Buckeyes BCS hopes bounced by Spartans

With a shot at the National Championship on the line in the Big 10 title game,The Ohio State Buckeyes came out flat,moved with a strong run to take the lead before yet another defensive letdown would cost them everything in a stunning 34-24 loss to the Michigan State Spartans in Indianapolis.
The Buckeyes were led by Braxton Miller,who rushed for two scores and threw another.
The last ever (thank heavens) BCS poll will be announced tonight with Ohio State expected to go to either Miami for the Orange Bowl or New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl...

Olentangy Offerings

1) The Buckeyes were their own worst enemy with too many defensive penalties to count to keep Spartan drives alive.
The secondary has killed this team all season with poor play and on this night,they were not good at all.

2) Speaking of the defense,can we please agree to part ways with Luke Fickel now?
Urban Meyer did the right thing in keeping a loyal Buckeye around after his help with the horrible situation in 2011,but his defense (especially the non-Ryan Shazier part of the back seven) has disappointed all season.
I expected that would come back to haunt OSU eventually,but I didn't expect it this soon.
Fickel will always have a place in Columbus,but the time is best for both parties.

3) I have some blame for the offense too as Braxton Miller was just 8 of 21 passing for barely over 100 yards.
Other than the 20 yard TD catch by Corey Brown,the passing game was filled with erratic passes and dropped balls and Miller was not exactly dynamite with his arm..

4) Miller was fine with his feet as he finished with over 100 yards and made the Spartans rock on their heels when he ran.
The problem was that when he was most effective was running without a plan.
Ohio State continually would run Miller out of an empty backfield,which tipped the Spartans and rarely worked for large amounts of yardage.
Ohio State never seemed to grasp that the Spartans were ready for that formation..

5) Ohio State ripped the "Nation's top defense" for 273 yards on the ground,which Gus Johnson told us constantly,but yet despite Carlos Hyde finishing with 118 yards for an average of 6.6 yards per carry,he only carried the ball 18 times.
When the Buckeyes took the lead,one would have expected it was time for Hyde to slam the Spartans like he had all year to other teams.
Unexpectedly,that didn't happen.

6) Ohio State did get another solid game from Joey Bosa.
The defensive strength of this team is up front and they are only getting better.
Next season with Bosa,Noah Spence,Adolphus Washington and Michael Bennett,this might be the best defensive line in the nation...

7) Give the Buckeyes credit,they could have mailed it in and didn't.
It truly was a three game set with the Spartans winning the first and last 20 minutes and the Buckeyes dominating the middle.
Ohio State showed some heart in erasing a 17 point lead and moving in front.
One could say many things about this game,but rolling over is not one of them one..

8) This loss showed a flaw in the Buckeyes that still will take some time for Urban Meyer to fix with another recruiting class or two.
The speed positions still are not where they need to be as the secondary and wide receivers still need to raised to another level.
Urban Meyer's goal when he took this job was to raise Ohio State to be able to compete at the national title level and they are close,but it still will take time to move the players that suit the Meyer system in as juniors and seniors in  and the more suited players for Tresselball out....

9) I don't blame Urban Meyer for going for it on fourth and one with the Buckeyes down one.
It's easy to second guess the play call of Miller when you have the bulldozer that is Carlos Hyde available,but Meyer said he wanted the ball in the hands of his best player and I suppose you cannot disagree with that thinking.

10) I still would have ran Carlos Hyde.

11) Finally,I am not sure what I want tonight from the bowl selection.
Do I want Alabama and a chance for redemption,but more likely a defeat or someone in the Orange Bowl most likely Clemson) that has a better chance of winning?
In any case,it's disappointing,but everyone loses,just hasn't happened in a while...

Photo Credit: Marvin Fong-Cleveland Plain Dealer

Disappointing Devils drop decision to Detroit

The New Jersey Devils did not exactly cover themselves in glory Friday night against the Detroit Red Wings in a dull 3-1 defeat at the Rock.
Unless you consider 11 shots on goal a reason to compliment an effort and I do not.
Andy Greene scored the first goal of the game (4 power play) in the first period and they would score no more.
The Devils play the Rangers this evening.
Hope they can play harder than in this one.

Hell Raisers

1) What a dull game.
The Devils as noted put just eleven shots on goal and Detroit weren't exactly lighting up the shot total with 21 shots.
Just a dull and tedious game...

2) When Detroit took the lead on Johan Franzen's goal,Adam Henrique was near the play,didn't touch Franzen or shove his stick into the play.
Just a symbol of a bad night.

3) The Devils were robbed of a chance to pull Cory Schnieder and have a 6 on 5 skater advantage with a horrible call on Schneider for playing the puck outside the trapazoid..
Not only was Schneider within the legal area to play the puck,it was the type of call that you don't make it in a one goal game and a minute to play.
Detroit would have likely won anyway,but the Devils were denied the chance..

4) In about the only good thing for New Jersey in this game,Andy Greene's goal was reminiscent of Bobby Orr.
Greene took the puck up the ice weaving through Red Wings,dished to Patrik Elias and then took the return peg for the goal.

5) Pete DeBoer doesn't like Damian Brunner.
Scratching Brunner against his old team showed that.
Granted,Brunner hasn't scored in over a month,but sometimes a meeting with old friends can get things rolling again.

6) I'm starting to think that considering a coaching change might be a good idea.
Not saying that they should,just consider it.
The lack of effort shown by the Devils is a red flag to me and usually when you reach this point,there is no turning back.

Photo Credit:AP Photo

On the Signing Front

We return to the signing front and the pile continues to grow smaller,but there still should be at least two,if not more signing fronts before we are caught up from the 2013 season.


We start with the Asheville Tourists.
The Tourists usually bring a decent amounts of graphers to Hagerstown because they are the only team on the East Coast that are a Colorado Rockies affiliate.
The lucky catch was first round pick David Dahl,who was injured for nearly the entire season,but was traveling with the team.
Wonder who Dahl ticked off to spend four days in Hagerstown when he was nowhere near the condition to play?
Dahl was a terrific signer and signed everything for everyone.
Rosell Herrera was the breakout player of the Rockies system last year and was a willing signer,but the player I felt worst for was Max White,who had tons of different cards,yet signed them all.
Former big leaguers Mike Devereaux and Joey Eischen signed for us as well in their return to Hagerstown....

Next on the docket were the Winston-Salem Dash in Frederick.
This was the day with Big Don and my Buffalo Wild Wings gift night from Bridget as written about here.
The Dash themselves were led by speedy Micah Johnson and Courtney Hawkins.
Hawkins is a great signer,that might be getting tired of the overkill that top prospects get with the pen.
Courtney came out and I had 4 cards,which was a drop in the bucket in the past.
Courtney signed two and handed the other 2 back,I walked away with Derreck and said "looks like another guy ruined by the 25 at a shot gang".
Hawkins then walked to the field and looked up at us.Derreck says "He's trying to get your attention!".
Courtney then hollered up and said "Come down here after I'm done and I'll get the rest of those for you"!
First time for everything in this hobby!

Next up was another trip to State College to work on the Spikes team set and the visiting Williamsport Crosscutters,the short season team for the Phillies.
Both teams were strong enough and it's always a good time traveling with Derreck.
The Spikes featured Carson Kelly and David Washington as the top prospects.
Kelly signed his New York-Penn prospect card as well as the Bowman Silver Ice card that came in the mail the day after our last trip to State College,while Washington signed his State College and NY/Penn card too.
Nice pickups from the Crosscutters were Mitch Gueller on his Ny/Penn and Bowman refractor,Andrew Knapp,Andrew Pullin on a Bowman refractor and Dylan Cozens on his NY/Penn and Topps cards.
We stuck around far longer than we should for coaches Oliver Marmol and Ramon Ortiz,but with the season ending,its kinda nice getting the extra time in...

Next into Hagerstown was the Greensboro Grasshoppers and prospects from the Florida Marlins.
The interesting addition for the Grasshoppers was 2013 first rounder Colin Moran.
Moran had no cards at the time,but I was able to get him to sign the Hopper logo card from their team set.
Moran was also noted for a running style that brought to mind Tom Hanks running back kicks in Forrest Gump.
Chad James was a one time first rounder that had suffered injury problems.
Chad was very nice in knocking out all four cards that I had..
The other prospect that I was able to get was Jesus Solorzano on a team not filled with them.
During this series,I also got Nationals first rounder (sandwich pick) Jake Johansen and Derek Self on an Orange Bowman I got at a card show...

The Altoona Curve hit Harrisburg for their first shot at their team set.
Jameson Taillon was gone to AAA Indianapolis,but Gregory Polanco and Alen Hanson had arrived from High A Bradenton.
Neither Hanson nor Polanco were especially cooperative on this night as Tyle and I were the only ones to Hanson pre-game on one,while Polanco refused pre-game and post-game signed for a few before trying to leave.Tyler caught him,which allowed me to get his top 100 card signed.
Boy,am I going to miss him when he is finished in this hobby!
Nick Kingham was nice and Alex Dickerson was quiet but signed everything.
Dickerson was recently traded to the Padres as he looked to be blocked by the organization's outfield strength.
Curve manager Carlos Garcia continued to be a less than friendly one per,which is as always,better than zero from the former Pirate shortstop.

We wrap with the regular season finale' in Hagerstown with the Lakewood Blue Claws.
Strictly team set cards for the Claws,which mean my first graph from 17 year old Carlos Tocci.
Other than Tocci and Larry Greene,just more of the same guys that come all the time from the Phillies.
Coaches Greg Legg and Aaron Fultz were great as always and manager Mickey Morandini was grouchy as usual,but did sign my team card,which was all I had.
At least he signed that,which was more than he was for some..

Thanks to Jason Christensen for his help in Binghamton with the main pickups being Noah Syndergaard and Travis D'Arnaud before D'Arnaud was promoted and Quinton Miller on his Bradenton card.

Thanks to Tracy Mackereth for two players that I didn't have cards for on the Grasshoppers.
Tracy graciously gave me a Robert Ravago and Austin Dean,that for some reason I didn't have....

Thanks to Bill Cover for his help filling in some Wilmington Blue Rocks that I couldn't get to Frederick for.
No real top prospects,but I did get J.C. Sulabran on an old Tri-Star.
The "Dark Set" is one of my favorites and as it ages,I get fewer of those signed..

Whew! That's a lot of card emptying,but there still is more!
We have the Suns two playoff opponents,some arrivals through the mail with a new champion for length of return time and more help from my friends.

Boucher debuts,Devils shootout woes continue

The New Jersey Devils entered the third period at the Rock trailing the Montreal Canadiens by a goal but twice overtook Montreal only to blow leads of 2-1 and 3-2 with less than four minutes remaining in the game,
That then left the Devils to their old bugaboo-the shootout,where they did score once (for the first time all season),but still lost 4-3.
The Devils received goals by Michael Ryder (7),Patrik Elias (6) and Andrei Loktionov (3) in the third period for their scores.
The Devils will play on Friday against the Red Wings.

Hell Raisers

1) Reid Boucher made his NHL debut and it was an impressive one as Boucher finished with an assist and scored the first goal for the Devils all season in the shootout.
How long Boucher stays with the team is questionable,but Boucher looks to have offensive potential in an organization that needs it..

2) Boucher was on the track of Devils fans since he broke Steven Stamkos' junior hockey goal scoring record and the fans gave him a rousing welcome.
It's only one game,but I think he kinda reminds me of a guy that used to wear number nine.

3) More Boucher-He is reported to be "a real cutie" from Rachel. Mr Henrique might want to watch out...

4) Cory Schneider was awful in this one.
If you want to be the blaming type,you could tag the loss on him.
The first and third goals were on Schneider and the shootout performance was downright bitter.
Just a bad night,...

5) Michael Ryder has said in the past that he is a streaky player and he is showing just that.
After not scoring in what seems to be forever,he scored in both ends of the home and home.Ryder just might be one of those players that scores in bunches and you live with the long dull stages..

Photo Credit:AP Photo

Forgotten Superstars:Chris Noel

We return to the Forgotten Superstars universe today with a look at an actress that was just beginning to make a career move and then gave it all up to entertain for essentially free.

I didn't know much about Chris Noel until recently.
I didn't even recall much about her other than being the pretty friend of Shelley Fabares (remember our meeting with her?) in the Elvis Presley movie "Girl Happy".
I must admit to being struck by her in her limited role in one of the handfuls of Elvis flicks that I can never seem to pass up when I see them on television, which is a weakness that dates back to childhood insomnia on late night movies.
Off and on over the years, I would wonder why she didn't make it, not on acting ability because who really knows who can and cannot act based on Elvis films(!), but because she was so obviously beautiful in an era where that one gift can make a career appearing in films.

Last week, I went out with my friend Greg to Sam's Club and there was a terrific price on the entire series of Bewitched.
While I was a much bigger fan of I Dream Of Jeannie, I would consider myself a fan of Bewitched and grabbed it to watch at work at that price.
I am still watching the first season, but on one of the first episodes, I almost jumped out of my seat.
That's Chris Noel! Now remember I've seen most of the Bewitched episodes, but the first two black and white seasons were rarely in syndication, so the shows that drilled into my mind as a fan were the other color episodes.
Seeing Chris in this episode finally occurred at the right time for me to look up what happened to her and I was quite surprised to see the results...

Chris turned out to be quite committed to our servicemen in the Vietnam War and put her career on hold to attempt to help with entertaining the troops.
Noel was stunned to see the condition of veterans during a hospital visit in 1965 (the same year as Girl Happy) and decided to devote her time to the cause.
Noel joined the Armed Forces Radio Network and would do a daily one-hour radio program titled "A date with Chris" to give something to help the troops get through the day.
Noel would do these shows from Los Angeles but would make several trips of multiple week stints to Vietnam to entertain and visit troops live.
Chris was considered so important that the Viet Cong put a sizable bounty on her head during these visits-I.E.-Kill her to take away what helped troops feel a little better even if just for an hour a day.
No matter your opinions on the Vietnam War, one has to realize the polarizing effect that war, in particular, has in this country even to this day, and with the majority of people in control of the film and television industry lean towards the liberal side, so most likely Chris's stance hindered if not eliminated a successful return to the business.
Chris still is tirelessly working for Vietnam vets with her Vetsville Cease Fire Houses, which is a series of homes for homeless veterans and sometimes their families as they try to transition to the working world.

It's a pretty interesting story and I was quite intrigued while working on this post.
We welcome Chris Noel to the Forgotten Superstars universe and thank her for her service to our veterans!

For more on Chris Noel, her website is here.

Photo Credit: Unknown

Miffed in Montreal

The New Jersey Devils held the lead early,but it was not enough to earn victory in Montreal as the Canadiens held serve in this home and home in a 3-2 win.
Steve Bernier (3) scored in the first period and Michael Ryder found the net (6) in the third to account for the Devils scoring.
The rematch is in Newark on Wednesday.

Hell Raisers

1) The key player in this game was a player that didn't score a goal or get credit for a save.
P.K. Subban made two plays on likely goals to bail out Carey Price and save the game for Montreal...

2) Nice to see Michael Ryder escape from a funk with his first goal in quite a while.
Ryder's third period slapper briefly tied the game at two.
Ryder improving his play would be key for a Devils playoff run...

3) Martin Brodeur faced just 17 shots,but still allowed three goals.
Sometimes lack of work affects a goalie,but I still find that hard to say.
Brodeur was not at his peak in his first game in Montreal since the passing of his father...

4) Adam Henrique looked to have injured his leg and is considered day to day,
Other than Rachel being gloomier than when Will Pinwica-Worms was called up to Potomac,Henrique's loss adds to a team filled with injured forwards.
When your AHL team is not exactly filled with scorers,these types of injuries loom even larger...

5) Another goal for Steve Bernier when he redirected Anton Volchenkov's shot in the first period.
Bernier has now surpassed his previous season goal total in not just two games,but two periods -the final period against Buffalo and the first in Montreal.

Golden Gordon not enough in loss to Jaguars

The Cleveland Browns looked to have one final chance win as a favorite this season as they hosted the Jacksonville Jaguars in Cleveland.
Alas,the Browns still had Brandon Weeden,who will forever burn the memory of three turnovers in the final two minutes among others and the Browns completely annihilated any remaining piece of good will with the fan base in a
32-28 loss.
Josh Gordon broke the Browns receiving record for yards that he established last week with 261 yards on 10 catches and scored twice.
Brandon Weeden threw for over 300 yards (370) and three touchdowns,but committed four turnovers in the defeat.
The now 4-8 Browns will be in Foxboro for the Patriots next Sunday...

Brownie Bits

1) The Good-Josh Gordon!
My lord,what a receiver.
Gordon made Brandon Weeden look good with catches of errant passes,running by Jaguar corners and grinding for extra yards with the ball.
I'll even go as far as this-You get a real quarterback throwing him the football and Josh Gordon has the skills to be the second best pass catcher in the game behind Calvin Johnson.
Josh Gordon could be that good.

2) I have written already numerous times about my concerns about Mike Lombardi's ability to properly use the draft picks the team has accumulated.
My concern isn't as much that the Browns shopped Josh Gordon at the trade deadline,but as Mike Lombardi's comments about him being a wasted pick when the team drafted him.
You don't think that Josh Gordon's skills were worth a second rounder? I have doubts on your evaluation
of talent skills...

3) One more Josh Gordon note.First player in NFL HISTORY to have consecutive 200 plus yard games!
That is in league history,folks!

4) Brandon Weeden.
Heavy Sigh-He did throw three TD's,but his meltdown near the end of the first half handed the Jaguars 13 points in a game the Browns lost by four.
Two interceptions and a fumble took away any resemblance to a passable NFL quarterback.
I spent the game talking to my buddy Josh and as soon as the first pass was picked off-I was sent this note "Well,welcome back Brandon Weeden".
Little did we know just how bad it was going to get.

5) Weeden even brought back his wonderful underhand flip and pray toss on TWO occasions.
I understand what a weapon Josh Gordon is and really is the only major one,but completely ignored any other player.
Locking in on one guy,no matter the talent is the NFL equivalent of spreading the floor to have one player go one on one and the other four guys stand around and watch...

6) Blame Joe Haden for losing Cecil Shorts for the game deciding score if you wish and it should be noted that this was the second time in two weeks (same spot in the field too) that Haden was burned,but I'll look at it this way-the best cover corners get beaten and despite the language Haden was reported to have used in the locker room,I'll give him a pass.
Haden took accountability for the loss (which is one more time than I've heard it from Brandon Weeden in 2 seasons) and the fact that he takes mistakes so hard is why I think Joe Haden is a keeper.

7) Alex Mack might have snapped his way out of town with his errant snap over the head of Brandon Weeden.Mack is a free agent after the season and generally is solid,but the Browns might not value centers as much as other teams anyway,so this will not help that any.

8) I know Brandon Weeden looked silly with his boot out of the back of the endzone on that play,but he did his job-get the ball out of the endzone as quickly as possible.Giving away 2 points beats 6 every time,the Browns have enough problems doing that.

9) Ray Horton's defense has been praised often,but an offense led by Chad Henne,who is the Southern model of bad QB,put together two eighty yard drives against them with the final one deciding the game.
Were they put in some bad spots by the offense? Certainly,but when the chips were down,the defense is supposed to be the strength of the Browns and they didn't get the job done.

10) Brandon Weeden suffered a concussion and if Jason Campbell has not recovered from his,the Browns will need to sign another QB and Cleveland will start their 4th passer of the season next week in New England.Trick Shot Tanney-Come on down! You are the next contestant on..Never mind....

11) Absolutely hate the Jaguar helmet.
They look like a car painted in primer and then ran out of the real paint.
Nike's work with Seattle and now Jacksonville since getting the NFL apparel contract scares me to death with Jimmy "the pilot" Haslem looking at screwing up err  re-designing the Browns unis....