Ten Years at The Buckeye Battle Cry: A Look Back
MaliBuckeye via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
The Buckeye Battle Cry is now 10 years old. Holy crap.
Being a father of a vocal and creative
9 year old, I can easily say that tBBC doesn’t act a day over 6.
As the guy who coined the “tBBC” nomenclature and who herded the cats the longest, ten years is simply unbelievable to me. However you want to define “unbelievable” is probably appropriate.
Take Me To Church
My time at the mothership was, quite simply, some of the most enjoyable and exciting that I can remember; simply indescribable. From the humble origins through transitions to various blogging networks (
including a loose amalgamation of the Buckeye Bloggers Network), my life has been blessed with amazing and proud scarlet and gray memories.
Here are a few areas that I’ll be telling my grandkids about as we celebrate Urban Meyer’s 15th national title sometime in the future:
Game Highlights: Our first day of our relationship with SBN was the day that I covered the Rose Bowl victory over Oregon for the site, bringing a unique look to our “Shots From The…” series. I was blessed to be able to do it again
during a long homecoming weekend in Lincoln Nebraska in 2011, including some soul searching for the season of transition.
2012 resulted in a better contest to be the correspondent for, as the undefeated season wrapped up while I watched the good guys win The Game. The following year
took me to Berkley, where an actual person who actually read the site knew me and seemed to get excited when I introduced myself in the stands.
And then,
to be in the locker room for the Los Angeles run of the Aaron Craft/Deshaun Thomas team’s NCAA hopes… Whenever they let me out of the blogger basement, it was always to somewhere amazing.
Favorite Articles: While my lengthy expositions on the state of the College Football Postseason/Playoffs/Bowls and
realities of the finances for the NCAA and member institutions eventually became a part of a massive paper in my PhD program (
not so humble brag), the two series that I enjoyed the most are different ones.
Early in my tenure on the site, the “
Games From Obscurity” posts that highlighted a clash of small schools made for some of the most ridiculous and random parts of my week (as well as strengthening Eric and my status as closeted Mount Union bloggers).
But the Sunday night/Monday morning “
The Week That Were” reviews of the contests and storylines from the previous Saturday helped me bide the time until Thursday night’s games.
And it helped to use up my enormous stockpile of bullet points.
Proudest Moments: Like any parent of a 10 year old, there have been a number of moments that I was especially proud to work on the site.
Hello, Huskers
First,
we were the website that broke the news that Nebraska was joining the B1G; forcing UNL to make the announcement much earlier than they’d wanted, and leading to Tom Osborne calling an emergency athletic department meeting. I was on vacation with my Cornhusker in-laws, and the idea that I was part of making Husker History was pretty amazing. And a little awkward, to be honest.
I was also proud of tBBC during the difficult winter, spring, and summer of 2011, as Tat-Gate changed the face of the Ohio State Program. While I think no one would have preferred to have that story to cover, I’m proud that our website never shut down. In fact, I believe that we did some of the most in-depth coverage and analysis of the facts and repercussions that emerged.
Eric’s articles comparing the violations and sanctions of Ohio State and many other schools infractions to this day is one of the most thorough expose of the seeming arbitrariness that the Committee on Infractions’ decisions were based on. And his work didn’t even cover the Penn State or Baylor situations, or any of the other “scandals” that are becoming less and less scandalous every day.
I also love the work that Joe Dexter has done with the various podcasts on the site. I’ve said this to multiple people… he’s the best in the blogging business at covering the story, including his guests and co-hosts, and making it sound as professional as if it had been done at one of the major networks. He somehow makes the sound of my typing while recording with he and Clair not be too intrusive.
Challenges: With
the good also came the bad… Words cannot describe how difficult it was for me when our
friend Jason Winrow passed away in his sleep; he was a great Buckeye and an even bigger hearted man. I also hated that Dexter’s first day on the blog was the Memorial Day Massacre, when Jim Tressel “resigned” in 2011.
But
the decision a few years ago to step away from the site was probably the most challenging of all. Life happens, responsibilities and priorities change, but it’s never easy to move away from something that you’ve loved for so long. Knowing it was in good hands made it easier, as well as knowing that I could always have a place to return should the opportunity and itch arise. I hope that these moments of reminiscence doesn’t screw that up.
tBBC, After The Game 2012
How Firm Thy Friendships: I never would have guessed that Jeff’s faith in me so many years ago would have led to opportunities to make such amazing friends. This platform allowed for me to meet folks from around Buckeye Nation-
Dima,
Shannon,
Susan,
Birm,
Robbie, and especially
Grant… not to mention some of the fun Buckeye families and alumni that were gracious enough to share their time with me.
It also let me connect with other great past and current members of the Buckeye Battle Cry team, and I’m so thankful that they’re still patient with me. Jeff, James, and Eric and then later Dexter and Ken were encouraging and persevering members of our moderation and leadership team; always good for feedback, to vent, and even to share major life moments with. I still can’t believe
that what started out with a Bull Durham reference led to officiating a wedding that included lyrics from Carmen Ohio in the message. Did I mention that it was in Detroit… in front of a bunch of Spartan and Wolverine fans? Man, I love these guys.
Always A Great Day To Be A Buckeye
But, as always, I’m most thankful for you… the readers and regulars who allowed me to be a part of your Buckeye experience. While I can find pretty much any reason to rant and write online, I’ve been honored to have been entrusted to have been welcomed into your home and on your electronic devices.
So here’s to another 10 years of tBBC… even though I’m “just” a reader now, I can’t tell you how excited I am about the current crop of writers and participants. They’ve got a great core of “old timers” and are bringing young guns with new ideas and perspectives to coverage of the greatest college athletic department in the country.
And I’m damned lucky to have laid the foundation for these folks. Go Bucks!
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