The Things The Badge Carries

"I, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and maintain the Constitution and laws of the United States, and the Constitution and laws of North Carolina not inconsistent herewith; that I will be alert and vigilant to enforce the criminal laws of this State; that I will not be influenced in any manner on account of personal bias or prejudice; that I will faithfully and impartially execute the duties of my office as a law enforcement officer according to the best of my skill, abilities, and judgment; so help me, God."

That, my friends, is the Oath of Office for a Law Enforcement Officer in the state of North Carolina.  Prior to being able to execute your duties of enforcing the law, you are required to take the oath.

Technically, we are referred to in a position title as Peace officers.  As such, we are a entrusted with, “Keeping the peace”, on a daily basis, and it has actually become a personal favorite phrase of mine, although I can’t take credit for it, that phrase belongs to Sgt. Greg Parker from the TV show Flashpoint (Which, if you want to watch a police show, it is honestly one of if not the best I’ve ever seen).

Before I go any further, I feel the need to clarify.  I am not a police officer.  I am a college student with the hopes and admirations of one day wearing the badge, and honoring those who came before me by upholding that oath and protecting and serving the public on a daily basis.  My father is a Chief of Police and has been for 21 years now, while being a police officer for more than 39.  My Uncle was a police officer for 30 (Retiring as a lieutenant) years, and my Aunt served as well (That’s actually how they came to meet).  I will be damn proud of the day I  become the first second generation member of my family to be a LEO (Law Enforcement Officer).

If there is another profession in America that gets more heat and doesn’t get enough recognition for the things that they do, I would love to see it.  For simply doing their job, they are constantly threatened with taunts such as ‘I’ll have your badge for this!’, ‘Don’t you have real criminals you should be dealing with?’, ‘Gotta meet your ---ing quota, huh, ---hole’, and many others.  Driving around on patrol you see more middle fingers than Kanye West would get at a Taylor Swift concert, and at any event with alcohol you get more poured on you than your average college student could drink in a given night. 

You work long hours for very little pay comparatively, dealing with the scum of society and with the threat that you might not make it home at the end of the day.  Each encounter you must be on your guard, for you never know who may try and pull a gun on you, who may try and drive away with you hanging on the car during a traffic stop, or who may be luring you into an ambush.  If you go on a domestic violence call (by far the most dangerous aside from the obvious of a man with a gun), one minute the spouse is screaming at you to arrest her husband as he just beat the ---t out of her, the next she’s clawing at your neck as you cuff him because you’re taking away the love of her life.

Everyone feels the need to videotape you, regardless of whether you’re in a fight for your life or if you are just having a simple conversation with a passer-by.  They trust you about as far as they can throw you, but when you take down an armed criminal or the local drug dealer then suddenly you are their best friend, at least for for about 5 minutes, then it’s back to normal.

                                                 

 Tis the life of a Police Officer.

Whenever one gets pulled over for a traffic infraction, they always tend to blame the officer for profiling or some kind of misconduct, whether it be a quota or an alleged fabrication of the event.  When you work enough high-speed fatality accidents, suddenly controlling speed seems pretty important to you.  When you work enough accidents where simply wearing a seat belt would’ve saved the person’s life, you see how important they can be.  When you are there to comfort a man in the final moments of his life as he sits in his mangled mess of what used to be a car, you’ll see why we write citations and attempt to get you to slow down.  When you have to go tell a family that their baby, their pride and joy, or their father, husband, mother, whatever, won’t ever be coming back because they were in a car accident, it changes your perspective on things.

I have never been to a law enforcement funeral.  I hope that’s a statement that I can take with me to the grave, but given the way the world works I have a feeling I won’t be so lucky.  Each year, more than 100 officers are killed in the line of duty.  These men, these heroes, who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect and serve the citizens of their town, city, state, and nation, will never be forgotten.  For each time the uniform is put on, each time we strap on the vest and snap our holster into place, they are remembered in our hearts.

The poet Walt Whitman once wrote, “I dream’d in a dream, I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the whole of the rest of the earth.”  This is the vision that we all share.  Reality forces us to come to the conclusion that that day is not yet upon us, so as it is, police officers toe that thin blue line that separates society from order and chaos.  They protect those that cannot protect themselves, and at the end of the day, the reward is often nothing more than going home satisfied that you did the right thing.

Someday in the near future, I will join this illustrious and time-honored fraternity, and become the first second generation member of my family to wear the badge.  The goal I have for my life is to make a difference in the world, and to make a difference in the lives of those around me, and I can only hope that I get the opportunity and the privilege to do so.  Whether it’s something as simple as writing a speeding ticket that gets a man to slow down and saves his life, or getting the drunk driver off the road so the family of four coming home from a movie actually gets home, removing an abusive husband and father from a household so that his family can live in peace, or putting a murder suspect behind bars forever so that the victim’s family can finally get some closure, law enforcement is blessed with the incredible power to right the wrongs of society, and change things for the better.

However, they are also blessed with an eternal curse.  You see, in law enforcement, much like any other profession, things are measured in wins and losses.  However, in this line of work, it’s not measured in statistics.  You can’t find it in a profit/loss report and excel won’t be much help either.  The wins help you sleep easier at night, while the losses haunt you forever.  There are a trusted few that can handle the job, and all that comes with it.

In closing, I just ask that the next time you see a police officer, thank him for everything he does for you.  The next time you get pulled over, recognize why that officer has pulled you over.  The next time you get asked by the police if you can help out a case, and you can actually help, please, do it.  One of the most beautiful things we as humans have the power to do is make a difference in the world.  If you ever get that opportunity, please do so.

And if it happens to be while you’re the one wearing a badge, keep the peace brother.

Why the LeBron/Jordan Comparisons Must Stop

On Thursday, June 21st, the basketball world watched as one of the most incredible and breathtaking players that the NBA has ever seen, LeBron James finally achieved the ultimate goal, getting his first NBA championship ring after his Heat defeated the Thunder 4-1 in a 5 game series.

Before starting this article, I want to address my thoughts on LeBron.  I was a LeBron fan before The Decision.  For a long while into his Heat career, really up until the conference finals this year, I hated LeBron.  Absolutely despised him.  But from watching Dwayne Wade and other clowns continually make asses out of themselves, and seeing LeBron continuing to mature and playing the game the right way on the court, I revisited my feelings on the subject.  

I don’t hate LeBron James.  I hate the way that he left Cleveland.  I hate the fact that this entire team was formed under the guise of collusion, with Pat Riley and the players coordinating an effort to make a mockery of the NBA free agent system.  Most of all though, I hated that NBA fans around the world were cheated.  Yes, you heard me right, cheated.  Let’s face it, we all had bestowed the expectations upon LeBron that he was to be the next Jordan before he had even graduated high school.  And when he left Cleveland, we realized that those expectations would not be fulfilled.  What had the potential to be the most amazing career we had ever seen was now tainted by the fact that he had to leave his team to go team up with two other superstars in order to win a championship, despite the fact that his team was very close to winning one themselves.  That’s what I hate the most.

Now, back to Thursday night.  I sat at dinner at a sports bar tonight, and what do I see?  I see people on TV talking about a dynasty, asking if one ring is enough, and comparing him to Michael Jordan.  First off, we’re less than 24 hours since they held up the Larry O’Brien Trophy.  We should still be enjoying the masterpiece of a performance the Heat put on, instead of finding ways to critique and draw ratings.  But, I digress, for that is the media in today’s world.

The Jordan comparison is one that really hits one of my pet peeves.  MJ is the greatest basketball player of all-time, bar none.  I would argue greatest athlete ever (Although there are people like Michael Phelps, Jim Thorpe, Jesse Owens and so many more that deserve mention in that realm).  He is truly one of the most incredible athletes to ever live.  The other guys that are considered among NBA legends (I’m talking about Kareem, Magic, Bill Russell, Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, etc.) don’t even deserve mention in the same paragraph as him.  That’s how good he was.

It’s only natural that LeBron is compared to him.  He is the most hyped high school athlete ever, and he is the premier player in his sport.  Everyone wants him to be the next Jordan, just like Kobe before him, going on back with perimeter players all the way to the late Len Bias.  

I mean this next sentence as no slight, insult, or anything of that nature to LeBron.  He’s the premier player in the game, coming off of one of the greatest seasons in league history.  He’s the most complete all around and most dominant player in the game today.  But he doesn’t even deserve mention on the same page as Jordan.

For the purpose of this article, I will only be using the statistics from Jordan’s first 9 seasons (Since LeBron just finished his 9th), which coincidentally led up to his first retirement.

The Attributes
First off, I want to identify what types of players MJ and LeBron are.

Jordan: A 6’6 shooting guard.  He was an athletic freak coming into the league, a player who amazed with his dunking and incredible leaping ability (which inspired the Air Jordan shoe line).  He was an incredible scorer, and after coming into the league he developed into a shut-down defender, with underrated rebounding ability.  In his later years, he developed a deadly mid-range game as his athleticism was decaying by age and one of the best post-games for a perimieter player in league history.  His lone achilles heel was his three-point shooting.

LeBron: A 6-8, 270 pound monster of a human being.  He’s one of the fastest players in the league, and has ridiculous athleticism that allows him to man all 5 spots on the floor with great success at each.  He is an incredible passer, one of the best finishers at the rim that I’ve ever seen, a great roving defender (His man to man defense is extremely overrated, however his versaility - being able to guard the 1-5 equally well - and his ability to play centerfield and make plays is what makes him such a valuable defender), and a great rebounder.  He’s the perfect definition of a point-forward, often running the Heat offense.

The Stats

Jordan:


(Jordan's totals are at the top of the page, for some reason it won't paste it here).


LeBron:
Basically, given the differences in play styles, it’s what you would expect: Jordan leads in field goal percentage, free-throw percentage, steals, and points, and this comes with Jordan also playing 22 less games, 2000 less minutes, while averaging a full minute less per game.  LeBron leads in three-point percentage, rebounds, assists, and blocks.  Despite playing less games, Jordan has 2,496 more points.  For point of reference, that’s playing an entire 82 game regular season averaging 30.4 per game.

Now, I want to point out some interesting notes right here.  As a rookie, Jordan averaged 28 pts, 7 boards, 6 assists, 2.5 steals, and shot 51% from the field.  As a rookie.  Let that sink in, it’s one of the most incredible rookie seasons in NBA history.  For comparisons sake, LeBron 21 pts, 6 boards, 6 assists, 1.7 steals while shooting 41% from the field.  From the beginning, Jordan was among the greatest in the league.

One of the great notions that many like to make in this comparison is that LeBron has an edge because he’s a legitimate triple double threat every time out.  Granted, he is.  But Jordan is no slouch either.  People just don’t realize that in 1987-88, Joran had a season that is still mentioned among the best of all-time.  He averaged 32.5 pts, 8.0 boards, and 8.0 assists per game.  Combined, it’s better than ANY season that LeBron has on record.

Jordan had 7 consecutive seasons of average 30+ points per game, including two above 35 points per game, and as well had 9 consecutive seasons coming into the league with 2+ steals per game (including one over 3).  Comparitively, LeBron has two seasons with over 30+ points per game, and only 1 season with over 2+ steals.  Now, the counter-argument to this would bring rebounds and assists into this, and Jordan was no clouch in that area as well, so I’m not even going to waste my time on it.

LeBron has put together some of the most incredible stats in league history, nearly video game like with what he does.  While he does have some edges over Jordan due to differences in playing style, even he fails to measure up to what Jordan accomplished statistically.

The Accolades

Jordan: After 9 years, Jordan was a 3x MVP, 3x NBA Champion, 3X NBA Finals MVP, 1x defensive player of the year, 7x All-NBA first team, 1x All-NBA second-team, 7x All-Defensive 1st team, 9x All-star (Including starting as a rookie, an extremely rare feat), 7x scoring champion, 3x steals champion, and was rookie of the year.

LeBron: After 9 years, LeBron was a 3x MVP, 1x NBA Champion, 1x NBA Finals MVP, 6x All-NBA first-team, 2x All-NBA 2nd-team, 4x All-Defensive 1st-team, 8x All-star, 1x scoring champion, and rookie of the year.

No contest here.  At the same age, Jordan had two more rings (and with that two more Finals MVP’s), the same amount of MVP’s, a defensive player of the year award (one of only 3 guards to ever win it, and the last to do so), 6 more scoring titles, 3 steals titles compared to none, more first-team all-defensive selections, more 1st-team All-NBA selections, and more all-star appearances.

State of the NBA

Jordan: Jordan entered the league when it was perhaps at it’s highest point in history.  You had the Lakers/Magic & Celtics/Bird rivalry.  He was battling against legendary teams like the those very same Lakers and Celtics, the Bad Boys Pistons, the Sonics, Trailblazers, Knicks, going up against players like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabaar, Kevin McHale, James Worthy, Robert Parish, Isiah Thomas, Hakeem Olajuwan, David Robinson, Joe Dumars, Patrick Ewing, Dkimbe Mutombo, Charles Barkley, Reggie Miller, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Gary Payton  to name a few (Those last 5 are all hall of-famers, and are all ringless because they happened to play at the same time as Jordan).

LeBron: LeBron entered an NBA that was still looking to find an identity in the post-Jordan world.  There was a drought of talent, but it would be James draft class that got things kickin’ again.  He’s played against some good teams, such as the San Antonio ‘dynasty’ that denied him in his first finals appearance, the Celtics Big 3, the Lakers, and  Pistons team that was great as a sum of its parts.  He also played against great players such as Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade (until he teamed up with him), Kevin Durant, Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Derrick Rose, Paul Pierce, Dirk Nowitzki to name a few (all of which, are definite hall of famers).

Modern day fans would be quick to give the edge to LeBron here, but anyone who knows the history of the NBA has to go with Jordan’s era, no contest.  It is the greatest and most revered era in league history.  Jordan had to battle against some of the greatest players and teams of all-time, which led to him getting stonewalled in his bid for a ring until he was in his 7th year, when his Bulls squad finally vanquished that Bad Boys Piston team that was 2x defending NBA champs.

The state of the NBA is strong today and growing stronger by the minute.  There has been a large influx of talent and the league is finally starting to bounce back to the levels of the late Jordan era.

That said, it deserves mention how much the rules have changed.  Back when he played, Jordan got the crap beat out of him.  Do yourself a favor and read up on the Jordan Rules defense, devised by Bad Boys coach Chuck Daly.  Best described by this Daly quote: "The other rule was, any time he went by you, you had to nail him. If he was coming off a screen, nail him. We didn't want to be dirty—I know some people thought we were—but we had to make contact and be very physical."What are flagrants and ejectable today would pass as a good foul back in those days.  There weren’t the intense restrictions on defenders that there are today, where they can’t hand check and can’t play with any semblance of physiciality unless they want to risk a foul.

The league was much more stacked and difficult to get through, and the rules made it much tougher in Jordan’s day.  That’s not to take anything away from what LeBron has accomplished, but the edge goes to Jordan here by a longshot.

The Moments

Jordan: Set an NBA record with 63 points in a playoff game against the 1986 Boston Celtics, one of the most legendary teams in NBA history.  The Shot.  Hitting 6 three’s against the Trailblazers in the NBA finals after Clyde Drexler said he couldn’t, and dropping 35 points in the first half of an NBA Finals game in the process.  The incredible layup that is still replayed to this day in his first finals.  Scoring 69 points in a regular season game against the Cavs.  42 in Game 7 to beat the Knicks in 92.  

LeBron: 29 of the last 30 Cavs points and the game winner to end the game against the Pistons in 2007.  45 points in an elimination game 6 in Boston this year.  48 points, 9 boards, and 9 assists in a losing effort against the Celtics in 2009.  The game winner to beat the Magic in Game 2 in 2009.  

No offense to LeBron, but this one ain’t even close either.  When it comes to great and lasting moments, once again no one touches Jordan.  And this is leaving off moments like The Shot II, The Flu Game (the greatest performance I’ve ever seen), double nickel in the Garden against the Knicks, and many others.  As well, its hard to shake the memories of LeBron quitting on the Cavaliers in 2010 against the Celtics, and his complete disappaearance against the Mavericks in 2011.

When it came down to it, Jordan sat at a very similar point in his career in 1990 (6 years in) that LeBron was in in 2010 (7 years in).  He was regarded as a player that could do everything except win a championship, because the team around him wasn’t good enough to get him past some of the teams that they were facing.  He took a ton of heat for it (Obviously not to the same point that LeBron has taken it, but that’s a reflection of the difference in media in this day and age).

When it came down to it, LeBron took his ball and left Cleveland to go team up with all-stars Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, where he did win a championship in year two.  Jordan, on the other hand, stuck it out in Chicago, taking the Bulls to a championship with a still-developing Scottie Pippen and a team full of role players against Magic Johnson and the Lakers.

Conclusion

Thus far, through 9 years, LeBron James has had an incredible career.  He has 3 MVP’s to his name, finally got a ring, and for the love of God, he took a team who’s other 4 starters were Drew Gooden, Big Z, Larry Hughes, and Sasha Pavlovich to the NBA Finals.  That’s incredible in itself.

But, even for all he’s accomplished, he pales in comparison to Michael Jordan, as does everyone else who is measured up against him.  All that I’m saying, is that when you compare what he’s accomplished now, to what Jordan had accomplished at the same point in his career, Jordan has had by far better career.

Right now, LeBron cracked the Top 25 all-time of NBA players in my opinion. Many today would disagree, stating that he is among the best of all-time because of what he’s done.  10 years from now, maybe that will hold true.  But today, when measured against what some of the greatest players in NBA history have done, an act appreciated by only those who know the history of the league at it’s core, he’s not quite there yet.  He’s accomplished a lot, but when you compare what he’s done to what guys in the past have done, he’s got a long ways to go.  For instance, think of how long it took Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan to crack the Top 10 all-time.  Nearly the end of the their careers.

Jordan retired after his 9th season, only to come back and play four more years, then took a couple of years off before coming back for 2 more.  LeBron could play another decade and then some.  He’s got a lot of time ahead of him, and a lot of great years ahead of him.  Who knows where he will lie in the annals on the NBA history books when it’s all said and done.

While one of the purposes of this article is to address the nature of the Jordan comparison, another one is to expose just how unfair it is to LeBron to constantly have to measure up to him and have his career put side-by-side.  People need to appreciate LeBron for who he is, and the only person we should be comparing him to is LeBron James.  Start appreciating him for what he is: the greatest player in the league today.  A 6-8 270 pound freight train of a point-guard who can play all 5 positions on the floor.

Through it all, even though I rooted against him at literally every turn since The Decision, I’m glad to see LeBron get a ring.  Just like I was glad to see Kobe get those rings, even though if pressed I will never again admit to it.  That’s because, when it comes down to it, being a LeBron fan or anti-LeBron fan doesn’t matter.  As a basketball fan, and someone who loves the NBA, I appreciate good basketball.  And LeBron played absolutely phenomenal throughout this season and he used his experiences of the past couple of post-seasons to motivate himself to ultimately getting his first NBA Championship.


That being said though, Michael Jordan he is not. But then again, no one else has been, either.

A Review to Make Up For Lost Time

It's been a while since I've updated this puppy (A month and a half to be exact), but it's been a month filled with change and progress.  The Jim Tressel era at Ohio State is unofficially no more, and the Urban Meyer era has begun.  The past month has seen commitments from big-time recruits, a disappointing finish to a disappointing season, the NCAA handing down their verdict, complaints from the pizza guy that runs that athletic department at That School Up North, a National Championship Game that was about as entertaining as a pre-school play, and lots of things in between.  I'm going to try and cover as much as I can right now, so here goes.


Gator Bowl


To find the last time Ohio State had ever recorded 7 losses in a single season, you'd have to go all the way back to 1897.  Some interesting facts about 1897:

• William McKinley was the sitting President of the United States of America.
• Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Hawaii, and Alaska had not achieved statehood yet.
• Flight had not yet been achieved, and the first running American car had only been built four years prior.
• Princeton, Yale, Harvard, and Penn ruled the college football world.

Anyways, as a result of the 24-17 loss to the Gators on January 2nd, it dropped our overall record to 6-7, meaning that for the first time in 114 years we had a 7 loss season.  This was a game that we absolutely should not have been playing in (Although I'll get to that later), but here goes my impressions of the game, which are brief because mainly I want to move the hell on from the current season:

- Special teams lost us this game.  The defense played pretty solidly, at least good enough to win, but the blocked punt and the kick return for a touchdown killed us.  Urban has always placed an emphasis on special teams and using starters on them, so I would expect to see immediate improvement in this area come next season.

- We averaged 6 yards per carry against Florida... yet we didn't pound the ball down their throats like we should have.  We should've been running until they showed us they could stop it (They didn't).

- Apparently Florida knew our snap count, by their own admission.  Whenever Brewster is about to snap the ball, his head bobs up, and this was seen most clearly when Braxton got hit before he could even attempt a handoff on a crucial third and short.

- John Simon is a monster.  The rest of the front four, and the defense in particular, was very average or worse.  Let's not pretend like we were facing a dynamic attack, Florida is anemic at best and we should've shut them down even better than we did.

- I wish we would've had DeVier Posey all season.  It's clear how much more confident he makes Braxton Miller and how much more dynamic our passing game is with him out there in general.

- Our other receivers, meanwhile, had a difficult time getting seperation from the Florida defensive backs.  Braxton had to take several coverage sacks because of this, and it's been an issue that has plagued our team for a couple of years now.  Hopefully new coaches/philosophy can fix that.

- I'm really disappointed to end the season on a four game losing streak, and also really disappointed that Luke Fickell's record as head coach finishes at 6-7.

NCAA Verdict: Bowl Ban for 2012

As I assume you've most likely been informed of by now, the NCAA handed down it's verdict for the violations by the football program stemming from its notice of allegations about Jim Tressel's botching of Tattoogate, and as well from of the Failure to Monitor allegation concerning the attendance of a booster's charity event in Cleveland where players received impermissible benefits.  And, those punishments include: a 1 year post-season ban for 2012 (This includes the Big Ten Championship Game), a reduction of 3 scholarships per year over 3 years (Not a big deal), and 4 years probation (Not a big deal unless they really mess up).

We are technically the first program to ever receive a post-season ban with only a Failure to Monitor charge and absent a Lack of Institutional Control Charge, but at the same time, we received the post-season ban as a result of the charity event and our status as a repeat violator dating back to Jim O'Brien and the basketball program's failures a decade ago.

When you look at all of the circumstances, the punishment is fair, in my opinion.  But Gene Smith, our idiotic athletic director (I'm not about to mince words about the person responsible for mishandling this entire situation since day 1), needs to be fired.  If there was even the slightest possibility of a post-season ban, which there was, he needed to institute a self-ban for 2011, which was a lost season anyways.  Instead, the first year of the Urban Meyer era we are saddled with a post-season ban.

Gordon Gee needs to get some heat.  I won't call for his firing because of the enormous amount of things he does for this University on the academic side, but he needs to be sat down by the Board of Trustees.  His stupid comments about sports aside (Little Sisters of the Poor, Polish Army this past week, etc.), his way of handling things, especially the botched press conference where he said, 'I hope Jim doesn't fire me', are completely unacceptable.

Urban Meyer: There are not words

People talk about making a home run hire, well we made a grand slam, in the bottom of the ninth inning, down 3 runs, with the World Series on the line to save the world type of hire.  This may be the biggest hire in NCAA history.  Think about it, when was the last time a two-time national championship winning coach, with a legacy of recruiting and winning that he has, was hired by a school with as much influence, reach, and success such as Ohio State?  I'm coming up empty.

His impact has been instantaneous.  Here's a little recap of the recruiting work he has done thus far (Credit to The Bank and Nevada at Scout.com for breaking all of this news over the past month):

• 5 star DE Noah Spence, a top 5 player in the nation, committed to Ohio State after not even having us under consideration before Urban's hire.
• 5 star DE Adolphus Washington committed when word spread of Urban's hiring.  He was already coming here, but this is just a point of emphasis.
• 5 star DT Tommy Schutt flipped from Penn State to Ohio State because of Urban.
• 4 star DE Se'Von Pittman flipped from Michigan State to Ohio State because of Urban.
• 5 star RB Brionte Dunn, while at the time a verbal commitment to Ohio State, was heavily leaning towards Michigan, and even considered a lost cause by most close to the situation for Ohio State.  In 2 weeks, Urban completely won over Dunn and Brionte has in fact enrolled early and is on campus as I type.
• 4 star OT Taylor Decker has flipped to Ohio State.
• 4 star OT Joey O'Connor, a former Penn State commit before the Jerry Sandusky news broke, received an offer from Ohio State this weekend, and is expected to commit soon.
• Still on the board: 4 star OT Kyle Dodson (Wisconsin commit), 4 star ATH DaVonte Neal, 4 star LB Camren Williams (Penn State commit), 4 star CB Armani Reeves (Penn State commit), 4 star LB Dalton Santos (Tennessee commit), and others.

He has assembled what can be called one of the best coaching staff's in America on paper.  Tom Herman (Offensive Coordinator and QB Coach), and Zach Smith (Wide Receivers coach) are rising stars in the coaching world (Smith is actually the grandson of former Ohio State coach Earle Bruce), while he pilfered ND coaches Tim Hinton (Fullbacks and Tight Ends) and Ed Warinner (Offensive line, Co-Offensive Coordinator), two good coaches and excellent recruiters.  As well, he made the biggest hire of all by convincing Luke Fickell (Defensive Coordinator & Linebackers coach) to stay on staff, and also added former North Carolina interim coach Everett Withers (Co-Defensive Coordinator and Safeties), and retained Mike Vrabel (Defensive Line) too.

The Jim Tressel era was incredible.  Just look at the raw numbers: 106-22, 7 Big Ten Championships, 1 National Championship, 3 National Championship Appearances, 5 BCS bowl wins, 6 bowl wins overall, 9-1 against Michigan.  Those are numbers we may not ever see matched again.  But trust me folks, I love Jim Tressel, he's one of the best in college football, and this is no disrespect to him but he pales in comparison to Urban Meyer.

Urban is flat out, the best coach in college football.  He wins immediately wherever he goes.  He puts together the top recruiting classes, puts out more NFL players than anyone (2 of the 4 QB's starting in NFL playoff games yesterday were his - Alex Smith and Tim Tebow), he has two national championships in the most rugged conference in college football, the SEC, has a perfect season under his belt at Utah (And a perfect regular season at Florida), 3 13 win seasons, 7-1 in bowl games, just overall unbelievable.

The Tressel years were incredible.  But trust me when I say this, and I'm not one to dole out credit where it's not deserved: Urban Meyer will be better.

For a breakdown on Urban Meyer's offense, take a gander over at the work by Ross Fulton at Along the Olentangy, as he does a great job breaking things down: passing offense, rushing offense.

Around The Nation

- That was the worst national championship game ever, and the ratings back it up.  First off, Alabama shouldn't have even been there (Thank you BCS), but rather Oklahoma State, but then to top it all off we're forced to sit through three hours of torture disguised as a football game.  At least it gave us this gem.

- Penn State hired Bill O'Brien, the New England Patriots Offensive Coordinator, as their new head coach.  Once I got done laughing upon hearing the news, I did a little digging into his history, and his last experience at the collegiate level?  Going 1-21 in two years as the OC at Duke.

- Frank Beamer did everything possible to ensure that Brady Hoke finished his first season at 11-2.  Nah, I'm playing, Michigan did what they were supposed to do and won that game, but Virginia Tech definitely showed that they shouldn't have been there.

- Kellen Moore finished one of the best careers in NCAA history in obscurity, with a capping things off with a 56-24 win over Arizona State in the MAACO Las Vegas Bowl.  He finished his illustrious career with 14,667 passing yards, 142 touchdowns, a QB rating of 169.0, and the NCAA all-time record for career wins with a 50-3 record. 

- I'm looking forward to watching how Nick Saban is going to fit ~97 players into the 85 man scholarship limit by the NCAA.  The other day, LSU had to ask a player to pay his own way for the spring because they oversigned and did not have a scholarship for him.  Karma struck, the kid refused, and promptly enrolled at SEC rival Auburn.

Just wanted to note that this blog is not affiliated with Time and Change clothers in any way shape or form, and is not a representation of the company, business, or those who run it, but only a reflection of the views and opinions of myself, Brad Potter, a student at The Ohio State University who writes this blog out of boredom and passion for Ohio State football and receives zero dollars for the production of it.