I hope everyone had a great Christmas and survived it safely! Did you get what you wanted? I decided since this is the last week of 2012, why not do a “best of and worst of” to recap all the things that caught our eye or made us angry this past year. Let’s rumble!
The Gator Bowl- The year started out with the Buckeyes in the Gator Bowl taking on the Florida Gators. The outcome and subsequent bowl ban clearly make this one of our “worst of” for the year. The catch to it that makes me crazy is listening to everyone now talk about it like they knew that the bowl ban was coming. From Gordon Gee to Gene Smith and down the line to all of us, everyone thought they would be getting probation and reduced scholarships for “Tattoo-gate”. The revisionists out there like to destroy Smith for not taking a self-imposed one year ban. There are plenty of reasons to not like Gene Smith, the bowl ban isn’t one of them.
Beating Syracuse- Everyone knows Jim Boeheim is a cranky old fart. One of the “best of” moments of 2012 was watching the Buckeyes take apart his Syracuse Orangemen to earn a berth in the Final Four. Watching him grimace and complain, knowing he was outmatched and on his way out of the tournament was a beautiful sight!
Circle Drill- A clear cut “best of” was prior to the spring game when Urban Meyer called the team to the middle of the field and performed one-on-one “nutcracker” drills. We all had heard Urban Meyer speak and we knew his history. At that time, our last image of the Buckeye football program was a beaten team in disarray at the Gator Bowl. The realization that Urban Meyer was actually the Buckeyes head coach, physically seeing him with our own eyes on the field instructing the football team, gave us a renewed hope. Seeing them smash each other, hooting and hollering, cheering each other on, embracing “Urban’s way”, let us know that our boys were going to fight in 2012 once fall came rolling around. Quite a moment!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7GGqIQwjl4&hl=en_US&version=3&rel=0]
Gangnnumamun what? I still don’t know what “Gangnam Style” is and have not heard the song or seen whatever it’s supposed to look like or any of it. That is a “best of” for 2012: My ability to avoid a pop culture nuisance.
Orion Music and More- Those of you who read my ramblings before I joined the Buckeye Battle Cry remember my first and only non-sports blog when I documented the weekend that was Orion Music and More back in June. To say it was the best weekend of my life is an understatement and the recent announcement that there will be an Orion in 2013 makes me giddy like a kid on Christmas Eve. With Saturday and Sunday night headlining outdoor performances by Metallica and a ton more (a custom car show, Metallica museum, Kirk Hammett’s horror movie collection on display, comedians, alt rock bands, metal bands, country bands, a surfing and skating demo, an independent movie viewing tent hosted by Lars Ulrich, music and memorabilia vendors from all over the country and more…) I strongly recommend my rock and metal readers to look into taking the trip to Detroit (yuck, I know, but it is what it is) this coming June. You won’t be sorry!
Wow did you see that?! Is there any disputing Devin Smith’s one handed 23 yard touchdown grab in the season opener against Miami was the catch of the year? Just incredible!
Comment of the year “Let’s beat the sh*t out of Michigan!” Urban Meyer at Earl Bruce’s annual Friday morning before The Game pep rally
Swish! Who would have thought the Cleveland Indians would make the “best of” list for 2012? Narrowly beating the end of the year cutoff they shocked us all when they signed former Buckeye and Columbus native Nick Swisher to a four year contract to be the team’s new right fielder and power hitter. Word is that on Swisher’s visit to Jacobs Field (I do NOT say Pr*gr*ss*ve Field) a certain former head coach of the Buckeyes named Jim Tressel just happened to show up at lunch and a scoreboard greeting from current head coaches Urban Meyer and Thad Matta encouraged “Swish” to come home and sign with the team that resides in Ohio. Guess it worked!
Brown out- After giving us hope by putting together a three game winning streak, one of the years “worst of” was the Cleveland Browns performance against the Washington Redskins two weeks ago and this past Sunday’s beat down in Denver by the Broncos. So close to making the “best of” list for surprising everyone and proving they’re a real team, the Browns break my heart and join the “worst of” list, again, for 2012.
Grumpy Cat- If you’re not following @ExtraGrumpyCat on Twitter, seriously check it out. Definitely a “best of” Twitter follow for 2012.
Best movie I saw in 2012- Call me a dork, but that’s easy: The Dark Knight Rises.
Second best movie I saw in 2012- I didn’t know much about the Iran hostage crisis other than what was in text books in school. The movie Argo was outstanding in explaining both sides and the tension involved. If you haven’t, do yourself a favor and see it! One word to describe Argo: Intense!
Third best movie I saw in 2012- The police drama End of Watch was gritty and outstanding. You felt like you knew all the characters, or they were at least people you’ve seen or met at one time or another. Just a really, really good cop movie that felt really real. Lots of real on that one…
Worst movie of 2012- Some remakes are good, some are bad and some should have just been left alone. Red Dawn, a classic from my childhood, should have been left alone.
Funniest movie of 2012- While I loved Project X and Ted, my funniest pick for 2012 is a sort of remake that actually got it right: 21 Jump Street. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, who would have thought they’d make such a classic comedy pairing?!
Favorite song to come out in 2012- Stone Sour “Gone Sovereign” Check it out!
Favorite Buckeye on field moment- It’s a tough choice to make. I loved Ryan Shazier jarring the ball from Montee Ball at the goal line in Madison. Shazier also gets a nod for his interception for a touchdown at Penn State to really silence the “white out” and start pounding the nails in PSU’s coffin. There are all of the spectacular plays that “XBrax360” Braxton Miller made and Carlos Hyde’s heroics throughout the year. But the one moment I’ll remember forever was Zack Boren’s crushing sack on Devin Gardner and subsequent fist pump in his face in The Game. It always makes me smile and takes my “best of” for on field moment. The stadium absolutely erupted when they saw that a hole opened up and Boren was blitzing through it unscathed. The “ooh” sound following by raucous cheers and venomous outbursts are what this rivalry is all about. After Denard Robinson’s “eat” gestures in 2011, it felt good!
Favorite Buckeye non-sports moment- When The Game was all said and done, the final score had been written and the players were on their way home to celebrate, another group of Buckeyes got together in Hilliard, Ohio to celebrate 12-0 and a successful 2012: The staff of the Buckeye Battle Cry. The best decision I made in 2012 was joining the group and being a part of the hardest working Buckeye blog site on the web. So to Tim, Wva, Eric, Janelle, Gary, Jeff and Mali: Thanks for allowing me to be a part of the site! It’s been a lot of fun and 2013 looks to be even better!
Metallica track of the week- Our MTOTW is also the 2012 Metallica performance of the year. In 2012, Metallica decided to celebrate their self-titled 1991 release affectionately known as “The Black Album” by performing it in its entirety at some of the festivals they headlined this past summer. This would mark the first ever live performances of “The Struggle Within”, “Don’t Tread on Me” and one that the fans have long clamored for, “My Friend of Misery”. While they all came off well live, Misery became a crowd favorite. After watching this performance you’ll see why. We go to Lisbon, Portugal’s “Rock in Rio” festival for a haunting and harmonizing performance of the year: Here is “My Friend of Misery”!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xkf0VY17Eg&hl=en_US&version=3&rel=0]
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