ND vs OSU: A Rematch for the Ages

This college football regular season probably didn't go the way anyone thought it was going to go. Oregon was down, Alabama lost to Ole Miss again, Ezekiel Elliot isn't a Heisman finalist and Clemson is the only undefeated team in the country. All pretty shocking potential headlines. One thing that I did see coming though, since last week anyways, was that my Notre Dame Fighting Irish would be matched up against the Ohio State Buckeyes in a bowl game. I knew it from the moment Ohio State was out of the Big Ten championship game. Notre Dame being a two-loss team and Ohio State not being in a conference title game, would be the perfect matchup for college football fans.

The two will be facing off in the Fiesta Bowl sponsored by BattleFrog in Phoenix, Arizona. These two teams have some of the most dedicated and traveling fan bases in the nation and the game will surely be electric. The stadium in Phoenix is a high energy stadium due to the fact that it indoors and tight seated in the stands.

The coaches are viewed as two of the best in college football right now, as Urban Meyer will square off against Brian Kelley for the first time in their head coaching careers.

The matchup will have tons of coverage in the press leading up to the game and despite the fact its not a national championship game, it should be just as popular as the games contending for the national title. The two faced off in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl sponsored by Tostitos and Ohio State marched over the Fighting Irish 38-14. Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith slashed the defense with his feet and arm and Ted Ginn Jr. lit up the scoreboard. The loss left a stain in the Notre Dame fan base and especially on me considering all of my friends are Buckeye fans. This rematch will settle the score for who is truly the better team. Although Notre Dame has been bitten by the injury bug this season, they have posted a 10-2 record and QB DeShone Kizer has stepped into his own under center for the Irish.

A slip up by Ohio State cost them a shot at repeating as National champs, so the Buckeyes will surely come out with a fire and competitive edge to win, considering their talent level is as high as anyone in the country.

This game will be one of the best in recent memory leading up to the kickoff, and hopefully both teams show up to play a great and entertaining game. Go Irish!

Now Watch Me Whip

These past ten days of Thanksgiving break have been unbelievably great. The people I saw, the times I had, and the changes I went through were truly some to appreciate.

One particular event that happened to me over break was one of misfortune. I was driving back to Lima on state route 309, the dark plains of Hardin county were filled with deer and one found its way into the road and in front of my car. Seeing the deer, the only thing I could think to do was to speed up so the deer didn't ride up on my hood. I hit the deer and my car was pretty damaged. I managed to make it home with a headlight out and my horn honking the entire time, but still home in one piece. As for my car, it was not in one piece. The front bumper was hanging off, my airbags were deployed after impact, so my steering wheel was funky to drive with, and grill was cracked.

The Ford Explorer seen to the right is my first car.
 I always wanted to name my first car and in honor of my dad's service in the military, I named it 'Nam. I named it that because my dad was in Vietnam and it was his car before it was mine. Also, for those that know me, my car has been through Nam and back with how many problems and breakdowns its had. It always found a way to be fixed and come back to the road somehow. Now, after the deer made its fatal hit on 'Nam, it was time to come to terms that I had to give up my baby. I have had that car for so long and so many memories have been shared in that car, that if you were a part of them, you would understand why I had a legitimate tear come to my eye when we traded it in.

The old was past and the new was to come. Having a few days to reflect on my car, I had to choose what car I would get to replace my old one. I looked at some of the 10 and Under lots in Lima and found a few options I liked, but one in particular caught my eye. A 2005 Nissan Frontier. I wanted a truck and I wanted to have a 4 door truck so people could get in and out of the car freely instead of waiting on the front passengers.

On Friday the 27th, my parents and I had scheduled an appointment at Reineke Family Dealership in Lima to go hunt for a new whip. I had always wondered what it was like to go through this process. When you see a commercial for people at the car dealership, it is supposed to be quick and painless. This appointment was not quick and not painless. I had to wait for 6 1/2 hours until an agreement was finally made between my bank and Reineke. I would be paying for the car myself and will have to make a car payment of $254 a month. This seems to be a challenging task for me since I don't make a whole lot of money, but it is something I wanted to step up and accept as a young man. I got to purchase my first car and take my first step into adulthood.

As one chapter of my life closes, another one begins and nothing is more exciting than a new beginning. To all the miles yet to be traveled!

Lima Boy takes down his fellow Buckeyes

This week in the sports world, many watched as the defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes took on the Michigan State Spartan in Ohio Stadium. With the cold mixed conditions falling down on Columbus, it was an unpredictable atmosphere. The Buckeyes offense was stalling and potential Heisman trophy-candidate Ezekiel Elliot only had 12 carries in the game.

All in all, everyone soon found out that the Buckeyes 23 game winning streak was snapped by the Spartans on a game winning field goal as time expired.

What most people didn't know, is that the quarterback who won that game for Sparty is a young man named Tyler O'Connor. Tyler hails from Lima, Ohio. The same town as yours truly. Tyler is an Irishman from Lima and was a standout dual-sport athlete in high-school at Lima Central Catholic. Also, this blogger got the chance to guard O'Connor in his high school basketball days, but the results were pretty one-sided.

Anyways, O'Connor had not played a game in "The Shoe" since the summer he graduated high school for the annual Ohio North-South All Star Game. O'Connor played for the South and led his team to victory that day 22-14.

Now O'Connor is 2-0 in the Shoe. Tyler, someone who grew up in Ohio and most of his close friends from high school attend Ohio State, must've felt some serious butterflies when he got into the game, whether he'll admit it or not. For someone like Ty, who is so competitive, they were probably the good butterflies. The ones that give you excitement and anticipation for battle. I can personally say that since I was in Lima on Saturday, almost everyone in Lima was in Columbus Saturday, so O'Connor had a home crowd, even on the road.

Ty's final stats were: 7/12 completions for 89 yards and 1 touchdown. The Ohio native delivered a handful of key third down conversions for the Spartans and helped keep the momentum on an even playing field. This is key because OSU lost on its senior day, in front on thousands of fans that might not always go to games, and to keep that stadium quiet is one heck of a mission.

O'Connor said in his post game interview,"They [Ohio State] recruited me to come punt for them, but I obviously made the right decision. Good team win." A little sprinkle on top for the team that fell to its own son, A Lima kid taking down the Goliath of the college football food chain on its own turf.

Steelers Deliver BIG vs Browns

Most of the time, when we see no. 7 on the field for the Steelers, it is as a starting quarterback. This past Sunday, that was not the case. Coach Mike Tomlin listed Ben as active for the game Sunday versus conference foe, the Cleveland Browns. The reason Ben was not starting on Sunday was due to a left mid-foot sprain he sustained in the previous week in the Steelers week 10 victory over the Oakland Raiders. Roethlisbeger was sacked in the middle of the 3rd quarter and his foot was landed on by Raiders defensive end, Aldon Smith. 

The Steelers began the game with back-up quarterback Landry Jones. In just his second career start, Jones was 0-1 and facing a battered Cleveland defense at home, so the odds were somewhat in his favor. Jones' day however,  was cut short. On the opening drive for the Steelers, Jones delivered a throw near the endzone and a Browns defender pushed a lineman into Jones and stepped on his ankle. Jones couldn't put any pressure on that ankle, so that was when Mike Tomlin looked like a genius. 

If Ben had been listed inactive instead for the game due to his injury, he wouldn't have been able to play and backup Jones and the Steelers would've had to have played tight end Heath Miller at quarterback. Luckily Ben was active and played the entirety of the game. If Ben is healthy, that can only mean one thing. A good day for this man:

Antonio Brown is arguably the best receiver in the NFL when Ben Roethlisberger is under center. The chemistry and connection those two have is remarkable and it shows up in numbers. In games with Roethlisberger, Brown averages 10.4 catches per game averaging 153 yards. In games without

Ben, Brown is averaging a dismal four catches for 64 yards. It is Ben that stirs "AB's" pot and Ben was the spark that Steelers needed on Sunday. 

The game was tied at 3-3 with the Browns having the ball in the first quarter. That is until Ben found his favorite target. Last week versus the Raiders, Brown had franchise recording-setting day, hauling in 17 catches for 284 yards. 

This week, Brown followed it up with 10 catches for 173 yards a pair of touchdowns. 

Brown and Ben are hotter than any other duo in the league and have high potential if Ben stays healthy. Headed into the buy week, the Steelers will receive a much needed rest and prepare for a tough road test in week 12 versus the Seattle Seahawks. Go Steelers!

Better Men Making Better Lives

This weekend I got to do something real cool. This weekend I got to make 10 young men's lives better. Not only in the facet of them joining a fraternity and broadening their horizon's, but because they had the tenacity to do what others couldn't. If joining a fraternity/sorority was easy, then everyone would do it. I am proud of the way these young me set themselves apart from others in their age group and took the Delta Sig challenge to become a better man.

The new guys all have special qualities about them that I like, but the one quality I like the most is they have become a unit. Their pledge class really rallied together and came close, despite their different backgrounds and interests, they became the best of friends and understand the true meaning of brotherhood. They are not the same at all, and yet they couldn't be closer.

The new initiates of Delta Sigma Phi will not only be better man, but they will be surrounded and influenced by better men and will put them in situations to succeed in life. Joining a fraternity is almost the sole reason I was offered my internship with FOX sports this summer in Los Angeles. Accepting the challenge to become a better man and balancing a varsity sport, a fraternity and school really taught me a lot about myself and what I am capable of and this capability was tapped into by the fraternity aspect of my freshman year of college. Watching these young men go through really made me reflect on my days as a freshman and what I want to tell them to avoid the same mistakes as me. Now I know how my dad feels...

Congrats Fall initiates of 2015 and welcome to the brotherhood.

Wake Up the Echoes

The Fighting Irish have done it again. They played a game down to the wire and found a way to pull out the win. In a tough road game in Philadelphia playing the undefeated, no. 23 ranked Temple Owls, Notre Dame was clinging on to the rest of their season and hopes for a birth in the college football playoff. With 2:14 left to play in the fourth quarter and trailing Temple 20-17, Fighting Irish quarterback Deshone Kizer rifled a pass to the back corner of the end zone ESPN, Kizer has a QBR (quarterback rating) 152.1, which is above the average QBR in Division 1 FBS of 97.4. Kizer demonstrated extreme poise in this tough road game and is another checkmark on the list for the Irish. Having a quarterback that can deliver in the clutch on the road is something every team in the country want. Notre Dame knows they have that, and they need to do everything in their power to utilize his talents and skills. Temple was undefeated and had the biggest game in program history at home, so that can justify the close score for me. As for the playoff selection committee, I am not so sure. There is still plenty of football to go with about 5 weeks left in the season, but as time passes, Notre Dame lives to see another day and fight for a spot. This win was not only huge for Notre Dame, but also coach Brian Kelly who was 10-10 vs top AP 25 (elias sports bureau) teams before coming into the game on Saturday night. That win putting him over that .500 hump helped take a big weight off his back and maybe a bit of job security as well. The Irish's defense also played a large role in the victory as safety #6, KeiVarae Russel intercepted a Temple pass in their hopes of making a game winning drive. The interception sealed the deal for Notre Dame and put the cherry on top for a full team victory. Notre Dame travels to Heinz Field on Saturday to take on the Panthers of Pitt. If Notre Dame wins on the road next weekend, that will be the first time a backup quarterback has won back to back road games for Notre Dame since 1983. Just saying.
and into the hands of his receiver, Will Fuller. The kid had done it again! When the pressure was on, Kizer delivered a big time play. Kizer has gone 5-1 in his 6 career starts this season and has proved that he has what it takes to win whether it be coming from behind or holding a lead, but especially coming from behind. According to

Why do we fall?

"Why do we fall, sir?" The million-dollar question asked by Michael Cain in the film, Batman Begins, has always stuck with me. Failure is something in our nature as human beings. We fail all the time and it is our failures that magnify our success'. The best thing we can do we when we fail is to realize our failures. So many time, people will just find excuses to make or find someone to blame it on. Now with all these failures, there is room for triumph. In my past few weeks I have fallen. I think to myself, "Casey, there is something wrong in life. We need to step back and get a fresh take." So I went to SubWay. I'm kidding, but seriously, I needed to refresh my thoughts and think in basic, bigger picture terms. I was falling, but after I fell I just stayed on the ground. I have now realized, it is the way of man, to get up off the ground and rise again like the sun. The fall I have been going through right now will eventually be a thing of the past and I will be a better man for enduring the storm, instead of running and hiding. I will be a stronger man because I got up off the ground instead of being fossilized into the ground. I know this post is a little more ethos and not as much logos right now, but when I think about a post for my life at ONU or life in general, these were my thoughts this weekend following my surgery. Sitting there all day on the couch really forces you to think about things deeper than the surface of the scars and stitches. I drove myself crazy thinking about the pain and how I would ever be able to do what I could do before, ever again. Then I took that step back and realized that this is a fall. This is a test of my will and that is one test I never plan of failing. Will power can seem empty and bleak at some time in life for all of us, but it is that little voice in the back of my mind saying "you can't afford to lose. There is gonna be something worth fighting for". The first time I blogged I didn't really have the confidence to put these deeper thoughts on the blog, but the more I have blogged and read blogs, I have found the niche for it and how blogging can help me get things off my chest and into the light (of your screen) haha! So as I fight back through recovery, I remember that the cause of our falls may be different, but the reason we fall is to pick ourselves back up.

Polar Bears Take A BIte Out Of The Blue

All hope seemed to be lost for our Polar Bears on Saturday when they were playing the John Carroll Blue Streaks in a conference football game in University Heights, Ohio. I wasn't in attendance, but I knew that our football team had a big game on its plate versus a nationally ranked John Carroll team. A win would move the Polar Bears to 4-1 and maybe the best start to a season in a while for ONU. After using social media, I found some tweets on my timeline talking about the game. Coincidentally, I was driving back to Ada, so as a loyal listener, I tuned in to 94.9 FM The Beat and listened to the broadcast of the ONU game. With the game on the line, on a 4th and 20, Freshman QB Will Freed chucked a deep ball to senior tight end, Justin McCray and he pulled the ball down for a 37 yard touchdown pass. The Blue Streaks still had 4:22 left on the clock but the Polar Bear defense prevailed and held their ground. ONU is off to a hot start, maybe its hottest in recent years. A freshman QB from the West Coast is under center, an electric receiving core and a defense that refuses to give in. The Polar Bears have beaten 2 teams in a row that have been major problems in years past, so now with Mount Union in the near future, Coach Dean Paul and his troops will truly be battle tested.

Where Can I Find Hope?

This week, I have found out I may be Irish, but luck is certainly not on my side. I have always prided myself on my ability to look past adversity and see the greener side of the grass, but this week the grass looked brown and dead. The beginning of the week started simple. Baseball scrimmages were getting close to being done and I wasn't doing that bad but I still had some stuff to prove before the offseason. My grades were all about average and with some questionable grades, I knew I had to turn it around this past week. Then on Sunday night, shit hit the fan. My ex-girlfriend calls me and tells me that Jon had killed himself at the soccer field and I was up all night having phone calls and information being relayed. The next few days, I tried to appreciate the little things in life just a little more because of what had happened. Then, Wednesday rolls around and it's time for flag football. I go to our flag football game and in a matter of 10 minutes of play, I make an awkward spin on the sideline and twist my knee. As I laid there on the turf and looked up at the sky, I honestly thought, "Jon you can see everything." I have always feared the day since I was a little kid that I would tear my ACL. Having bad knees, I figured it would happen one day, but because I have never sat a game out due to injury in my ENITRE career, I couldn't believe that it was actually happening to me. How would I recover? Would I get to play again? What would life be like? So after the game was over and tears subsided, I would stay at home the next 2 days and be cooped up in my house the whole time. Then, after I had some time to reflect on my injury and how to combat it, I come to ONU for the homecoming game. As I am in the middle of a big play being recorded on snapchat, my phone dies and I can't live tweet the game. A little kid hit my knee at the game and I almost cried (I know, what a girl). And to put the cherry on top, my Steelers played on Sunday and Ben Roethlisberger tears his MCL and will be out 4-6 weeks. So after this shitty weekend, you have to wonder, "Casey, are you just trying to make me feel bad"? The answer is no, but I want to share that no matter how bad your day is, or your week is, or etc., the sun will come up tomorrow and the world will go on without you. The world is going on without Jon and I hate to say that, but it is true. So I have the thought, what would the world care if I was gone? In a span of seven days, I managed to loose one of my friends, tear my ACL and have my grades suffer a significant dent. All of this adversity that has reached a new magnitude seems all too much for me, but the only way to find out is to live through it. A quote I came across after hurting my knee really gave me some inspiration. It comes from the bible in Romans 8:18, "The pain you are feeling now cannot compare to the joy that will come." I contemplated just giving up because it seemed so bleak, but when I thought about that quote, I don't want to miss the joys that await me in the future. This post may not be in AP style or appropriate for class, but this post is coming 100 percent from my heart and soul and it is a way for my to vent my feelings and thoughts. That is what I feel what blogging is meant for. To let people voice their opinions, feelings and thoughts and whoever wants to weigh in on the post or share their feelings is free to do so. After this awful week, I can only pray that a good one in store for me soon. 

Steel Solid in Home Opener

Since this is an attempt at a sports blog, I am going to bring up how well my Steelers played this Sunday at home in their 2015 home opener at Heinz Field. The Steelers were the favorite with a 6.5 point spread and the Steelers won 43-18, so the spread was well covered. In the game, the Steelers were without 3 of their best players, 2 of them to suspension. Ben Roethlisberger looked good as ever completing 21/27 passes for a completion percentage of 77%. I won't go on the stats spiel as much as I will about how good the Steelers played against a team that was hot last Monday Night on ESPN in front of the whole nation. The Steelers opened up at New England against the defending super bowl champs and were without 3 of their star players and only lost 21-28. They come home against San Francisco, who beat up on Adrian Peterson last week and had a good running game in former Ohio State running back, Carlos Hyde. Apparently Pittsburgh likes a challenge because they rose to the occasion like no other. I was at baseball during the game so I had to constantly check my teammates for updates on the scores. I asked first and it was 8-3 Steelers. I came back to the dugout in 2 minutes and it was 16-3 Steelers. Then I went on a run for conditioning that took a little less than 5 minutes and my teammates yells, "Case, its 22-3 now!" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. My Steelers were beating up on those sorry 49ers. The Steelers have been my favorite team ever since I was a little kid, so when they win my day immediately improves. Antonio Brown, who is arguably the best receiver in the NFL, had 9 catches for 195 yards and 1 Touchdown. Antonio Brown has 34 consecutive games with 5+ catches for 50+ yards or more. The Steelers will be returning All-Pro running back, Le'Veon Bell this week when they take on a tough St. Louis Rams team on the road. Seeing my team succeed and execute, as a sports fan, is very exciting feeling. Why do we get so into the world of sports and invest so much of our time and emotions into it? Because it is a passion that either you have, or you do not have. I certainly have a passion for sports and any opportunity I have to watch sports, especially the Steelers or Notre Dame football, you will find me in front of the closest TV.

Luck O' The Irish strikes again!

For the second week in a row, my Fighting Irish of Notre Dame have pulled off another remarkable victory. I know these consecutive posts may be tedious, but it is highlight of my weekend because of how the win occurred.  The Irish had played a pretty great game up to the third quarter. Then the crap hit the fan. Starting quarterback Malik Zaire went down with a broken left ankle and the Irish had to put in redshirt freshman, DeShone Kizer. I wanted to turn the TV off right then and there, because last week the starting running back tore his ACL and is out for the season, so now it seemed like our season was in for the worst. But the luck of the Irish had come around once again and the Notre Dame found themselves in a tie game on the road. The freshman Kizer, dropped back and found Will Fuller down the field to deliver a perfect pass and put the Irish up 34-27 with only 7 seconds left in the game. Notre Dame definitely escaped Virginia with a win, but under the circumstances that they played under, I can't help but be proud of my Irish. Every week, ND plays a top 5 conference opponent and they've done that for as long as they have been around, so to see them compete like that with their team captain out for the season was very "Ohio State like" of them. 

Notre Dame was the only team of my 3 favorite football teams to win this weekend. When a football game makes me jump out of my seat and start hooting and hollering, then it is a successful weekend in my book.

Hale to the Ol' Notre Dame

This weekend was one of my favorite times of the year. That time of the year when football is back. I play baseball and it is my craft, but man, there is just something about football that rejuvenates me. The smell of the fresh cut grass and the popcorn. I could go all Kenny Chesney here with the "Boys of Fall" spiel, but instead I want to show some love to my Fighting Irish of Notre Dame for making a big statement win this weekend versus the Texas Longhorns. The anticipation of the game was built from the moment I woke up. It was like a beacon of hype that couldn't be ignored any longer. My Irish had a so-so year last season, so I was ready to here the sounds of the marching band and see the classic gold helmets take the field again and stat off of a good note versus a solid Texas squad. Once I had all of my green and blue on and my game face on, I do not think that I sat down more than once or twice during the game. The game started off with the Irish striking first and going up 7-0. Once they scored the first touchdown, I started speaking in an Irish accent that me and my "boyo" can nail. The game wasn't just another sporting event, it was the kickoff to what should be a great year of football. I got the BYU hail mary pass on snapchat and that was a great game. Notre Dame's game might not have been down to the wire like some of the other game this weekend, but they definitely have the pieces to make a run for a playoff berth this year. Watching Notre Dame football is just something that appeals with my heritage too. The fighting Irish, Touchdown Jesus, all that jazz. Anyways, college football is back folks and you best bring your popcorn.