BuckeyeGrove.com - Rapp Around: Can You Feel The Love?

May 2, 2003

Jeff Rapp
Magazine Staff

EDITOR'S NOTE -- The following column appeared in the April 26 edition of Buckeye Sports Bulletin. By popular demand, we are sharing it with you here on the BSB Internet site.

Can you feel it?

There?s a lot of love out there. It?s waiting in the wings. It?s ready to emerge from an adoring public and a smitten national media.

No, I?m not talking about the Republican National Convention.

Ohio State?s two most prominent athletic teams have a chance to make people as giddy around here as in 1998-99, when we here at BSB felt compelled to chronicle runs at the national championship by the powerful football team and underdog men?s basketball squad in a commemorative yearbook (which, by the way, is still available for purchase).

That was a very fun time with lots of memorable characters. More very well could be on the way.

Who will be the new heroes for the 2003 OSU football team? There are a lot of candidates from which to choose ? Will Allen, Drew Carter, Tyler Everett, Mike D?Andrea, Simon Fraser, A.J. Hawk, Donte Whitner, Brandon Schnittker, B.J. Sander, etc. What will be the most exciting game? What team, overlooked at the outset, will scare the bejeezus out of Ohio State?

It already seems like we?ve waited long enough for the answers. It is human nature to wonder how a team will handle championship success almost as soon as it attains it. My colleague and editor, Steve Helwagen, proudly asked Jim Tressel about his chances at repeating about 10 minutes after the coach was smooching a crystal football.

While Tressel wasn?t about to guess, the reply will come in dramatic fashion. The Buckeyes very easily could be the preseason No. 1 team, which means they could endure an entire season under a national microscope. Pressure? Yeah. Fun? You bet.

Soon after the recent Final Four ended ? OK, the very next day ? I went surfing around to see if anyone had figured out that Jim O?Brien?s Buckeyes could be a force next year. To my pleasant surprise ESPN.com?s Andy Katz was all over it. He tabbed OSU at No. 13 in his early preseason poll and called the Buckeyes ?the sleeper pick in the Big Ten.?

Very good, Andy. I see you?ve done your homework. Even with someone like Katz opening up people?s minds to the possibility that Ohio State basketball could be something to watch again, the Buckeyes very likely could be a TV darling anyway ? a little-engine-that-could outfit just good enough to blow out the candles in East Lansing and ruin the champagne in Champaign.

Whether Zach Williams is back or not and whether Brandon Fuss-Cheatham shakes off a creaky knee or not, anyone can see the Buckeyes have a chance to jump right back into the upper crust of college basketball.

The backcourt will be loaded even without Brent Darby and Sean Connolly. The frontcourt will be littered with able-bodied players (and will include a pretty intriguing stick figure in Charles Bass). The coach is proven.

It?s also easy to like the schedule. O?Brien knows that chemistry will be a major key to success. What better way to cultivate that than to go on the road against equal or lesser talent. OSU will likely open up, believe it or not, at San Francisco. Nice city. Mediocre team.

Assuming a win there, the Buckeyes will head to Maui (again, a little nicer than Storrs, Conn.) with a chance to come home 4-0. The field in Hawaii is dangerous but not overly harrowing. The Buckeyes could be the team to beat.

The preconference sked, from what we hear, will be loaded with mark-it-down wins ? a lot of opportunity for O?Brien to play a lot of players and fiddle with a lot of combinations.

The Big Ten looks tough, yet the Buckeyes have to like their chances to contend. Indiana and Purdue could fall on tougher times. Illinois, while as talented as anyone, will be going into battle with a brand-new coach. Wisconsin doesn?t get to sneak up on anyone this year. Iowa and Michigan could still be a year away. Minnesota will need a new identity without Rick Rickert. Michigan State will get everybody?s best shot. Penn State and Northwestern, um, stink.

Maybe just like in 1999 we?ll be saying, ?Why not Ohio State??

I Want A Golden Goose
Lenten season is over. I?ve paid my penance. It?s time to get out my Christmas list.

I am like you: I am growing impatient. I want to see these teams now. I know I?m supposed to soak up rays and relaxation this summer and let the cool of autumn and chill of winter come naturally, but that?s going to take months.

I know I?m supposed to enjoy the spring game and Worthington Summer League as nice little diversions, but that?s like watching Tyra Banks warm up the Victoria?s Secret runway with a pair of flannel pajamas.

Bring on the real stuff!

I want to see the Buckeyes take to the gridiron and the court a feared foe capable of beating the best the nation has to offer. I want to see how they handle pressure, how they play with white knuckles, who is going to be called upon in the clutch, what play Obie is going to run with the score tied at 70 in Assembly Hall, if Tress is really going to dare throw again on fourth-and-short.

I want to walk into stadiums and arenas tripping over cords that connect to big network broadcast trucks. I even want to begin elbowing my way into a reporter mosh pit to ask Lydell Ross how he thinks he ran on that one series in relief. I want to ask Matt Marinchick if he?s enjoying getting so much mop-up time.

I want to run down Dick Vitale on his way out of the Schottenstein Center door and ask him what he thinks of Ohio State?s chances in the Big Ten, just as I did in 2000. I want to bump into Brent Musburger in the soda line of the press box. I want to have to walk around the ?GameDay? set on my way to postgame interviews. I want to trek past thousands of beer-swilling, face-painted lunatics in the dusk on my way to the opener with Washington and walk past them again under the midnight moon.

I want to see O?Brien in a Hawaiian shirt signaling out for his fullcourt press to the dismay of Dayton. I want to see Michael Jenkins turn a 7-yard out into a 50-yard footrace with an Iowa safety. I want to see Maurice Clarett and Chris Gamble Heisman cards floating around press boxes. I want to see Michigan State come to town for a 3:30 ABC game in November with visions of major upset dancing in their heads ? again.

I want to argue about the polls and wonder why N.C. State is ranked ahead of Penn State if OSU beat N.C. State like a drum and barely won in State College. I want to see scrolls at the bottom of my cable television channel of choice and see the words ?Ohio State? followed by a very small number dipped into parentheses.

I want to hear Mike Lupica talk about ?this kid Sullinger? and Jim Rome break down why or why not he thinks the Buckeyes will win a third straight game against Michigan. I want to see dorky guys in dorky pastel suit jackets sitting behind me in the Ohio Stadium press box. I want to be told my seat has been moved down because ?Sports Illustrated is here again.? (OK, maybe not that.)

I want to see students sleeping on a blustery Friday night outside the OSU athletic ticket office. I want to see cheerleaders doing push-ups. Lots and lots of push-ups. I want to hear the eruptive Value City Arena crowd drown out the promotional goobers. I want to be one of 30 reporters trying to get a sound bite from Terence Dials. I want to see Mike Doss and Kenny Peterson encouraging the defense on the sideline because their NFL teams have an open week.

I want to see that cartoon CBS basketball come zipping onto my TV screen to signify the Buckeyes are about to play at Seton Hall. I want to hear Billy Packer blurt out, ?Jim, they simply have no one who can match Stockman?s quickness.? I want to feel chills when the OSU marching band storms through the Horseshoe. I want to feel a lump in my throat when Craig Krenzel hugs his parents before the Purdue game. I want to see Rick Boyages again, pumping his fist as Wisconsin calls timeout.

I want to see the OSU community embrace its two favorite teams during and after very memorable seasons. I want the games to have national implications.

After all, the love is out there, waiting to shower down. It?s up to the Buckeyes to pull the chain.

EDITOR'S NOTE -- You can still take advantage of the Internet special and get the next 30 issues of BSB (one year) for $39.95, nearly $20 off the regular price of $58.

Time is running out on that special. Take advantage of that offer by calling (614) 486-2202. You must specify the Internet Special when ordering.

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