The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Commentary: Buckeyes can smell those roses

Reds’ Nix becomes free agent
4:42 p.m.
Unbeaten Bearcats work on running game
1:03 p.m.
Cincinnati QB could face jail in fake ID case
1:03 p.m.
OSU-UM a  holiday treat for Springboro grad
10:09 a.m.
UK game in past, Miami men’s hoops looks forward to Travelers tourney
9:10 a.m.
> More sports headlines

By Brian Kollars, Sports editor 8:06 PM Saturday, November 7, 2009

Here’s hoping the Bengals’ secondary channels its inner New Mexico women’s soccer player and puts Ravens receiver Kelley Washington in his place. Grab his hair, punch his ribs, draw a red card. I don’t care who wins the AFC North showdown in Cincinnati, I just don’t want to see Washington do his ridiculous “squirrel dance.”

Rose Bowl: Ohio State’s thumping of Penn State means the Buckeyes will have some extra spring in their step the rest of November. THE OSU is two wins from making its first trip to the Rose Bowl since Jan. 1, 1997.

Terrelle Pryor looks better, Brandon Saine looks fast and the Bucks’ defense looks like it could put a scare into the New Orleans Saints. I can’t see Iowa putting up much of a fight, and Michigan is in full panic mode. Pasadena ... not a bad way to ring in the new year. Unless USC shows up.

Money talks: Ohio State will be wearing an “alternate uniform” for the Michigan game. OSU Athletic Director Gene Smith explained that Nike wants to test a new fabric, so that’s why the Buckeyes will be wearing throwback jerseys that are all the rage in the NFL (see: bump in merchandise dollars).

Uh, couldn’t they test the new design at the spring game? What Smith meant to say is, “Nike pays us millions of dollars to wear the swoosh, so we’d change our mascot to a milk cow if they asked.”

Pay day: The DDN ran a story last week mentioning that UD president Dan Curran made $495,570 in 2008. Of course, my first thought was, “How could any college worth its weight in championship banners pay its president more than its highest-paid coach?”

Rest easy, Faithful. According to UD tax forms from 2007 — the most recent I could find in five minutes of research — Flyers basketball coach Brian Gregory pulled in $514,055 that year.

Parting gifts: Sticking to this week’s money theme, a couple former Reds cashed in because their current teams didn’t want them. The Brewers declined to pick up an option for 2010 on David Weathers, whose fastball makes Pedro Martinez look like Nolan Ryan. Weathers gets $400,000 to walk away.

In D.C., where they throw around cash like Octomom changes diapers, the Nationals chose to pay Austin Kearns $1 million to leave. Their other option was to pay Kearns $10 million next year. And you wonder why it’s so expensive to go to a ballgame.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2163 or bkollars@DaytonDailyNews.com.

Knucklehead of the Week

The storied football rivalry between Canton McKinley and Massillon got a bit more intense a couple weeks ago when Canton schools superintendent Michele Evans tried to kick Massillon’s superintendent out of the 400-seat press box at Fawcett Stadium. Massillon’s Lisa Carmichael was using passes she received from a Canton administrator. That didn’t faze Evans, who tried to give the boot to, among others, Carmichael’s elderly father.

Share this article

ADD COMMENT

Comments feed

The Bucks defeat Iowa and they are going to Pasadena no matter what they do in Ann Arbor. Bucks would hold the tie breakers against both PSU and Iowa.

Steve
8:55 AM, 11/8/2009

REPORT ABUSE

We welcome your comments. Please remember this is a public forum and behave appropriately. Your comments must conform to our visitor's agreement.