1. We're about halfway through the season at this point. Have you gotten a gauge on your team's chances this year to make noise in conference play, or is the team still a total freaking mystery?
I think we've got a pretty good idea about Ohio State's chances to make some noise in the Big Ten (that's a bit of understatement, yo). Further, I think we've figured out what to expect from this team: an offense that can do everything well (except complete passes to the tight end, but meh), and a defense that gives up yards, but tightens up in the red zone and forces a bunch of turnovers. I'll take that. There's still the everpresent possibility of a soul-crushing loss to somebody they should beat, but the way things are shaping up, it seems lik the OSU-Michigan game will be for the Big Ten title once again (knocking furiously on wood).
2. Many of the bigger conferences such as the Big 12 and the Big 10 use a rotating schedule to determine conference games each year. What are your feelings on the current system used in your conference? Does a rotating schedule work? Has your team always caught a break?
I don't like the rotating schedule. The difference in schedule strength can be huge. For instance, Purdue misses both Ohio State and Michigan this year. If Iowa or Penn State had that schedule, wouldn't they become a favorite for the Big Ten title (much like Purdue was last year, before we discovered they sucked)? Plus, it leaves unanswered questions (see: Trev Albert's quest to convince America that Iowa was better than Ohio State in the 2002 season). It is tough to get away from it with eleven teams, though. If all the Big Ten teams played each other, that would leave two nonconference games for each team, which probably means no more big interconference matchups like OSU-Texas, since who wants to get ready for the conference by playing a big name opponent, when you could play a 1-AA team and a MAC school?
So, I guess, as much as I don't like the rotating schedule, I'd rather do that and have big out of conference matchups than play everyone in the Big Ten. So, much like democracy, the rotating schedule is the worst possible solution, except for all the others.
3. In an effort to get to know more about college football, both nationally and regionally, what have you done to expand your college football horizons? Have you caught yourself watching games from other conferences, or taking an interest in games that show up on ESPNU or Fox Sports?
Well, I'd like to watch some games on ESPNU, but for some reason, Time Warner in Columbus, the biggest college town in America, has elected not to grant ESPNU to the masses. I'll watch just about any college football that's on TV, but I can't say I've significantly expanded my horizons though TV.
Internet has been another story. I definitely don't check out all the links on the sidebar every day, but I get to all of them about every other day. Between blogs and message boards, I can get opinion and analysis on just about any major team whenever I want. So I do find I'm better informed about teams than I was a couple years ago. I would still kind of like to see more games from out of my region, but it's not important enough to me to buy Gameplan. At least not yet.
4. What would you change about the current exposure your team gets, either on the radio, television, print, or on the internet?
The first three are fine. OSU is getting a ton of attention this season all over the place, and I like it. I never get tired of hearing about the Buckeyes.
The internet is another thing. Much as Mike of Black Shoe Diaries noted for PSU fans, Buckeye fans can be stupid, rude assholes in chat rooms and forums. The idiots are outnumbered by the friendly, intelligent Ohio State fans, but as is the case with fans in general, a few bad ones always stand out more than the bunches of good ones. So I'd like to see the overall image of Buckeye fans online improve. I think blogs are helping that. Just look at the list of Buckeye blogs on the sidebar (which needs updating) for a collection of intelligent, well-written opinions on football from Buckeye fans.
5. During last Saturday's game against I-AA Northern Iowa, Iowa State trailed 21-7 at the half. The Cyclone Marching Band played a variety of songs from animated shows, including selections from South Park titled "Blame Canada" and "What Would Brian Boitano Do?" Needless to say, the Cyclones outscored the Panthers 21-6 in the second half. If you had to pick one song for your favorite team to rally to, what would it be? Because we all know what they did for the 2005 White Sox, Journey and "Don't Stop Believing" are not to be considered.
Well, I'd like to say "Liquid Swords" by the GZA, seeing as that was my unoffical theme song for this season. However, a good rally song has to be cheesy, and ideally from the 80's. For that reason, I support "Jukebox Hero" by Foreigner. It's not related to football in any way, I admit. But it rocks, and it's about being awesome, so that's good enough for me. Plus, it'd make a good soundtrack for highlight reels.
Now he needs to keep rockin' / He just can't stop / Gotta keep on rockin' / That boy has got to stay on top
2 comments:
Great post Sean.
I have a comment regarding question four. My friend works in on-line ad sales for the Houston Chronicle and he was telling me that Ohio State articles on the internet are getting the high amounts of click-throughs. That means, when anyone writes something about OSU on the web, we go click on it and the ad appears. So advertisers are liking the Buckeyes. We will continue to see a ton of exposure.
I like your choice of song in number 5.
Glad you liked the post. I realized Buckeye fans would read/buy anything related to the Buckeyes, but I didn't realize it had an impact as far from Ohio as Houston. That's pretty cool.
It's not all good, though. Because we'll devour anything Buckeye, it's easy for any writer/TV pundit to say something negative about Ohio State just to drum up attention. Any article the least bit negative toward the team gets posted on the forums and hundreds more people read it than would otherwise. But I guess I'll take the negative articles, so long as more positive articles are coming along with them.
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