Buckeyes keep giving Mandel ammo

[MililaniBuckeye]

I've read it twice now, and it's still the same. The guy is basically arguing that Hamby's play was the biggest factor in the BCS working out the way it did.

That is not what he's saying. He's saying that the BCS was very close to having a real mess on their hands, and used the Hamby non-catch as an example, familiar to him as a Buckeye fan. But, for sake of argument, let's just say that his statement indeed was that Hamby's drop was the single biggest factor on having only two undefeated teams...he's not really wrong, and he's still not whining about Ohio State not wining the but rather pointing out how close the BCS system was from not having their "perfect" two-no-loss-teams scenario.

Mandel deftly spins a comment from a Buckeye fan which implied that Hamby's drop costed Ohio State the Texas game into a tirade about how it the play didn't necessarily mean that much, rather than focusing on the actual issue of the BCS lucking out with having two undefeateds.

 

[JXC]

That is not what he's saying. He's saying that the BCS was very close to having a real mess on their hands, and used the Hamby non-catch as an example, familiar to him as a Buckeye fan. But, for sake of argument, let's just say that his statement indeed was that Hamby's drop was the single biggest factor on having only two undefeated teams...he's not really wrong, and he's still not whining about Ohio State not wining the but rather pointing out how close the BCS system was from not having their "perfect" two-no-loss-teams scenario.

Mandel deftly spins a comment from a Buckeye fan which implied that Hamby's drop costed Ohio State the Texas game into a tirade about how it the play didn't necessarily mean that much, rather than focusing on the actual issue of the BCS lucking out with having two undefeateds.

I don't think so...

Why bring up Hamby? Why not bring of Huston, or Zwick, or Smith, or even Tressel. Or how about our almost saftey on the kickoff? Or how about the pooch kick and personal foul at the end of the 1st half.

Any year there are 2 undefeateds...then you could say this. Look at 2002...how close was Ohio State to losing games? If it weren't for Chris Gamble, or Krenzel to Jenkins, or 4 goal-line stops against Cincy...then there would have been a mess. When the BCS does work...it is ALWAYS going to be one play away from not working.

If that's the point the emailer was trying to get at, he should have said it...without beating a dead horse with Ryan Hamby. Personally i'm sick and tired of hearing about it. Hamby dropped a pass. BIG DEAL. Everybody has dropped a pass before...it wasn't like it was the ONLY chance we had to win.

Fact is...BCS is really flawed. It only works when everything falls into place...we need something that ALWAYS works...a playoff.

 

[BayBuck]

Is anybody else tired of posters ripping on the OSU fanbase at-large every time they read an article inspired by a Buckeye email? Just because Mandel and Dodd and all the ESPN idiots get deluged by Buckeye fans on a regular basis does not automatically mean we are simply the most reactive fans out there--to me, it just reflects the fact that we have more fans than anyone else, many of whom respond when provoked at different times.

It's not like it's the same 5 fans bombarding these online writers every time: they get hundreds of responses from among our millions of fellow fans, and it's the writers who select which ones will make us sound stupider or crazier than the majority of us obviously are. Threads like this one are not making any difference in the big picture, as obviously BP only reaches a fraction of the fanbase, but they are perpetuating the myth that writers like Mandel happily created.

 

[OilerBuck]

Mandel spins the e-mail to fit his column and to basically give Hamby a well deserved break. Yet we've managed to spin this article around ourselves and make it into a Buckeye bashing session.

As much as I have criticized Mandel in the past, he voiced a lot of my same thoughts about Ryan dropping that pass. Each play in a game is a fork in the road. If you go down one path, the scenery is completely different for the rest of the trip. You can't pick and choose a play here or there and assume the rest to stay constant. Ryan Hamby had an unfortunate and very memorable mistake...the rest of our team made many other mistakes that followed. Texas won. I agree that this artcile came out of nowhere, but it should have been said long ago. Sometimes, as fans, we need to grow up.

In my opinion, the e-mailer made a good point about what a potential mess the BCS could've been (imagine if we beat Texas AND Notre Dame beats USC?). It's a shame that it couldn't have been answered in the way it was meant to be.

I just don't see the fuss over this article.

 

[OilerBuck]

With all due respect, a fanbase doesn't get a reputation without reason.

Very few of any program's intelligent fans waste their time e-mailing a columnist because they understand how pointless it is. We give there perceptions power ONLY when we react.

Why are all Buckeye fans considered over-reacting, arrogant, conspiracy theorists?

Read the bold.

Is anybody else tired of posters ripping on the OSU fanbase at-large every time they read an article inspired by a Buckeye email? Just because Mandel and Dodd and all the ESPN idiots get deluged by Buckeye fans on a regular basis does not automatically mean we are simply the most reactive fans out there--to me, it just reflects the fact that we have more fans than anyone else, many of whom respond when provoked at different times.

It's not like it's the same 5 fans bombarding these online writers every time: they get hundreds of responses from among our millions of fellow fans, and it's the writers who select which ones will make us sound stupider or crazier than the majority of us obviously are. Threads like this one are not making any difference in the big picture, as obviously BP only reaches a fraction of the fanbase, but they are perpetuating the myth that writers like Mandel happily created.

 

[Dryden]

Mandel spins the e-mail to fit his column and to basically give Hamby a well deserved break. Yet we've managed to spin this article around ourselves and make it into a Buckeye bashing session.

As much as I have criticized Mandel in the past, he voiced a lot of my same thoughts about Ryan dropping that pass. Each play in a game is a fork in the road. If you go down one path, the scenery is completely different for the rest of the trip. You can't pick and choose a play here or there and assume the rest to stay constant. Ryan Hamby had an unfortunate and very memorable mistake...the rest of our team made many other mistakes that followed. Texas won. I agree that this artcile came out of nowhere, but it should have been said long ago. Sometimes, as fans, we need to grow up.

In my opinion, the e-mailer made a good point about what a potential mess the BCS could've been (imagine if we beat Texas AND Notre Dame beats USC?). It's a shame that it couldn't have been answered in the way it was meant to be.

I just don't see the fuss over this article.

Great post.

 

[jwinslow]

I agree that this artcile came out of nowhere, but it should have been said long ago. Sometimes, as fans, we need to grow up.

In my opinion, the e-mailer made a good point about what a potential mess the BCS could've been (imagine if we beat Texas AND Notre Dame beats USC?). It's a shame that it couldn't have been answered in the way it was meant to be.

I just don't see the fuss over this article.

this article falls under the beating a dead horse for ratings category.

Stewart Mandel's Mailbag: Give Hamby a break (12/28/2005)

Stewart Mandel: Message to Ohio: my picks educated, not personal (11/22/2005)

 

[Steve19]

Well, if we are going to play "ifs, ands, and buts"....and the BCS will have to go.

I think you are right and wonder what we will do to replace it?

I can't imagine for a moment that we would be in a BCS bowl if the computer polls hadn't pointed out how over-rated Notre Dame was and given an objective measure of our schedule strength, which will end the season as the hardest schedule.

 

[BayBuck]

With all due respect, a fanbase doesn't get a reputation without reason.

Very few of any program's intelligent fans waste their time e-mailing a columnist because they understand how pointless it is. We give there perceptions power ONLY when we react.

Why are all Buckeye fans considered over-reacting, arrogant, conspiracy theorists?

Read the bold.

I don't see how my bolded comments advance your opinions above. Guys like "Mandel and Dodd and the ESPN idiots" give it to us because of our numbers, not because we have the patent on emotional responses; then when it happens more than once, they've suddenly got a trend--and we've got a "reputation".

Maybe I'm among the "very few", but I'm a fairly intelligent Buckeye fan who responds to many articles I disagree with--and that's not just when I'm reading stupid online sports sites. People write to get a response (unless they're just writing to get a paycheck).

But my original point is that this sort of thread does nothing to change the "reputation" that you apparently agree with Mandel et al that we have earned. I mean, crazy Buckeye fans responding to dumb writers responding to crazy Buckeye fans?? It's a cycle that we help perpetuate...

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

I don't think so...

Why bring up Hamby? Why not bring of Huston, or Zwick, or Smith, or even Tressel. Or how about our almost saftey on the kickoff? Or how about the pooch kick and personal foul at the end of the 1st half.

...

Hamby dropped a pass. BIG DEAL. Everybody has dropped a pass before...it wasn't like it was the ONLY chance we had to win.

Dropping a sure TD pass that's put right in your frickin' hands with no one around you is a lot different than missing a 50-yarder after you've already hit 5 for 5 in the game, or our QBs being pressured, or any single call by the coaches, or even the missed safety by Antonio Smith on kickoff coverage. Hamby catches that ball, we win the game...period. No one on this board has said we'd still lose the game if he does, not even our Texas members.

You know what, forget it...it you can't comprehend that by now, you're beyond reason.

 

[BayBuck]

And I guess that this thread gets to me because it seems to assume that we do/should care about our reputation among sportswriters... The linked article is some guy I don't care about responding to some fan I don't know--I just can't make that matter in my life at all.

 

[Steve19]

Just because Mandel and Dodd and all the ESPN idiots get deluged by Buckeye fans on a regular basis does not automatically mean we are simply the most reactive fans out there--to me, it just reflects the fact that we have more fans than anyone else, many of whom respond when provoked at different times.

Ding - ding - ding, we have a winner! Ohio State is the largest university, has the largest alumni association, has rabid support in a top 15 metro market that lacks professional football and basketball teams. Of course, we have more fans.

Hell, they're even in bloody Africa. I watched The Game here in Cape Town within other supporters/alumni.

We rock and chicks dig us! Oh, and the world does revolve around us.

 

[Bucklion]

And I guess that this thread gets to me because it seems to assume that we do/should care about our reputation among sportswriters... The linked article is some guy I don't care about responding to some fan I don't know--I just can't make that matter in my life at all.

Actually it's the general reputation of the school I care about. I don't care what Mandel thinks, but like it or not, a school is often judged by the athletic teams and fans that people see, hear, and read...not the physics department no one knows about. If your opinion is that you don't care what anyone thinks about Ohio State, that's fine. But poor behavior reflects poorly on the school and alumni...that's the point people are making.

As for the article, I hate Mandel, but I'm more than happy when anyone counters the John Saunders "The BCS is the greatest thing since ice cream" crap they spew on ABC every week, so as long as he isn't ragging on OSU too much...more power to him.

 

[OilerBuck]

this article falls under the beating a dead horse for ratings category.

Stewart Mandel's Mailbag: Give Hamby a break (12/28/2005)

Stewart Mandel: Message to Ohio: my picks educated, not personal (11/22/2005)

If we have a top five team, one of the largest fanbases and (by default) one of the largest factions of negative e-mailers, wouldn't it make sense that our program be referenced in a couple college football articles?

Sportswriters don't need to post e-mails that agree with them and kiss their butt. They post ones that argue with them and they generally win, because they do it on their own terms, in front of a national audience. If you were a columnist for SI, Sportsline or ESPN, would you pick e-mails that made you look stupid and proceed to try to prove that person wrong? Personally, I'd find whichever group bombarded me and made me the most angry. Then I'd pick the most asinine e-mails from their fans and post them for the world to see...and proceed to rip it to shreds.

Mandel isn't the devil here. He can only work with the ammo given to him...and truthfully, I think he went easy on us here. I saw the article as more pro-Hamby than anti-OSU.

 

[Captain Hindsight]

God, this whole article brings back so much pain and misery that all Buckeye fans went through a little over three months ago. I was downright pissed about Hamby dropping that pass, but it's absolutely ridiculous that anyone, let alone Buckeye fans, would send him death threats. That catch quite possibly could have decided the fat of our season, but I think that we need to quit focusing on what could have been, and start focusing on a complete obliteration of the Irish.


Now to Mandel... The guy is one biased fuck, but his views are interesting, and he's smart trying to get us blow off steam at him.