Ohio State vs. The Country

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So this week in Ecua-land not much exciting happened. I made a kids page for the local paper (I only am going to do one more so that project is winding down), I attending a planning meeting for the water fund and discovered that I have to give 50 some presentations for that project on top of the stuff I am doing in other projects (not going to happen), I got sick on Wednesday with some intestinal thing - it knocked me out for a day. I slept from 4:30pm Wednesday afternoon until 6:00am Thursday morning. This was the longest sleep I have ever had in my life. I am much better now. I went to San Pedro with Juan Carlos to give a presentation on zoning and community mapping. Friday, my friend Mary who works with Global Pediatric Alliance came to Puyo to review CODEAMAs GPA project. We went to Vencedores with Fanny to watch her give a presentation on health.

Afterwards, on Friday afternoon, Mary, Matt, Casey, Karina and I went to a local bar to have a few beers and a snack. After that, we decided to go get some pizza. The whole time we were telling stories, joking with each other, and generally having a good time. After pizza we went to another bar and played a few silly card games and other games to pass the time. We had fun - lots of fun. I really like Casey the new PC volunteer in Puyo, she has spunk.

On Saturday, I had grand plans of spending the whole day at the office working on my Env. Ed. guide. Instead, I helped Matt move his apartment. He is now living in the same building as Susan and I. Casey helped out as well. We spent the early afternoon lounging around my apartment while we waited for the landlord to fix a few things in Matt´s apartment.

That afternoon, I finally made it to the office. I worked for about a half and hour before Susan called and said that she had returned early from her trip into the jungle. Naturally, I went home to see her.

Matt and Casey came over for dinner that night. I made a big pot of chili (what better thing to have on a big football day?). At around 8:30, I decided to head back to my office to follow the OSU-USC game on-line. Everyone else stayed at the apartment. I chose....poorly.

Well what can I say friends - OSU had its third poor performance in a Big game over the last couple of years. As an OSU fan, I have no problem handling the humbling defeat nor do I have a problem with all the bad-mouthing OSU will receive nationally. Hell, we deserve a little rubbing - we didn´t come to play in those games - no we came to play, however, it was apparent our fine coach didn´t intend to do the kind of coaching we have come to expect. I was especially disheartened to hear USC´s awesome linebacker say that Ohio State played exactly like they did on film - they changed nothing. So....it is true, Jim Tressel coaches all year to prepare for Michigan, which in Ohio, is the biggest game of the year and Jim has done a fine job in the past against Michigan. We OSU fans are a weird breed, OSU could go 1-11 during the season, but if that win is against Michigan - we deem it a successful year.

What saddens me friends is that I hate for OSU to somehow give the Big 10 a bad rap. I would like to see a BCS game played in January, outside, in Wisconsin or Minnesota or Pennsylvania or Ohio or yes, even Michigan. Let´s see how USC, LSU, Florida, Georgia, and the like play in real football weather. The Big 10 is a fine league and all the west coast offenses and swarming defenses of the south wouldn´t stand a chance if they played their whole schedule against Big 10 teams - spoken like a true fan eh?

Anyhow, as you OSU, Big 10, and even Notre Dame (I include you, because you have taken a beating during this decade - even by us Big 10 supporters) fans are faced with the people bashing your team and or your conference, take heart I have some help for you:

OSU on the National bowl stage over the last 6 years:


01-03-2003 Win 31 - 24 against Miami in the Fiesta Bowl - National Championship Game
01-02-2004 Win 35 - 28 against Kansas St. in the Fiesta Bowl
12-29-2004 Win 33 - 7 against Oklahoma St. in the Alamo Bowl
01-02-2006 Win 34 - 20 against Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl
01-08-2007 Loss 14 - 41 against Florida in the BCS Championship Game
01-07-2008 Loss 24 - 38 against LSU in the BCS Championship Game


Colleges With Most Draft Picks
College Number
Notre Dame 461
USC 450
Ohio State 383
Oklahoma 334
Michigan 330
Nebraska 328
Tennessee 320
Penn State 312
Texas 312
Miami (FL) 293

What happened to the SEC and PAC-10 only 1 team each??? The Big 10 has 3!!!

Number of First Round Draft Picks by Conference:

* Big 10 -- 292 - wow, how about that?

* SEC -- 278

* ACC -- 224

* Pac-10 -- 223

* BIG 12 -- 221

AND....the coup de gras.... so many people in the media devout so much time to debunking OSU and the Big 10 that something must be going right. Seriously, if OSU and the Big 10 are really that bad we wouldn´t hear about them at all. I mean, let´s talk about the Sunbelt Conference. They are awesome and we hear sooooo much about them.

Ok, I know, I am just disgruntled, but come on. Last year LSU beat OSU for the National Title. LSU lost 2 games that season - were they really the best team in the country? Obviously two other teams could beat them. If OSU had won, would they have been the best even though they lost a regular season game to a Big 10 opponent? BCS games and big national match-ups determine one thing - which team is better on any given day. As a former coach, I know the role that momentum plays in a game and I know the role that one single play or even during a game can have on its outcome.

So here I am, another supporter of a play-off system for NCAA Division I football. Each conference gets to put say...their top 2-3 teams into the playoffs - the independents get 1-2 teams as well. Brackets are made up like NCAA basketball - and their you have it. Any team that can make it through that deserves to be called #1. All teams start the season with a non-conference game that doesn´t count against their conference standings - this will encourage teams to play good opponents - because there is no penalty for losing this game and no advantage to winning it. I am a visionary, at least 20 minutes ahead of my time.

Yeah, I was bored this morning and not ready to do work at my office. I am dedicating the rest of this NCAA football season to the support of the Big 10. Wisconsin and Penn State, you have my support, even if you beat OSU (blasphemy I know), to make it to a title game and kick the crap out of whomever is your opponent. But we all know that the Big 10 eats its own.

Peace,
Jeremy

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