Football 2007

9;30AM

Fall and Football go hand-in-hand...problem is, football starts when the temps are in the 90s and ends when(at least here in the north) it's in the 20s or below. Growing up in south Florida I was a baseball junkie, and that sport was and still is #1 on my list...football a distant second...same when it came to play...baseball and later fast pitch softball, I was a pretty decent player...football? In high school I didn't have the size(I grew as I got to be 19 and in the Air Force)...my senior year I was about 5' 9" and 135 lbs....we had some great teams at Celina(All-American at OSU and All-Pro with the St. Louis Cardinals, Jim Otis was our fullback)...so I got to watch some pretty good blowouts my junior and senior seasons.

Growing up in Florida my pro team was the Cleveland Browns and my college team the Florida Gators...both of whom I despise today(just like the Yankees of baseball..fan then, not a fan now)....now don't get it wrong, I don't live and die sports...but I do enjoy them, coached baseball at various levels for 30 years, soccer for about 10 and a couple of years of football at the 5th-6th grade levels, when Hal, my youngest, was playing...I have been a varsity High School baseball umpire, along with my oldest, Sam, for many years...and have been doing High School, Jr High, and Recreation levels for the past couple years in football.....gets me out and helps keep me in reasonable shape for someone of 58 1/2 years old.

I also broadcast football, baseball, and basketball(my favorite play-by-play sport) for many years at the High School level...being involved in sports broadcasting on a part-time basis gave me the opportunity to get into the pro and college scene for free, get good interviews and sit in the press box or stand and take photos or do camera work on the sidelines....most memorable had to be in 1981 when I sat in the press box in Cincinnati when the Bengals took on San Diego in the Ice Bowl AFC Championship game....the Bengals won, but the story was the temps...-59 chill factor on the field with actual temperatures being in the -15 to -20 range....the press facilities were much better, not!....beer and soda supplied to the press corps was actually freezing in their plastic cups....what a day!

Yesterday after a sluggish start the OSU Buckeyes defeated Washington Huskies 33-14, after being down 7-3 at the half...local product, Todd Boeckman the OSU QB looked sluggish in the first half, but turned it around, and will keep his starting job for another week it appears....my Ohio University Bobcats gave Virginia Tech a good game for the first half(tied 7-7) before Tech answered the call and won going away 28-7....can't say the same for my friend and fellow sky cop Mushy's Tenn Vols...ouch! The Gators gave them a thumping...kind of like they did to the Buckeyes in last years National Championship game.

I had a JV game at Waynesfield yesterday morning...the home team, down 6-0 most of the game, drove the field and scores on a 4th and 10 from the 15 with 46 seconds left, makes the conversion and wins 8-6 over Lima Perry.....today scheduled to do a Rec League d0uble header here in Celina....means I will miss the battle of Ohio between the Bengals and Browns....maybe I'll tape it...and see if it's worth watching the game after I already know the score.

[photo...1993 At Ohio State vs Indiana...the Buckeyes clinch the Big Ten...yep, that's me in the leather jacket acting like I know what the Hell is going on...standing on the sidelines....I remember the cops maced the crowd at the end when they tried to take down the goal posts....those suckers are hard steel and anchored by a of bunch cement...they didn't come down]

prh