seasons of his career as a DH with the Brewers.
The other is from my late grandfather.
Pap loved the Orioles and often raved about the terrific player development system of the pre-free agency Orioles.
Dave May was Pap's poster boy for players that the Orioles developed that never got a true chance in Baltimore because of the stars in the lineup that he just couldn't get by.
Hardball Times has a nice tribute to Dave May here.

Former Braves pitcher Pascual Perez was killed at the age of 55 in a home invasion in Perez's native Dominican Republic.
Perez had his biggest success in Atlanta before having drug issues that sent him to Montreal,who he had two strong seasons before more drug issues that effectively ended his career.

My favorite Aunt Becky sends me word that the restoration of Cleveland's League Park will finally begin after the funding was finally obtained.
The city will restore the grandstand and ticket office,which stands as the only remaining portion of the stadium,but is crumbling,as well as making the playing field usable and adding a visitors center.
League Park (the original home of the Indians) is a must visit when this project is completed!!!

More history found in an attic as the widow of the late pro wrestler "Johnny Barend" was cleaning out their attic and found the first ever WWWF title belt that the first champion Buddy Rogers dropped to Bruno Sammartino.
It is in the shape of the United States,yet has a plate that says World Champion on it.
This makes sense as Rogers was the U.S champion before the beginnings of the WWWF and it was easier to just have Rogers keep his belt and add a plate,I suppose,to make the belt a world title.
It is amazing to think just how much history is awaiting to be found in attics,basements and closets around the country.....

On the Signing Front

A quick signing front from the mail box mostly,in order to put some of this stuff away!

The next signing front will cover more from my friends help in the 2012 season.

Baseball

Former Giants catcher Dave Rader
Former Giants first baseman Will Clark
Former Indians,White Sox and Phillies pitcher Ed Farmer
Former White Sox and Yankees first baseman Pete Ward
Former Indians pitcher Scott Bailes (Thanks to Mike Oravec)
Former Pirates outfielder Bill Virdon (Thanks to Mike Oravec)
USA pitcher Mark Appel-Certified auto,Maugansville Card Show

Football
Former Packers linebacker Tim Harris

Hockey
Former Devils enforcer Troy Crowder

Devils from our Hershey Visit
Adam Henrique
Adam Larsson
Jacob Josefson
Mattias Tedenby
Bobby Butler
Jay Leach

Golf
Former Majors winner Arnold Palmer

Wrestling/Politics
Jesse "The Body" Ventura....

Albany Devils on the ice

The Albany Devils did not score a goal in Hershey,although I thought they had several good chances to score in a 3-0 loss.

The main problem was that Braden Holtby was on fire and when the talented Holtby is on his game,NHL teams have problems,let alone AHL ones.
Jacob Josefson missed a wide open net in what I thought was the only blown opportunity as the rest of the misses were on all on Holtby making strong saves.
Josefson played well and took the puck towards the net with the type of abandon that he has often lacked in the big time.

Adam Henrique played well,but didn't have a ton of scoring chances.
I did like the hustle that Henrique showed as it would be easy for him to skate through his AHL time.

Adam Larsson did not play poorly,but something makes me think that he might have been better served playing last season in Albany and then trying to make the move up.
Larsson just seems a bit tentative,which might be an example of a player that has been rushed a bit.
I still like Larsson's potential a great deal,but he may be in need of development time that the lockout could help give.

Mattias Tedenby continues to tease with his skills and potential that never seem to end in points.
Tedenby has the talent to be a sparkplug in the lineup,but it appears that his lack of size is working against him.

Keith Kinkaid was solid enough in goal and made one spectacular save.
Kinkaid is one of four young goalies battling to be the heir apparent to Martin Brodeur and is the only one at Albany of thegroup,although he is the oldest as well...

Harri Pesonen was imported from Finland over the off season and I was impressed with the grit of Pesonen.
Often,the imports that are assigned to the AHL prove to be disappointments,but I liked Pesonen's play.

I also liked David Wohlberg,who showed some fire in the open ice as well.
Wohlberg might be someone to take notice of.

Brandon Burlon didn't throw his weight around as much as I had hoped.
Burlon will need to be a physical player to succeed and I did not see as much of that as I would have liked in his game.

Bobby Butler,Mike Hoeffel and Mike Sislo were non-descript and I have little to add about their evening.

Jay Leach is expected to provide veteran leadership,but he committed a dumb interference penalty that led to a Hershey goal and often seemed slow and out of position....

Back later tonight from the road office with a non-coverage post...

Photo Credit:Rachel Heimberger