Casual Friday talking soccer, running, Melt Bar and Grilled, antiques and 3d movies – WFNY Podcast – 2013-11-15
November 15, 2013Cavs Friday Five: It’s getting real close to panic time
November 15, 2013
Jeff Hanisch-US PRESSWIRE
“I think we’d wipe the floor with both of them.”
That’s what Ohio State junior wide receiver Evan Spencer had to say about his team’s hypothetical chances if they were to play either Alabama or Florida State, the only two teams who the Buckeyes are still looking up at in the BCS standings.
Seems innocuous enough. Keith Olbermann thinks so. This is a player at the highest level of college football saying his undefeated team would defeat either of the two most likely opponents that they would face if they were fortunate enough to have a chance to play in the BCS Championship Game.
Isn’t this exactly what we want our athletes to think; that their team is the most talented and would beat any other team they line up against? What is Spencer supposed to say? Should he tell the media that the Crimson Tide and Seminoles are the two best teams in the nation and they should face each other for the national championship at the expense of his own Ohio State team? I would personally be much more alarmed if he had said something along the lines of the latter, and I suspect that most of Buckeye Nation would agree with me
As it turns out, Urban Meyer sees Spencer’s statement differently.
“I’m very disappointed, I can’t stand that,” said Meyer on the matter. “Our players are taught, and I know Evan well enough and I even talked to him briefly and he was kind of smiling the way he said it. But, no, I can’t stand it.
“He’s certainly not the spokesman for our team. As a result, Evan won’t talk to the media for a long, long time. You don’t do that. It’s not good sportsmanship, and that’s not what we expect. … Talk about your teammates, talk about the team and move on.”
Now, some of Meyer’s points make sense. Spencer is neither a senior nor a captain, so it is reasonable for Meyer to not want his sound bite to be representing the Buckeyes’ collective opinion as it makes the rounds through the national media. In addition, Meyer points out that he and his staff teach the players how to handle the media, and this statement obviously fell outside those guidelines. In spite of all that, there are four words in Meyer’s statement that don’t sit well with me.
“It’s not good sportsmanship.”
Since when does confidence in your team’s abilities constitute unsportsmanlike conduct? From that part of Meyer’s statement, it seems that Spencer is supposed to put on his best English accent and proclaim, “Jameis Winston is a most splendid player and I can only hope that he has an off day if we do come up against him and his Seminoles. In addition, I do truly fear what the powerful running of T.J. Yeldon would do to the lads who play on our defense.”
Evan Spencer did not do his best Kellen Winslow, Jr. impersonation and start invoking imagery of soldiers and warfare to illustrate what the Buckeyes would do to the ‘Noles or Tide. His speech did not remind anyone of Muhammad Ali calling Joe Frazier a “gorilla” before their famous third fight in Manila. In fact, he did not disparage either FSU or ‘Bama in the slightest. He simply stated his opinion that the Buckeyes could handily defeat either of them. He even added a chuckle for good measure.
With just three games left in the regular season and the Buckeyes facing a sizable deficit in the latest BCS standings, Ohio State team can use any edge they can get, even if it only exists in the minds of voters. Meyer of all people should know how words can affect the polls and, by extension, the BCS standings. In 2006, he successfully lobbied for his Florida Gators team to be selected for the BCS Championship Game ahead of Michigan, arguing that it would be unfair to both Ohio State and the nation for the voters to pick a rematch between the Buckeyes and Wolverines. His campaigning worked, and his Gators breezed by an overmatched Buckeyes squad in the BCS Championship Game in Scottsdale.
With Spencer muzzled and his teammates likely fearful of suffering the same fate if their comments to the media fall out of Meyer’s strictly drawn lines, it seems that the Buckeyes need a new champion to make their case. Fortunately, they have a man prowling the sidelines who knows just what buttons to push with the media and the poll voters.
So, if the Buckeyes wake up on the morning of December 8 with a perfect 13-0 record and Big Ten title on their resume, expect to start hearing a lot of quotes from Urban Meyer on ESPN. It will be interesting to see what his definition of sportsmanship looks like when he’s arguing for the Buckeyes’ BCS hopes.
14 Comments
Lobbying for your team to play in a championship game and saying “we’d wipe the floor” with another team are two entirely different species. It’s not even apples and oranges. It’s apples and floor tiles.
Yeah we get that he is confident and we like that. That just doesn’t fit the culture Urban apaprently wants to create. Yeah you can run your mouth in the NFL, but it’s different here. And when Urban is lobbying for his team, I’m sure you won’t hear him say anything like Spencer said.
Sportsmanship? Has he seen some of the scores the Buckeyes posted against clearly overmatched opponents? That doesn’t scream sportsmanship to me.
I understand WHY we do this (because if we don’t show blowout victories, we get overlooked in the polls, etc…) But don’t talk sportsmanship out one side of your mouth and run up the score against inferior opponents at the same time.
I completely disagree. I don’t think there’s a single game that they played this year where the Buckeyes “ran up the score.” For example, against Florida A&M, the didn’t throw the ball – not one pass – in the 2nd half. If the other team can’t stop you, that doesn’t mean you just roll over and quit playing. And that’s what happened in the other high scoring games (Penn State, Purdue). They had their backups in (and in some cases, their backups’ backups) for most of the 2nd half. When these guys get in the game, you want them to play as hard as they can, and they did – but even then, Meyer didn’t follow the same gameplan as in the first halves of those games.
I agree man. Like when our 3rd stringers are beating up on penn state first stringers. I don’t believe in the whole “you beat them by too much” crap. Sad that in the world we are living in, if teams on certain levels beat their opponent by too much, the coach gets suspended the next game. Absolutely ridiculous. Would it be less embarassing for our opponents if we start taking a knee on first down to start the second half? How about we take a knee all first downs in the second half?
Right. Living in PA, I got to hear some of the stupid complaints after the PSU game. The worst was: “I can’t believe Urban Meyer was so classless as to challenge that first down call in the 4th quarter!”
I don’t get this. My response: Are you saying that because your team is so bad, Urban Meyer has to concede that 9 yards should be sufficient for a 1st down for you?
To me, good sportsmanship is respecting the game and your opponent, and in that game, Meyer absolutely respected Penn State. He essentially said, “you’re a good program, I respect you, and I’m not going to treat you like a little kid.” It’s different with a school like Florida A&M, where respect means not beating them up unnecessarily, but also giving them enough respect to have your backups play as hard as they can.
It’s the NCAA. It’s not the place where you make a hole so the other teams’ autistic manager can score a TD.
And every calculated thing that he does, I believe he does for a reason. How many challenges have we had this year. This keeps the people involved with the challenge process sharp so when there is a game critical questionable call, we will have experience in identifying these situations.
i would like us to put up about 70 on michigan
Oh, absolutely. And leave the 1st teamers in the whole game (but give Kenny G some chances, too). That’s one game where I would run up the score every possible chance.
Yes yes yes. I wouldn’t mind letting some of the other RBs get some more touches when Hyde gets to 180-200 yards. It better not be a close one.
Nate already has us with 70 in the 1st half, so that should be a nice start. I want to go for the GaTech record though, so we’re going to have to turn up the heat a bit in the 2nd half to get to 223 FTW.
Think about this hypothetical. OSU moves up and does get a bid to play in the national championship game. In the 2 weeks leading up to that game Nick Saban plays a seemingly innocuous (to OSU fans and Keith Olbermann) clip over and over and over to fire his team up. Never give the other side any type of motivation. It’s ok to think that you’ll wipe the floor with another team, but never let them hear you say it before you do. Urban = psychological warfare genius.
it’s the national championship game. if you need a tape of someone talking smack to get your motivated, then you already lost.
Not saying they need it to be fired up. You are right it’s the national championship game both teams would logically fired up. Just providing my opinion on why Urban would be so serious about something that seems innocuous. Focus on yourself and your team and don’t comment on your opponent. How about this: Urban Meyer is 21-0 right now. If he wants Evan Spencer to shut up to the media that’s fine by me. He should keep doing what he’s doing.