Ohio State football fans became accustomed to winning ways again under former Buckeye football coach Jim Tressel. When I attended OSU in the mid-to-late 1980’s, 9-3 was the usual fare under the likes of Earle Bruce and John Cooper. But 9-3 wasn’t good enough to Buckeye Nation, which thirsted for something more than unrealized potential.

Along came Tressel from Youngstown State. A squeaky-clean image, solid recruiter, and a master motivator. The Buckeye faithful loved the guy most because he was a Wolverine beater—and anyone who can beat Michigan reaches god-like status in Columbus.

That’s why the fall from grace was so heavy and hard on scarlet-and-gray backers. All of a sudden, we were just like Michigan, not better than them. All of the jokes about scandal and snide comments about a dirty program had to be taken back—or worse yet, words eaten. Just like Wolverine fans had suffered from lean years and an uncertain future, so were OSU faithful facing the same prospect.

Buckeye Nation is searching for good news, any scrap of positive vibes from this season.

The unofficial dance between OSU athletic officials and Urban Meyer notwithstanding, football fans who bleed scarlet-and-gray are looking for the next Tressel—a proven winner who can run a squeaky-clean program and still contend for a national championship. Most of all, someone with a riverboat gambler’s mentality who can beat Michigan into submission, year-in, year-out.

Here’s hoping Urban Meyer is that guy. I’ve liked him since he cut his coaching teeth at Bowling Green. It’s been painful to be a Buckeye alumnus this year, and even tougher to be a football fan.

So it’s Thanksgiving Day and, with my family down south in Houston, I’m fortunate enough to have the Mullan family welcome me in with open arms here in Toledo.

That got me thinking to how all this started.

Back in 2005, after I had just gotten the job at FOX Toledo, my predecessor and former classmate, Adam Kuperstein, suggested I room with a friend of his named Matt Mullan. Considering that I had been extremely poor while living in Zanesville, when I heard what the rent was going to be if I roomed with Matt, I was pretty much sold on the place even without looking at it. It would basically have to be rat-infested for me to say no.

So I drove up from Zanesville with all my stuff straight to the location. Needless to say, and I found this out later, Matt was not exactly expecting his future roommate to move in THAT DAY of checking things out. We still chuckle about it now.

In any case, that was the beginning of a big-time bromance, if you will. I will confidently say that, the day I get married, I will insist on having Matt as one of my groomsmen. The relationship is that tight. We shared moments as two single men in Toledo that are unforgettable, whether it be going out on the town, having epic Mario Kart battles (I begrudgingly admit his dominance), having goofy inside jokes, or having chats late into the night where I sat in the doorway of his room as he was trying his best to sleep. I think what made this work was that Matt is an open-minded intellectual with plenty of goofiness to go along with a gynormous heart. He appreciated my dorkiness. I liked to call him the B.C.O.T. That stood for the Best Catch of Toledo.

Of course, Best Catches eventually get caught sometime, and that he was. And the girl who captured his heart, Emily Mullan, is so sweet that it really can’t be explained except that she’s pretty enthusiastically awesome. Naturally, their two kids are amazingly cute and I love hanging around them whenever I see them.

Yup, that bro love that I have for Matt Mullan is also spread for his entire family.

And not just Emily and the kids.

Here’s to the entire Mullan clan.

I am so honored to be joining them for Thanksgiving dinner.

I posted many weeks ago that it’s time to replace my 11 year old set of wheels. Because of the many things in life that become priorities, I only have time for a test drive about once every two weeks, so it’s becoming a long process.

Here’s one thing that’s surprised me about car shopping. So far I’ve really like all of the salesmen who’ve let me test drive their cars. I’ve been to four dealerships looking at various makes and models. Of course, we haven’t gotten down to hard negotiating, but every time I drive, ask questions and then walk away, the’ve been reasonably nice and have not gone overboard with the follow up phone calls or e-mails. That’s been rather pleasant.

What’s frustrating is making the decision. NOT having a car payment right now makes it tough to take the leap. It’s easy for me to keep researching and putting off the decision, hoping the great end-of-the-year bargain on the perfect car is just around the corner. I don’t know if it will be, but so far my fondness for various cars has remained rather practical and unemotional, which probably will help when it comes purchase time.

I want reliable, comfortable, FANTASTIC GAS MILEAGE, not too expensive. Any interior but black, because it gets hot in the summer sun. No there isn’t a perfect car, any more than there’s a perfect house. You eventually have to pick the one you like the best or the lesser of the evils.

I find myself paying attention to every car ad that flashes on the TV screen. I look up and instantly filter whether it’s a vehicle I might be interested in. Guess I’d better hurry up and decide or I’ll be test driving in the snow. At least I’ll know whether they come equipped with good all season tires. If the interest rates are good enough, maybe I should consider used?

This is the time of year when the interest in fantasy football either wanes or intensifies, depending on how one’s team is doing.

If your team is fading fast, your attitude may be ‘Well, there’s always next season.’ But if you’re still in the hunt for the FFB playoffs, every yard gained, every TD scored, and every interception is cause for concern.

Thankfully, I now have the best record in my league at 8-2. I have played in this FFB league for nearly 15 years now, so the other people who are franchise owners are no slouches. But I tried a new draft strategy this year that seems to be working.

First, I loaded up on all the Green Bay Packers players I could. There are a number of reasons for this. They’re an offensive juggernaut. Those players also will all have the same bye week.

Doesn’t make sense? Think about it this way: I play in a “keeper” league, where we’re allowed to retain the services of two NFL players each season. Hanging onto Aaron Rodgers was a no-brainer. The guy throws for big yards and mucho touchdowns. So I drafted some of the guys he’d be throwing to: Jordy Nelson and Jermichael Finley. That way I score double on some of Rodgers’ TD passes. I also grabbed the Packers kicker.

The other strategy involved is to write off one week as a loss by loading the roster full of guys with the same bye week. That way, you’re not biting nails week-by-week through the byes, where you might be missing two or three guys on a weekly basis.

With that same philosophy in mind, I also loaded up on three members of the Philadelphia Eagles. The team isn’t having the greatest season, but the offense is piling up the yards and TD’s.

Here’s the bonus: I never expected to win the two weeks the Eagles and Packers had bye weeks. But the rest of my lineup had career games, and I won both games unexpectedly.

Some leagues put the most stock in drafting running backs. I don’t, since in our league, we start two quarterbacks each week. Drafting the right QB’s, then, is king in my league.

But I have a different philosophy in drafting RB’s. Production matters—but not just rushing yards and TD’s. I try to focus on players who also are good receivers, to hedge my bets against a bad week or a good rushing defense. So I grabbed Ray Rice and LeSean McCoy and it’s paying big dividends this season.

So, the Orlando Breakers are having a breakout season—with the MFFL’s best record and #1 seed—at least for now.

That drafting strategy came through a lot of trial and error. Forget all the stuff the so-called FFB “experts” write each year on draft strategy. You have to find what works within the rules of your league.

By the way, the team name is a bit of TV trivia. Not only were the Breakers a USFL franchise way back when, but it was the fictional professional football team coached by “Coach”—actor Craig T. Nelson. You know, the old TV series where the Minnesota State coach earned a pro coaching gig.

What a wild day for Toledo. It’s not every day you hear about a 500 million dollar investment, like the one Chrysler’s CEO announced today.

Pretty incredible. The investment will be used for the creation of a new Jeep SUV. Production will begin in 2013–creating 1,100 added jobs for the local economy.

This is surely a trickle down affect, which so many people are excited about.

The Toledo Assembly complex will have to be expanded, and that means construction jobs starting immediately.

Sergio Marchionni says the new SUV will be replacing the current Liberty, which is created at the Toledo facility.

It was so uplifting to be apart of today’s announcement. The excitement and the hope among the workers wasn’t tough to notice.

Hockey Hall of Fame induction night was a special night for me. Born in Calgary and being a rabid Flames fan, it was tremendous seeing Joe Nieuwendyk and Doug Gilmour go in. This blog is not meant to take anything away from either Eddie Belfour or Mark Howe, both of whom I have tremendous memories of.

During my senior year of college, ESPN had a random trivia question as I was walking out of a classroom which had a few TV’s on. The question was, “Who before Teemu Selanne held the rookie goal-scoring record for a season?” The answer? Mike Bossy. My classmate (former FOX Toledo sports anchor Adam Kuperstein) was utterly shocked that I knew the answer right off the bat.

Here was my secret: I had gotten into NHL hockey a few years earlier, but my brain was starting to process things a little more during Nieuwendyk’s rookie season of 1987-’88. In that season, Nieuwendyk scored 51 goals. The media hype was tremendous about whether or not he would break Bossy’s record of 53. He obviously didn’t break that record, but he had done more than enough to win the Calder Trophy that year. Perhaps his most remarkable stat from that year – 31 power play goals.

Nieuwendyk played on a line with Hakan Loob and Gary Roberts, both tremendous players. That year, in 1988, Loob became the 1st Swede to ever score 50 goals. You might not have heard of Loob and the only reason this is the case is that Loob chose family over the NHL and moved back to Sweden after the Flames won the Cup the next season in 1989.

Before the 1989 season began, the Flames acquired Doug Gilmour in a move where they gave up Mike Bullard, who in 1988 had almost joined Nieuwendyk and Loob in the 50-goal club. As a kid, I knew Gilmour was good. After all, he was a part of an absolutely stacked Canadian team that had just won the 1987 Canada Cup over the Red Army – probably my 2nd favorite hockey moment after the 1989 Cup victory. Trust me – check the roster. STACKED.

Gilmour’s reputation, and this goes back to his junior hockey days with Cornwall, was that he was an offensive dynamo. He had a solid regular season in 1989 for Calgary playing on a line with Joey Mullen (currently in the HOF and scored 50+ that year) and Colin Patterson, who was a standout defensive forward and solid candidate for the Selke Trophy given to the league’s best defensive forward. Gilmour himself was a great defensive forward. He also had a reputation as a strong playoff performer. HOWEVER, most people forget that Gilmour was actually fairly quiet in the 1st-round series against Vancouver and through most of Game 1 in the second round against the LA Kings. THEN he scored in overtime to give the Flames the win. This was a Kings team in their first year with Wayne Gretzky, who had really helped Bernie Nicholls put up some serious offensive numbers. So there was a lot of intrigue in the hockey world with this series, especially since the Kings had just knocked off Gretzky’s former team, the defending champion Edmonton Oilers, who I absolutely hated. However, after that Gilmour goal, it felt like all the momentum swung the Flames’ way and Calgary swept LA in four. He would play a HUGE role with several huge goals the rest of the way as the Flames went all the way.

I also remember Gilmour for being part of a highly traumatic part of my childhood. Theoren Fleury (yes, I know he has off-ice issues) was always one of my favorites, being such a great player for the size that he was (I’m the opposite of tall myself), and as the years went by and Mullen moved on to Pittsburgh, Fleury played on the same line as Gilmour. They were a magical combo. Fleury broke the 50-goal mark in 1991. Gilmour had 61 assists. They were awesome.

Unfortunately, a contract squabble involving Gilmour came the following year, so the day that I moved to Houston, THAT DAY, I noticed that the Flames had made a huge trade with the Maple Leafs. Keep in mind, Cliff Fletcher (the guy who had assembled those championship Flames), had just recently taken the Toronto job. Fletcher absolutely FLEECED his successor, Doug Risebrough. The Flames traded Gilmour, solid backup goalie Rick Wamsley, very quality stay-at-home defensemen Jamie Macoun and Ric Nattress, and top prospect Kent Manderville. In return, they received a Gary Leeman who scored 50+ a few seasons earlier, but was coming off a down year. Michel Petit was a solid defenseman. Alexander Godynyuk was viewed as a solid prospect of a defender. Jeff Reese was a solid backup, but not in Wamsley’s neighborhood. And Craig Berube was an enforcer.

Essentially, this trade was about Gilmour and it was about Leeman. Leeman was so bad that he was traded to Montreal a few years later for Brian Skrudland. Skrudland was a solid defensive forward, but think about it: essentially, Gilmour for Skrudland. Not good for any Flames fan to think about.

And then Gilmour goes off and has a beastly Maple Leafs career that includes several more memorable playoff performances.

Nieuwendyk was traded a few years later for a young prospect named Jarome Iginla, but even though Nieuwy went on to win two more Cups and obviously still had plenty left in the tank, Flames fans could be happy for him because at least the Flames got Iginla out of it. Not Brian Skrudland.

Watching some of the speeches tonight, it just brought back a ton of memories. Nieuwendyk talking about the lessons taught to him by his dad and how his mother was the ultimate hockey mom. Gilmour taking a moment to remember the late Pat Burns.

It was, and I’m using Gilmour’s nickname here, just a “Killer” evening for any hockey fan, and meant that much more to me as a Flames fan.

I visited a friend in the hospital yesterday. Her story is a good example of how illogical our system is right now.

Of course I won’t use her name, just enough basics to illustrate my point.

She’s a 40-something cancer survivor who had to have surgery last week because after years good health, her cancer had come back. An energetic, funny, smart bicycling enthusiast who lost her nursing home mangement job a few months ago due to cutbacks. While living on unemployment, working part time as a contract employee and applying for the minimum 3 jobs each week that is required, this diagnosis came down.

She had made an effort to be smart. Knowing that she wouldn’t be able to afford the kind of medical insurance she had when she was working full time, she bought some very basic major medical insurance. Only enough to cover hospitalization. No frills. No doctor visits, or lab work, or MRIs are covered. No prescription coverage. She was told upon admission for surgery that she’d probably be better off with NO insurance. If she had none, the tab would be picked up by a government plan, a cancer charity or the hospital. Because she has a little insurance she now faces thousands in medical bills she cannot afford.

I’m not claiming to know what to do about health care. Obviously, a lot of smart and powerful people in our country have still not made sense of it. But I think you have to agree that there’s a problem when making an effort to have basic health insurance because you want to be covered if you have an accident while riding your bicycle (my friend’s rationale for buying the plan she did) gets you penalized.

No matter how true the grand jury report turns out, the details are absolutely horrible. If true, holy cow. Horrible. And that’s putting it lightly.

The real victims are the kids. Remember that.

Joe Pa’s legacy will be safe. Regardless of whether you’re pro-Paterno or anti-Paterno in this, his clean record will have a smear to end it, but time will heal. He will mainly be remembered for his many exploits on and off the field.

But he had to go. If he stayed, Penn State wouldn’t be an institution. It’d be a circus.

The victim here isn’t Joe Pa. It’s the kids. The fight for justice really should be for them if the allegations prove to be true.

Samuel Wurzelbacher already has announced he’s running for the 9^th District Congressional seat currently occupied by Democratic incumbent Marcy Kaptur.

But someone who attended Springfield High School alongside “Joe the Plumber” now is a declared Democratic candidate for the 5^th District Congressional race, ready to oppose incumbent Republican Bob Latta.

Angela (Wallington) Zimmann threw her hat into the ring Thursday during a campaign announcement held at her Springfield Twp. home. The Lutheran pastor and Bowling Green State University professor lives just a few streets away from “Joe the Plumber” in the Angola-McCord Rd. area.

But there’s an even bigger coincidence between the two, besides being high school classmates and current neighbors. It centers around their involvement in a campaign visit to their neighborhood by then-presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008.

While Wurzelbacher gained national fame and notoriety for questioning the future president on the issues, Obama posed for pictures and even kissed Mrs. Zimmann on the cheek. Now the pair have become upstart congressional candidates, hoping to upset the status quo.

Redrawn Congressional districts are giving the candidates such a unique opportunity.

If they both win, wouldn’t it be even more ironic if they sat across the aisle from each other in the U.S. House of Representatives?

First of all, the weather. We came very close to a record high today that was set back in the World War Two era. We don’t often vote in shirtsleeves in November in northwest Ohio.

We’re also hearing some strange claims of a poll worker being shot with BB guns at one Toledo polling place. Another of a police officer in uniform being turned away at his polling place, because of the uniform. Of course Ohio’s Issue 2, involving collective bargaining for government workers has been a hot button this year. You are not supposed to be allowed into a polling place with buttons, tee-shirts or other signage proclaiming your stance on an issue. Poll workers are instructed to ask you to take off a button, for example, before coming inside to vote. It’s to protect voters from intimidation. We are still checking out these claims and circumstances. But compared to other recent elections, this one certainly seems emotionally charged.