Oh it's coming, the big clash is coming!

Hello there, my faithful readers…

It has been quite a while, hasn’t it? There are several reasons why I haven’t made any updates, but that can wait for another time.

I AM PSYCHED ABOUT THIS SATURDAY, 9/10/05 !!!

It’s gonna be a New Year’s Day championship-quality college football game played in the second week of the season.

The Longhorns of The University of Texas vs. The Buckeyes of THE Ohio State University

8:00 PM, Nationally Televised on ABC

I am so excited about this game, I’m gonna give you my breakdown:

Texas (Rank No. 2 in both AP and USA Today polls)

2004 Record: 11-1
Key Win: Beat Michigan in Rose Bowl
Key Loss: Lost to Oklahoma for fifth straight year
Key Players Graduated: RB Cedric Benson, LB Derrick Johnson

Key Players: Vince Young, QB
Roderique Wright, DT
Aaron Harris, MLB

Offense: Vince Young obviously leads the way. His running ability automatically adds another dimension to the Longhorns’ offense, and changes everything in an opponent’s defensive scheme. Young took much media criticism after last season, because his lackluster passing ability kept him from being a complete, enormous threat. He apparently has worked extensively in the offseason to improve that part of his game, and had a decent game in week 1 against Louisiana-Lafayette (3 TD passes), but still, this was against a bottom-of-the-barrel football team. His first big test will be against the Buckeyes’ secondary.
Cedric Benson is gone now, and so the running game is taking a big hit. Incoming freshman RB Selvin Young racked up 135 yards in the first game, but it was due to the fact that the Longhorns’ big O-Line (smallest lineman: 305 pounds) easily overpowered an undersized LA-Lafayette D-Line. But still, the sheer size of that line will be a factor on Saturday night.
WR Limas Sweed is tall at 6’5”, and the Texas media is trying to label WR Ramonce Taylor as a “poor man’s Ted Ginn”.

Defense: DT Roderique Wright is a stud, very likely a first-rounder in the NFL Draft. Aaron Harris is the leader at linebacker. But what may be the biggest concern is the Texas secondary, which has veterans across the board, with a ton of experience. I would not be surprised if it turned out that the secondary was the difference in the game, even with all the talent the Buckeyes have at WR.

Ohio State (No. 4 AP, No. 7 USA Today)

2004 Record: 8-4
Key Win: Beat Michigan 37-21
Key Loss: Lost to Northwestern
Key Players Graduated: CB Dustin Fox, K Mike Nugent, DT Simon Fraser

Key Players: Ted Ginn, WR
A. J. Hawk, OLB
Santonio Holmes, WR

Offense: This is most likely the best offense Jim Tressel has had in his 5 years as the head coach. It is still a question on who will start at QB, but Coach Tressel plans to use both Justin Zwick and Troy Smith, who is fresh off a suspension for accepting money from a booster. Zwick showed some smarts in the victory over Miami (OH), including a couple of runs that reminded me of Craig Krenzel. But Zwick still has a problem: he still makes a lot of overthrows. Even his TD pass to Santonio Holmes could have been an easy play, but Zwick put too much on it, and Holmes had to lay his body out to grab it. All I can say about Troy Smith is that we’ll see how he does once he gets on the field. Who knows, the game could end up being a shootout between Vince Young and Troy Smith, two speedy QBs.
One Man: Ted Ginn. He may single-handedly create matchup nightmares without even touching the ball once. Holmes and Anthony Gonzalez will see a lot of one-on-one coverage, and that may be where the game is decided.
At RB, Antonio Pittman had a solid game against Miami (OH), needing only 14 carries to rack up 100 yards rushing. What was more impressive, though, was his ability to scrap for another yard or two when getting wrapped up. Last year, he would have just tumbled to the ground. The extra 10 pounds he gained in the offseason seem to help. Plus, the O-Line, with Rob Sims moving to left guard, looks considerably improved from last year.

Defense: Bar none, the best linebacker core in the nation. Hawk, Schlegel, and Carpenter will see dollar signs by this time next year. And backups Mike D’Andrea, Chad Hoobler, Marcus Freeman, and John Kerr could all be starters on almost any other Division I school.
DT Quinn Pitcock is rising as the next solid D-Lineman for the Buckeyes. Against Miami (OH) he was able to manipulate double teams to help stop the run. But that may be it for the D-Line. Mike Kudla is a solid, experienced veteran, but the D-Line will have to step up in order to disrupt the Longhorns’ plans on offense.
The starting secondary looked great last week. Safety Nate Salley ran to the ball well, and Donte Whitner’s interception return for a TD was a good play. When the backups come in, however, look out for matchup problems. The RedHawks scored 14 points in the fourth quarter on the Buckeyes’ 2nd team defensive backs.

The Rundown

When Texas has the ball: Against Michigan in the Rose Bowl, Vince Young dominated with his running ability, because the Wolverines could not make their blitz effective. Young just blew by them, many times cutting to the outside. The Buckeyes have better defensive speed than Michigan, though, and much better tacklers in Hawk, Carpenter and Schlegel. The Buckeyes will need to attack Young from many angles, bringing CBs and Safeties on the blitz. If Vince Young is going to run, why not force him to run up the middle at the Linebackers? The bottom line is, let Vince Young air it out. Bring pressure from all angles. With 105, 106, 107 thousand people screaming in The Horseshoe, it will be very difficult for Young to audible even if he does recognize defensive movement. If Young feels the pressure, it will be advantage Ohio State.

And, in order to focus on that gameplan, the Buckeye defense will have to do what it usually does well: stop the run, and the earlier the better.

When Ohio State has the ball: The storyline is and will remain on how the Texas defense will be able to handle two different quarterbacks. In my book, there is a bigger factor. If the Buckeye O-Line can hold their own in this game, then it will not matter who the quarterback is. If the quarterback gets adequate time in the pocket, the Buckeye offense will pick apart the Texas defense, even if it means more short, screen-like passes to Teddy Ginn. Even if freshman Robby Schoencroft is under center, the offense could nickel and dime its way downfield. If Antonio Pittman grinds his way for 100 yards on the ground, it will be a huge plus.

If Texas can get in the face of the quarterback, especially Zwick, there could be a handful of turnovers given up by the Buckeyes.

What Will Happen: The Buckeyes have never lost a home game at night, and I don’t see that trend being stopped. First off, both defenses have a speedy quarterback to practice against, and all of that will carry over into the game. I don’t see as much flash and dash out of Vince Young or Troy Smith that many people want to believe. This game will be about pressure and passing. Whichever defense can get the quarterback on tilt and off his focus will have the upper hand. And honestly, I don’t think Texas head coach Mack Brown is thinking this way, and will focus more on Ginn and pass coverage. The Buckeye offense will take what it can get after that, and there should be plenty. Slowly but surely, I see the Buckeyes take over this game, barring any blockbuster plays. My final score: Ohio State 31, Texas 20.

And whoever wins this game, I think deserves to jump ahead of USC for the top spot in both polls, but will more likely gain a unanimous No. 2 ranking.

Instead of showing all of the little additions and changes that was made to the robot, which means a lot more pictures, I decided to show you a more complete version of the bot. Obviously, the pickup mechanisms are in place. The shovel mounted on front is made for pickup of "soil samples" on the course. The freakish fork-looking design on the back is for pickup and dropoff of a battery. I'm surprised how our bot is turning heads for the design and how sweet it looks. But of course our bot looks sweet. We are Team Sweetness after all. Check that, we're Team $weetne$$ 

This is what we went with for the performance test that was last Friday. The long screws you see were temporary efforts for bump switches for the performance test. Also, we had to raise the Handy Board on wooden blocks because we mounted a Cadmium-Sulfide cell to the bottom of the chassis (under the black spot in the middle of the chassis). The CdS cell is used to detect light intensity; for the robot, it is used to read an LED start light. By the way, we passed the performance test with flying colors. 

Here's an update or our drivetrain. We added the nylon (or plastic?) bar to take away the slack on the belt caused by the new grooves in the idler wheels. 

Here's the new, improved, and current motor drive design. The motors and gearbox were dropped down, and were attached to the drive shafts via chain and gear. Plus, we opted to swap out our drive motors for new ones with better torque, because, let's face it, this thing is a TANK compared to the other bots. 

Did you see the white idler wheels on the drivetrain in the previous pictures? Well, we were having problems with keeping the tread belts from slipping off, and this was one of our remedies. We cut a notch into each idler wheel with a metal file. 

Ok, this is one of the cool, creative parts of our robot. The device on the wall of the chassis is our Dynamic Tensioner System. The left side of the aluminum bar is connected to the tensioner pulley on the drive train, and the right side of the bar is attached to a spring, which gives constant, varying tension that automatically adjusts for navigating inclines. 

Here's the unsuccessful drivetrain. The problem: Our homemade output shaft couplers and adapters were not in good alignment with the motors and drive wheels, causing the output shafts to wobble. 

So, here's what is beginning to resemble a robot. The drivetrain in this state was giving us problems, though... more on that later. Oh, and that box in the middle of the chassis is a Handy Board, invented by some guy at MIT. The Handy Board is our robot controller. Don't forget that this bot will be completely autonomous, meaning it will run by itself, without a human element like a remote control. 

So basically, the robot started like this. This is our main chassis body, made of 18 gage aluminum and bent to our needs. Our team got several remarks that this looked like a section of a heating duct. Not like we were looking to save on our budget... 

So here's the really ugly mockup of our robot. Believe me, it isn't going to turn out looking like this. 

First Item Up For Bid, Bob

Ok, now let me start my ranting on something that has been making me sore for a bit of time now, and that is the Cleveland Browns. Now, last year, they use the high draft pick they got because they sucked the year before, and picked Kellen Winslow from Miami. The same Kellen Winslow who said that the 2002 NATIONAL CHAMPION OHIO STATE BUCKEYES would be too slow for Miami in the Fiesta Bowl, just like in the '01 title game when Miami trounced Nebraska. Way to make a prediction, Kellen! Oh, and of course, Winslow is apparently "a f*cking soldier" or so he says in a 2003 post game interview. What a prick. Plus, he has contract issues, wanting too much money, so he misses the start of minicamp. Then, he lets himself get injured in the second game of the season, and the Browns try to ease the steam off of the horrible season by saying that half of the offense was built around Winslow. What a bunch of liars! If you even try to make a rookie the center of your offense, you're destined to get burned anyway. Looks like Butch Davis learned that lesson when his ass was kicked out the door. Okay, and now, to top the whole thing off, Winslow goes against the stipulations in his contract and rides a motorcycle, and of course, he gets into an accident, and is now sitting in a hospital bed with internal injuries, chest pain, and a concern from the Browns' training staff with his right knee. I hope the team takes back the bonus money and salary he is no longer entitled to since he broke the terms of his contract. Come on, Winslow didn't even have a license or learner's permit for the motorcycle! So, not only is he ignorant, he's breaking the law too. But I guess that's what you can expect from players who come from the University of Miami. Just ask Ray Lewis.

I'm only half done now.

So I wasn't happy with that pick in last year's NFL Draft. And since it just popped into my head, I'm still pissed that the Browns did not take one of the FOURTEEN BUCKEYES picked in the draft last year. Not one. FOURTEEN BUCKEYES picked in one draft. A record. But not good enough for the Browns. In fact, the Browns have had only two Buckeyes on the team since '99, and Chris Spielman got a career ending injury in the preseason! Darnell Sanders is the only Buckeye to play for the Browns in a regular season game since they came back in '99.

That's why I pick the best player ever to play for the old Browns or new: Tom Tupa, Punter.

I thought that would be the worst of it, because things were looking up. Romeo Crennel was brought in to coach and turn the team around, and Phil Savage was hired as GM, having one championship team under his belt already.

But things got a whole lot worse.

Romeo Crennel, a defensive minded guy, with serious needs on defense, takes the No. 3 pick and drafts Braylon f*cking Edwards. F*cking scUM. I was in agony all day that saturday. Ok, so the Browns picked the player who they and many other teams thought was the biggest talent in the draft. Well, first off, Crennel apparently forgot what state he is in and what University is two and a half hours south of him. What a scUMbag. And my hatred for ESPN got hotter when all throughout the draft they glorified Braylon in his effort against Michigan State, which to ESPN is apparently a bigger rivalry than THE GAME. What-friggin-ever. So Edwards racks up close to 200 yards recieving and a pair of touchdowns. Wow, Braylon, I guess it must be really hard to catch a ball over a secondary with player six inches shorter than you. Really tough, Braylon. Tell the people about your dismal performance against The Ohio State University. Tell the people how you couldn't perform against a REAL secondary. And no, Texas did not have a REAL secondary. Tell the people how you only beat The Ohio State University ONCE in your college career, and how you cried after you came into the Horseshoe and lost back in November.

Tell them all Braylon. Tell the truth ESPN. Tell me why you stooped to a new low, Cleveland Browns.

For what it's worth, I'm not gonna watch the Browns unless Edwards gets 1,000 recieving yards or gets injured. You all know who I'd cut first if I was GM for one day.

This year, I'm all about J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS! and the Minnesota Vikings. Those two teams got the biggest steals of the draft, and I bet Nuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge sets a scoring record for the Jets.

Man, I'm both tired and riled at the same time...

There is no friggin way I haven't touched this thing in a month!

Or is there?

I am in complete disbelief of myself... It has been a month of "Gotta post tommorrow" and "Gotta upload the new pictures" and "Gotta talk about the spring game" and all that other fine stuff.

It all snowballed, it seems... I might just be that lazy.

...Or that busy.

I have been working hard on that robot project; hell, I have so many pictures of it on my computer that I can classify it as a photo essay! Don't worry, you'll get to see some of them soon enough. I just have to organize them.

But other than that, I have so much to rant about it's gonna come like several PUNCHES TO YOUR DOME!!!

So much crap happened in the last month that I will certainly forget something...

So I better get to it. I'm out.
...For 30 seconds...

Batter Up

So, we all know what took up our day on Apr. 2, 2005... Saying goodbye to the Pope. It's going to be a new learning experience; I didn't know what happens next until I looked it up on the web. And the numbers game goes down like this:
4-6 days for the Pope to be buried
9 official days of mourning
15 days until the Cardinals gather in the Conclave to begin selecting the new Pope
117 eligible Cardinals under the age of 80

Here's some good links about the processes:
Tradition And Secrecy
Encyclopedia Entry On The Pope (Very detailed)
History Of The Papal Election
BBC News' Obituary Of Pope John Paul II
Challenges Facing The Church
Possible Key Players For Next Pope

As mentioned above, it will take at least 15 days until deliberation on a new Pope will even begin. While floating around the web, I found a link that gave the current odds on who the next Pope will be: http://sports.bestbetting.com/specials/current-affairs/religion/who-will-be-the-next-pope

I wonder how crazy it is in Vegas.

Really, though, while watching MSNBC, some experts suggested the new Pope should be from one of the other reaches of the worldwide Catholic following, specifically a non-European. I'm all for that. A Latin American Pope especially will globally recognize the broadening of the Catholic faith, and what extra importance would it mean if an Italian regained the Papacy for a country who held the Papacy for 450 years before JP II? I may not have been alive when JP II was named Pope, but I do understand the large scope of his succession. I hope that JP II's reign becomes what will be known as the beginning of the globalization of the Papacy. And if my words aren't saying much, look at those odds from the above link. At one time, the Nigerian canidate had 4 to 1 odds. But only time will tell...


Meanwhile, on to more of the latest. Coming up at the end of this weekend is the beginning of the baseball season, with Boston playing New York on Sunday. That also means the start of fantasy baseball (I have four teams), and the start of the Tribe's march to the top of the division and back into the playoffs. You'll know what I'll be doing at 3:05 on Monday. Cleveland at Chicago, Jake Westbrook vs. Mark Buehrle. And I can't believe the Tribe's lineup. Ronnie Belliard batting eighth? We have nine tough outs in this lineup. Casey Blake, who had 28 HR and 88 RBI last year, seventh? Wow. I can see loooooooooooooooooong rallies at the plate. And don't forget the new pitching contingent. My boy Kevin Millwood in the rotation, I still can't wait. And if Bobby Wickman does his job and has no elbow problems, we'll be smooth sailing into October. It's gonna be a fun season.

So let me sleep and dream of the playoffs....

Eye Candy

Um... Yeah... We have some nice looking ladies here at The Ohio State University.

But that's a given when you're at the biggest campus in the nation.

Damn! there was some nice stuff to see today. Grable and I went out to the South Oval to toss a baseball around, and there were ladies as far as the eye can see. I love warm weather! I don't know why people can't choose this place. Best atmosphere, best people. Maybe I gotta stop tossing the baseball around and start tossing some ladies into my bed... Damn. I guess seeing bikini tops and less clothing in March is getting to me strong! That's not a bad thing, is it? I'm just a male, I can do that, right? Huh? Huh? It's gonna be a great quarter. I love my University. I see now why some people decide to be professional students.

So the big robot project is on, and there's gonna be WORK to do all quarter. But I'll be smiling when we make flawless runs during the competition. I can see it now... I walk in with the best bot and walk out with the hot chicks. Um... except for the hot chicks part, engineering is where those are in short supply. Can someone lend me some hot chicks for the competiton in two months? Please? So I can look impressive? No? Fine. Like I need em anyway.

Oh, and happy birthday to the man in sports with one of the funniest names ever: Dick Woodson.

Well, anyway... Back to the show.

Awwwwwwww, Did You Miss Me?

The Bigman's Chronicles Continues!

Ya, so I went away for a while... we all know why. You know who's mother would go balllllllllllllistic if I was on the ol' dial-up for a long time while trying to post one up. I got lucky because I didn't get that grief, my brother did! And for those of you who just can't resist the laughter of it, and for those who want to say again that I'm being mean for saying it, I give you what my mother would have said if I were found on the internet at home for long: "CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIG, god dammit sonofabitch, get off of the damn phone!"

Man, the phone calls are gonna roll in now from Willowick.... HA! But anyway, I'm back from the hiatus known as Spring Break, or as I think of it now, the last reprieve before a hell push to the end of the last quarter. Hey, I enjoyed it though... I'm sporting a sweet new Virginia Tech jersey now, and I was playing out my new copy of Gran Turismo 4, both great deals from my new friend eBay. I suggest you check it out just to see some of the stupid things that get auctioned off, such as:
1. The naming rights to a couple's baby who is approaching birth
2. The engagement ring Michael Jackson gave to whatever her name is years ago
3. A sister's diary that a young lady auctioned because the sister told the girl's boyfriend that she cheated on him
4. That same sister auctioned off the girl's love letters to get back at her

Sometimes I wonder what stupid things I can auction off for some cash. Maybe I'll sell a diary and claim it's Mike's and say that he comes out of the closet in one of the entries...

Man, having money must be cool.

So, I went to the Cavs game, where they shut down the Pistons, and where three of the guys on my floor here, including my roommate Robbie were at as well... THANKS FOR CALLING ME FELLAS! Naw... it's cool. I got better seats anyway.

And, I got to showcase my bowling prowess all over again back on Wednesday, as I wu-hupped by buddies Brubaker, Ross and Mike, sweeping the victories in all four games, bowling cold after not playing in months.

And as for the rest? I spent it with my lady, and NO, I don't mean my grandmother.

I think I spent too much time with Jessica... or not enough... She had better come see me sometime during the quarter. In fact, a lot of people should come see me during this quarter. I'll get pissed if anyone tries to ask me "So, when ya gonna invite me down to The OSU, Bigman?". Everyone asks me that and I tell them to call me and set something up. I mean really, as long as I'm not taking midterms or finals, you can probably come and visit. C'mon, I haven't been able to show off this awesome university to many people!

I'm already anticipating a much better atmosphere here in C-Bus. Our weather is STILL ten degrees warmer than in NE Ohio, and we're pegged to reach 70 this week. The campus is already more animated than the cold last quarter. I'm hoping to discover even more about this campus. I've seen so much, but I really have a lot more to find. I gotta get out and play some baseball, golf, more basketball, and just maybe I'll get in with Mike on some soccer escapade. Who knows. There are plenty of doors to look into.

I better get to lookin' now...

Pictures IN YOUR FACE!!

Ya, I hope you enjoy the unloading of pictures I put up today. It was a good release from my finals studying to see all of the scenes in which I look or act like an ass! The only thing is that I really meant them to be in reverse order... You'll probably figure that out from some of the captions. I have more pics to sift through, so rest assured there's gotta be more of me doing dumb things and more candid shots from my expeditions on the internet. But that's all for now. Wish me luck this week for my finals...