OHIO props & kudos ?!?

Good Morning Bobcat Fans - KENT here to preach the gospel...

I did some thinking after reading a comment on our blog, from my old college roommate, Doc.  Here is what I got to thinking...  Living in Athens all these years has been a mixed bag of emotions, when it comes to cheering on our beloved Bobcats....and for those of you who consider yourself "a fan-of-sports" - perhaps you can understand my pain.

First of all, Ohio Athletics is not known to be a powerhouse.  At one time, back-in-the-day, OU probably could compete on any level with other schools in most sports.  Check out this link for a history of OU Wrestling, which had an impressive run in the 1970's, 7 MAC titles in a row, and boasts the real "Granddaddy of Collegiate Wrestling" - Thor Olson who brought college wrestling to OU and the USA in 1919.

But, contemporarily speaking (2008) now...OU has not managed to keep up with the big schools of Division I NCAA.   This is especially true of OU's "big Premiere sports" - Football and Basketball.

Second of all,  I have wrestled with determining to which amount of support I should give and support OU Athletics.  The Green and White Club is a good support organization for OU Athletics, and I have been invited by a number of different members to join, thank you.  Perhaps some day I will.  I want to support OU Athletics, but not just football and men's basketball, which get most of the attention.  Similarly, I have never purchased season tickets.  

So, Here ya go, Check-it-out:

 From the OU Website - 

In her first year, Crawley led the Bobcats to an 18-12, 10-6 MAC record; doubling the amount of overall and conference wins from the year prior to her arrival. Crawley's 18-win debut was the most wins since the 1994-95 season and marked the third most wins in program history. It also is the best start that any Bobcat women's basketball coach has ever had. In addition, the Bobcats won their first game against a ranked opponent with a 70-67 win over No. 16/18 Bowling Green on its home court; snapping the Falcons' 39-game conference winning streak and 29-game home winning streak.

Which brings me to the main point of this blog....GO OHIO WOMEN.  OU Women athletics is where the real magic is located!  The OU Women's basketball team made it to the MAC trny finals, in only the second year that Coach Crawley has been at the helm.  Unfortunately, they lost to Miami.  OU was the 3rd seed in the East MAC division, and BGSU was the 1 seed.  OU defeated BGSU in the semis.  Here are some more good notes about the season for the ladies:

The Bobcats' 2007-08 season proved to be one for the record books as head coach Sylvia Crawley'ssquad pulled down more rebounds, scored more points and knocked down more 3-pointers than any other Ohio team in history.

Here is a quick reminder of recent OU Women's Athletics Accolades:

MAC Champs-

OU Volleyball (regular season champs, only one conference loss in 4 years)

OU Cross Country (repeat champs)

OU Swimming and Diving 2007-2008

Funny Ad

I saw a funny ad today in the Athens Messenger (lovingly referred to as "The Mess").  It was advertising for a gravestone maker.  The ad stated "March Madness Sale".  I didn't know that memorial markers went on sale.  And, I wouldn't associate them with college basketball.

Here we go bobcats, here we go...

Or not.

The OU men's basketball team finished its season last night with a loss to Miami in the quarterfinals of the MAC tournament.    

I could say I am disappointed, but the truth is, I am becoming less and less an  OU men's bball fan as the years go by.  I see the same thing every year. Talented young men come to Ohio.  They show promise in their first year.  But I don't see improvement as the years go on.  I call this bad coaching.  

O'Shea has never impressed me.  I admit, it may be easy for me to judge watching from the sidelines, so I will try to refrain from making unfounded accusation.  But I will say that when I watch winning coaches on TV (because not many winning coaches come to the Convo) they show emotion.  They get behind their players.  I see one emotion from O'Shea, fear.  I think players can read that and don't perform when their coach looks worried all the time.  

Also, I have never seen OU run a good offense.  Too much standing, too many lazy passes.  And we haven't had a reliable shooter since Esterkamp.  Oh Estee, where art thou now? 

I will say that OU does play good defense.  It keeps them in games.  I like these young kids.  Tillman, Hester, Bert.  But again, will they get better? 

O'Shea's contract is up in two years.  We'll see if OU keeps with the status quo or not.  I know what I would do.

Mid March

This past weekend, Ohio was hit by a late winter storm.  Athens only received about 4 inches of ice and snow, but the rest of Ohio 12-20 inches.  We didn't take pictures and I didn't blog about it here because I am sick of snow. It's mid march and I am ready for spring.  The crocuses...croci.. (what is the plural of crocus) are blooming in some warm spots, and the daffodils are on the edge of blooming.  Just waiting for that special day when the weather is warm enough. I even hear birds out there chirping away.  I know they are ready for spring. Bring it on.

I did participate in an interesting project on Sunday.  Making mushroom logs.  Now, I know you are thinking, southeast Ohio,   mushroom logs... heh heh heh.  But these were legit.  I joined my friend Molly and her permaculture club in making these logs.  This consisted of drilling holes in logs, stuffing the mushroom spawn down in the hole, and then sealing it with wax.  The process took a lot longer than we thought, and Molly and I spent six hours out in the country drilling, stuffing, and sealing.  It was fun, though.  I met some knew people and was reacquainted with some others.  These folks are all interested in sustainability, and there was some exchange of knowledge in that arena.  

Happy Thursday! It looks like it will be another sunny one!

End of an era

If you ever visited Kent and I, you had to have met Rick. He lived with us for ten years. He started out with us when we rented on North Congress and then moved with us to Second Street. He finally left the nest last year. Another chapter has closed. Rick finally finished his masters degree. He came here in 1994 (I think) to pursue a masters, but got hired by OU to be the official photographer of the university. This full time job (and then some) took up too much time for Rick to complete the degree. Plus, he had a job he loved, doing what he wanted to do.

A couple of years ago, he decided to finish the darn thing, and now that hard work has paid off. A masters thesis for photography consists of a thesis show. Rick chose for his subject, his mother, who had Huntington's Disease. This disease finally took her life just a few weeks ago. This show was a beautiful portrait of a strong women put together by a strong love.

Kent and Ricky at the show.


These stunning portraits are on display in the upstairs of the Dairy Barn. Not sure how long it will be up, though.



Miss Nogrady enjoying the art.


You can see more work by Rick Fatica at faticaphoto.com.

p.s. He shoots a good wedding, too!

Baby wrestling

 

Little Shindig at the Breglias

We were in Delaware, Ohio this weekend, catching up with some good friends. It was a grand ol' time, though we missed Mahoney, the Kleins, JR and a few others who couldn't make the trip. Maybe next year. We don't have a lot of photos from the weekend, though I will post a few. If you have an awesome snapshot, or video (like baby wrestling), send it to us, and we will try to get in on.

The Tweedles: Dave, Brooks and Chandra



Doug and Owen - the happy hosts.


Jack in the box. Little Andjreczyck had some fun in the kiddie castle.


Sorry, I couldn't flip this photo. Sometimes computers annoy me. But seriously folks, I know a lot of you have fun photos, so send them to gromen@yahoo.com.


Jax and big sister Stacey




Daddy Phil and Zach.



It was great to see everyone who was able to make the trip. Davenport and Adrienne won the award for greatest distance traveled (with D-port flying in from Bean-town and Adrienne bounding in from Wilmington, NC). Big Andy and was able to share openly and unabashedly...and had a number of us in stitches. Massey made a surprise guest appearance, and a few brave souls shared a few jello-shots with him.

Funny...Drew Mikita called earlier in the night, from Colorado...so we crank-called him back. We were simultaneously watching the OU v Miami bball game on tv. He was watching the game in CO....and we watched them get their butts kicked....terrible...pathetic 32-14 half-time score. The MAC is goofy. Kent State was ranked 24th in the country and managed to lose to Bowling Green this weekend....a team that OU spanked at home last weekend.