DZ83CK said:

The Buckeyes are projected to finish with 19 wins, which would mean going 4-5 over the last 9 games. IOW, bubblicious.

Right now they have a stretch with no true road games until 2/22. They probably need to win at least two of these games - UM, USC, UVA neutral and Wisconsin. The road trip combo of MSU and Iowa towards the end of the month looks brutal for these guys. Then a mixture of Purdue & 2 winnable games at the end. Overall, these guys still have a legit shot at the tournament, they just have to hold the line the rest of the way. I think the most likely pathway is win vs USC, UVA, @P S U, vs IU and either Wisconsin or Purdue. Tough but plausible.

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4-5 is probably enough to get in as long as one of the losses isn't to Ped State.

Chatman starting to actually play and play decent gives me more optimism going forward.

Well, Bestbuck we actually do! But he's taking up space on the pine. Look at his bulk, and wishing he'd be in the paint taking up space, and enforcing his will on those unfortunate enough to drive on him......keep hearing he's probably going to miss this year. We're losing both Tilly and Noel at the end of the year, so he's gotta get better. He'd be a difference maker, if he returned before selection committee sits down....methinks.

AND a pro Bowl QB

Those Washington women certainly looked 'blocky'. At least several inches wider than our Buckeyes. Am enjoying watching Kennedy work her magic on D, and the tandem of her and Jaloni is nothing short of fun to watch. Also fun to watch which 3-shooter gets hot for the Buckeyes, and hope they continue to get uncontested looks at the basket. Saw Kitt on the bench in warm-ups, but was participating in huddles, etc. Anyone know why/how she's injured? ETA to return?

BuckBackHome said:

Browns get Defensive Player of the Year and Defensive Rookie of the Year awards.

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And still went 5-12. That takes work.

Great night, watching both the Men and Women get some nice wins. Yeah, Md was itching to fight. Tilly was trying to prove his worth after the Wiscy thumping, and believe that Chapman had his best game yet. He's picked up the pace with his D, by not playing matador defense. Women, well, they played like they normally do. Do hope that Kitt gets better faster, as Elsa looks like a lone tree on the plains under the hoop. Was surprised how well she runs the court (doesn't lope up court as I used to do), sprinting for the pass. PS, not usual that the C gets upcourt before the defenders, IMHO.

Couple years back, ran into a guy who sported his Miami shirt. Had to talk to him, as I matriculated there oh so many years ago. Got to talking and he mentioned (proudly might say) that Miami U is the best hockey team in the state. Recruits go to Oxford-town rather than C'bus for the sport. Was an eye-opener for me. Saw games at Withrow Court, and then a couple at Millett (waaaay across town). Back then had 50 cent taxis, which took when my (illegal) car was in the shop.

We took our staff trip to Glacier this fall. Tthe wife and I spent most of the week was spent leaving hours before dawn, hiking and snacking and then having whatever for dinner before collapsing.

With the closures (to rebuild), Many Glacier Hotel was booked out for 1-3 years, as were the other ways to get on property.

We lucked out and not only got a last minute reservation for a few nights, and then made it onto the will call list for the boat to shrink the Many Glacier hike. So much wildlife on the east side of the park.



The meals overlooking Swiftcurrent Lake at sunset were magical, but one of my favorite parts was one of the best steaks I've ever had being a sirloin (formerly it's always been filet or NYStrip), and sending us down a rabbit hole of sous vide experiments at home. We're just getting started (maybe 4-5x sous vide baths in?).

I have no idea what I'm doing yet with sous vide, and if it's this good while I am a novice I can't wait til I figure it out.

Especially the ability to prepare 6-10 steaks at once and then have a quick heat up entry a week or two later.

bigdog3300 said:

Used to live and travel out that way often, Pasadena was my favorite spot in Cali....hope you enjoyed it as well.

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We stayed in Monrovia, and almost every place we ate was fantastic. Merenge Bakery, Café De Olla

Maybe the best part was the amount of whole food shops serving healthy salads or mixed bowls (and unhealthy too), which were shockingly affordable in LA. Was able to eat out for less than buying any of those supplies at aldi or kroger.

p.s. My friend is first generation american from Taiwan, and spends large portions of each year over there. I think they just stop out in Pasadena a lot for fun and food, so it sounds like you had a similar experience.

Had a lot more fun Jan 1, 2025 for football coverage (much better weather, and first bowl game ever for me overlapping with the greatest OSU offensive performance maybe ever ). The past two november trips have been to photograph a horse show rebuilt inside Santa Anita racetrack (where the olympics will be). Great event, but it's absolutely poured the past two years, to the point where I had to buy rain slickers (never needed them in KY where I work outside 80 days a year). Both years were wet, but we were there for the national news covered storms

One fun part was hitting so much traffic when we landed, that it just took us through surface streets all the way from LAX to Pasadena. We drove through compton and every bad part of LA, so we got a full feel of many of the areas. For as much as LA gets a reputation for being shallow, their architecture is remarkable, and not just in the nice areas. Previously I had only seen the beaches and Orange County, which has to be one of the least creative places on earth for architecture.

jwinslow said:

Been able to travel a bit for work (and fun) lately, and wanted to recap some of the best stops

Din Tai Fung (Pasadena, CA) - November

When I asked my taiwanese friend where to go and what to get, they raved about this place (as did multiple locals).
- Excellent dumplings
- The cucumber appetizer was unique
-The Old Fashioned stole the show with the flame-smoked orange peel
.... it may have also ruined all future old fashioneds

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Used to live and travel out that way often, Pasadena was my favorite spot in Cali....hope you enjoyed it as well.

Well, if our new OC isn't good at getting the "Jimmys and the Joes", then he'd best be good at the 'X's and the O's". But it does make an impact on the recruits that the 'big guy' comes to see them. Day makes his appearance as the coup d' grace on a recruit, and the OC and DC make almost same impact. Guess as a difference maker/decision maker.

For vacation last month, we usually prefer nature and solitude (and found that later), but being big harry potter fans, we stayed at one of their fancy universal resorts and tried out BiCE one night. We're also not upscale dinner people.

The 10-15 miles of walking in the park beforehand may have tilted the scales a bit, but this was hands down the best pasta dish I've ever had
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Still begs the question of why production fell off. Maybe holding him back to 'spy' on the QB? Maybe the O targeted him as someone to stop? Didn't hear that he was injured in any way, but has to give the NFL pause would expect. Guess we'll see come draft day.

Fungo Squiggly said:

Pressure cooker stock. Saves hours for nearly identical results.

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That's pretty friggin cool. Thanks for sharing that. Gonna have to give it a go, for sure.

College football is “mirroring” college wrestling in many regards. NCAA increased scholarship count to (30) for P4 conferences….up from (10ish) they used to have.

On the surface, it appeared that would help more kids get scholarship opportunity. The opposite has happened though….where schools used to carry up to 50 wrestlers that could get partial scholarships, now it’s reduced to exactly 30. When that is multiplied across all programs, you see a huge net decrease in wrestlers on teams.

Division I football teams can now disperse up to 105 scholarships (in an increase from the 85 limit).

Very few teams will carry more than 75-80 scholarship players anymore because of NIL. We are going to see fewer DI players with a 105 limit, than when the limit was 85, because of NIL.

Back in my day, kids that turned 18 (!) during the season were removed from the team, as OHSAA had a rule that no HS player could compete past the age of 18. Well, it's be a minute (or three), so guess this rule changed. FWIW, daughter had a November birthday. Question was whether to start her, or do another year of Montessori. Board President asked me, "would you feel more comfortable putting a 17 year old on a plane for college?" Game over, and did the additional year. She turned out well, and note aside, make All-American 3x in swimming. Maybe the extra year helped with maturity, both mentally and physically. But there was always the kid who got his drivers license first, merely due to when was born.

Been able to travel a bit for work (and fun) lately, and wanted to recap some of the best stops

Din Tai Fung (Pasadena, CA) - November

When I asked my taiwanese friend where to go and what to get, they raved about this place (as did multiple locals).
- Excellent dumplings
- The cucumber appetizer was unique
-The Old Fashioned stole the show with the flame-smoked orange peel
.... it may have also ruined all future old fashioneds

Kavalan Taiwanese single malt whiskey, house-made Oolong tea syrup, orange bitters, and Luxardo cherry.

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Wonder how many botched landings separate #3 from #6? And wish the football team could/would score as many points as the gymnasts do...

Thanks Gracel....had to chuckle when you mentioned 'NCAA Sportsmanship Codes'.....Those wingnuts cannot keep their own rules straight, let alone establish niceties such as sportsmanship....personal opinion of course. From the length of your response, and the detail, might give me the opinion that I'm not the first to come up with that approach. But, as long as there are rules, there are those that can figure out a way to get past them....or you could just recruit good tennis players, hone them against each other, and take on all comers. As long as they're from New Albany. Go Bucks!

Browns get Defensive Player of the Year and Defensive Rookie of the Year awards.

The Buckeyes are projected to finish with 19 wins, which would mean going 4-5 over the last 9 games. IOW, bubblicious.

Right now they have a stretch with no true road games until 2/22. They probably need to win at least two of these games - UM, USC, UVA neutral and Wisconsin. The road trip combo of MSU and Iowa towards the end of the month looks brutal for these guys. Then a mixture of Purdue & 2 winnable games at the end. Overall, these guys still have a legit shot at the tournament, they just have to hold the line the rest of the way. I think the most likely pathway is win vs USC, UVA, @P S U, vs IU and either Wisconsin or Purdue. Tough but plausible.

I suspect a lot of smaller schools might be trimming their roster sizes some to make more money available for NIL. Scholarships, food, housing, medical, travel, it adds up. There are a lot of unused scholarship spots in the Big Ten.

It will get worse as the grandfathered walk-ons start to age out and their roster spots just disappear.

OHSportsFan said:

Whoever pissed Tilly off…do that before every game.

Came out like he took something personal. I love it.

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I sent him a love letter about being softer than the Pillsbury Dough Boy lounging on a mountain of Charmin tissue paper and his mom agrees.

Seems to have struck a chord

Also, Beanie didn’t graduate at 19. His birthday is the first week of August. He graduated at 17 and turned 18 after graduation.