Brett Ludwiczak
Guest
You’re Nuts: What was your favorite moment from the weekend?
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Gil Talbot/NCAA Photos via Getty Images
Your (almost) daily dose of good-natured, Ohio State banter.
One of the best four-day stretches of the year is the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. This year was no different, as there was tons of exciting action in the men’s and women’s tournaments. On the men’s side, we had a number of upsets in the first round, headlined by Oakland beating Kentucky and James Madison taking down Wisconsin. The second round saw the favorites move on to the Sweet Sixteen, but a few games ended up going to overtime. Oakland and NC State needed five more minutes, while Oregon and Creighton went to double overtime on Saturday night. On Sunday, Texas A&M erased an 11-point deficit with two minutes to go to force an extra session before the Cougars bested the Aggies.
On the women’s side of the NCAA Tournament, it was obviously a second round to forget for Ohio State fans, as the Buckeyes were bounced from the tournament by Duke on Sunday afternoon. Outside of the action in Columbus, most of the attention was focused on LSU coach Kim Mulkey trying to do damage control on a Washington Post article about her that hasn’t even been released. For a half of basketball, it looked like the defending national champions were on the ropes against Middle Tennessee State before the Tigers pulled away from the Blue Raiders. Even with Ohio State eliminated, it looks like we are heading toward another thrilling close to the women’s basketball season.
The entertainment during the weekend wasn’t only on the hardwood. Ohio State won a number of national championships, the NHL and NBA seasons motor towards the playoffs, and the USMNT continued their domination of Mexico with another win over El Tri in the Nations League Final. Today we want to know what was your favorite moment from the weekend. Since we are all about good vibes, it doesn’t even have to be related to sports. Maybe it was a concert or movie you saw, a new restaurant you tried, or maybe you just played with some cute animals.
Being a Columbus Blue Jackets quarter-season ticket holder, I watch a lot of bad hockey, so it is refreshing to see a hockey team in this city have some success. Nadine Muzerall has built a dynasty on the ice at Ohio State, and I’m convinced she would coach circles around Blue Jackets head coach Pascal Vincent, who is the worst coach in franchise history, which says a lot when you look at just how inept Columbus has been since they entered the NHL back in 2000.
What makes this year’s title for Ohio State even more thrilling than their first championship two years ago is how the Buckeyes were able to respond to a couple of late-season defeats to Wisconsin. Ohio State was defeated late in the regular season by the Badgers and was humbled by Wisconsin in the WCHA Final Faceoff title game. Not only were there a couple of setbacks to the Badgers over the last month, the Buckeyes also lost to Wisconsin in last year’s title game. To win their second title in three years, it was going to take a massive effort from Muzerall’s Buckeyes.
Sunday’s championship game certainly lived up to the hype, as the Buckeyes and Badgers were tied 0-0 more than halfway through the third period. Then with just over seven minutes left in the game, freshman Joy Dunne ripped a shot that found its way into the back of the net, giving Ohio State a 1-0 lead. Goaltender Raygan Kirk and the Buckeye defense would make the lead stand, allowing Ohio State to counter Wisconsin’s 1-0 win in last year’s title game with one of their own. In the final game of her college career, Kirk notched her 10th shutout of the season, which was the most in the country this year, and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
Don’t expect Ohio State’s women’s hockey team to let off the gas anytime soon. Muzerall has reloaded over the years, so don’t expect any different even though the Buckeyes will lose some key players from this year’s championship team. One player that will be back next year is Dunne, who was the National Rookie of the Year. Dunne led the team with 24 goals this year, none as important as the final goal of the season. Maybe the Blue Jackets should take some notes on how to build a winner in Columbus.
As we head into the second weekend of the NCAA Basketball Tournaments, it’s nice to take a second and reflect. I love college football rivalry weekend, I love Major League Baseball Opening Day, the Super Bowl is called “The Big Game” for a reason, and the Olympics and World Cups are truly global must-see events. But for me, there is no higher sports holiday than the first day of the March Madness.
From noon until midnight, there is wall-to-wall action, with up to four games on at a time. When I was in college, my friends and I would skip classes on Thursday and Friday to watch every single game in the Round of 64 at a Damon’s restaurant (anyone old enough to remember those) in our hometown, because back then, there was no way to watch all of the games at home. So, we crammed into a booth and watched every game on the four giant projection screens and ate as much food (man do I miss their garlic rolls) as we could.
Yes, times have changed, every game is available nationwide, cable and streaming companies make it possible to watch all four games on one screen simultaneously, and I am a fully grown adult now meaning that I can’t completely shirk all responsibilities to watch college basketball for 24 hours over a two-day period. However, I still get that same excitement in the lead-up to tipoff. I get giddy about what’s ahead, what upsets, what buzzer-beaters, what legendary performances I am about to witness. While these days my bracket might not be filled out until 11:55 a.m. on Thursday, the fun and excitement of the process still hits every year (btw, I’m still in the 92.6 percentile of ESPN’s Bracket Challenge).
So, while I can’t pin-point an exact moment as eloquently as Brett did, there’s just very few things as special in the world of sports as the first day of the Big Dance!
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Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Gil Talbot/NCAA Photos via Getty Images
Your (almost) daily dose of good-natured, Ohio State banter.
One of the best four-day stretches of the year is the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. This year was no different, as there was tons of exciting action in the men’s and women’s tournaments. On the men’s side, we had a number of upsets in the first round, headlined by Oakland beating Kentucky and James Madison taking down Wisconsin. The second round saw the favorites move on to the Sweet Sixteen, but a few games ended up going to overtime. Oakland and NC State needed five more minutes, while Oregon and Creighton went to double overtime on Saturday night. On Sunday, Texas A&M erased an 11-point deficit with two minutes to go to force an extra session before the Cougars bested the Aggies.
On the women’s side of the NCAA Tournament, it was obviously a second round to forget for Ohio State fans, as the Buckeyes were bounced from the tournament by Duke on Sunday afternoon. Outside of the action in Columbus, most of the attention was focused on LSU coach Kim Mulkey trying to do damage control on a Washington Post article about her that hasn’t even been released. For a half of basketball, it looked like the defending national champions were on the ropes against Middle Tennessee State before the Tigers pulled away from the Blue Raiders. Even with Ohio State eliminated, it looks like we are heading toward another thrilling close to the women’s basketball season.
The entertainment during the weekend wasn’t only on the hardwood. Ohio State won a number of national championships, the NHL and NBA seasons motor towards the playoffs, and the USMNT continued their domination of Mexico with another win over El Tri in the Nations League Final. Today we want to know what was your favorite moment from the weekend. Since we are all about good vibes, it doesn’t even have to be related to sports. Maybe it was a concert or movie you saw, a new restaurant you tried, or maybe you just played with some cute animals.
Today’s question: What was your favorite moment from the weekend?
We’d love to hear your choices. Either respond to us on Twitter at @Landgrant33 or leave your choice in the comments.
Brett’s answer: Ohio State women’s hockey winning another national championship
Being a Columbus Blue Jackets quarter-season ticket holder, I watch a lot of bad hockey, so it is refreshing to see a hockey team in this city have some success. Nadine Muzerall has built a dynasty on the ice at Ohio State, and I’m convinced she would coach circles around Blue Jackets head coach Pascal Vincent, who is the worst coach in franchise history, which says a lot when you look at just how inept Columbus has been since they entered the NHL back in 2000.
What makes this year’s title for Ohio State even more thrilling than their first championship two years ago is how the Buckeyes were able to respond to a couple of late-season defeats to Wisconsin. Ohio State was defeated late in the regular season by the Badgers and was humbled by Wisconsin in the WCHA Final Faceoff title game. Not only were there a couple of setbacks to the Badgers over the last month, the Buckeyes also lost to Wisconsin in last year’s title game. To win their second title in three years, it was going to take a massive effort from Muzerall’s Buckeyes.
Sunday’s championship game certainly lived up to the hype, as the Buckeyes and Badgers were tied 0-0 more than halfway through the third period. Then with just over seven minutes left in the game, freshman Joy Dunne ripped a shot that found its way into the back of the net, giving Ohio State a 1-0 lead. Goaltender Raygan Kirk and the Buckeye defense would make the lead stand, allowing Ohio State to counter Wisconsin’s 1-0 win in last year’s title game with one of their own. In the final game of her college career, Kirk notched her 10th shutout of the season, which was the most in the country this year, and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
Don’t expect Ohio State’s women’s hockey team to let off the gas anytime soon. Muzerall has reloaded over the years, so don’t expect any different even though the Buckeyes will lose some key players from this year’s championship team. One player that will be back next year is Dunne, who was the National Rookie of the Year. Dunne led the team with 24 goals this year, none as important as the final goal of the season. Maybe the Blue Jackets should take some notes on how to build a winner in Columbus.
Matt’s answer: The opening day of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament
As we head into the second weekend of the NCAA Basketball Tournaments, it’s nice to take a second and reflect. I love college football rivalry weekend, I love Major League Baseball Opening Day, the Super Bowl is called “The Big Game” for a reason, and the Olympics and World Cups are truly global must-see events. But for me, there is no higher sports holiday than the first day of the March Madness.
From noon until midnight, there is wall-to-wall action, with up to four games on at a time. When I was in college, my friends and I would skip classes on Thursday and Friday to watch every single game in the Round of 64 at a Damon’s restaurant (anyone old enough to remember those) in our hometown, because back then, there was no way to watch all of the games at home. So, we crammed into a booth and watched every game on the four giant projection screens and ate as much food (man do I miss their garlic rolls) as we could.
Yes, times have changed, every game is available nationwide, cable and streaming companies make it possible to watch all four games on one screen simultaneously, and I am a fully grown adult now meaning that I can’t completely shirk all responsibilities to watch college basketball for 24 hours over a two-day period. However, I still get that same excitement in the lead-up to tipoff. I get giddy about what’s ahead, what upsets, what buzzer-beaters, what legendary performances I am about to witness. While these days my bracket might not be filled out until 11:55 a.m. on Thursday, the fun and excitement of the process still hits every year (btw, I’m still in the 92.6 percentile of ESPN’s Bracket Challenge).
So, while I can’t pin-point an exact moment as eloquently as Brett did, there’s just very few things as special in the world of sports as the first day of the Big Dance!
Continue reading...