Central Tenet of This Here Blog and Other Tidbits

There is one overriding guideline by which I conduct myself on the college football interweb. I'm not always picky about it, but I am at times overbearing in my criticism, as anyone who has seen the Lord's Work I do in certain comment sections can attest. Here is what I, your intrepid blogger, believe: 

 College sports should be fun. This is a multimillion dollar industry, and, shedding our homeristic tendencies, removing the Scarlet-tinted rec specs and appraising the situation as it is, we spend (for the most part) a relatively minor percentage of our money and time on the teams we follow. We buy merchandise, we buy tickets, we watch the games and that's about it. The more money and time you spend on your team, the more emotionally tied to it you become. This seems obvious, but I don't think one should too easily let emotion dictate discussion of his or her favorite team. We are not players. We are not coaches. We are fans.

Once the final whistle sounds, a good fan should be able to resume his life as normal, win or loss. He can be down about a loss or absolutely amped about the win, but the final score should not determine his demeanor for the week or his treatment of the team for which he roots; whether that's in the stadium, down on campus, or on the internet. Under no circumstances should you "hate" an individual player on your own team because he may not be living up to expectations. Under no circumstances should you "hate" your team because they, for example, lose "the big game". You have to keep constantly in mind that we are talking about kids, some of whom were on the homecoming court just a year before hitting the gridiron in Ohio Stadium or the court at Value City. The coaching staff is a different story. I am no big fan of Jim Bollman or Jim Heacock, so criticism can flow freely as far as I'm concerned. But lay off the hateful comments. There is nothing to tell me that either of them have participated in genocides (this past year's USC game aside, of course), human trafficking, money laundering, or American Idol, so I think it shouldn't be too hard to criticize them as coaches, and not as people.

I'm not saying you can't be frustrated with a player's development (or lack thereof) or that you can't get really pissed when the team makes the same mistakes that have cost them games in the past. What I am saying is that you need to choose your words carefully. I understand you probably don't actually hate, for instance, Brian Hartline and want him to die a slow horrible death, but just don't say it if you don't mean it. And if you do mean it, FOAD.

Other tidbits after the break.

- Any and all skit posts that I write are works of fiction. They are satire, parody, whatever you want to call them, but I do not think, for example, that Kirk Herbstreit is a member of the Aryan Nations or that Brent Musberger gets sloshed and rides mechanical bulls at Meijer to pass the time before Ohio State games. The latter would be awesome, wouldn't it? But it is, in the end, the work of a demented young communications major and not the truth.

- I am a relative newcomer at this whole bloggin' thing. I'm a spotty commenter on EDSBS (who isn't?), I regularly haunt the comment threads over at 11W, and I participate in every Dr. Saturday liveblog real life allows me to, but: I just started actually writing down my thoughts on Ohio State sports in December and the rise has been, well, meteoric. I'll probably need pointers on various things from the established bloggerati.  Any of said pointers, as well as tips on rumors, news, and anything even obliquely related to Ohio State sports should be sent to samwwaht@yahoo.com

I leave you with this general set of wordy and poorly thought out principles:

- Leave if all you're ever going to do is spout hateful things, unless it's about a rival, in which case I'm quite lenient on the haterade.

- Only criticize players and coaches as players and coaches, not as people. Don't question their "heart", their "toughness" or their ability to play and coach. Question their schemes and their decisions, certainly, but don't question their character. We all have flaws, and players and coaches are no different.

- "Lord's work" entails turning back the tide of idiots that always rises when Ohio State - shocker of shockers - loses a game in some sport. Idiots aren't people who criticize the gameplan, coaches, or players; idiots are people who are posting to sow discontent and anger for no other reason to be internets famous, which is just like real famous, amirite?

- Don't take the skit posts seriously. This is for your mental health and my own.

- On the subject of cheating in college football - I'm under the impression nothing is sacred and every program, even UL-Lafayette, will bend the rules. More on this later.

- Never - and this is per SBN guidelines and common decency - use racial or homophobic slurs - even "gay" in the wrong context - in reference to anyone.

- Given that this is a blog, rumormongering and hearsay are welcome insomuch as it doesn't have a "victim" and can be corroborated by an outside source of some repute (not Bleacher Report. Oh God, not Bleacher Report).

- Suckas who root for other teams are welcome to post whatever they want here, as long as they aren't trolling. My definition of trolling is similar to the Supreme Court's definition of pornography; I know it when I see it.