The New Second City Part 2: The Gathering Storm

This is the second in a three-part series by GoCM about the city of Columbus and it's most successful and heartbreaking year in sports.

Once bowl season had all but finished, the national picture became much more clear. Big 10 #2 Michigan suffered its second loss of the season, this time at the hands of the USC Trojans, who won in convincing fashion. The win did not mean much in the grand scheme of things but did quiet the Wolverine faithful crying foul over their exclusion from the BCS Title Game. Meanwhile, Louisiana State trampled Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl by a score of 41-14, showcasing the kind of talent present in Baton Rouge - talent that had been beaten by the Florida Gators during the regular season. But these were just two other games. The only game that actually mattered was scheduled for January 8th and in Columbus, the likes of Michigan, USC, LSU and Notre Dame weren't even blips on the radar. The BCS Title game was all that mattered and the Buckeyes expected victory.

The opening kick of the National Title game featured Ted Ginn, Jr., Ohio State's premier wideout, dashing for the endzone and a 7-0 lead just 16 seconds into the game. Ginn, memorably, put a finger to his mouth, asking for quiet for the Gator faithful. Ironically, he should have asked for the same from his teammates; after the dogpile that followed the touchdown, Ginn limped out of the endzone and off the field of play for the duration, injured celebrating his score. From there, the game was Florida's to lose. Methodically with surgeon-like precision, Florida dissected the Buckeye offense that had been untouchable for 12 games. Similarly, Florida's offensive attack, led by oft-maligned Chris Leak, picked apart the Ohio State defense like it was a ju-co squad. Ohio State was in the game for 16 seconds and the rest belonged to Florida, plain and simple. The 41-14 final score was more than indicative of how lop-sided the contest had actually been.

To say the city was in awe after the game was putting it way to easily: shock was a much more appropriate term. Did Troy Smith, who all but disappeared in the BCS game deserve his Heisman? What if USC had beaten UCLA and gone to the title game? Should LSU replace the Buckeyes at #2 in the final pole? It was miserable in its simplicity in Columbus: the best team to perhaps ever take the field at Ohio Stadium had been beaten hard and good in the one game that truly mattered. The Michigan game lost it's luster, as had the road win at Texas earlier in the year. In Columbus, the team returned with a heroes welcome but everyone, Buckeye fan or otherwise, had come to regard the season as a lost cause.

The night after the championship added insult to injury in Columbus. After road losses to UNC and Florida, the Ohio State Men's Basketball team went up against Alando Tucker and the Wisconsin Badgers, then #4 in the country. Once again, in hostile confines, the Buckeyes couldn't bring home a win, losing 72-69 and genuflecting to Tucker throughout the second half. It was Tucker who would run away with Big 10 player of the year and take Wisconsin to the NCAA Tournament as a #2 seed. Ohio State would gain vengeance later, beating Wisconsin in the Big 10 tournament final to secure a #1 seed for themselves in the South Region. This was the second Big 10 championship in as many seasons for Ohio State's major athletic programs.

Before that, however, the Columbus Destroyers would open their season with a road win followed by consecutive losses separated by a bye week. A March 30th win over the Georgia Force at home evened the Destroyers record at 2-2. Matt Nagy had so far been working for Columbus and the 62-61 win over the team he played for just one year prior was sweet. Things were looking good for the Destroyers early in the year. They were toward the top of a mediocre Eastern Division of the National Conference. By May 11th, the Destroyers were 6-4 and smelling the playoffs. Little did they know, the wheels would fall off soon after that.

Ohio State's road to the Final Four was anything but easy. Their opening game against Central Connecticut State was the cakewalk that all #1/#16 games usually are but the next to games would test the Buckeye's mettle. A missed free throw by Xavier gave way to Ron Lewis's game-tying three-pointer and Ohio State outlasting the Musketeers in OT. In the Sweet 16, Ohio State would face Tennessee, a rematch of a January home game that the Buckeye's barely won. Before halftime, however, the game was all Vols. Ohio State was down as many as 22 in the game, settling for an 18-point deficit by the break. Again, Ohio State came back to close the gap against Tennessee and won the game when the would-be winning bucket was swatted away by Greg Oden as time expired. Ohio State was now one win from their first Final Four since 1999.

Ohio State showed it's muscle against #2 seeded Memphis in the regional final, blowing the game open at the beginning of the second half and not looking back. Ohio State had earned a spot in the Final Four with three other highly regarded teams: The UCLA Bruins and Florida Gators, both national finalists the year before and the Georgetown Hoyas, winners of both Big East regular season and tournament. Ohio State would play the surprising Hoyas in a re-match of a tournament game the previous year that was won by the Georgetown. The game was tight all the way but eventually the superb play of freshmen Mike Conely and Greg Oden would trump Roy Hibbert and Jeff Green. The win put OSU in their second consecutive national championship game in different major sports, a feat that would have been more remarkable if the other national finalist hadn't accomplish the same feat with a win in the second Final Four game. The Ohio State Buckeyes would once again meet the Florida Gators with a national championship, this time in basketball, on the line.

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Read Part 1: The Build Up

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The New Second City Part 1: The Build Up

This is the first in a three-part series by GoCM about the city of Columbus and it's most successful and heartbreaking year in sports.

The Columbus Destroyers were certain underdogs heading into Sunday's ArenaBowl XXI in New Orleans. They faced a confident and efficient San Jose SaberCat team that was in almost perfect form. The Destroyers put forth their worst effort since the regular season's penultimate contest are were easily beaten 55-33. Matt Nagy was 24/43 for 203 yards along with two INTs. His counterpart at QB for San Jose, Mark Grieb, was a model of efficiency and grace under pressure: 24/29, 218 yards, 0 INTs and 4 TDs. The Destroyers left New Orleans with their pride intact but feeling an all too familiar sense of disappointment. Needless to say, on Sunday, the Destroyers weren't the first Columbus team to feel that pain.

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This story truly began on November 18th, 2006 around 10pm EST. By that time, and on that date, the #1 Ohio State University Football team was in the midst of celebrating a dramatic and entertaining 42-39 win over arch rival and then #2 University of Michigan. Troy Smith had put the finishing touches on a Heisman-worthy season and the Buckeyes were undefeated at 12-0. The national and local media clamoured over the Buckeyes, most calling for the national championship trophy to come back to the Buckeye state for the first time since the 2003 Fiesta Bowl. And why not? Ohio State was going to play in Tempe, Arizona, where they were 3-0 in their last three trips. They were number one in the country, had beaten two different #2 teams and were led by an unstoppable offense and a stalwart and stingy defense. They would have to wait six weeks, true, but it was a moot point; by the early hours of January 9th, they would be champions again.

On November 17th, 2006, one mile from the site of "The Game of the Century", The Ohio State Men's Basketball team whipped Eastern Kentucky 74-45 at home to improve their record to 4-0, but perhaps more importantly, 4-0 without stud freshman center Gerg Oden. Oden, along with four other top recruits, dubbed locally the "Thad Five", a less-than-clever play on Michigan's famed "Fab Five" in the early 1990's, was supposed to be the great hope for Ohio State Basketball program, one that had been mired in the wake of a scandal allegedly involving boosters, former players and former coach Jim O'Brien. Their first real test as a basketball team would not come for another 12 days when they would face North Carolina in Chapel Hill, a game that had the Oden-less Buckeyes either up or within striking distance for the game's majority before OSU's youth was eventually trumped by UNC's talent. Still, the better-than-expected performance had Columbus thinking about a deep run in March, presumably after the football celebrations would be over.

In November of 2006, The Columbus Destroyers were in the midst of deciding what the future would hold for the franchise. Coming off their best year in Columbus or Buffalo, the city from which the Destroyers moved in 2004, the team's ownership, including former Ohio State Buckeye Joey Galloway, decided to build the team from the QB position and eventually settled on Matt Nagy from the Georgia Force. He was experienced, sure enough, with an ArenaBowl appearance just a year before. There were flaws in his game but teaming him up with talented wideout Damien Groce would only benefit the University of Delaware alum. The Destroyers traded for Nagy and set their sights on the upcoming season.

Three teams. Three championship games. One city.

On December 23rd, 2006 when the Ohio State Men's basketball team played an out-of conference game against the Florida Gators in Gainsville. Originally, the game was just another on either school's schedule, designed to increase RPI. Everything changed on December 3rd, when the Gators, after pummeling Arkansas in the SEC Title Game, were given the #2 spot in the BCS National Championship Game. Though the young basketball Buckeyes stayed with the basketball Gators for the majority of the first half, even the presence of Greg Oden couldn't help Ohio State, who was run out of the building by the defending national basketball champions. "WE WANT FOOTBALL" Echoed throughout the O'Connell Center as Ohio State's hope of putting an early Christmas present, a victory over Florida, in Columbus stockings would have to wait for the BCS National Championship Game two weeks later.

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TSE ArenaBowl Preview - San Jose vs. Columbus

It all comes down to this.

ArenaBowl XXI will begin in just about 48 hours from posting and will pair two teams with one another that, given the AFL playoff landscape four weeks ago, shouldn't have had anything to do with one another. The first team, the mighty San Jose SaberCats, advanced to the league's championship with little in the way of opposition. The 63-49 beating of Chicago in the conference finals two weeks ago was just another of their impressive 12-game winning streak heading into Sunday's contest. They are led by Mark Grieb, the veteran ball thrower who has thrown for over 4000 yards and is one TD shy of 100 for the season. Wowzers. One would think that San Jose's dominance over the last two thirds of their AFL season would all but wrap up an AFL title for the SaberCats. But there are three opponents in the National Conference who would beg to differ.

Tampa Bay. Dallas. Georgia.

All three teams were decided favorites in their AFL playoff games. And each succumbed to a confident, underrated and downright awe inspiring underdog from the capital city of Ohio. For three straight weeks, the Columbus Destroyers did what no one thought possible; beating the overdogs and advancing to ArenaBowl XXI. They've looked better and better in their three wins this postseason, much more so than during their five-game losing streak which was snapped in the season's final week, securing Columbus their spot in the playoffs and sparking this remarkable run.

The major story of this game is between two very different veteran QBs. Grieb has been leading the 'Cats for nine years. Elements of his receiving corps has been intact for longer than Columbus has been in the league. Grieb's been around in this league, winning championships in 2002 and 2004. The nucleus of the SaberCats hasn't changed much since he began throwing passes for San Jose and it's that stability and experience in mind that San Jose will put it's hopes in the 33 year old QB.

And then there's Nagy. He has led the Destroyers through these playoffs with ease and grace, doing much more than anyone asked or ever expected of him. He has WR Damien Groce to thank for some of his success but most can be attributed to Nagy's growth as a QB. He was sandbagged in Georgia for ineptness late in games and that cost him the starters job there. With Columbus, he's hit his stride and looks poised, both on and off the field to lead his team.

So who wins? San Jose is (again) the better team on paper. Defensively and offensively, they outmatch the Destroyers. San Jose is still riding an impressive 12-game winning streak and has played each game tougher than the next. This is a talented team that looks more than good enough to bring San Jose a third title in six years.

But I'm keeping my faith in the Destroyers. Like the Cardinals in the World Series last year, even great teams can fall victim to good teams in their stride. Columbus is in just that. And if there's one team that can break Ohio out of it's recent sports funk (OSU football, OSU basketball, Cleveland Cavs basketball, Cincinnati Bengals arrest records) it's the Destroyers.

Final Score: Destroyers win 56-49.

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You Arena Football Conferece Championships Preview

Yep - it's that slow a day here at TSE. JTBI is job-hunting and Seaward, well, God alone knows what he's doing. Me? I'm just trying to get to 5pm so I can go home. So in order to kill some time, I present your AFL Conference Championship Preview.

American Conference

Not surprisingly, since my last post on the AFL, popularity for the league has skyrocketed.* People from all corners of the world are clamoring to see what will happen during this week's conference finals and I am chief among them. The American Conference seems to have the better match up on paper, but as the wise man once said: "games aren't played on paper, they're played inside televisions".

*(probably not, I can't back that up)

The Chicago Rush have been one of the league's best teams throughout this unpredictable AFL season, finishing with three wins to catapult them into 2nd overall in the conference. The quick and able WR Bobby Sippio has been the lynch pin in the Chicago offense and we shouldn't look for that to stop this week. In last week's 52-20 drubbing of the Los Angeles Avengers (how do you score only 20 in an AFL game?) he was all over the offensive side of the field, taking snaps at Quarterback from time-to-time but usually sitting pretty in his role as WR #1 for QB Matt D'Orazio. He's the big play guy for Rush and if he has a strong game, so should Chicago.

Standing in their way, of course, are the San Jose Sabrecats, the conference's #1 seed, who haven't lost a game since the middle of April. The win streak rests firmly on the back of the Sabercat D, which gave up a whopping 400+ yards to the Colorado Crush last week. This wasn't the norm for the 'cats, who gave up 67 points last week, which was the most they've given up at home, where they are undefeated, or on the road all year. If the defense shores up, and and QB Matt Grieb can continue to lead the offense at the 72% season passing clip, then this should be a very close, if not low-scoring game.

Prediction:
San Jose has more weapons, but Defense wins championships. Chicago 51-47.

National Conference

Coming into this game, the [my] Columbus Destroyers are the talk of the Arena Football world, stunning, in consecutive weeks, the Tampa Bay Storm in Tampa and the #1 seed Dallas Desperado's IN big-D. Pundits are calling Columbus one of the more unexpected, nigh stunning teams in AFL playoff history. They will look to QB Matt Nagy to continue the run to ArenaBowl XXI in New Orleans.

They run, headlong this time, into the Georgia Force, who are easily the National Conference's most talented team. Defensively, no one hits harder, as has been the case all season and if Georgia can plant Nagy into the turf early and often, the budding star might lose enough of his shine to make mistakes. Combine that with Georgia's quick-strike offense and it could be a-lot-to-a-little very early into the game.

How can Columbus hope to stack up to the now 15-2 Georgia Force? They'll need some of the same luck that got them there in the first place: luck. They've had it on their side in the first two games and everyone in Columbus is banking on it again. Nagy has been stellar this year and his 75-15 TD-INt ratio must be on display. If WR Damien Groce can elude the Force secondary and get in a few scores early, Columbus is as good as anyone in the second half, outscoring Dallas 24-0 to open the third quarter last week.

Prediction
Like I said, I'm riding this Columbus bandwagon all the way to ArenaBowl XXI. They beat the Force once before this year and I don't think lady luck has stopped singing for the Destroyers yet. Columbus will humble Georgia 62-48.

Your thoughts and predictions in the comments. more...

I, for one, welcome our new AFL overlords

Seaward is right: this is an unbearable week for sports. No real baseball (even though the All Star Game "counts" now) until Thursday and no football for another 6 or 7 weeks. Yes, there is the WNBA but I'll cut off my balls with a rusty spoon before watching that. Yet in the midst of all of this boredom comes the lone beacon of home to get us to real football season.

The AFL, of course.

Through two weeks, things are heating up en route to ArenaBowl XXI. The Dallas Desperados were supposed to run roughshod through the playoffs and bring a title to the Metroplex with relative ease. But they forgot to ask Matt Nagy and the rest of the Columbus Destroyers what he thought about that little plan. That's right, just like last year, a 7-9 team is running rampant through these playoffs. The next two sentences are so incredible, so iconic, they get their own paragraph.

The Columbus Destroyers are one win from ArenaBowl XXI. They are two wins from bringing home Columbus's first professional sports title since the Columbus Quest made it rain in 1997-98.

So it's official: I'm jumping on the bandwagon. Sure, Columbus has their work cut out for them in the persons of the Georgia Force, who rumbled through the regular season at 14-2 and crushed the Philadelphia Soul by 26 yesterday. But Columbus put the hurt to Dallas, scoring 24 points to begin the second half. And if there's one thing that these playoffs have taught us so far, it's that the smaller field levels the scales. And if Matt Nagy, the wily AFL veteran who has methodically guided the Destroyers past better teams for two consecutive weeks can find a rhythm, then me and the rest of the Destroyer DieHards will be booking tickets to New Orleans for the big game in the very near future.

Now a lot of you may not care about the AFL's mutant brand of football. It isn't "Now" (though it is publicised and commercialized to death on the WWL) and it even falls behind the NHL in national popularity (probably). But for the uneducated (read: everyone) I can say from experience that there are a lot of similarities between the AFL and it's cooler, older brother with the car, the NFL. Some details:

- The playoffs are arranged in similar fashion: wild card round, divisional round, conference championships, league championships. There's even that incredibly annoying 2-week wait between games!

- Shitty teams can back into the playoffs and make a splash. The Chicago Rush limped in at 7-9 and won four straight road games last year to win the ArenaBowl title. The Steelers of the NFL did the same thing just weeks earlier in Super Bowl XL.

- Defense? The AFL don't need no stinkin' defense. Last year's ArenaBowl had a final score of 69 (giggity) to 61. So defense doesn't necessarily win championships, but then again neither do the San Francisco 49ers of this decade. Or whatever.

Seek out your AFL playoffs - you won't regret it. And with nothing else on, it's either that or episodes of "John from Cincinnati" on HBO On Demand. And alien football is better than surfing aliens any day of the week.

Note: the tags are all in caps, thus negating the "excessive use of WordCombinationUsingCapitalLetters" tag I so awesomely came up with. Just so you know. more...