2008-09 Top Ten: #6 - NCAA Lacrosse Championship

I've always liked lacrosse. I'm not really sure why, it's kind of like how I can't explain why I've always loved hockey so much. Unfortunately I didn't get to play lacrosse until I was a senior in high school and Gahanna got a club team thanks to the recent creation of a youth program (I'm glad this town gets really gung-ho about the sports I want to play once I'm too old to develop as a player).

If you know much about lacrosse, namely college lacrosse, you know that Memorial Day weekend is always set aside for the NCAA Lacrosse Championships, the final fours of lacrosse in Divisions I, II and III. Usually I try to watch some of these games if I can...it's not like I actually follow the sport but this is one of the few chances each year that it is televised, and obviously there are always great teams competing. I saw a little more than half of the 2009 Division I Championship and really wasn't paying too much attention to it...unlike most Ohio University students I stayed in Athens for the long weekend and didn't have a whole lot to do, the game was on in the background while I was doing something on my computer. Despite this less-than constant attention I paid to it, this game immediately came to mind when I decided to make this list. Why? Because, as cliche as it may sound, this game was exactly like something out of Hollywood.

Allow me to elaborate.

The game pitted defending national champ Syracuse against Cornell. Syracuse was going for its 11th national title, while Cornell hadn't won one since 1977. It was the Big Red, though, which jumped out to a 2-0 lead and never trailed during the game. Before I try to explain things any further, just watch the video below. The game action is what you need to see, and you can actually skip to the 1:45 mark and will still understand why this game is on my list. Enjoy.



Did I fool you? I technically was correct by saying Cornell never trailed during the game, since they lost in sudden death overtime. After watching those highlights, I'm sure you understand what I meant earlier...in fact, I don't even know if anyone could actually write an ending to a game like what actually happened. When Cornell took its late three-goal lead, even the commentators thought the game was over ("I'm not gonna say that that's the game but boy that's darn close"). I know I thought it was over...to be honest I'm not really sure why I didn't change the channel, but I'm glad I didn't. Not only was scoring three goals in 3:37 an unbelievable feat for the Orange, especially considering how much their offense had struggled in the second half, but the tying goal was one of the greatest plays I've ever witnessed in any sport. Period. Consider the situation: the Orange had already scored twice within a minute to cut Cornell's lead down to one, but with 27 seconds to go, it looked like there would be no fairy tale ending - an errant pass gave Cornell a clear, which is usually a guaranteed clock-killer if a team wants it to be. Again, the color man stated that Syracuse needed a "miracle" to tie the game. To his, mine and I'm sure Cornell's surprise, though, they got one. You just can't say enough about the tenacity shown by the Orange to get the ball back. But even after they took possession, it took two ridiculous passes to create the tying goal. The first came from Stephen Keogh, who came up with the loose ball, and didn't even look like a pass. I thought he was just sending to ball toward the goal with the hope that it would take a lucky bounce. As it turns out, Keogh knew exactly where it was going - to Matt Abbott. Abbott then was mobbed by two Big Red defenders before making an off-balance pass to Kenny Nims, who snuck behind the defense to the crease and got the ball past goalie Jake Myers with just 4.5 seconds to go. In a sport like lacrosse, this kind of last-second score is much harder to come by than in basketball or even football because once the buzzer sounds, that's it, play doesn't continue, the ball doesn't get to finish traveling its path, the game's over. If you haven't already, go back and watch that play again to truly appreciate its greatness.


Usually if a game goes to overtime, especially a championship game, the extra session is what makes it great, but that's not the case here. I'm not saying Cody Jamieson's championship-winning goal was boring, it was still a great play. But the real story is the comeback Syracuse made to force the extra session. With 5:31 left in the game, the Orange players and coaches were the only ones at Gillette Stadium who still believed they could win, and they did. It's very rare to see that type of late-game determination and success in any sport, and unfortunately most people missed it. There was a big crowd at the game, sure, and it was televised on ESPN, but the lacrosse fan base in America is spotty at best (local proof: Gahanna's only recent introduction of a sport that several Central Ohio high schools have succeeded in for years). I don't think I'm changing the world with this blog, but if you don't know much about lacrosse I hope you at least read this and saw that it is an incredibly exciting sport, one that involves high levels of skill and athleticism. People sometimes refer to it as "the fastest game on two feet," which, corny as it sounds, is true (excluding games played on skates). I don't think lacrosse will ever threaten to get as big as other sports, but I do hope it will continue to grow in popularity, especially since it is being played at the high level seen in this game. I consider myself lucky that I got to witness this unreal ending to a game for one of the most coveted titles in the sport.

My next post will enter the top half of my list and stay in the realm of college sports, but again might be an event you never heard about.

2008-09 Top Ten: #7 - Logan Chieftain Football

It seems like every year Gridiron Glory (for those of you who don't know this is a high school football highlight show in Southeast Ohio produced by Ohio University students) covers at least one team that has a very successful season and has one reporter that almost exclusively covers that team's games. In 2008 that team was the Logan Chieftains, and I was "their reporter." I'm not sure that this was an entirely good thing...it may have looked weird seeing the same college kid at a bunch of their practices, games, even at their school for a day (I'll discuss that shortly), but I can't say I didn't enjoy becoming familiar with the Chieftain players and staff. In fact, by the end of the playoffs I had reported on seven Logan games and shot another one (out of 12).

It all started during two-a-days when GG producer Justin Stoll and I headed out to Logan to shoot some practice video and interview Dale Amyx, Logan's head coach. Eventually we discovered that the team was practicing in a big field right by one of the Route 33 exits in Logan, since the new Logan High School and its football field were still under construction. We had coach Amyx tell us where the new field was being built so we could check it out. Seeing the new Logan Chieftain Stadium was the first good sign I received for the upcoming season. Maybe it just seemed more impressive because everything was new, but the stadium looked amazing. It sported brand new field turf, a big scoreboard with a little video board for messages, a nice press box and pristine bleachers. Something about getting to walk around the stadium before it had actually been used for an event was really impressive to me.

Next came week one of the football season, when Logan hosted Lancaster. For starters, a sky diver landed on the field to deliver the game ball. I'd never heard of this happening at any level of football, much less at a high school in Southeast Ohio. Logan and Lancaster often played in week one and Lancaster usually dominated the game...but not on this night. The Gales kicked a field goal to get on the board first, but from then on it was all Logan as the Chieftains rolled to a 35-10 win (keep in mind this was a Division II team beating a D-I squad by 25). It wasn't the margin of victory that stunned me the most, though, it was how Logan got there. Since the first time I'd seen Logan play, the Chieftains had always been a power football team. They would line up in the I formation, dominate the line of scrimmage and basically run it down the throats of their opponents...and it worked for them. Against Lancaster, though, Logan's offense ran almost exclusively out of shotgun sets. The reason for this switch became clear to me very quickly: junior quarterback Patrick Angle. Angle took over under center for his brother Michael, who graduated the year before, and was electrifying. He could out-run or run over defenders, or throw a perfect pass...whatever the situation called for. He broke the school's single-season record for touchdown passes, was named to the All-Ohio First Team and was Gridiron Glory's Player of the Year. Angle and the school even let Dan Lannon and I follow him around for an entire day to put together a "day in the life" TV package to show our viewers what a game day is like for high school football players. I can't say I didn't feel incredibly awkward, walking around a high school for a day as a 21-year-old, but it was still pretty cool and I thought the package turned out pretty sweet.

Led by Angle, the Chieftains finished the regular season 10-0 and won their first playoff game since 2000. In the regional semi-finals the third-seeded Chieftains faced second-seed Louisville, which was the state runner-up in 2007. The teams played at Zanesville's Sulsberger Stadium on a night when mother nature was not sympathetic to the spread offense. Both Logan and Louisville ran the spread and it rained for pretty much the entire game, sometimes abnormally hard. There were plenty of dropped passes on both sides, and an uncharacteristic 4 interceptions thrown by Angle. Louisville led 7-0 early and looked like they would keep scoring, but thanks to some big defensive plays and a couple lucky breaks, Logan stayed within a score. In the fourth, the Chiefs finally broke into the red zone, but Angle threw an interception on the goalline that halted his team's best chance to tie the game, giving Louisville a 7-0 win.

I had no official connection to this Logan team - I was simply a member of the media who reported on the team throughout the season. Still, it was a unique experience for me, seeing them so much throughout the season. When they did lose that last game, I almost felt like I had lost it with them. I'm not saying it hurt me as much as the players coaches, there's no way it was even close. Still, at that point I just wanted them to keep playing and stay alive in the postseason. I don't think my objectivity as a journalist had been compromised, it's just a lot more enjoyable to watch and report on success than to have to break the news that the team a lot of viewers pull for just had its season ended. It was still great to watch such a successful and exciting team so much during one season.

While not all of you may have been familiar with this localized story, the next stop on my countdown returns to the national stage...but I won't be surprised if you're unfamiliar with it as well.

2008-09 Top Ten: #8 - Pens-Caps Playoff Clash

If you know me at all (and if you're reading this blog I'm sure you do) the inclusion of hockey in my countdown comes as no surprise. My favorite sport's first appearance on this list comes from the first of what I hope will be many outstanding postseason series between the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins.

Even if you aren't a hockey fan, chances are you've at least heard of Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby and Washington's Alexander Ovechkin. They are both former #1 overall draft picks and arguably the two best and most exciting players in the NHL. Since they each entered the league in 2005 the hockey world has essentially made them into intense rivals. Games between the Capitals and Penguins often are carried on national TV, complete with statistical comparisions of the pair and how they have fared against each other. Clearly a playoff series between the two would give the rivalry a tremendous boost of intensity. The 2007-08 season marked the first time both players reached the postseason in the same year, but Ovechkin and the Caps were bounced in the first round while Crosby and the Pens reached the Stanley Cup Finals. Last season, though, both teams reached the second round, setting up what turned out to be one of the most exciting playoff series I ever witnessed.


Everyone likes to boil games between Washington and Pittsburgh down to Ovechkin v. Crosby. However, I hadn't been waiting to see a playoff series between these two teams solely for a one-on-one matchup between players who are rarely on the ice at the same time...sure it was part of the draw, but both these teams are about more than one player. If Ovechkin and Crosby are the league's top two players, Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin might be number three. In fact, the man who was drafted immediately after Ovechkin in 2004 led the NHL in scoring last season and finished with an incredible 36 points in 24 postseason games. Add in goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (another #1 overall draft pick), Jordan Staal and Sergei Gonchar and you have a team with top-tier talent everywhere on the ice. The Capitals have a very comparable depth of offensive talent. Along with Ovechkin (56-54-110) the team boasts young guns Nicklas Backstrom (22-66-88), Alexander Semin (34-45-79) and Mike Green (31-42-73), who led all defensemen in scoring and was nominated for the Norris Trophy. As a tremendous hockey fan I enjoy all aspect of the game when they are well-executed, but seeing a collection of players with this much offensive talent on the ice for an entire playoff series is the best kind of hockey I could hope for.


I remember the Saturday that game 1 of the series was played and being on the edge of my seat the entire time. The first game completely lived up to the hype created both by the media and in my own mind. While Crosby and Ovechkin both scored and played outstanding games, the most memorable moment of the game was easily a save by Washington goalie Simeon Varlamov on Crosby. There's no point in trying to describe it, just watch the clip below (be sure to watch the whole clip to see the replay angles).



After that save was made I texted my friend and fellow hockey lover Nick Petrello because I knew he would be watching the game. He responded, "What a save. Ovechkin and Crosby playing out of their minds..." I can't publish the next part of his text, but I can safely say that he definitely shared my excitement for the game and the series as a whole. For the rest of the series, the excitement continued to grow. Five of the games were decided by a single goal and three needed overtime to find a winner (including game 6, which the Caps won in Pittsburgh to force a game 7). Game 2 deserves a special mention as both Crosby and Ovechkin scored hat-tricks in Washington's 4-3 win, a feat that might not be seen again in some time (or it might happen the next time these teams play...that's why it's such a great match).

As much as I loved watching this series, it probably would have been even higher on my countdown if not for how it ended. A game 7 is typically one of the most exciting spectacles in all of sport, no matter the playing field. So naturally, I expected big things out of game 7 between the Caps and Pens, especially after Washington's dramatic OT win in game 6. Unfortunately, the game was never in doubt. The Penguins dominated the Capitals and led 5-0 in the 2nd period, coasting to a 6-2 win. This was still one of the best playoff match-ups I had the pleasure of seeing, but the final game almost ruined it.


In the end, the better team won this series. Pittsburgh is a more complete team than Washington (which is obviously why the Pens went on to win the Stanley Cup). They have better goaltending, a deeper defensive corps and play a more structured and complete game, while the Capitals aren't the most responsible team on defense and often enter the offensive zone with little or no planning. This works sometimes because of their tremendous talent, but it caught up with them against the hard-nosed Pittsburgh defense. Still, I'm convinced these will be two of the top teams in the Eastern Conference and the NHL for years to come and look forward to seeing them meet in the playoffs again.

Now that I've gotten to rant a bit about hockey for the first time, be sure to watch for my next update, involving the gridiron in Southeast Ohio.

2008-09 Top Ten: #9 - John Groce and Ohio Basketball

The slogan heard and seen on promotions for the 08-09 Ohio men's basketball team read, "Ohio Basketball: Lights Out." Truthfully, the Bobcats were anything but. Despite having one of the top players in the MAC in Jerome Tillman, the team went 15-17, winning just twice on the road, and finished last in the MAC-East. You may wonder, then, why this average-to-bad team made my top ten. The answer is simple: head coach John Groce.

I remember interning at Sports Radio 1460 (now 97.1) in the summer of 2008 when A.D. Jim Schauss hired Groce to replace the always-inept Tim O'Shea as the head coach of the Ohio basketball team. I streamed the press conference that officially introduced him as the team's head coach and instantly fell in love with him and knew he would be great for the program. Not only did he have an impressive coaching resume (assisting Thad Matta at Ohio State, Xavier and Butler) and a reputation as one of the best recruiters in the country (he's the one who brought Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr. to OSU), but after listening to the press conference you could tell how excited he was to be taking the job at Ohio and that he genuinely wanted to be there. You may be asking if I'm really naive enough to believe that he just wants to stay stay in Athens for a long time. I'm not. Is this job a stepping stone for Groce? Absolutely. I have no doubt that he will be receiving offers from some big-conference programs within the next couple years. And while this may be true, you wouldn't know it by listening to him talk about the Ohio program. You can tell that he is committed to building Ohio basketball up to a MAC championship contender. Near the end of that press conference I mentioned, he even shed a few tears when talking about how long he and his family had been waiting for this opportunity to take over a basketball program like Ohio's. That's commitment.


I would have been excited with Ohio's hiring of Groce under any circumstances, but the coaching change was particularly dramatic because of who he replaced. Tim O'Shea was a joke. End of story. If we had an archive of SportsBeat talk shows I was a part of while in Athens, there would be no shortage of segments dedicated to bashing the former Bobcat coach. He took Ohio to the NCAA Tournament in 2005, sure, but that was when Leon Williams was a freshman. For the rest of Leon's career, the Bobcats never even threatened to return to the dance. The 05-06 Bobcats were stacked: Williams, Tillman (named MAC Freshman of the Year that season), Jeremy Fears, Mychal Green, Sonny Troutman, Jeff Halbert (for three) and even Whitney Davis. Not only did O'Shea fail to win the MAC with this team, but he managed to get Fears to transfer to Bradley. He also had a nasty habit of sitting both Leon and Tillman at the same time, eliminating any kind of inside presence. If you have two of a conference's top big men on your roster, why would you not make sure one of them was always on the floor? Where Groce really makes O'Shea look like a fool, though, is during games. I found him to be one of the most approachable and genuine coaches I've even spoken to off the court, but his in-game intensity is unbelievable (see picture above). He is constantly barking out instructions to his players or getting in a referee's face about a call he didn't like. That's what the big-time coaches do to help themselves later in the game. With O'Shea, you got none of this. He rarely stood up during games or gave his players instruction. Mostly he just threw his hands up in the air with a confused look on his face.

I mentioned Groce's repuation as a great recruiter, and he's already lived up to it. During the 08-09 season he got Armon Bassett to transfer to Ohio from Indiana. He didn't sit the bench for the Hoosiers either...he was a third team All-Big Ten selection as a sophomore and will be a big addition to the team when he joins the Bobcats this January. He also brought in Alex Kellogg, a transfer from Providence, and an impressive 2009 recruiting class. Despite having Tillman, Groce's first team at Ohio was less-than-stellar. Now that he's getting his own players in the system, though, expect big things from him and the Bobcats. While the 08-09 team wasn't that great, I still loved watching and covering a lot its games, including road trips to Louisville, Akron and, of course, Cleveland for the MAC Tournament. I wish I could be around Athens to see the team's progress, but I'm glad I at least was there to witness the beginning of what should be a great career.

After the first two installments it may seem like this entire countdown will involve some kind of Ohio University twist. Let me assure you, it doesn't. In fact, the very next item has nothing at all to do with the state of Ohio at all.

2008-09 Top Ten: #10 - Michael Mitchell/Marc Krauss

If you're at all familiar with Ohio University athletics, you know they aren't exactly lighting the world on fire. In fact, outside of the volleyball team, they're usually downright bad. The Ohio football team did win the MAC-East and a berth in the GMAC Bowl in 2006...but that was only the third time in history the Bobcats reached a bowl game. In 2005 Leon Williams and the basketball team reached the NCAA Tournament, despite being coached by the inept Tim O'Shea who proceeded to ruin a team with tons of potential for the rest of Leon's career. Not only do Ohio squads struggle year in and year out, but athletes don't go to school in Athens to make it to the next level...Frank Solich definitely has to stay away from the pro potential pitch when he's on the recruiting trail. This mold was broken over the past year, though, as TWO Bobcats were not only signed by professional teams but taken pretty early in their respective drafts. Luckily I got to see both play while they were still in Athens, making the pair #10 on my 08-09 countdown.

Michael Mitchell

When you thought of Ohio's safety Michael Mitchell, you thought big hits. Sure he played in the MAC, but this guy could really lay the lumber. Two particular plays come to mind when I think of Mitchell from his senior season, the first from the homecoming game against VMI. One of the Keydets (yes, that's their real nickname) broke into the secondary and didn't see Mitchell coming all the way over from the far side of the field. His bad. Mitchell absolutely crushed him, forcing a fumble and injuring the player. I'm not saying it's awesome that he hurt someone, it never is, but it just helps show how hard this guy can hit...legally hit. The second is from a game I was shooting on the sideline against Central Michigan. A receiver was heading towards me, near the goalline on the sideline and had to turn his body and backpedal to see the ball and make the catch. Then along came Mitchell to make one of the best nat pops I've ever had, but that's not why I remember this one. After watching the video of the hit, you can see that something flies out from the players onto the sideline. I could never tell what it was, and one day Jake Young explained that it was one of the ear piece padding inserts from a helmet. The guy laid into someone, shoulder first, and managed to break part of a helmet. To this day I've never seen anything like it.

I'll never forget Mitchell getting selected in the 2009 NFL Draft. I was sitting on the couch on my computer, not really paying a whole lot of attention to the draft on TV. It was the middle of the 2nd round and the ESPN anchors were talking about one of the recent picks when the Raiders Selection graphic popped up on the bottom of the screen and out of the corner of my eye I saw, "Michael Mitchell - S - Ohio." Thank goodness DVR exists became I literally did not believe my eyes and had to rewind to make sure I read it correctly. Within seconds I instantly texted as many people I thought would care, "THE RAIDERS JUST DRAFTED MICHAEL MITCHELL." I've never seen NFL analysts less prepared to discuss a pick...they didn't even have vital statistics or any kind of full-screen graphic they could show. They basically talked about how ridiculous Al Davis is, taking Darrius Heyward-Bey in the first round, far above his projected spot, followed by an unknown safety from Ohio. I can't say I disagreed with them...Mitchell was injured while running the 40 at his pro day and of the graduating Bobcats he was thought to be the third most likely to get a shot in the NFL, behind CB Marc Parson and TE Andrew Mooney (neither made it to the league). I also won't forget the NCAA 09 cover (seen above) that I made featuring Mitchell. Yes, I'm that weird that I wanted to make a custom Bobcat cover, but it just so happens that that Bobcat is now in the NFL. Coincidence? I think not.

I can't say I think it was a good pick to take Michael Mitchell 47th overall, but you can't help but be happy for the guy. My experiences with him had always been good...he was very well spoken and would take time to talk to you and answer any questions you had in an interview. He even made himself available for us to do a phone interview with him the Monday after he was drafted, which says a lot about a guy who essentially just hit the jackpot but was still willing to take the time to talk with people back in Athens. A final moment that sticks out in my Mike Mitchell memory comes off the field. Actually, it was on the field but not during a game. After Ohio played Ohio State at the Horseshoe, the Bobcat Blitz crew headed back out to the field to shoot a standup at the stadium. As we were getting ready to leave, Mitchell was walking out onto the field with a little boy who couldn't have been any older than 5 or 6-years-old...I'm guessing it was a nephew. He had him by the hand and was pointing around the field and talking to him (I don't know what he was saying). It just seemed like a really great moment to me and added to my respect for the guy.

Marc Krauss

Usually when I think Ohio baseball, I think Joe Carbone's terrible management of his pitching staff. For the last couple seasons, though, I could think of Marc Krauss. This guy dominated the MAC and, before last season, was named one of the country's top 50 MLB prospects by Baseball America. He went on to destroy the Ohio single season home run record by hitting 27 long balls as a junior (the old record was 20), hit .402 and was a First-Team All American. He's good, real good.

Like Mitchell, I also remember Krauss for some things off the diamond, mainly the fact that I saw him quite a bit because he was a journalism major in the broadcasting sequence. During winter and spring quarters he would often be at the RTV building soing classwork and, while I didn't talk to him a whole lot, he seemed like a really nice and down-to-earth guy (I know people who had classes with him will back that up). He too would always make time for you if you ever wanted to interview him...and a lot of people did. Once or twice he would be working at the station when a story came out about some weekly honor he received and he always granted our sports department time to interview him. On the first day of the MLB draft I called him while he was in Columbus and, despite how busy the day was for him, he still made time for me to record a phoner with him. In that interveiw he even made a point to mention how much he owed to the people in Athens and what they meant to him.


Not only were these guys great athletes at Ohio, but they were great people, which is sometimes hard to find in the pros. I'm glad I got a chance to see them play and hope they can make it in the big leagues.

And so the countdown begins. Keep an eye out for the next installment, involving a squad that could be the start of something great.

2008-09 Top Ten: An Introduction/The Last 5 Out

In my first blog post, I mentioned a particular idea that directly led to the creation of my blog. I'm now here to introduce that idea so you'll know what you're getting into for the next week or two.

The idea is really quite simple: a list of my personal top ten sports things from the past year. I say things because that's really the best way to describe them. Some of them will be specific games, some will be broader events, others a team's performance, and still others won't fall under any of these categories.

The list can consist of items from all levels of sport, from high school to the pros, and perhaps even include personal achievements of mine. Were this an 07-08 list my lone intramural championship would certainly be high on the list (Nordiques for life).

I really have no idea where this idea came from, but when I started compiling a list of potential items to make the cut, I thought it would be a lot of fun. Top (insert number here) lists that people make always intrigue me for some reason, so it seemed like a good way to start my blogging career.

I mentioned compiling a list of potential sports things to make the cut into my top ten. My thought process was to list them out so it would be easier to determine the final order. What I discovered, though, was that I had 15 ideas and some would not make the list. Not wanting to cast these items out completely, I decided this introduction would be a good place to discuss the five items that didn't crack to top ten. In true NCAA tournament fashion they've been dubbed, in no particular order, The Last 5 Out.

And here they are:

New Lexington reaches the state semi-finals

In my four years covering high school football in Southeast Ohio, I didn't really see many highly-successful teams. While I did cover the Parkersburg Big Reds on their way to back-to-back West Virginia state championships, I was in Ohio, one of the best states for high school football talent. Most of that talent, though, lies to the north, southwest or middle of the state. But then along came the 2008 New Lexington Panthers. This team didn't go undefeated, or even win the MVL, but they did advance farther in the postseason than any team we covered on Gridiron Glory. Led by the versatile Bret Wycinski and quarterback Clint Cannon, the Panthers reached the Division IV final four, in which they faced Steubenville at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium in Massilon...and therein lies why this almost made my top ten. I finally got the chance to cover late-postseason high school football and visit the home of one of the most storied programs in the state. My comment upon arrival at the stadium was that the stadium, combined with the adjacent paractice facility, was better than what the Ohio University football team works with. Whether or not that statement was true is irrelevant because the point was that I was awe-struck. Even though I never played a down of organized football in my life, I found myself wishing I had gotten to use facilities like Paul Brown when I was in high school.

New Lex fell behind by a couple of scores in the first quarter and, despite playing Steubenville pretty evenly for the rest of the game, couldn't get back into the game. Also it was late November and freezing, making it completely miserable to stand on the sidelines. It even started snowing pretty hard late in the game, which didn't help the cold but did look pretty amazing...it looked like we were inside a snow globe (seriously, it looked exactly like it, big snow flakes and everything). It was a shame the Panthers couldn't pull out the win, but the experience of being on the field of a famed stadium and the atmosphere of such a big game was still amazing.


Ellen Herman

If you don't know who this is, learn about her. Herman, now a senior, has been the best player on the Ohio volleyball team for the past three seasons. She's played on US national teams and made the All-MAC first team the first three seasons of her college career. After covering the volleyball team for a couple years and seeing how hard she can spike the ball, I became legitimately intimidated by the thought of facing her on the court. And after playing pickup basketball with her one spring night at Ping, I have no doubt she could easily play on the Ohio women's basketball team if she wanted to. Enough said.

The Panty Banditos/Softball at the Polo Grounds

It's very unfortunate that I don't have any photographical evidence of my final Ohio University intramural sports team, the Panty Banditos. A year after the Panty Bandits were bounced from the playoffs, the Banditos were born. While we played in a rec league and therefore couldn't win a championship, we played to win. Probably too much. We had a lot of fun on the diamond every Monday during spring quarter, and then at the bars after the games. The season ended perfectly: run-ruling a team, followed by a team pile at home plate after I scored the run that completed the victory, followed by spraying champagne all over our dugout area. Whoever we played hated us.

During the softball season, one Saturday provided another great moment of team and personal achievement. Fellow Banditos Corey Taylor, Joel Beall, Adam 'JC' Beatrice and I, along with Nick Petrello and former intramural great Shane Kline, went to the Athens little league fields to play some ball. If you've never been to these fields, they're great because they're scaled-down versions of major league stadiums. We wanted to play on Fenway, but seeing as it was the only field with a "No Trespassing" sign, we decided to go with the Polo Grounds. A home run derby ensued, which was just us trying to pull pitches over the close but high left field fence. While I don't remember how many long balls I hit or who won the derby (I think it was JC), I certainly remember that I was the only one to go yard over the short fence in left-center, easily the longest homer of the day.

Alexander volleyball wins school's first state title

Just like the Ohio volleyball team is easily the best team at the university, the Alexander volleyball team is by far the best Southeast Ohio high school program in any sport. After reaching the state final four two years in a row, the third time was the charm for the Lady Spartans. Jake Young and I were fortunate enough to witness Alexander dominate the ladies from Gilmour Academy to win the Division III volleyball title. Seeing the joy on their faces and how excited they were in the post-game press conference was just a wonderful thing to see. I never came close to winning a state title, but at least now I've seen somebody win one.

The 2009 NCAA Hockey Championship

Most of this can be explained by watching the following video:



First of all Miami lost this game, which is always a good thing to hear. Second, what an amazing comeback by Boston. Two goals in the final minute, and they weren't your everyday goals. I have no idea what angle the first one was shot at to somehow find its way into the net. And the second one, what a dangle by the guy who made that pass to draw the defender in and then slide it cross-crease for the one-timer. And finally there's the overtime goal. I can't say I love to see plays like this because all I could say after it happened was, "What a horrible way to lose." Think about it: the defender goes down to block the shot from the point, sacrificing his body, and gets a pretty good piece of it. Not good enough, though. Watch the replay again, you can tell the goalie legitimately never saw the puck until it fluttered right next to his head, and by then it was too late. That has to be the definition of 'heartbreaking." Still, one of the craziest endings to a hockey game I've ever seen. Plus, if it had to happen to anyone, better that it happened to Miami.


There you have it, the best of the rest. Obviously there's a reason why these five items didn't make the top ten, but there are some pretty impressive things here...all the more reason to keep an eye out for my next post, where I'll reveal number 10 on my 2008-09 Top Ten.

I have a blog?

Yes.

After several years of people writing whatever they want on the internet, I'm in. I can't guarantee how long it will last, who will read it or that I won't say anything stupid, but I now have a blog.

You may ask, "Why now? Why, after the boom of Twitter and other strange update-technology, whould you just now start a blog?" Sure, blogging is nothing new. It might not even be considered 'cool' anymore. But I have my reasons.

As a human, I've known of the existence of blogs for a long time...I just never really saw the point. I didn't particularly care what random people thought about things. Then, for the past year or two, this view changed a bit. Not drastically, but I discovered that some of my friends had their own blogs. I would occasionally glance at them to see what kind of things they posted, sometimes becoming intrigued by lists they would make, but that was it. I never really gave much consideration to starting one of my own.

Since graduating from college in June, I've found myself with plenty of time on my hands (though I did just land a job at an ice rink...good think I got that journalism degree). I spent a lot of evenings on the internet, looking for sports news or interesting updates on Facebook (I know, thrilling). One night, though, something did catch my eye posted by Luke Florence. I don't know Luke extremely well...we met when I was a freshman in college, my least outgoing year. He then transferred to Heidelberg for a while before returning to OU. We played on a couple intramural teams together and would be out and talk occasionally, but didn't interact a whole lot in Athens, which I always thought was a shame. The post of his that caught my eye was a link to a post on his blog about his F'd Up Tourney. I became hooked on the Tourney and began to regularly check his blog for various updates (for an explaination of what captured my interest so well, check out Luke's blog here). For the first time in my life, I was consistently reading a blog...step one in overcoming my non-blog attitude.

Step two, which also happened to be the final step, came last week, essentially out of nowhere. While playing a game of NHL Hitz 2003 on Gamecube, an idea just came to me. I don't know how or why I thought of it, but I suddenly had a topic I knew I would legitimately enjoy writing about (I'll discuss what this idea is in my next post). Since I had hardly done anything productive over the past three months, writing a blog seemed like it would actually accomplish something...at the very least it would be a good chance to do some writing, which seems like something a journalist should do regularly. I ran the idea past two friends of mine, Kevin Hunt and Matt Barnes, and started to plan my blog.

I soon found out that the toughest part of starting a blog is the name. I'm not entirely confident people will care what I have to say to begin with, so who the hell is going to read it if it also has a terrible name? I figured something referencing my height was probably the way to go. Nearly every time I meet someone, they comment on my above average height (I'm 6'5", if you're wondering). I bounced some ideas off of Barnes and Hunt and thought I had settled on the title, "Too Tall for Tedium." It not only referenced my height, but utilized alliteration, which has always been my favorite literary device. The more I thought about it, though, the more unsure I became. Four words seemed like too many, and using a word like tedium just doesn't work. I then got the idea to start with one of my nicknames. While most people call me Schaf, I felt Spider worked better as a blogging alter-ego, so a big thanks to Andrew Braverman for dubbing me Spider after the dodgeball portion of the inaugural WOUB Sports Challenge. Since most of what you read here will be sports-related, it was natural to stick with alliteration and combine one of my 's' nicknames with 'sports.'

Now that you know how this blog came to be, you may ask what can you expect from it...what's this blog going to be about? As I told Barnes when he asked that very question, what is any blog about? It's pretty much going to be about whatever I feel like writing about. Usually that will be sports, but not always (hense the "and other things" sub-headline). It could be real writing, lists of things, or some crazy form of internet posting I don't even know about yet...that's the beauty of the blog.

If you've gotten through my whole introduction to and explaination of my blog, thank you and congratulations...now get ready for fun.