Now, Peter. . . It’s true that OSU has a massive athletic budget, and it’s true that OSU has a immense gym, and it’s even true that fans in the Buckeye Nation can be unutterably tiresome and obnoxious.

"Government run"? Tell that to the Ohio legislature; they’d like to hear it! It’s a land-grant university, the product of a glorious Morrell Act, a Republican measure for a democratic America. "Anonymous"? OSU is intimate the way Manhattan is intimate: it is a university of neighborhoods and multiple, overlapping circles of collegiality and friendship. Not for everyone; Oberlin or Berry it is not, but it is not anonymous either. A "techno-industrial warehouse" lacking "educational diversity"? Surely you josh!! "Indistinguishable" from Florida or UCLA??? At such a thought, ten thousand swords must leap from their scabbards.

Root for the "little guy"? They don’t allow little guys to play for Georgetown!

What’s it cost to go to Georgetown? I never root for snotty blueblood universities. Joe Q. Average, public U all the way...rah, rah, rah!!!

Peter wrote: If you value educational diversity and/or the little guy, you won’t root for the uttlerly indistinguishable Florida, UCLA, or Ohio State.

Oh yes I will. So there

I’ve never cared for Georgetown because I’ve never cared for John Thompson. I know he’s no longer the coach, but his mark is on the basketball program there, both by legacy and by the presence of his son as the current head coach. Thompson is not far removed from Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton in the way he uses the racial issue to promote his cause.

I also don’t much care for Georgetown because many on its faculty seem to hold decidedly odd views of standard (and essential) Christian doctrine. That’s a strange thing for what is supposed to be a Catholic school.

A little ">">https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/30/AR2007033001788.html?hpid=opinionsbox1"> perspective on Big John. The Sharpton comparison is not fair, in my opinion.

If Georgetown weren’t playing OSU today, I’d want them to win. They have a good and interesting game.

Steve wrote: " A little perspective on Big John. The Sharpton comparison is not fair, in my opinion.

I read that piece. I’m not sure what more that brings to the table that I wasn’t already aware of. Further, I lived in the D.C. area from 1994 to 2005, and I had the opportunity to listen to John Thompson on the radio as he hosted a local sports talk program there. I heard plenty enough banter and unscripted talk to get a sense for where Thompson was coming from.

If you re-read my post, I said Thompson was "not far removed" from Jackson and Sharpton. I consciously avoided saying he was "just like" Jackson or Sharpton. Few people are disreputable as those two.

In any event, as I type this the OSU-Georgetown game is over and OSU won.

OH

IO

Buckidolaters rejoice!!!

Georgetown is a little rich, sissy school in the Federal Tax and Spend District of Columbus. No thanks Peter. I’m true to my state, my state’s governmental powers, and my soil. OSU!! They did win by the way.

We’re now all morally obliged to root for OSU, since the Florida faculty refused to give Jeb Bush an honorary doctorate.

Despite Woody Hayes, I can go along with that.

We’ll now have to wait until Monday. For now, this inside story making the rounds in Columbus, about Greg Oden. He is taking a history course (also calculus and biology). He sent an email to his history professor, with an assignment attached. He apologized for the email saying that he had to be "out of town."

Now if the refs will just let the guys play!

Ohio State shut down Green, which was the game’s key. The duel of the giants didn’t really develop due to the refs’ quick whistles, although each was dominant for relatively small stretches. OS deserved to win. And FL
is just better than UCLA. Congratulations to the Buckeyes, despite the partisan distortion of the comments above. But despair reigns in 48 of our states, and even in parts of Florida. I want Nancy Pelosi to investigate the monopoly OS and FL have on championships, especially because neither of them inspires me in the least. OS won’t be humiliated this time, even if it loses, because clearly FL has a slight talent edge. I did take a liking to Oden, and Steve provides a story to make him look smart and shy--both good qualities. But Florida is to be admired for getting to the finals two years in a row with a team that doesn’t have overwhelming talent. So I declare my neutrality.

"With a team that doesn’t have overwhelming talent"????????????

Four of their five starters will be in the NBA.