Pryor spends a weekend in hell

RichRod employs the old "hand-size game" when his skills as a conversationalist fail him. A similar technique is used to distract infants.

Mini-celeberty and reigning pimp of recruiting service editors everywhere, Terrelle Pryor, made his official visit to Michigan this past weekend.

The boy wonder brought his traveling circus with him, which now includes obscure NFL-er, Charlie Batch, who rode Pryor's coat-tails all the way to a Wolverines basketball ticket. Yes, UM charges fans to sit through these games. My "source" at Crisler Arena, however, said that the Michigan-Iowa game took second billing to Pryor's cameo.

"Source" also confirmed this "WE WANT PRYOR" chant, which needed to be pretty loud to cut through the wall of media documenting the blue chipper's every move.

RichRod appears to have been in good spirits, in spite of this article by Mitch Albom-- currently the most credible guy in Michigan. What's more, I can't say I approve of this 'cousin' character who seems to be acting as Pryor's host. Doesn't OSU have ties to some estranged middle school teacher of T.P.'s that it can dig up?

LSU is next on the world tour. What second-rate event will they have in store for the nation's top recruit?

photo/KIRTHMON F. DOZIER/DFP

The Weekend Read

What's $15 million between friends?

Our traveling reporter friend, Paul, tipped me off to this the day Jenkins and Robo announced their return, but on Thursday The Dispatch picked up on this great story. The OSU juniors collectively decided to come back for a senior season ("juniors" meaning a smaller group considering red/gray shirts and I'm assuming non-starters like Jamario O'Neal were planning on sticking around regardless.)

This is a great read for any Buckeye fan but I have to recommend watching the audio slide show as well. I'll get to the meat of the post in a minute, but I can't stress enough how key it was that not once did any of the players mention anything about coming back to beat Michigan or, god forbid, win a National Championship. After the failed, albeit bad ass, "Take Home Talk" video, the last thing we needed to kick-off the 2008 campaign was a publicly mentioned mission statement (a la the boys up north.)

Anyhow...

In my opinion, this article an example of one, if maybe the largest, reason that college football will always be a more "pure" form of the game. NCAA football has its fair share of unscrupulous goings ons year in and out (Google: RichRod, Reggie Bush, Dennis Franchione) and lets not even touch on the college football profit machine, but it's the intangibles like character and loyalty that resonate the loudest.

Perhaps it's too harsh to rag on the NFL as a whole, since The League hasn't yet managed to corrupt OSU (modern) legends like A.J. Hawk, who evidently delivered a powerful senior season endorsement to protege James Laurinaitis. Though the specifics of the conversation weren't touched on, Laurinaitis and the others made it clear that pros like Hawk and Bobby Carpenter (whose perks include tagging along on Tony Romo's pre-playoff game retreats) harped on the invaluable college experience and their shaggy-haired memories of Fast Times at The 'Shoe.

Though I can't quite sympathize with the "rough" life that D-I scholarship athletes Boone, Freeman and the rest will have to "endure" next year, it's truly impressive when you consider that , as Jenkins more or less mentions, most of those kids flat-out turned down a multi-million dollar paycheck. In a few months they will watch the NFL Draft from their campus apartments and see former teammate Vernon Gholston's (where was he during this shower meeting?) name appear in the first two hours. And then they will go to class, work out, grab a burrito and read about how good USC is.

Will the money still be there in the '09 Draft? Absolutely. Barring any tragic injury, the juniors all (with the possible exception of Laurinaitis) guaranteed themselves a higher pick and more of that green. But don't let take away from the significance of last week's decisions. In a culture where "get rich" is always proceeded by "quick" and picking a suitcase with only $300,000 on Deal Or No Deal is reason for disappointment, a 21-year-old postponing his fortune to be with his friends is news worthy of The Enquirer.

Silver Bullet Points

RichRod[man] is as bad as he wants to be

Rodriguez Gate continues to rage on in pages of the Detroit Free Press and Charleston Gazette. Taking important files to the shredders? Smear campaigns? Lawsuits? Is this the unmasking of a two-faced, carpetbagging politician or just another day at the office in the Michigan Athletic Department?

I could go on, but this guy digs into RodFace pretty good--and he's writing from Ann Arbor.

• Start packing for Miami now, friends. We're No. 1.
  

• Tressel and another coach, I believe Jim Bollman, were spotted in West Va. on Thursday, chatting up recruit Josh Jenkins. In this video he spits recruiting and Tresselisms, basically just use it as proof that Jenkins is one step closer to his destiny.

• Keeping with the West Virginnie theme, injury-prone OSU receiver Devon Lyons looks to transfer to WVU to be with his younger brother, Wes, whose file is locked away in RichRod's Geneva bank safe-box. Lyons and estranged WR Albert Dukes both came in with the 2004 recruiting class and, to say the least, have failed to live up to their hype.
  

Oh Devon, we hardly knew thee.
photo c/o Jim Davidson

• The courting of Terrelle Pryor by OSU: Scout.com editor thinks T.P. will be in scarlet and gray next fall. He notes that the Buckeyes are gaining the edge by playing it cool while the Weasels are clearly desperate for someone, anyone, to jump start this "new era of Michigan football" we keep hearing about.

UPDATE: As I continue to learn more about web publishing, the intimidating girth of the internet's information sharing capabilities and the like, I will try to make improvements to Old Columbus Town that will (hopefully) make it more "visible" to search engines and social bookmarking sites. Make sense? Of it doesn't. In the mean time, look for new "features" (stuff to click on, in non-web speak) and other additions/changes to the site that will help shove this life-or-death information down the throats of Buckeye faithful everywhere.

Silver Bullet Points

Catch your breath

Because we're approaching the recruiting home stretch when, like the Tri Delt semi-formal, anything goes.

Feb. 6th, National Signing Day, marks the first day that high school seniors can sign a letter of intent (LOI) to the college of their choosing. Despite marking when hundreds of minors sign binding contracts with large, powerful, usually state-funded institutions, National Signing Day has somehow managed to put an incredibly exciting spin on it's image. Lord knows I can't wait.

As of today, OSU has offered up 18 schollys and still has a few left to give (see "Freeman stays on board.") Terrelle Pryor, OL Josh Jenkins and DL Keith Wells, who recently de-committed from Florida St. and is reportedly leaning towards OSU, are all still without a date to the big show on Saturday afternoon and any one of these players would be icing on top of this class which is currently ranked 6 by Rivals and 9 by Scout.

During these remaining 20 days keep in mind that, even if OSU doesn't close the deal on any other marquee players, Tressel and his team have a knack for getting the most out of what they have. Even Scout concedes that a 3-star recruit turned All American is no longer an anomaly.

But let us not forget the most important recruits, those who became the current OSU junior class. More to come...

• Ever wonder what happened to Antonio Pittman?

• Something to drool over. CFN's 2009 top Draft prospects. No, it's not too early. Yes, 6 Buckeyes are listed.

• The final list of early entries. A once-over of this page is all the evidence needed to support the pre-season hype that will surround Beanie Wells. James Davis, Kevin Smith, Darren McFadden, Felix Jones, Steve Slaton, Jonathan Stewart, Rashard Mendenhall, Ray Rice... these are now names of running backs formally considered for the Heisman award.