Ohio State Week

The Buckeyes come to Ann Arbor this weekend with the rivals tied for first place in the Big Ten. The stakes are huge. The winner is in the driver's seat for the regular season championship and a number one seed in the Big Ten Tournament. The loser could conceivably fall as far back as a tie for 7th place if the cards fall the wrong way.

As an added bonus, Michigan will be celebrating the career of Barry Larkin. His #16 jersey will be added to the walls of the Fish, where it shall remain forever retired into Michigan lore.

Final notes and thoughts after the jump:

[Ed: Also on the site: Barry Larkin's press conference.]

For Ohio State week, We get to have a bit more "vicious" in the vicious electronic questioning. Not only is Chris Webb, of Buckeye State Baseball and the BuckeyeNine, one of the bloggers who has been around for a while, but he's also one who I keep up with on a near daily basis during the season. So the familiarity breeds comfort with making fun of him and the Buckeyes in such a public space.

So without further adieu, let's get to the Q&A:

Describe your season in 3 sentences.

Rocky but expected. It's better to be 3 words than 3 sentences. Was told if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything. Whoops that is 3 sentences after all.

Speaking of rocky, how did OSU manage to lose to a D2 and an NAIA team? 

Plead the fifth.

Yeah, I'm sure losing to a pair of teams with a total of ZERO scholarship athletes has to be rough. So glad Ohio State could show us that.

What's the chances of Alex Wimmers making me post pictures of otters on Friday? We're not going to be no-hit again are we? [Ed: con't after the jump.]

Side Note: Derek Dennis's status is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.

With half of the Big Ten regular season complete, it's time to take a look at the conference to see where Michigan is and what it will take to get a good seed in the Big Ten Tournament. In this post, we'll walk through the series we've already completed and then look at the opponents we still have on the schedule.

So, for all you late comers to the baseball season, here's what you need to know.

Where We've Been

While not much has changed in terms of outlook, Indiana hasn't turned out just as good as I expected either. They've been quite inconsistent, with their top hitters going ice cold the weak after they torched us. That freeze of course happened against Ohio State, giving the Buckeyes a pretty easy 2-1 series victory. They did sweep Iowa, though, something Michigan couldn't do.

The loss to Bischoff is still nothing to worry about. It really would have helped for Michigan to get a sweep. Ohio State isn't on their schedule, but I'm not sure if that helps or hurts us. Purdue may be able to steal a game from the Buckeyes, or they may get blown out in all three.

Things haven't changed much here in a week. Illinois lost 2 of 3 at Michigan State, which means the Spartans are just keeping pace with us.

That happened. Nothing has happened in our season and it still stings. I can't wait for this weekend to come so I can get it out of my head. Plus, the Buckeyes did us a favor losing a home series to Penn State just so we could keep pace.

After the jump, we look at the present and then haphazardly predict the future.

Part one, the sweatervest kidnapping

As a kid, Tressel was kidnapped once. He was standing in front of his schoolyard, and a black sedan pulls up. And two guys get out, and they say to him, does he wanna go away with them to a land, where everybody is fairies and elves, and he can have all the comic books he wants and chocolate and wax lips and dress up in vests. And he said "yes", and he got into the car with them, 'cause he figured, "What the hell", he was home that week-end from college anyhow,

Part 2, the agony of his parents

The kidnappers drive him off, and they sent a ransom note to his parents. And his father has bad reading habits, so he gets into bed at night with the ransom note, and he read half of it, and he got drowsy and fell asleep, then he lent it out.

Meanwhile they take him to Toledo, bound and gagged, and his parents finally realize that he's kidnapped. They snap into action immediately: they rent out his room.

Part 3, the final conflict

The ransom note says for his father to leave a thousand dollars in a statue of Woody Hayes in Columbus. He has no trouble raising the thousand dollars, but he gets a hernia carrying Woody.

The FBI surround the house, "Throw the kid out,", they say, "give us your guns, and come out with your hands up."

The kidnappers say "We'll throw the kid out, but let us keep our guns, and get to our car."

The FBI says "Throw the kid out, we'll let you get to your car, but give us your guns."

The kidnappers say "We'll throw the kid out, but let us keep our guns - we don't have to get to our car."

The FBI says "Keep the kid."

The FBI decides to lob in teargas, but they don't have teargas, so several of the agents put on the death scene from Carmen—well, actually the death scene that inspired Carmen Ohio, the Buckeye’s oldest school song, which was composed on a train ride home from Ann Arbor, after OSU suffered an 86-0 loss to the Wolverines.

Tearstricken, his abducters give themselves up. They are sentenced to fifteen years on a chaingang, and they escape, in 4 groups of 6 each chained together at the ankle.  They get by the guards posing as two immense letter O’s followed by the letters “H” and “I”, spelling O-O-H-I, and inspiring OSU marching band later to re-enact this scene at each game.

*(as once told to me by a source who wishes to remain anonymous and spends his spare time plagiarizing Woody Allen night club routines).

In an annual tradition, the Thursday night before the Ohio State game, a group of Michigan faithful walk through the Ann Arbor cemetery, visiting the graves of Fielding Yost, Bo Schembechler, and Bob Ufer.

We meet at the Burton Clock Tower on Central Campus at 8pm. Some people bring flowers or candles, or nothing at all. Most people come decked out in Maize and Blue.

This is truly a moving experience, and one that I recommend for all who have a chance to attend. It's a solemn reminder of the reason we all love Michigan, and it really gets you in the mindset for the weekend.