This week’s poll question is sponsored by: ClearSaleing

Popularity: 33% [?]

I attended the 40th anniversary of the Scholar-Athlete Recognition Dinner last night. Wow. What a statement about Ohio State’s commitment to academics. In total, 462 Scholar-Athletes were recognized - a record number.

Kellen Harkness (diving) and Saskia Mueller (field hockey) walked away with the prestigious Big Ten Medal of Honor, which is awarded annually to the top senior male and female Scholar-Athletes. The award comes with a $5,000 postgraduate scholarship.

A few things are worth noting about the event:

• the number of Scholar-Athletes recognized was staggering. No one should have any doubt about Ohio State’s academic excellence.
• the Scholar-Athletes are much more involved in outside activities and charities compared to when I was in school. The demands on their time keep increasing. I really don’t know how they fit everything in.
• the number of International students receiving awards was impressive. This says a great deal about Ohio State’s ability to attract the top talent from around the world.
• there’s always a freshman who wears shorts to a jacket-and-tie banquet.

If you’re an Ohio State fan, you can really take pride in the accomplishments of our Scholar-Athletes.

Popularity: 39% [?]

As a youngster growing up in central Ohio , I knew one thing about Buckeye quarterback Rex Kern.

That was this: Rex Kern was “the man.”

That’s the best way I can describe the hold he had on the Buckeye teams of the late 60s and early 70s. Rex was the unquestioned leader on those teams, and was one of those guys who just found a way to win. Later I got to know Rex personally and came to appreciate him as the personification of what Woody Hayes preached.

Woody told us to play hard and fair on the field and aspire to excellence off it. Rex fit that bill and still does to this day.

That’s one of the reasons why I was so thrilled to see that he was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame last week. To me, it was always a sore spot that Rex wasn’t in the Hall, because he was clearly someone who belonged there.

If you ask any fan or player from Rex’s era, they’ll tell you that he was the engine that powered some great Buckeye teams, including our 1968 national champions. Rex had amazing leadership capabilities, great moxie, and exceptional athleticism.

What he didn’t have was great passing statistics. That was more of a reflection of our offense at the time, though, than Rex’s ability. Woody liked to keep the ball on the ground in those days, and I think through the years Rex was maybe overlooked because he didn’t have gaudy passing statistics.

But people in the know were well aware of Rex and his place in Ohio State history. It’s no coincidence that he was named one of our offensive co-captains when the Buckeye all-century team was selected in 2000. He deserved that spot just as he deserved to be in the College Football Hall of Fame.

I am proud to have known Rex in my life and proud that he’ll be joining me in the College Hall later this year. Congratulations, Rex.

Popularity: 42% [?]

I wanted to take the time to recognize some Legends on the move as well as some local events of interest that are happening soon! If you are involved in a noteworthy cause, please let us know so we can share with the masses. Although it is impossible to keep up with all that is going on with all of our Legends, we will try to highlight as many as possible each week!

Make sure you nutty sports fans tune into Columbus Sports Network. Buckeye Legends Greg Frey and Gary Berry will grace their presence on the airwaves as commentators for our other home team the Destroyers. You can catch CSN on Time Warner and Insight Cable on channel 78, on WOW cable on channel 97 and on channel 32 on DISH network and over the air.

Congratulations are in order to Rex Kern who has been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. Way to go Rex, we are proud that you are a Buckeye!

A big thank you goes out to Buckeye Legends Pete Johnson and Maurice Hall who were kind enough to donate signed OSU memorabilia to a great cause. Because of their generosity and selflessness, the money raised from their donations will send numerous kids to Camp Sunrise.

Buckeye Legends Cedric Anderson & Roger Harper in conjunction with the Columbus Parks and Recreation will be hosting a Summer Football Camp from July 9 – 13th at Howard Rec Center on Cassady Avenue, and then another session from July 16 -20th at Barack Rec Center on Woodrow Ave. It is open for Girls and Boys.

The Woody Hayes Celebrity Golf Classic has been scheduled for June 25th, 2007. This event is being held at New Albany Country Club and will benefit Children’s Hospital. Many of your favorite Buckeye Legends will be in attendance as well as other prominent Sports Figures from the community.

The Columbus Destroyers Charity Golf Outing will be held on Monday, June 11 at the Golf Club of Dublin. Many of the members of the Destroyers team will be playing in this worthy cause.

If interested in receiving more information about any of these events or about Buckeye Legends, please register your email address at BuckeyeLegends.com so that we can keep you informed of important events throughout the community.

Thanks for supporting your community!

Popularity: 30% [?]

This week’s poll question is sponsored by: ClearSaleing

Popularity: 28% [?]

This week’s poll question is sponsored by: ClearSaleing

Popularity: 30% [?]

This week’s poll question is sponsored by: ClearSaleing

Popularity: 29% [?]

No NFL team’s first-round draft choice last weekend brought as much scrutiny as that of the Miami Dolphins’ selection of the Buckeyes’ Ted Ginn Jr. ninth overall.

After all, it is rare when the head coach, in this case Cam Cameron, is booed by fans at his team’s draft party.

But I believe Dolphin fans and coaches will fall in love with the speedster following just one season. That is, unless Ginn’s foot injury is worse than we were led to believe.

In retrospect, it is easy to see why Miami decided to take Ginn so high if you examine tape of only two games. First, consider that cornerbacks Leon Hall of Michigan and Aaron Ross of Texas were considered first-round locks. And that is where they were selected.

Now remember that Ginn blew by each this past season just as a Ferrari blows by a Volkswagen.

Which leads me to a similar analogy, that of the Buckeyes leading the Wolverines when it comes to the NFL talent pool.

You wonder why Ohio State has been beating up Michigan lately, winning five of the six games since Jim Tressel became head coach?

One obvious reason is that Tressel has done a better job of preparing his players for The Game than Lloyd Carr has.

Here’s another: He has had better players to prepare.

Beginning with the 2001 NFL draft through the 2007 draft, Ohio State has had 53 players selected, including 12 in the first round.

Michigan?

The Wolverines have had 32 players taken in that same time frame, but only seven in the first round.

Other thoughts concerning the draft:

• I think it is now obvious that Antonio Pittman (fourth round, New Orleans) should have returned for his senior season. But he wasn’t the biggest loser among running backs who left college following their junior seasons for the NFL draft. That tag goes to Notre Dame’s Darius Walker. The running back whom Ohio State offered a scholarship four years ago, then became Notre Dame’s leading rusher but left the Irish early, and was not drafted at all. Ouch.
• Florida linebacker Earl Everett, whose helmet-less pursuit and subsequent tackle of Troy Smith in the BCS Championship Game raised his profile, was not drafted although nine of his Gator teammates were. By the way, the University Florida purchased several billboards on the Sunshine State’s interstates touting the school’s recent athletic success. The billboards include a picture of Everett’s tackle of OSU’s Heisman-winning quarterback.

Popularity: 27% [?]

There is no doubt that Ohio State fans have been feeling a draft the past few weeks.

The NBA draft was the first to interest Buckeye backers when Greg Oden, Mike Conley, Jr., and Daequan Cook declared themselves eligible for the draft. Oden is gone for sure and has already signed with an agent. Conley and Cook did not, and intend to get a gauge on where they will fall on draft day before deciding whether or not they’ll go pro.

My take on this has always been fairly straightforward. In general, many people go to college to help further their professional careers. If a lucrative career is sitting there for the taking after just one year of school, it’s hard to compel someone to stay.

In the case of Oden, I think he undoubtedly made the right choice. Greg would have been the first choice in the NBA draft last year, just as he
will be this year and would have been next year had he elected to remain at Ohio State. For him, going pro makes a lot of sense.

I also don’t quarrel with Conley and Cook testing the waters. There is no harm in putting your name out there to see where it may fall. I do
hope that if either player learns that his draft stock is not high, he makes the right choice and returns to school.

We still have a few weeks before Conley and Cook make their decisions on whether to stay or go. For some Buckeye football players, their futures
have already been solidified.

Two Buckeyes-Ted Ginn, Jr. and Anthony Gonzalez-were selected in the first round of the NFL draft on Saturday. I wholeheartedly congratulate
both. They were huge parts of our success the past few seasons and I have no doubt they will make productive professional players.

I do admit that I was mystified at how far our quarterback Troy Smith fell in the draft. To me it was nothing short of ridiculous to see him go late in the fifth round. While I understand that some skepticism regarding Smith grew out of his performance against Florida, it doesn’t make sense to me to disregard an entire career’s worth of great games because of one bad one.

If there is any positive for Troy, it’s that he landed in a great situation in Baltimore. He is going to come in with very little immediate pressure and he’ll have a chance to learn from a great veteran quarterback in Steve McNair. Plus, both McNair and backup quarterback Kyle Boller’s contracts expire after this year, so maybe Troy’s chance will come sooner than we think.

Popularity: 43% [?]