Back to blogging & more
Right: Billy Bob Thornton as Morris Buttermaker, head coach of the Bad News Bears. Time Inc. Photo
It has been exactly 24 days since my last post, but fear not fellow readers, for I have been busy working behind-the-scenes here at the worldwide headquarters of BuckeyeBanter.com.
Finally, the conversion of switching from blog publishing platforms Blogger to WordPress is now complete, and I must say it’s now much easier to post.
In the last few days, most of you may have already noticed a new front, or landing, page when you dial up the site. This was something we had when using Blogger several months ago, but didn’t have when we first switched to WordPress.
Also, along with The Buckeye Babe, Clair Crawford, there will be several more writers added to the mix as football season approaches.
As for me, I will be blogging every weekday until football season begins, too, all while coaching my son’s first grade coach-pitch baseball league team, which is known as the Tigers. Oh the irony of there being 30 Major League Baseball teams and the one I have to coach is named after the one from Michigan.
But let’s quickly recap what has transpired in the last few weeks concerning Ohio State athletics.
Men’s Basketball:
Kosta Koufos is gone. Not really much a surprise now after he said he was going to declare for the NBA draft but not hire an agent.
If you are going to leave that’s fine, but when you are asked to make decision and withdrawl from classes, do it! With Koufos dropping his classes so late into spring quarter, that could affect the team’s APR score next year and could cost the Buckeyes a scholarship down the road.
Ohio State head coach Thad Matta had asked Koufos to withdraw from spring quarter by the early April deadline if he was going pro, because he then would have withdrawn while in good academic standing.
Matta was quoted as saying this in the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
He said, ‘No, I’m going to finish out.’ And then we got the call, and bam, it blindsided us. We met with the families last year and asked them to please honor this. And everybody was in agreement.”
Way to go, Koufos.
As reported earlier, Matta signed two junior college players, Jeremie Simmons, a 6-foot-2 point guard from Mott Community College in Flint, Mich., and Nikola Kecman, a 6-foot-9 forward from Eastern Arizona.
The only problem is, will Kecman be eligible for next season?
Kecman played on the Serbian club team, Usce Vizura, during the 2006-07 season which finished with a record of 21-5. If that team included professionals and Kecman was done with high school, he could face a suspension of up to 52 games.
But, according to Kecman’s JUCO coach at Eastern Arizona College, Tim Walsh, who was quoted as saying the quote below on Rivals.com, Kecman should be fine:
“Nikola’s a very bright kid, a really good student. He won’t have any problems in that area. He just has to take his finals and do what he’s been doing. The one question some had was whether he had any dealings with professional teams, but he hasn’t. He’s clear.”
We shall see.
Football:
Back on May 1, former Ohio State head coach John Cooper was named as part of the 2008 class for the College Football Hall of Fame.
Later that day, Cooper was also named to the Michigan Football Hall of Fame for his steller 2-10-1 record against the Wolverines during his tenure in Columbus.
At least he beat the Maize and Blue in the Rose Bowl when he was head coach at Arizona State.
Former OSU football player under Cooper, Derrick Foster, was charged with shooting two Columbus police officers, John Gillis and Anthony Garrison. Foster’s attorney, Christopher M. Cooper, was quoted in the Dayton Daily News that he thought someone was trying to rob the house in which he was playing dice.
He didn’t know they were police officers. He responded, maybe not appropriately, but he responded. We’re all praying for these officers.”
According to WCMH-TV 4 in Columbus, the shooting occurred at a suspected drug house on East Rich Street at about 9:45 p.m. on April 30, while narcotics tactical-unit officers were attempting to serve a warrant. Officers were met with gunfire after they alerted those inside that they had a search warrant.
Foster, 38, a supervisor with code enforcement with the City of Columbus Department of Development, was arrested and charged with two counts of felonious assault and two counts of attempted murder. Foster played under Cooper from 1988 to 1992.
Foster and another defendant involved in the shooting were arraigned and neither received bond. The judge said both men posed a threat to society.
Kirk Herbstreit, a teammate of Foster’s at OSU, had sent him a text message the morning after the shooting to give Foster his Columbus mailing address so he could send Herbstreit an invitation for his wedding in June.
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[...] The Best Damn Blog in the Land! BuckeyeBanter.com wrote an interesting post today on Back to blogging & moreHere’s a quick excerptBack to blogging & more Posted on May 12th, 2008 by Matt Barker Right: Billy Bob Thornton as Morris Buttermaker, head coach of the Bad News Bears. Time Inc. Photo It has been exactly 24 days since my last post, but fear not fellow readers, for I have been busy working behind-the-scenes here at the worldwide headquarters of BuckeyeBanter.com. Finally, the conversion of switching from blog publishing platforms Blogger to WordPress is now complete, and I must say it’s now much easier to post [...]