Yesterday, my wife sent me to an undisclosed bar with an undisclosed friend so that she could host a Galentine’s Day party at our house without her chronically online husband ruining the vibes.

Totally fair!

But as I sat there drinking some peppermint porter that tasted exactly like a York Peppermint Patty, I started imagining my wife giving her friends a tour of our house and inevitably stumbling across our office where she would have to explain my microphone setup.

That’s when I had a unfortunate realization: one of the saddest and most pathetic things anyone can ever say is “my husband has a podcast.” So regretfully, I probably ruined her day without even being present. Sad!

I think there’s a misconception held among the extremely online sports enjoyers of the world that blogging about sports professionally is generally perceived as a *cool* job. I sometimes get trapped into thinking that too!

… until I have to explain my job to a normal person. Makes you humble real quick.

• OH LOOK,

Last year, Ohio State’s alumni basketball team “Carmen’s Crew” strangely decided not to compete in the annual TBT basketball tournament***, but it looks like they’re going to be back this year.

And don’t worry, it’s going to be full of players from everyone’s favorite era of Buckeye basketball!

From Adam Jardy of The Columbus Dispatch:

Featuring a new era of former Buckeyes, Carmen’s Crew – with the ‘m’ crossed out – will participate in this year’s event with a roster that leans heavily on the Chris Holtmann era.

…

That means the roster for the 2023 TBT, which is yet to announce host cities or specific dates for this summer’s event, will feature the likes of Keyshawn Woods, CJ Walker, Trevor Thompson and the Wesson brothers, Andre and Kaleb.

“We’re going to have a nice little group of guys that came from the Holtmann era of Ohio State basketball and try to put them on the map, because the old heads, we’re done,” Jared Sullinger said. “We’re getting old. We can’t keep doing it anymore. We’re going to keep fighting, and we’re going to start a new era of Carmen’s Crew.”

Aside from the fact that the world’s only full-time Ohio State men’s basketball beat writer presumably thinks that Trevor Thompson played for Chris Holtmann, this is a cool update because it probably gives these Holtmann era players a rare chance to actually compete for a championship together – something they not a single one of them had the chance to do in college.

I’m also remembering that we’re not too far removed from a time when I was very sure that Jae’Sean Tate was going to make a huge impact for Carmen’s Crew. And be fair, he would! He’s just a little preoccupied playing 21 minutes a night for an NBA team.

*** I hate writing about this fucking tournament because I never know how to style it. The acronym “TBT” stands for “The Basketball Tournament.” So when I write “TBT basketball tournament” I’m technically writing “The Basketball Tournament basketball tournament.” But saying “TBT” by itself isn’t clear enough to most people.

TL;DR, whoever came up with that name needs to be bathed in gazelle blood and sent in to a lion’s den.

• SEATTLE WASHINGTON SUCKS, APPARENTLY

Pour one out for the Seattle area Buckeye contingent, because Ohio State just lit its contract with Washington on fire.

From Dan Hope of Eleven Warriors:

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said it was OSU who decided to cancel the series and that OSU will owe Washington a $500,000 cancellation penalty that it must pay to Washington by February 2025.

“I have the utmost respect for the University of Washington and for Director of Athletics Jennifer Cohen, and this was a very difficult call to make,” Smith said in a statement. “As a result of the cancellation, we will add an eighth home game for the 2024 season, affording us the opportunity to have the funding to pay the penalty and guarantee for that eighth opponent.”

Ohio State, which will play only six home games in 2023 after playing eight home games in 2022, is now planning to play eight home games again in 2024, when Ohio State was scheduled to travel to Seattle to play Washington. The Buckeyes still plan to play seven home games in 2025, when they were scheduled to host the Huskies at Ohio Stadium.

As a result, the Buckeyes will not play any non-conference road games in either season. Ohio State is set to host Southern Miss (Aug. 31) and Western Michigan (Sept. 21) in 2024 and Texas (Aug. 30) and Connecticut (Oct. 18) in 2025, and now has one slot to fill in its non-conference schedules for both years. The new non-conference home games in both seasons will be played on either the first or second weekend of September.

I’ve seen some people saying that this only really makes sense if it’s a hint that Washington will be joining the Big Ten in the near future. But if that were the case, there’s not a chance Ohio State would just be gleefully paying a $500,000 cancellation penalty. They’d either “mutually agree” to cancel it, or they’d make the Big Ten pony up the cash to make it right.

I’m not Gene Smith, so I’m not the decision-maker here. But in a world where the only thing that matters is the College Football Playoff, and you’re now adding two more rounds to the championship game, this unfortunately makes sense.

But if that’s the case, it is a little odd to cancel this one with home-and-homes against Texas, Alabama and Georgia are still on the docket. But maybe Gene and Co. just thought playing Texas and Washington in one season was too much in the expanded playoff era.

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