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<channel>
<title>Through the Arch</title>
<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/throughthearch/</link>
<description><![CDATA[Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon &mdash; an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue &mdash; writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy&#133; or yours.]]></description>
<dc:language>en-us</dc:language>
<dc:creator>tarchdeacon@coxohio.com</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2009-11-10T02:28:57-05:00</dc:date>
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<item>
<title>Flyers&apos; next star -- Chris Johnson?</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/throughthearch/entries/2009/11/10/flyers_next_star_chris_johnson.html</link>
<description>If I had to pick one player on the Dayton Flyers team this season who I think is going to really blossom &amp;#8212; one guy who will step from the cast of talented support players into the spotlight now shared...</description>
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If I had to pick one player on the Dayton Flyers team this season who I think is going to really blossom &amp;#8212;  one guy who will step from the cast of talented support players  into the spotlight now shared by high-fliers Chris Wright and Marcus Johnson &amp;#8212; it would be Chris Johnson.

Although he&amp;#8217;s still evolving,  the 6-foot-6 sophomore forward from Columbus can soar like the other two and he&amp;#8217;s better than them &amp;#8212; coach Brian Gregory said &amp;#8212;  at pulling up on the break and hitting the three. He&amp;#8217;s also one of the team&amp;#8217;s  most savvy rebounders and he&amp;#8217;s handling the ball better than last season. 

With a cursory glance, his stat line in the Flyers 71-61 exhibition victory over Northern Kentucky at UD Arena Monday night would appear to be pretty ordinary &amp;#8212; 10 points, 4 rebounds, a blocked shot and a steal. But in the course of the game you also saw flashes of something greater from him.

When Northern Kentucky took the lead 25-24 with just over 7 minutes left in the first half, he instantly responded &amp;#8212; it took just three seconds &amp;#8212; and hit a three pointer from the wing to put the Flyers back in front. Soon after, that he hit another three to give UD a small cushion that it would maintain the rest of the game.

&amp;#8220;Not only are we just seeing the tip of the iceberg with him, but he&amp;#8217;s just realizing how great he can he, too,&amp;#8221; Gregory said  &amp;#8220;He wants to be a great player . A lot of guys talk about that, but aren&amp;#8217;t willing to put in the time. 

&amp;#8220;He&amp;#8217;s a guy you can get on and you can tell him he needs to work on something  and he is gonna work on it. That&amp;#8217;s a great trait.&amp;#8221;

After the game, Gregory talked about the back-to-back break-away dunks that  Wright and Marcus Johnson had in the second half &amp;#8212; the two plays folks will remember most from Monday night&amp;#8217;s  victory over a very good Division II team &amp;#8212; and  right away he included Chris Johnson in the conversation:

&amp;#8220;If you look at it, with one guy flying on the right wing, and the other flying on the left wing, they&amp;#8217;re maybe the two best in the country combination-wise&amp;#8230;And then when you add Chris Johnson in the mix &amp;#8212; and you&amp;#8217;ve got all three of those guys who can run like that &amp;#8212; it&amp;#8217;s pretty good.&amp;#8221;

Johnson &amp;#8212; who averaged 6.3 points and 5.2 rebounds a game last season &amp;#8212;likely will be named the fifth starter for Saturday&amp;#8217;s opener against  Creighton.

Speaking of Creighton &amp;#8212; a team that blew Dayton out last season, a team that has had 11 straight years with 20 wins and  11 straight postseason appearance &amp;#8212; Gregory gave a candid response  that drew some chuckles from Monday&amp;#8217;s post-game press conference crowd, when asked: &amp;#8220;Do you like the fact you&amp;#8217;re going to be challenged right away the first game of the season?&amp;#8221;

Standing at the podium, Gregory kind of sputtered for a second. then smiled and simply said:  &amp;#8220;No&amp;#8230;I mean&amp;#8230;no&amp;#8230;. If you think I&amp;#8217;m excited about playing the game on Saturday, you&amp;#8217;ve lost your mind.&amp;#8221;

Soon after, he&amp;#8217;d say he had been speaking tongue-in-cheek. He said it should be a great opener. One fans will love seeing.

In the process, they just may see the further emergence of UD&amp;#8217;s next star.

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<dc:subject></dc:subject>
<dc:date>2009-11-10T02:28:57-04:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>tarchdeacon@coxohio.com</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>Ochocinco playfully tries to grease a ref&apos;s palm</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/throughthearch/entries/2009/11/08/ochocinco_playfully_tries_to_g.html</link>
<description>CINCINNATI &amp;#8212; A greased palm sometimes works wonders. It might get you a table in a crowded restaurant or help you slip around the velvet rope at a trendy club. But as Chad Ochocino found out Sunday, it won&amp;#8217;t help...</description>
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CINCINNATI &amp;#8212; A greased palm sometimes works wonders. It might get you a table in a crowded restaurant or help you slip around the velvet rope at a trendy club.

But as Chad Ochocino found out Sunday, it won&amp;#8217;t help you get a call from an NFL official.

&amp;#8230;.Now, if it were former NBA ref Tim Donaghy.

But hey that&amp;#8217;s another story. And that was serious stuff that got Donaghy exchanging his referee&amp;#8217;s shirt for another set of stripes.

What happened Sunday was all tongue-in-cheek fun, though the Cincinnati Bengals receiver likely will end up cutting another check to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who has been padding the league coffers with Ochocinco fines

The Bengals  had a 17-0 lead on the Baltimore Ravens in the third quarter of their game at Paul Brown Stadium when Ochocinco made a leaping catch of  a 15-yard pass from Carson Palmer right near the sideline. 

The side judge ruled it a catch, but the Ravens challenged the call.   

As the officials checked instant replay, Ochocinco &amp;#8212; having borrowed a dollar bill from a guy on the sideline &amp;#8212; playfully sidled up to the refs with the folded bill in his hand, which hung down at his side.

It didn&amp;#8217;t work. 

The call was overturned. Ochocinco was ruled not to have gotten both feet down in bounds on the catch. With a grin and a shrug, he  handed the bill back to the guy on the sidelines and went back to helping the Bengals finish off their 17-7 victory. 

In his post game press conference afterward, head coach Marvin Lewis was asked by a reporter:  &amp;#8220;When you&amp;#8217;re talking about a veteran like Ochocinco&amp;#8230;&amp;#8221;

Lewis started to chuckle: &amp;#8220;You throw that term around loosely when you&amp;#8217;re talking about 85. I wouldn&amp;#8217;t say &amp;#8216;veteran.&amp;#8217; I think you can start over every day with him.&amp;#8221;

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<dc:subject></dc:subject>
<dc:date>2009-11-08T21:23:44-04:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>tarchdeacon@coxohio.com</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>Bengals overpower Ravens, but Chris Henry breaks arm</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/throughthearch/entries/2009/11/08/bengals_henry_suffers_arm_inju.html</link>
<description>CINCINNATI &amp;#8212; Although the Cincinnati Bengals toppled the Baltimore Ravens, 17-7, Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium, the team received a big blow when receiver Chris Henry suffered a compound fracture of his left forearm. Henry: compound fracture Less than a...</description>
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CINCINNATI &amp;#8212; Although the Cincinnati Bengals toppled the Baltimore Ravens, 17-7, Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium, the team received a big blow when receiver Chris Henry suffered a compound fracture of his left forearm.

Henry: compound fracture

Less than a minute into the second quarter &amp;#8212; with the Bengals already leading 14-0 &amp;#8212; Henry came across the middle, gathered in a 20-yard Carson Palmer pass and was tackled by Ravens cornerback Fabian Washington, who also was shaken up on the play.

The rolling Henry landed on the arm and when he tried lifting it up, you saw it flop sickeningly. Reports say the bone popped out through his skin near his wrist.  His teammates &amp;#8212; especially Palmer, fellow receiver Chad Ochocinco and guard Bobby Williams &amp;#8212; gathered around him as he lay on the field.

When medical personnel came onto the field, Henry&amp;#8217;s arm  eventually was encased in an inflatable cast and he was taken off the field  on a motorized cart.

On the season, the under-used Henry had 12 catches for 236 yards and two touchdowns.

The injury to the fifth-year receiver was one of the few negatives for the Bengals Sunday as they man-handled the Ravens, the former bullies of the AFC North. It was the second time this season the Bengals have beaten Baltimore.

The Bengals are unbeaten in the AFC North. They are 4-0 in divisional play and are 6-2 on the season. 

The Bengals points &amp;#8212; all which were tallied in the first half &amp;#8212; came on a six-yard TD catch by Andre Caldwell, a one yard TD run by Benson and a Shayne Grahan 23-yard field goal.

Benson rushed for 117 yards, his second 100 yard game aainst the vaunted Ravens defense this season.

Bengals cornerbacks Johnathon Joseph and Leon Hall both intercepted Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco. 

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<guid isPermaLink="false">15619203@http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/throughthearch/</guid>
<dc:subject></dc:subject>
<dc:date>2009-11-08T14:21:23-04:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>tarchdeacon@coxohio.com</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>Too bad Raiders and Flyers won&apos;t SHAKE THAT THANG</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/throughthearch/entries/2009/11/05/too_bad_raiders_and_flyers_won.html</link>
<description>FAIRBORN &amp;#8212; While it was nice to see Wright State show itself so well Thursday night &amp;#8212; romping over Central State, 83-55, in the Raiders exhibition opener at the Nutter Center &amp;#8212; I&amp;#8217;d rather have seen the game be close....</description>
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FAIRBORN &amp;#8212; While it was nice to see Wright State show itself so well Thursday night &amp;#8212; romping over Central State, 83-55, in the Raiders exhibition opener at the Nutter Center &amp;#8212; I&amp;#8217;d rather have seen the game be close.

Not a lot to cheer for CSU

That way the sizeable contingent of CSU fans who showed up at the game would have had something to cheer about. Instead the plug was pulled on the party before it ever got started. 

Some five minutes into the game, WSU was up 15-4 and it only got worse from there. The Raiders led by 29 at the intermission and by as many as 38 midway through the second half.

Although CSU did show up with all its cheerleaders in tow and some fans in the stands occasionally held up three big signs that read SHAKE THAT THANG, there really wasn&amp;#8217;t much to shake about. 

It would have been great to see the two cheering sections go back and forth. No school around here has more animated and vocal backers than the Marauders, Anybody who&amp;#8217;s been to Beacom Lewis Gym when CSU hosts its across-the-road rival Wilberforce will attest to that.

Thanks to CSU, Wright State had a crowd that was bigger than most it drew to last season&amp;#8217;s games.  The official count was 5,137 &amp;#8212; which seems a little stretched, but not that bad.

Regardless, this was a good event to help build a bridge between the two Greene County schools. And in the end that&amp;#8217;s good for the community.

Of course, so would be a  Wright State -Dayton game again &amp;#8212; especially in a town that can use all the good-time events it can get now &amp;#8212; but you know all the tired, old arguments impeding that one.

Too bad because it would be like CSU vs. Wilberforce &amp;#8212; only times 10.

And this would be a good year to see it.

Todd Brown

The Dayton Flyers appear to have the best team they&amp;#8217;ve had in decades. And from what you could see Thursday night, Wright State &amp;#8212; even with seniors Vaughn Duggins (suspended) and John David Gardner (injured) not in uniform &amp;#8212; has a very good team that should make some real noise this season.

Senior forward Todd Brown &amp;#8212; who had 17 points, Thursday &amp;#8212; looks like he&amp;#8217;s ready to wear the mantle of the team leader. The Raiders can shoot the ball &amp;#8212; they were 10 for 21 from three-point range &amp;#8212; and, as is a coach Brad Brownell trademark, they can play some tight defense.

They have a deep bench and while all three newcomers had their moments against the Marauders, I was especially impressed by guard Darian Cartharn, a 6-foot freshman from Canal Winchester. He&amp;#8217;s a catch-&amp;#8216;em-napping passer, can shoot and has a little bit of swagger to him. 

With the way this WSU team appears capable of playing, I think it will draw plenty more crowds this size and bigger during the season. Thing is, I don&amp;#8217;t know if opposing fans will get much more of a chance to SHAKE THAT THANG than did the Marauders mostly-silent masses. 

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<dc:subject></dc:subject>
<dc:date>2009-11-05T23:54:03-04:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>tarchdeacon@coxohio.com</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>Greatest Backcourt Ever Now Gone</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/throughthearch/entries/2009/11/04/greatest_backcourt_ever_now_go.html</link>
<description>Phil Lumpkin The greatest backcourt in Ohio high school basketball history is now gone. At least I think they were the best pair of guards ever to play side by side for a prep team in this state. Back in...</description>
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Phil Lumpkin

The greatest backcourt in Ohio high school basketball history is now gone.

At least I think they were the best pair of guards ever to play side by side for a prep team in this state. 

Back in the late 1960s and into the first few months of 1970, Phil Lumpkin was the point guard and Donald Smith the shooting guard for Roth High School. Both averaged over 20 points a game and then Lumpkin went to Miami University and Smith to the University of Dayton.

When they played Chaminade &amp;#8212; which starred Dan Gerhardt, had a stronger inside game and would later win state &amp;#8212; the game sold out UD Arena. 

Donald Smith

In college both ended up in their school&amp;#8217;s Hall of Fame. Smith averaged 20.4 p.p.g. for his college career, Lumpkin 16.1. 

Both were picked in the second round of the NBA draft &amp;#8212; Lumpkin by Portland, Smith by Philadelphia. 

Lumpkin, a successful high school coach in Seattle, was found dead in his apartment Monday.  He was 57.  Smith died five years ago at age 53.

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<dc:subject></dc:subject>
<dc:date>2009-11-04T08:21:22-04:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>tarchdeacon@coxohio.com</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>High praise for Tamika -- but is she Dayton&apos;s best?</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/throughthearch/entries/2009/11/02/high_praise_for_tamika_but_is.html</link>
<description>I just got a copy of &amp;#8220;GENO: In Pursuit of Perfection,&amp;#8221; the book University of Connecticut women&amp;#8217;s basketball coach Geno Auriemma has done with Jackie MacMullen.. In it he makes several mentions of Tamika Williams, the Chaminade Julienne High School...</description>
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I just got a copy of &amp;#8220;GENO: In Pursuit of Perfection,&amp;#8221; the book University of Connecticut women&amp;#8217;s basketball coach Geno Auriemma has done with Jackie MacMullen..

In it he makes several mentions of Tamika Williams, the Chaminade Julienne High School All American, who was one of the fixtures on two of the six national titles UConn has won with him.

Tamika

Auriemma tells about getting her out of Dayton to be part of one of the most celebrated recruiting classes in women&amp;#8217;s basketball history. He recounts various games she played and the way she often was the glue that held the various personalities of the team together.

He talks especially glowingly of the impact she made at UConn before heading off to her pro career and then &amp;#8212; after marrying former college athlete Ben Raymond &amp;#8212; becoming an assistant hoops coach at the University  of Kansas.

Here&amp;#8217;s Auriemma on Tamika:

&amp;#8220;Tamika Williams was &amp;#8212; and still is today &amp;#8212; maybe the most popular player among the coaches of anybody that came here. I just think her personality is so terrific. Her father was a Vietnam vet and he came back and was a DJ, among other things, and he is absolutely the most outgoing guy. He is funny and embracing and Tamika takes after him. She&amp;#8217;s a lot of fun and very nurturing, always bringing people together.

&amp;#8220;If you talk to Tamika and you&amp;#8217;re not laughing, you don&amp;#8217;t have a sense of humor Tamika and Meghan Pattyson, to me, epitomize the spirit of UConn basketball.&amp;#8221;

That got me thinking. Tamika had a great prep and college career &amp;#8212; she remains UConn&amp;#8217;s all-time leader in field goal percentage &amp;#8212; and then played several years in the WNBA. 

Is she the most celebrated woman&amp;#8217;s athlete ever to come out of the Greater Dayton area prep scene?

I&amp;#8217;m not sure. Here are five other women I&amp;#8217;d put in the mix:

LaVonna in Sports Illustrated photo

LaVonna Martin (Floreal) &amp;#8212;  The Trotwood Madison High track star became a University of Tennessee All American and then ran the 100 meter hurdles at two Olympics, Seoul in 1988 and Barcelona in 1992, where she won a silver medal. Her husband Edrick Floreal is the Stanford track coach.

Tonja

Tonja Buford (Bailey) &amp;#8212; The Meadowdale High sensation went on to star at Illinois, where today &amp;#8212; married to former pro football player Victor Bailey &amp;#8212;  she&amp;#8217;s the head women&amp;#8217;s track coach. She competed in three Olympics, Barcelona, then Atlanta in 1996, where she won a bronze medal in the 400 meter hurdles and finally the Sydney Games in 2000. She also won a silver medal at the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg

Megan

Megan Duffy &amp;#8212; After starring in hoops at Chaminade Julienne and then Notre Dame &amp;#8212; where she was an Academic All American and won the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award from the Women&amp;#8217;s Basketball Coaches Association as the best senior player under 5-foot-8 &amp;#8212; she played for Minnesota and New York in the WNBA, played overseas in Wales, Italy Slovakia and Romania and now is an assistant women&amp;#8217;s basketball coach at St. John&amp;#8217;s University.

Alison

Alison Bales &amp;#8212; A high school All American at Beavercreek High, she starred at Duke University &amp;#8212; where, at 6-feet-7, she became the third all-time shot blocker in women&amp;#8217;s college basketball history &amp;#8212; then played for three WNBA teams as well as playing pro in Moscow and Turkey.

Brandi

Brandi Hoskins &amp;#8212; Another CJ hoops star, she became a cornerstone player for Ohio State &amp;#8212; where she was the MVP of the Big Ten Tournament in 2005 &amp;#8212; then went on to the WNBA and plays overseas.

I&amp;#8217;m not sure who I&amp;#8217;d rate as the best of that group and likely I&amp;#8217;ve forgotten someone who is deserving, but I do agree with Auriemma on his assessment of Tamika.

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<dc:subject></dc:subject>
<dc:date>2009-11-02T11:41:22-04:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>tarchdeacon@coxohio.com</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>For OSU -- Aggies were like shooting fish in a barrel</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/throughthearch/entries/2009/10/31/thoughts_on_terrelle_pryor_and.html</link>
<description>COLUMBUS &amp;#8212; Ohio State&amp;#8217;s annual Scarlet and Gray spring game is more riveting than was the Buckeyes 45-0 rout of New Mexico State, Saturday, at Ohio Stadium. The athletes are better on both sides of the ball in the practice...</description>
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COLUMBUS &amp;#8212; Ohio State&amp;#8217;s annual Scarlet and Gray spring game is more riveting than was the Buckeyes 45-0 rout of New Mexico State, Saturday, at Ohio Stadium.

The athletes are better on both sides of the ball in the practice game, you&amp;#8217;re bound to get a surprise or two and anything a player does, you know likely was hard-earned.

Saturday&amp;#8217;s game was like shooting fish in a barrel. 

New Mexico State took this game strictly for the money.  The Aggies &amp;#8212; now 3-6 &amp;#8212;  are the equivalent of a fight game palooka, a boxing opponent. They got $850,000 to let OSU hammer on them.

At least the Aggies are used to it.  They haven&amp;#8217;t had a winning season since 2002, haven&amp;#8217;t been to a bowl game in 49 years and came into Saturday&amp;#8217;s game &amp;#8212; where they were 44-point underdogs &amp;#8212;  with the worst offense (statistically) of the 120 teams playing major college football this season. Their defense was No. 75.

Saturday, the over-matched Aggies had just 62 total offensive yards for the day. OSU had 559 and played back-ups a substantial part of the second half..

That said, here are a few observations:  

&amp;#8212; Receiver DeVier Posey&amp;#8217;s tight-spiralled 39-yard touchdown pass to Dane Sanzenbacher in the second quarter was more impressive than any pass OSU quarterback Terrelle Pryor threw in his one half of action Saturday. 

Pryor over threw several receivers and two of his passes hit New Mexico State defenders in the hands and could have been intercepted.

He didn&amp;#8217;t play in the second half, finishing the game with 11 for 23 passing with 135 yards and a 19 yard TD pass to Sanzenbacher. He was more impressive on the ground, running nine times for 89 yards and another score, an eight-yard run.

&amp;#8212; Back-up quarterback Joe Bauserman, played the entire second half and was even less impressive throwing the ball, completing 2 of 9 passes for 75 yards.

&amp;#8212; If you&amp;#8217;re looking for an OSU star  from the Miami Valley in this one, how about the special teams play of Donnie Evege, the sophomore from Wayne High, who is a one-man wrecking ball on the kick team. He put jarring hits on three Aggie kick returners Saturday. 

&amp;#8212; Brandon Saine&amp;#8217;s 3-yard touchdown run later in the second quarter was the Piqua High product&amp;#8217;s first rushing score of the season. That&amp;#8217;s a telling stat about  your team&amp;#8217;s rushing attack when your starting tailback doesn&amp;#8217;t get his first TD until the ninth game of the season

&amp;#8212; When OSU kicker Aaron Pettrey suffered a sprained knee in the second quarter &amp;#8212; an injury that could prove to be quite troublesome going into next Saturday&amp;#8217;s game at Penn State &amp;#8212; he was replaced by Devin Barclay, who is not your typical college player.

He&amp;#8217;s 26 years old and was a pro soccer player &amp;#8212; playing for four teams including the Columbus Crew &amp;#8212; before joining the Buckeyes as a walk-on.

Barclay had his own struggles, missing two field goal attempts &amp;#8212; from 47 and 36 yards &amp;#8212; while making one from 29 yards.

&amp;#8212; This was likely a deja vu moment for New Mexico State coach DeWayne Walker. He had been to Ohio State once before. He was a junior defensive back for the 1980 Minnesota team that lost to the Bucks, 47-0, at the Shoe.

&amp;#8220;We got killed,&amp;#8221; was the way he recollected that game a few days ago.

It was the same Saturday.

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<dc:subject></dc:subject>
<dc:date>2009-10-31T14:01:20-04:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>tarchdeacon@coxohio.com</dc:creator>
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<title>&quot;Buxom Blonde&quot; strikes out at World Series</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/throughthearch/entries/2009/10/29/a_buxom_blonde_strikes_out_bef.html</link>
<description>One game into the World Series, they are the two most talked about pitchers linked to the Philadelphia Phillies: Susan Finkelstein and Cliff Lee. One you can hit on &amp;#8212; one you can&amp;#8217;t. Lee put on a one-man show Wednesday...</description>
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One game into the World Series, they are the two most talked about pitchers linked to the Philadelphia Phillies:

Susan Finkelstein and Cliff Lee.

One you can hit on &amp;#8212; one you can&amp;#8217;t.

Lee put on a one-man show Wednesday night, handcuffing the New York Yankees in a 6-1 Phillies win. The left hander threw a complete game, striking out 10, walking none, the run he gave up was unearned and, for good measure, he even caught a ball behind his back.

Susan Finkelstein: Phillie fever

Finkelstein&amp;#8217;s cuffs came Tuesday night after her pitch &amp;#8212; an ad for World Series tickets &amp;#8212; came out on Craigslist.

&amp;#8220;DESPERATE BLONDE NEEDS WS TIX &amp;#8212; Diehard Phillies fan&amp;#8212;gorgeous tall buxom blonde &amp;#8212; in desperate need of two World Series Tickets. Price negotiable&amp;#8212; I&amp;#8217;m the creative type! Maybe we can help each other!&amp;#8221;


An undercover cop met with the 43-year-old married University of Pennsylvania grad student in a suburban Philadelphia bar, allegedly, stating that he and his brother had World Series tickets for sale.

According to the cop, Finkelstein offered to perform sex acts on both of them, saying &amp;#8220;Well, I&amp;#8217;d rather have two tickets and I could take care of both of you.&amp;#8221;

That got her busted on a prostitution charge.

Finkelstein claimed Wednesday she was just flirting with the undercover cop.

&amp;#8220;I was hoping maybe I could get a cheaper price flirting with him,&amp;#8221; she said on the satellite &amp;#8220;Opie and Anthony&amp;#8221; radio show. &amp;#8220;You know, batting my eyes. It&amp;#8217;s not unheard of&amp;#8230;.It was him who brought the whole thing up anyway.&amp;#8221;

As she told Inside Edition: &amp;#8220;If I can flirt with someone and maybe get cheap tickets, more power to me.&amp;#8221;

Finkelstein: Looking for two

Finkelstein claims she was a bit smitten by the cop, who was &amp;#8220;kind of cute,&amp;#8221; she said: &amp;#8220;They sent out the good-looking, blonde, kind of Marine guy.&amp;#8221;

Finkelstein may be in luck after all. A Philadelphia radio station and a car dealership have both offered her free tickets to Sunday&amp;#8217;s game.

As for the charge &amp;#8212; which sounds a little like looking-for-some-pub police work here &amp;#8212; her lawyer hopes to get the charges reduced, if not dropped altogether.  

Throwing a bit of a curve ball himself, lawyer William J. Brennan said Finkelstein is just  &amp;#8220;a nice lady overcome with Phillies fever.&amp;#8221;

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<dc:subject></dc:subject>
<dc:date>2009-10-29T11:23:15-04:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>tarchdeacon@coxohio.com</dc:creator>
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<title>Michael Jordan&apos;s son steps into a dispute</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/throughthearch/entries/2009/10/28/michael_jordans_son_steps_into.html</link>
<description>They recruited Marcus Jordan because they hoped he would be following in his famous dad&amp;#8217;s footsteps . Now he is and the University of Central Florida wishes he was not. Marcus Jordan UCF has a problem stuck to the bottom...</description>
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They recruited Marcus Jordan because they hoped he would be following in his famous dad&amp;#8217;s footsteps . Now he is and the University of Central Florida wishes he was not.

Marcus Jordan

UCF has a problem stuck to the bottom of it&amp;#8217;s basketball sole &amp;#8212; maybe its soul, too &amp;#8212; and right now the school can&amp;#8217;t figure out a way to scrape it off.

As the son of NBA legend Michael Jordan, Marcus is the Golden Knights most famous basketball player. 

But as one Chicago sports columnist puts it, the 18-year-old Heir Jordan is about to become Err Jordan.

I like the line &amp;#8212; I&amp;#8217;m not so sure of the logic.

The problem is over the brand of shoes the kid will wear when UCF tips off its hoops season with an exhibition game next Wednesday, Nov. 4

For decades Michael Jordan&amp;#8217;s name has been synonymous with Nike &amp;#8212; sometimes to a fault.

UCF has an exclusive  $1.9 million contract with Nike rival Adidas that requires all its athletes and coaches to wear adidas footwear and apparel. 

When he was being recruited, Marcus brought up the issue &amp;#8212; saying he only wanted to wear his dad&amp;#8217;s Air Jordan brand Nikes on the court &amp;#8212; and he, and some UCF officials, have said  he was told that wouldn&amp;#8217;t be a problem. 

Adidas though &amp;#8212; which is in the midst of negotiating a new six-year, $ 3 million contract with UCF &amp;#8212; has said no to that proposal. It wants EVERYBODY in Adidas gear.

Marcus though has balked. He said he&amp;#8217;ll wear the Adidas apparel, but he plans to wear Nike Air Jordans, just  as he was assured he could.

&amp;#8220;When I was being recruited, we talked about it,&amp;#8221; Marcus told the Orlando Sentinel. &amp;#8220;They said they had talked to the Adidas people, and it wasn&amp;#8217;t going to be a problem. I think everybody understands how big of a deal it is for my family.

&amp;#8220;I have a high level of respect for Adidas, but I&amp;#8217;m going to be wearing Jordan shoes. I&amp;#8217;m wearing the Adidas uniform, and all my other UCF gear is Adidas, but the shoes are going to be Jordan brand.&amp;#8221;

Now supposedly UCF&amp;#8217;s new deal with Adidas is in some jeopardy because of the flap. And for the cash-strapped Golden Knights&amp;#8217; athletic department, $3 million is significant. It&amp;#8217;s at least 5 percent of the entire athletics budget. 

The school is the one that screwed this thing up. It never should have made the arrangement with Marcus. While some have tried to dismiss it as just another over-inflated ploy used on the recruiting trail, the bottom line is that a  promise is a promise.

So what are the choices here?  

Besides Adidas relenting or Nike &amp;#8212; which already has the the state&amp;#8217;s three most prominent programs under contract, Miami Florida and Florida State &amp;#8212; stepping in and offering a more lucrative deal or UCF releasing Jordan&amp;#8217;s son from his scholarship, there is one other possibility. 

Marcus could show himself to be a true team player and agree to wear Adidas and end up standing taller than anyone in this mess.

Although I&amp;#8217;d like to see that, I&amp;#8217;m not sure that will happen &amp;#8212; especially not if Marcus  truly is following in Dad&amp;#8217;s footsteps.

Michael Jordan&amp;#8217;s ploy at Barcelona Olympics

I remember this same kind of flap at the Barcelona Olympics. The gold medal-winning US basketball team was outfitted by Reebok, but Jordan and a few other players were adamant about their Nike contracts.

And so on the medal stand, Jordan draped an American flags over his warm-up jacket. Not a display of patriotism, this was all about profiteering. He wanted to make sure he hid the Reebok logo.

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<dc:subject></dc:subject>
<dc:date>2009-10-28T15:15:47-04:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>tarchdeacon@coxohio.com</dc:creator>
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<title>Chad: &apos;We&apos;re a lot more talented&apos; than 2005 playoff team</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/throughthearch/entries/2009/10/26/chad_were_a_lot_more_talented.html</link>
<description>CINCINNATI &amp;#8212; Before he&amp;#8217;d let the post-game TV cameras roll, he said he wanted to put on a shirt. &amp;#8220;My momma&amp;#8217;s out there,&amp;#8221; Chad Ochocinco said in reference to a TV audience that may well include the grandmother who raised...</description>
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CINCINNATI &amp;#8212; Before he&amp;#8217;d let the post-game TV cameras roll, he said he wanted to put on a shirt.

&amp;#8220;My momma&amp;#8217;s out there,&amp;#8221; Chad Ochocinco said in reference to a TV audience that may well include the grandmother who raised him. 

He turned to his locker, grabbed a tight-fitted black pull-over, looped it over his head, but then got stuck when he tried to push one of his hands &amp;#8212; hands that had just caught 10 passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns, one which he celebrated with a tightly-calibrated end zone samba dance &amp;#8212; through an arm hole.

&amp;#8220;It doesn&amp;#8217;t fit,&amp;#8221; Ochocinco said starring at his shoulder and biceps. &amp;#8220;Look how big I done got. When I came in it was dangling.&amp;#8221;

Nothing the Bengals receiver would say in the next 15 minutes &amp;#8212; in the kind of oft-comedic monologue that would make him a late-night TV star, as well &amp;#8212; was more true.

He and the rest of the Cincinnati Bengals had come out of their stunning 45-10 thrashing of the Chicago Bears Sunday night at Paul Brown Stadium sporting more muscles than anyone had ever dreamed they had:

&amp;#8212; Quarterback Carson Palmer completed 20 of 24 passes for 233 yards and five touchdowns. 

&amp;#8212; Running back Cedric Benson &amp;#8212; cut and, he says, disparaged by the Bears a year earlier &amp;#8212; made his old team pay, running for a career-high 189 yards and a touchdown on 37 carries. His herculean day now makes him the the NFL&amp;#8217;s leading rusher with 720 yards.

&amp;#8212; The defense &amp;#8212; depleted by injury and flu &amp;#8212; sent the Bears to sick bay, picking off three Jay Cutler passes and recovering a fumble.

&amp;#8220;This was a statement game for us,&amp;#8221; Ochocinco said.  

Part of that statement, he said, was that this team is better than the 2005 Bengals, who went 11-5 and made the playoffs:

&amp;#8220;We are a lot more talented &amp;#8212; talented defensively. Offensively we&amp;#8217;re about the same, except that we (now) have a back who can go the distance at any point in time. No disrespect to Rudi (Johnson), but Ced is different and BScott ( back-up tailback Bernard Scott) is different. It&amp;#8217;s kinda scary with these two backs.&amp;#8221;

Palmer didn&amp;#8217;t go quite that far, but he did say his team &amp;#8212; which scored on its first seven possessions Sunday &amp;#8212; &amp;#8220;proved to ourselves that when we have the right mind set and get off early, we&amp;#8217;re a tough team to contend with and slow down.&amp;#8221;

And on this day, no one was tougher to contend with than Benson and Ochocinco.

When Benson scored his touchdown on a one-yard run in the fourth quarter,  Ochocinco quickly embraced him.

&amp;#8220;He said, &amp;#8216;See ya&amp;#8217; in Miami,&amp;#8217;&amp;#8221; a smiling Benson said of the reference to this year&amp;#8217;s Pro Bowl, which will be played in South Florida.

Ochocinco &amp;#8212; a five-time Pro Bowler &amp;#8212; looks as if he&amp;#8217;s about to make it a half-dozen. Injured and disenchanted at times in 2008, he finished the season with an uncharacteristic 53 catches for 540 yards and and four touchdowns.

Now, as the 5-2 Bengals  head to their bye week, he already has 573 receiving yards on 39 catches and five touchdowns.

&amp;#8220;Before the season, you guys heard me say that by the time we got to the bye week I would have surpassed last year,&amp;#8221; he grinned. &amp;#8220;Man, I&amp;#8217;m good. &amp;#8230;I&amp;#8217;m not Ali, but I&amp;#8217;m good.&amp;#8221;

From the dressing stall next to him &amp;#8212; where rookie Quan Cosby was eavesdropping with delight &amp;#8212; came a giggle.

Ochocinco heard it and with a grin called out, &amp;#8220;Hey, I&amp;#8217;m serious over here.&amp;#8221;

Cosby laughed some more and down a couple dressing stalls further, second year receiver Andre Caldwell stood on his chair so he could watch and listen, as well.

More than teammates, these guys become part of  Ochocinco&amp;#8217;s post-game audience and sometimes they end up playing the Ed McMahon straight man to his Johnny Carson.

As Ochocinco was wrapping up his locker room chatfest, you heard wave after wave of loud cheers coming from the communal shower room where Benson was being toasted by his teammates.

&amp;#8220;We knew what this meant for him today,&amp;#8221; center Kyle Cook said. &amp;#8220;We all have a chip on our shoulder. We&amp;#8217;ve all been cut by some some other team and told we&amp;#8217;re not good enough.&amp;#8221;

With Ochocinco you didn&amp;#8217;t notice the shoulder chip, just the diamond chips.

&amp;#8220;I gotta accessorize,&amp;#8221; he said as he reached in his locker and pulled out a fancy necklace.

He called out to a passing teammate: &amp;#8220;I gotta a table for 20&amp;#8230;see you there.&amp;#8221;

As headed to the dressing room door, Ochocinco let you know before he&amp;#8217;d eat, he&amp;#8217;d tweet: 

&amp;#8220;Gotta go. Got to get to my Twitter.&amp;#8221;

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<dc:date>2009-10-26T10:55:39-04:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>tarchdeacon@coxohio.com</dc:creator>
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<title>Benson struts his stuff as Bengals embarrass the Bears</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/throughthearch/entries/2009/10/25/benson_and_bengals_embarass_be.html</link>
<description>CINCINNATI &amp;#8212; Get me rewrite!&amp;#8221; That&amp;#8217;s what the Chicago Tribune columnist should be shouting tonight after the Cincinnati Bengals &amp;#8212; fueled in a big way by the determined, almost possessed running of Cedric Benson &amp;#8212; stomped all over the Chicago...</description>
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CINCINNATI &amp;#8212; Get me rewrite!&amp;#8221;

That&amp;#8217;s what the Chicago Tribune columnist should be shouting  tonight after the Cincinnati Bengals &amp;#8212; fueled in a big way by the determined, almost possessed running of Cedric Benson &amp;#8212; stomped all over the Chicago Bears, 45-10, Sunday evening at Paul Brown Stadium.

The premise of the piece in Sunday&amp;#8217;s Tribune was that the only running the former Bear was good at was running his mouth. The columnist said Benson&amp;#8217;s problem in Chicago &amp;#8212; along with being a constant whiner &amp;#8212; was that he was &amp;#8220;too slow, too soft and too much of a distraction.&amp;#8221;

While there may be plenty of truth in that during Benson&amp;#8217;s three troubled years with the Bears, it&amp;#8217;s not been that way since he joined the Bengals 13 months ago and it certainly wasn&amp;#8217;t the case Sunday when he battered the Bears for a career-high 189 yards and a touchdown on 37 carries.

&amp;#8220;There were a few times were I may have gotten a little too hyped up, a little too antsy,&amp;#8221; Benson said. &amp;#8220;A couple of drives, I found myself having to calm myself down and gather my emotions to stay poised. Once I got past that, we were good to go and I kept it rolling.&amp;#8221;

Seven weeks into the season, he&amp;#8217;s the NFL&amp;#8217;s leading rusher with 720 yards.

When the Bears cut Benson last year &amp;#8212; after disappointments on the field and two scrapes with the law off it &amp;#8212; he said he thought they spread &amp;#8220;negative&amp;#8221; information about him around the league and because of it he was &amp;#8220;black-balled&amp;#8221; and couldn&amp;#8217;t find a job until the Bengals finally threw him a lifeline.

Although he downplayed those claims with the local media this past week, Benson brought it up in a conference call with Chicago sportswriters. Bears coach Lovie Smith denied that claim the other day and said sometimes a change of scenery is better for a player.

That&amp;#8217;s been the case for Benson in Cincinnati and Sunday all his teammates seemed inspired to help him rub the Bears&amp;#8217; noses  in the dirt.

&amp;#8220;i&amp;#8217;ll tell you the truth, almost every guy in this room has a little chip on his shoulder about  something,&amp;#8221; said Bengals center Kyle Cook as he stood in the middle of his team&amp;#8217;s jubilant dressing room afterward. &amp;#8220;Guys here were cut by another team, let go and then nobody else wanted them.

&amp;#8220;And today we all rose up together. It&amp;#8217;s almost like we lived up to the hype with the Ced story and the Tank story (Bengals defensive tackle Tank Johnson is another former Bear) that everybody made a big deal about in the paper and on the streets, even though that wasn&amp;#8217;t about (the rest of) us.&amp;#8221;

This was as good as the Bengals have looked in years.

Carson Palmer and Chad Ochocinco  reconnected like they haven&amp;#8217;t for at least a couple of years. Or, as Ochocinco said afterward about he and his quarterback as he held court at his locker: &amp;#8220;We&amp;#8217;re back, baby.  We&amp;#8217;re back &amp;#8230;and better than ever.&amp;#8221; 

Palmer was exceptional completing 20 of 24 passes for 233 yards and five touchdowns. His prime target was Ochocinco who caught 10 passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns.

The Bengals defense &amp;#8212; even with a front line decimated by injury and the flu &amp;#8212; was  just as dominant as was the offense. It picked off Jay Cutler three times and recovered a  Bears&amp;#8217; fumble.

&amp;#8220;Everybody knew it was going to be an emotional day &amp;#8212; everybody knew,&amp;#8221; Benson said. &amp;#8220;What a wonderful day and a wonderful thing, to go out there and strut your stuff.&amp;#8221;

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<dc:subject></dc:subject>
<dc:date>2009-10-25T19:14:04-04:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>tarchdeacon@coxohio.com</dc:creator>
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<title>Domicone&apos;s &quot;game-changer&quot;  helps reinvigorated Buckeyes dump Minnesota, 38-7</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/throughthearch/entries/2009/10/24/reinvigorarted_buckeyes_dump_m.html</link>
<description>COLUMBUS &amp;#8212; With a reinvigorated offense led by much-scrutinized quarterback Terrelle Pryor and another stifling defensive performance &amp;#8212; keyed by big plays from three Miami Valley products &amp;#8212; Ohio State dumped the mistake-prone Minnesota Gophers, 38-7, Saturday at Ohio Stadium....</description>
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COLUMBUS &amp;#8212; With a reinvigorated offense led by much-scrutinized quarterback Terrelle Pryor and another stifling  defensive performance &amp;#8212; keyed  by big plays from three Miami Valley products &amp;#8212; Ohio State  dumped the mistake-prone Minnesota Gophers, 38-7, Saturday at Ohio Stadium.

Ohio State&amp;#8217;s defensive effort included interceptions by linebacker Austin Spilter of Bellbrook High and safety Kurt Coleman of Northmont,  but  &amp;#8220;the biggest play of the day, the momentum changer of the game,&amp;#8221; &amp;#8212; as Spitler put it &amp;#8212; came from Zack Domicone, the redshirt freshman from Beavercreek High. 

His recovery of a fumble by Minnesota&amp;#8217;s Troy Stoudemire on the opening kick-off of the second half electrified the Bucks, who quickly broke open the close game.

Although Domicone  returned the fumble 31 yards for a touchdown, the score was nullified because rules say the ball could not be advanced. Three plays later Pryor rushed 15 yards for a touchdown to put the Bucks up 14-0 and the rout was on. 

&amp;#8220;When we come out of locker room, Coach Tress always talks about  how Recon &amp;#8212; our kick-off team &amp;#8212; has to set the tone, so it was good to set that tone and get our team started in the second half,&amp;#8221; said Domicone, who missed the first four games this season with a torn groin muscle and was sidelined at the end of Saturday game&amp;#8217;s with a slightly sprained ankle. 

&amp;#8220;With the wind in our face, we had a pooch right call on.  We were trying to get height on it and have a little shorter kick and they weren&amp;#8217;t ready for it. They didn&amp;#8217;t have a guy in that area to catch the ball and that put the returner in bind. He dove for it, it hit him in his chest and bounced up. 

&amp;#8220;For me, it was all reaction. I was so close to it and a lot of people would try to dive on it because it&amp;#8217;s kind of dangerous to try to scoop it. But my first  instinct was just to scoop it up and run it into the end zone.&amp;#8221;

&amp;#8220;I heard a whistle when I first grabbed it, but it didn&amp;#8217;t register in my mind. I  guess you can&amp;#8217;t advanced a muffed kick off&amp;#8230;. Still, it changed things around for us.

&amp;#8220;It&amp;#8217;s kind of crazy. It&amp;#8217;s something I&amp;#8217;ve been thinking about all week &amp;#8212; just how cool it would be if that happened &amp;#8212; and with pooch, I knew I had opportunity to do that.&amp;#8221;

If Domicone turned in the defensive play of the game, the high point of OSU&amp;#8217;s 510-yard  offensive day was Pryor&amp;#8217;s mostly mistake-free performance. Except for an interception just before the half, Pryor bounced back nicely after a disastrous, four-turnover performance in a loss to Purdue last Saturday.

Against the Gophers, Pryor  threw for two touchdowns to DeVier Posey and ran for another, finishing the day with 239 passing yards (on 13 for 25 passing)  and 104 rushing yards.

One downer on the day was the possible concussion suffered by Brandon Saine, the starting tailback from Piqua High. He had rushed for 45 yards on 11 carries before being injured in the second quarter. He spent the second half sitting on the bench, bundled up in a hooded sweatsuit.

The Bucks are now 6-2. Minnesota is 4-4.  

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<dc:subject></dc:subject>
<dc:date>2009-10-24T15:24:08-04:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>tarchdeacon@coxohio.com</dc:creator>
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<title>Hoying Gives Buckeyes A Pep Talk</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/throughthearch/entries/2009/10/24/hoying_gives_buckeyes_a_pep_ta.html</link>
<description>COLUMBUS &amp;#8212; The Ohio State football team got an inspirational pep talk before Saturday&amp;#8217;s game with Minnesota from former Bucks quarterback Bobby Hoying, who may have been standing in front of the entire group, but seemed to be speaking specifically...</description>
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COLUMBUS &amp;#8212; The Ohio State football team got an inspirational pep talk before Saturday&amp;#8217;s game with Minnesota from former Bucks quarterback Bobby Hoying, who may have been standing in front of the entire group, but seemed to be speaking specifically to current QB Terrelle Pryor.

Bobby Hoying

Hoying &amp;#8212; now a real estate agent in Columbus  following his OSU and NFL days &amp;#8212; was the Buckeyes honorary captain Saturday.

&amp;#8220;I told &amp;#8216;em playing quarterback at Ohio State comes with its share of criticisms when you don&amp;#8217;t win,&amp;#8221; said Hoying, the St. Henry product who was chosen to the Buckeyes All Century team and still remains the all-time career leader in completions (498) and touchdown passes (57) and is second to Art Schlicter in career passing yards. 

&amp;#8220;I just talked to the guys about my junior year here and how we got beat early and then came back and had a good year.&amp;#8221; 

Asked if he feels for Pryor &amp;#8212; who received considerable criticism after turning the ball over four times in last Saturday&amp;#8217;s loss to lowly Purdue &amp;#8212; Hoying said the scrutiny is something all Bucks quarterbacks have experienced:

Hoying: All Bucks quarterbacks have faced scrutiny

&amp;#8220;It comes with the territory. Anybody who&amp;#8217;s played quarterback here knows what it&amp;#8217;s like. It was no different for any of us.

&amp;#8220;Terrelle Pryor has all the tools and eventually it will start clicking for him.&amp;#8221;

Until the final minute of the first half Saturday, it was clicking pretty well for Pryor, who earlier in the week had drawn the verbal support of Cleveland Cav stars LeBron James and Shaquille O&amp;#8217;Neal.  

Against the Gophers in the first two quarters, Pryor had completed 10 of his first 20 passes for 174 yards and a 62-yard touchdown pass to DeVier Posey that gave the Bucks their 7-0 halftime advantage.

Pryor also has run 12 times for 59 yards in the first half.  He likely will remain the Bucks top running threat in this game since starting tailback Brandon Saine &amp;#8212; the Piqua High product who started the game with 11 carries for 45 yards &amp;#8212; left the game after a blow to the head and likely will not return.

Pryor&amp;#8217;s one negative came near the end of the first half when he tried to force the ball to receiver Dane Sanzenbacher at the goal line and was picked off by safety Kyle Theret.

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<dc:subject></dc:subject>
<dc:date>2009-10-24T13:59:31-04:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>tarchdeacon@coxohio.com</dc:creator>
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<title>OSU and Pryor -- &quot;Careful what you wish for&quot;</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/throughthearch/entries/2009/10/21/osu_and_pryor_careful_what_you.html</link>
<description>So how&amp;#8217;s Todd Boeckman looking now? A lot of the Ohio State faithful were quick to trash the senior quarterback last season after he threw two interceptions against Southern Cal &amp;#8212; and a Trojan defense that sent seven players to...</description>
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So how&amp;#8217;s Todd Boeckman looking now?

A lot of the Ohio State faithful were quick to trash the senior  quarterback last season after he threw two interceptions against  Southern Cal &amp;#8212; and a Trojan defense that sent seven players to the NFL just seven months later &amp;#8212; and some of the OSU coaches were right on board with them.

Terrelle Pryor

Benched during the USC game in favor of Terrelle Pryor, Boeckman &amp;#8212; a true &amp;#8220;team-first&amp;#8221; leader, a respected team captain, a guy who led the Bucks to the national title game the year before &amp;#8212; ended up in the Buckeyes&amp;#8217; version of Siberia. He rarely saw the field again. To me that was pretty shoddy treatment, but that&amp;#8217;s water under the bridge.

Pryor&amp;#8217;s ascension to the throne during the USC game lit up the blogosphere and talk radio lines. There was giddy speculation of coming Heisman Trophies and national championships and each and every Saturday watching Superman in his scarlet and gray cape.

To quote that tatted-up troubadour Eminem:

&amp;#8220;So be careful what you wish for

&amp;#8216;Cause you just might get it

And if you get it then you just might not know 

What to do wit&amp;#8217; it, &amp;#8216;cause it might just

Come back on you ten-fold.&amp;#8221;

Eminem

Pryor has fallen back to earth this season. Landed with a thud. Done in not by Kryptonite, but a Purdue defense of all things. Two interceptions, four fumbles, two of them lost, five sacks.

A little time in Siberia for him after that loss to lowly Purdue, the Bucks second setback of the season? No way says Tressel. Is it that he thinks back-up Joe Bauserman is that ill-equipped for the job? Or is Pryor held to a different standard, as have been a couple of Tressel&amp;#8217;s  other heralded  &amp;#8220;stars&amp;#8221; over the years?

The top-rated recruit in the nation two years ago &amp;#8212; a mantle he flaunted with more than one press conference to announce which college he&amp;#8217;d prep with on the way to the NFL &amp;#8212; Pryor now ranks ninth in the league in passing efficiency and doesn&amp;#8217;t look anything like the Big Ten&amp;#8217;s Preseason Offensive Player of the Year.

People are saying he&amp;#8217;s regressed as a quarterback, I disagree. I think he had barely grasped the basic rudiments of his position when he took over, though he thought he knew more than he did. 

Todd Boeckman

I remember two players telling me last year how &amp;#8212; on more than one occasion &amp;#8212; he pushed Boeckman away from him on the sidelines, saying he didn&amp;#8217;t need the senior quarterback&amp;#8217;s suggestions. This was &amp;#8220;his&amp;#8221; team now. 

That said, I feel for the kid. He&amp;#8217;s never really known failure and I&amp;#8217;m sure he feels pressure now. After one of his interceptions last Saturday against the Boilermakers, he slammed his helmet on the ground and laced into his intended target, receiver Duron Carter, who he thought should have broken up the pick.

Sure the offensive line is doing a poor job of protecting him, but it&amp;#8217;s also obvious Pryor has trouble reading defenses, which is why he so often runs plays right into their teeth and why he&amp;#8217;s also not comfortable calling an audible. 

So what is OSU to do?  

Bucks fans often rail at Tressel for his conservative play-calling, but I can&amp;#8217;t see  opening up the offense now. He has to make things even simpler, hope that Pryor grasps that and then build from there. 

And if that doesn&amp;#8217;t work?

Well, back to Eminem again. 

I remember a few years  back he travelled the country &amp;#8212; including a stop in Columbus &amp;#8212; with Ice Cube,. Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and a bunch of other hip hoppers.

They called it the &amp;#8220;Up In Smoke Tour.&amp;#8221;

The Bucks can only hope that doesn&amp;#8217;t become their tag, as well. 

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<dc:date>2009-10-21T10:52:55-04:00</dc:date>
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<title>Three Questions for NASCAR</title>

    

    


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<description>When the first five inductees into NASCAR&amp;#8217;s Hall of Fame were announced last week &amp;#8212; and that quintet includes Bill France and Bill France, Jr., Richard Petty, Junior Johnson and Dale Earnhardt &amp;#8212; three questions came to my mind: Who...</description>
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When the first five inductees into NASCAR&amp;#8217;s Hall of Fame were announced last week &amp;#8212; and that quintet includes Bill France and Bill France, Jr., Richard Petty, Junior Johnson and Dale Earnhardt &amp;#8212; three questions came to my mind:

Who should have been in that first class?

Who should be the next five enshrinees?

Who of today&amp;#8217;s current drivers and owners deserves to land in the Hall one day?

NASCAR&amp;#8217;s Hall of Fame opens in Charlotte in May of 2010 &amp;#8212; that&amp;#8217;s when the five will be officially enshrined &amp;#8212; and it will be one of the history houses in sports I&amp;#8217;d like to visit one day soon.  

The King &amp;#8212; Richard Petty

I covered a lot of stock car racing in the late 1970s and the 1980s and have done so sporadically since. I&amp;#8217;m partial to the era of Richard Petty, David Pearson, the Allison brothers and Cale Yarborough, so I&amp;#8217;m sure that will color some of my thinking here, but those were great times for the sport, too.

Anyway, here are the three questions:

Who should have been in that first class?

I agree with Petty, the sports most iconic figure, Johnson, the moonshine legend who was a successful driver and owner and Earnhardt, the seven-time Cup champion. But I think just one the Frances &amp;#8212; Bill Sr., the founder and first president of NASCAR &amp;#8212; should have been included. 

Although his son, Bill Jr., developed his father&amp;#8217;s dream ten fold,  he should have been put into the next class and The Silver Fox, David Pearson, should have made the first five.

The Silver Fox &amp;#8212; David Pearson

Pearson, quite arguably, is the best driver NASCAR has ever had.  He ran partial schedules most of his career and still won 105 races, second most all time to Petty&amp;#8217;s 200.  To get an idea how he did that, consider he entered just 18 races in 1973 and won 11 of them. He only ran three full seasons and won the championship in each of them.

When Major League Baseball began its Hall of Fame with five enshrinees in 1936, it settled on  Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson and Honus Wagner. All the business suits &amp;#8212; great as they may have been, guys likes  Comiskey and Spalding &amp;#8212; had to wait.  

Who should be the next five enshrinees?

There are a lot of folks from which to choose. NASCAR initially put out a list of 25 possible candidates, though that collection had a couple of glaring omissions, including Wendell Scott, the first black man ever to win a big-time stock car race. The odds &amp;#8212; the racial barriers, the outright prejudice &amp;#8212; he overcame were almost insurmountable and he deserves to be included in one of the first few classes enshrined.

Wendell Scott

With Pearson snubbed this year, he heads my list for the next class. I&amp;#8217;d also include Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip and either Ned Jarrett or Fireball Roberts. Probably Jarrett, because  along with his two driving championships, he was the honey-coated broadcasting voice who introduced much of America to the sport.

To take it just a little father, my third class then would be Fireball Roberts, Lee Petty, Curtis Turner, Joe Weatherly and Wendell Scott.

Louise Smith

One woman who belongs in the Hall &amp;#8212; and yet is unknown by the casual race fan and not included on that NASCAR list of 25 &amp;#8212; is Louise Smith, the hell-raising gal who travelled and raced with Turner, Tiny Lund. the Flock brothers and the rest of the first band of drivers and once hocked her diamonds to bail the whole bunch out of jail so they could go race in the next town.

Finally, question three:

Who of today&amp;#8217;s current drivers and owners deserves to land in the Hall one day?

My group would include Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Richard Childress and Rick Hendrick.

Gordon&amp;#8217;s a four-time champ, whose popularity and marketing skills especially in the late 1990s made him an equal of the superstars of other sports, a recognition stock car drivers always  had trouble obtaining

Johnson has won three straight titles &amp;#8212; and is well on his way to No. 4.

Tony Stewart

Stewart &amp;#8212; who joins the ranks of A. J. Foyt and Mario Andretti &amp;#8212; as the best all-around drivers ever, went from open wheel success &amp;#8212; he won the Indy 500 pole &amp;#8212; to stock cars and became even greater. He has two Cup Series driving titles and deserves recognition as a team owner and now the driving force  of Eldora Speedway, too.

Childress, himself a longtime driver, made an even bigger mark as a team owner, especially in giving Dale Earnhardt the opportunities he did. And Hendrick has been the most successful owner of this era, giving the wheel to everybody from Gordon and Johnson  to Kyle Busch.

One final thought: I&amp;#8217;ve heard some folks say they think NASCAR might not have enough appropriate candidates to keep filling induction classes for years to come. They think the pool will run dry.

At five slots a year, I think there are more than enough worthy choices to go on for 30 or 40 years &amp;#8212; maybe more &amp;#8212; without missing a beat. And by then, there&amp;#8217;ll be more stars. Besides, in four decades, who knows what kind of cars folks will be driving. 

One thing for certain, no one will ever drive them better than guys like Richard Petty, David Pearson or Dale Earnhardt.

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<dc:date>2009-10-19T10:40:36-04:00</dc:date>
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