Ralph, Topsy turvey game, Harris and Pryor pretty much even except for the 4 interceptions, which doomed the Canes. Miami has an excellent defense and certainly played a part in limiting our efficency in the Red Zone. We are woefully weak on special teams and it showed today with the punt and kickoff returns for scores. Things may be completely different in South Florida next year.
Thank you Don for the classy post Ohio St. dominated the game with the exception of special teams Miami was held in check by the Buckeyes...I thought Tressel was classy in not running up the score there at the end...Your boys look good this early in the season, I can see why they are ranked so high and expected to compete for the national championship. I look forward to next years game in Miami and appreciated the classy play by both teams. I am honestly pretty happy with our effort and hope for a good season this year... Congrats... Ralph
Ralph... We had a great time at the game...more later with pics. Not sure what to make of this game...was a big play game for sure. Lots of good things...maybe more bad things...such as pooch kickoffs...really?? I told my son Mike that we missed that field goal in the second half on purpose...playing field position. When you make the field goal and give up a TD on the kickoff return its a negative four points. After a rather abysmal first half Harris came back and really played well in the second half. Everytime I thought we had you on the ropes you came back with a big play. Every time I started to get worried we came back with a big play. My son Jeremy got to schmooze with Gene Smith, had lunch at the Blackstone, was on the field for most of the game (when he wasn't in the press box), wormed his way practically into the Buckeyes postgame huddle, and got his picture taken with Brutus...all while my other son Mike and I were sitting in the end zone seats in the rain. His "co-scout" from the Citrus Sports Committee was a Miami fan but he seemed pretty impressed by his experience, other than the outcome of the game. We all went to Chammps Sports Bar afterwards to watch Penn St.-Alabama (how boring was that game?).
Stu, Sounds like you had a great time, especially if you could be with your sons. Every-time I thought we were back in the game we seemed to throw an int... You could hear the wind being sucked out from our sails this far south. :roll: Look forward to seeing some pics..... The Bama - Penn St game was a snoozer Ralph
Ralph, Your kids came to battle and gave us fits to the end....turnovers were the difference. Tough to turn the ball over 4 times on the road and win.... Our special teams have gotten to the point that I almost wish for us not to score because the kickoff to follow is too painful to watch....wtf????? TP is maturing every week, managing the offense and continuing to progress in making good decisions. Second week in a row without a turnover and against a defense as athletic as the Canes, that is no small task. Defensively I think the staff schemed well and prepared the kids to contain the Cane skill people and big play potential....great win for the Buckeyes against a very, very good Miami team. Met up with a group of very questionable characters pre-game proving once and for all that the weak link is TOK....
Full Report; Woke up and packed the CR-V with sandwiches, beer, snacks, cigars, lawn chairs, music, umbrellas, and rain ponchos. Hit the road and headed south. Got to Gerry’s motel and realized that he’s really moved up in the world from TOK’s cheapo Motel 6 where I got my wallet stolen. This place was high class. Also rather than being next door to the club where TOK almost got engaged to a 240# stripper, this place was right next to the Anheuser Busch Brewery…Go figger…I hear they are having to work overtime in the brewery this week. Gerry kindly offered to bring an extra rain poncho for my son Mike, but a phone call to Mikey revealed that he had already invested in a high tech Wal-Mart emergency poncho for 88 cents. Drove south to my super-secret parking area…got there plenty early…even beat the money-takers, but never fear…they found us. There were some Miami fans in there…how’d they find my super-secret parking spot? Anyway we got set up, then a guy shows up and says “Excuse me…are you Stu?”…Took me by surprise, but I am a trained investigator and deduced that he was there to meet up with my son Jeremy to scout for the bowls. The “Citrus Sports Committee” logo on his shirt didn’t hurt either. We chatted for a bit…he is a fan of the Miami Hurricanes, but he couldn’t wear their colors and Jeremy couldn’t wear Scarlet and Gray. They had to wear blazers with ID pins and name tags…they were supposed to wear black blazers but neither of them wanted to invest in one, so they both wore dark blue…figured nobody would know the difference but then they ran into the President of Citrus Sports who was just there for fun. After Jeremy and Mike showed up, Allen and Jeremy left for the hoity-toity luncheon at the Blackwell whilst us peons continued with the beer and turkey sandwiches. Gerry’s nephews showed up for a little while…very nice young men but they had a busy social schedule planned and couldn’t stay too long. We texted BuckeyT a few times and kept moving our rendezvous time back a little…After Gerry almost electrocuted himself for the second time by peeing on an electrical box behind the dumpster, we finally packed up and headed for the Varsity Club. (Gerry was thinking of marketing a portable tailgating pissoir, but guess what…you can already get one…comes complete with a cardboard “cabana”; http://www.thetailgater-bsu.com/index.html BuckeyeT has always hung out at the one corner of the alley...but they had that all blocked off…showing great lack of respect for one of their most distinguished and loyal customers. We managed to locate each other and swapped some lies over a couple of brewskies. We took a picture (by the port-o-lets…we took it there on purpose…don’t make fun): Was jusssst a bit crowded and noisy there for this old man…but was great to finally get to meet BuckeyeT. Headed for stadium…got there and Jeremy calls me…he had come over by the Varsity Club after his lunch but missed us. He was standing on the sideline behind the Buckeye bench walking around sticking his nose in everywhere. Hopefully he’ll email me some of his pictures…he practically got into the post game huddle. Rained during the second half…heavy for a little while but wasn’t too bad…especially since it wasn’t very cold. They had a Nebraska flag flying at the Shoe along with the rest of our conference bretheren. Jeremy kept texting me from the press box regarding video replays…”we got screwed on the TD kickoff return…there was block in the back”…”we got a break on that pass breakup in the endzone…should have been interference on us”…” Rain looks like it will clear out on radar”…etc. I had good phone service in stadium but no internet service so couldn’t follow scores or radar. After the game we headed over to Champps Sports Bar to watch PSU…Was really packed inside and we waited about an hour for a table…my knee was killing me and the game sucked so we took our beers outside and sat down and waited. Jeremy and Allen showed up and ditched their blazers for OSU and Miami football jerseys and we had a good time over dinner. Then we finally took off…I got Gerry and Josh back up to Worthington and dropped them at the motel. I went into the lobby with them and we saw the largest woman I have ever seen…she wasn’t fat…she wasn’t tall and skinny…she was normally proportioned and about 6’ 5” or so…she was just…big. Josh’s eyes popped out of his head. Then I took off for Dayton to spend the rest of the weekend with the family…Sunday was much quieter…we just took the kids to the mall where they could play in the fountain for hours while we just sat around and got sunburned. I DVR’d the Browns game and watched that abomination after I got home to Mansfield.
Damn you must have taken JO'Co's online course for writing up Football trips, I did see that you eschewed his main plot item...that is the disaster scene, where he leaves his wallet at the rent a car place or drives on the sidewalks or things like that. You should try it, spices up the reading!!
Sad but true.....it is with great sadness and deep regret that I come to you and confirm the news from Stu's report that the end of a golden era is upon us.....it's official, I was denied access to "the corner". '"The corner" has been a vital part of the pre-game warmups now for over 30 years now.....we first hung at "the corner" when I was still in school....I distinctly remember setting the then record in the empty beer can stacking event - since obliterated many times over - prior to the 1977 Oklahoma game. "The corner" had everything.....the high ground overlooking the masses, the awning to protect from the elements, the window ledge for the empties, two giant steps from the beer truck, prime viewing for coeds on their way down Lane Ave and some semblance of peace away from the midst of the throng.....it's over. I'm not sure how I will go on...... The final straw.....the socialist takeover of our country is one thing, the class warfare against business and finance another, the demonization of Wall Street and wealth on top of the incessant attacks on capitalism, the subsidies for failure and disincentives to achievement takes it to another level of incompetence but this last policy attack from the Obama administration is too much.....it's Obama's fault, it is time to rally to the cause of righteousness and storm the barricades if we must - "Remember the Corner"! Great to hook up with Stu, G and the boys.....I agree Stu - too loud, crowded and "uncornerish" for this old man as well, but the company was great. 8)
Oh yeah my computer gives me an error message rather than display that photo...."guys in picture too ugly to display" !
LOL! Great stuff Stu! This is your masterpiece! You would have had the disaster scene too if Gerry had croaked urinating on that electrical box... .......JO'Co
You never did tell us how he got on the Bowl Committee. I always figured you had to be an old fart before you got on the committees.
Membership is really open to anyone...there are different levels of membership. Jeremy and Allen were surprised to get to scout the OSU-Miami game. Usually the bigger games go to those at higher membership levels. But for $350 per year (lowest level) they get 2 tickets to one of the Orlando Bowl games each year with priority seats, breakfasts (weekly?, monthly?), happy hours, parties, business connections, festivities during bowl week and actually throughout the year...etc. Link to membership brochure; http://www.fcsports.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=D0bYLeS6UdE%3d&tabid=84 If they choose to be scouts they get trained (minimal) and then apply for the 3 games they most would like to go to. I think last year Jeremy got to go to the Purdue-Notre Dame game. They are told not to apply for three huge big-time games because that just doesn't work. They are responsible for the expense of getting themselves to the game...admission, lunches, sideline and press box passes etc. are provided. I guess that when they go to a Penn State home game, Joe Paterno has had them over to his home the night before for a dinner or reception. When they return they give a report to the weekly breakfast meeting. They are not there to "scout" the football team or give a report on the game...they are there to represent the bowls to the OSU (and Miami) folks and to report back about their experience with the people they meet. Seems like a great deal...Jeremy has been involved in it for several years now.
That is really cool! You are performing a service for your community and having a great time doing it.