tOSU vs. USNA

• Con_Alma

  Tickets sold for this game is at 60,000 according to The Baltimore Sun.
  
  http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2014/08/21/ohio-state-navy-ticket-sales-at-60-000-for.html
• sleeper

  

  Con_Alma;1646619 wrote:Tickets sold for this game is at 60,000 according to The Baltimore Sun.
  
  http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2014/08/21/ohio-state-navy-ticket-sales-at-60-000-for.html

  If it was anywhere in Ohio, game would be sold out.
• Con_Alma

  sleeper;1646633 wrote:If it was anywhere in Ohio, game would be sold out.

  Ya think??
• thavoice

  sleeper;1646633 wrote:If it was anywhere in Ohio, game would be sold out.

  Of course it would.
  
  I am a little surprised this isnt sold out, because, you know OSU has the biggest alumni group around the country right? Many people root on the service academies, I know I usually do, but the actual fanbase of those squads arent first and foremost on people's minds. Navy football for most fans who like and follow them is most likely their 2nd team with an allegiance to some other college.
• sleeper

  

  thavoice;1646641 wrote:Of course it would.
  
  I am a little surprised this isnt sold out, because, you know OSU has the biggest alumni group around the country right? Many people root on the service academies, I know I usually do, but the actual fanbase of those squads arent first and foremost on people's minds. Navy football for most fans who like and follow them is most likely their 2nd team with an allegiance to some other college.

  OSU does have a large fan base but remember the Navy game is basically a shitty OOC matchup that most Buckeyes aren't going to spend big bucks to travel for. I can tell you the games even in Columbus against shitty MAC schools were the ones I dreaded the most even though I still went and stayed the entire blowout.
• thavoice

  sleeper;1646650 wrote:OSU does have a large fan base but remember the Navy game is basically a shitty OOC matchup that most Buckeyes aren't going to spend big bucks to travel for. I can tell you the games even in Columbus against shitty MAC schools were the ones I dreaded the most even though I still went and stayed the entire blowout.

  I am not even talking about traveling.....OSU should have enough alumni in the NE area to fill that place up.
• sleeper

  

  thavoice;1646660 wrote:I am not even talking about traveling.....OSU should have enough alumni in the NE area to fill that place up.

  Sorry, Alumni here. I live about an hour away from Baltimore and spending a substantial amount of cash to go to the game only to have some buyers remorse because I could watch a real game in Columbus for about the same price.
  
  Navy is slightly better than a Sun Belt school.
• Con_Alma

  The Big Ten Network has scheduled a replay of the Navy @ Ohio State 2009 game for Wednesday August 27 at 8:00 P.M
• Con_Alma

  I won't be watching either the replay or this year's game, unfortunately. We don't reconnect cable until September 1st.
• Con_Alma

  Nice article on Columbus kid playing for Navy.
  
  Geoffrey Whiteside: The Quintessential Navy Football Player By Gary Lambrecht
  

  	Geoffrey Whiteside

  Aug. 22, 2014
  There they sat in the middle of the night nearly five years ago, father and son, pouring over all of the options, both pros and cons, in their home in Columbus, Ohio. The deadline was fast approaching for Geoffrey Whiteside, who was about to make the most pivotal decision of his young life.
  
  
  
  With college football's National Signing Day upon him, after weighing various offers from Toledo, Northern Illinois, Ohio University, Air Force and the U.S. Naval Academy, the youngest of Larry Whiteside's three children threw his dad for a loop.
  
  
  
  Geoffrey announced he wanted to go to Navy to play football, become a military officer and be a leader in service to his country.
  "We were up until 3 or 4 a.m. on Signing Day, going over his choices. When Geoffrey told me that he wanted to come to Navy, it knocked my socks off. It's a moment I will never forget," recalled Larry, Sr. "I thought [Geoffrey] might have been a little too sleepy or a little delirious. We don't have a military background in our family.
  
  "I was apprehensive about it. But I wanted him to make that decision. I asked him if he was sure about it. He said [Navy] could provide him with the best future, and he could still get to play football. It just goes to show you that sometimes kids know what they want. Geoffrey always was a driven young man."
  
  
  
  That hasn't changed with Whiteside, the senior slot back who, at 5-feet-10, 177 pounds, is scheduled to start in Navy's much-anticipated season opener against Ohio State - his hometown team. Whiteside expected more than a dozen family members and friends to witness the big event at M&T Bank Stadium, the home of the Baltimore Ravens.
  
  
  
  Like many of the players on head coach Ken Niumatalolo's team, Whiteside has been forced to pay his dues, and then some. Before breaking into the starting lineup of a deep offensive backfield in 2013, when he started seven of 10 games, scored four touchdowns, averaged 7.4 yards on 49 carries and added 158 receiving yards, Whiteside worked tirelessly and somewhat anonymously for several years.
  
  
  
• HelloAgain

  Con_Alma;1647144 wrote:at 5-feet-10, 177 pounds,
  

  lol
• Con_Alma

  Cont.
  
  Never mind that, while attending Columbus Bishop Hartley High School, he earned all-Ohio recognition three times in football, was part of a 4 X 100 meter relay team that won a state championship in 2010 and won a conference title in the 100 meters with a time of 10.81 seconds.
  
  Whiteside went back to square one in shoulder pads, first by spending a year at the Naval Academy prep school in Newport, R.I., then by learning the football ropes in Annapolis as a plebe who saw no varsity action as a scout team performer on offense or special teams.
  
  "Everything Geoffrey has gained in our program, he earned. He doesn't ask for much," Niumatalolo said. "He was not one of our more highly recruited A backs, just a relentless, humble kid who commands respect. You've got to be a tough sucker mentally to put up with what he dealt with - coming from being `the man' to being at the bottom of the barrel. Geoffrey basically forced our hand with the way he did his job."
  
  "[My path] has been difficult, but I've always tried to keep a clear and positive mind, always going forward," Whiteside said. "Those first two years were kind of discouraging. Coach [Niumatalolo] told me to respect the grind, and eventually things will pay off. I stuck to that plan, and here I am."
  
  Given where he came from, it's no wonder that Whiteside, 23, has persevered and reached this point in a solid career. The Whiteside household has always been about work and goals.
  
  Geoffrey's father played football at Ohio University, and has worked for 32 years for Franklin County Children Services, where he is a specialist who links families with adopted kids. His mother, Mellisa, owns and operates a successful daycare business that she started.
  
  Then there are the successful siblings. Larry, Jr., 25, attended St. Augustine's College in Raleigh, N.C. on a golf scholarship, and works as a software engineer. Brittney, 29, was a four-time, all-Horizon League basketball player at Wright State in Dayton, Ohio. She played professionally for four years in Germany, before a ruptured Achilles ended her career. She works as a special assistant to the Athletics Director at Wright State.
  
  You might say there was a competitive streak that energized the family.
  
  "I remember when he was about five or six my Mom would take us for walks around this track in the neighborhood. Geoffrey would keep running around the track while the rest of us were walking," Brittney said.
  
  "I honestly think even then, he was out to prove something to his older siblings. When he was older, the first time he was quick enough and good enough to beat me in one-on-one [basketball], what a moment that was for him."
  
  Geoffrey also experienced an extremely scary moment as a youngster, when the Whiteside family resided in a stretch of East Columbus that was starting to turn in a dangerous direction.
  
• Con_Alma

  Cont.
  
  When he was nine, Geoffrey was walking to catch the bus to school with his older brother. Suddenly, Geoffrey felt a sharp pain on his right ear and cried out. Larry Jr. took a look and realized his little brother was bleeding, and that part of his lower ear was missing.
  
  
  "I felt this sharp sting. I didn't know what happened," Geoffrey recalled. "I remember there was blood trickling down my neck and my brother was saying, `Geoffrey, your ear!'"
  
  As it turned out, according to Larry, Sr., a teenage boy in the neighborhood had found a pellet gun in his home, and had fired inexplicably at the unsuspecting Whitesides. Doctors successfully reattached a piece of the ear.
  
  "Geoffrey knew the kid [who shot him]. If that shot had hit him a few more inches over to the left, it could have been bad," Larry, Sr. said. "The shooter went through the juvenile system and ended up in a diversion program. We ended up moving to a safer neighborhood a few months after that.
  
  "It took two or three weeks before Geoffrey would even go outside to play again. We had a basketball court outside, and after a while I coaxed him into coming out to play for a few minutes, then a few minutes longer. By the time we moved, Geoffrey was much better about it."
  
  Geoffrey remembers "staying positive" after the incident, which he did not discuss in much detail. As his brother recalled, Geoffrey has never been a trouble-maker, before or since.
  
  "There was a ton of trouble you could get into in the inner city, where we grew up, but Geoffrey never went down that path," said Larry, Jr. "He's always been more of a leader instead of a follower. He's a realist who looks after his friends and sees the big picture."
  
  Navy assistant coach Justin Davis, who recruited Whiteside, remembers being struck by that same maturity in the quick, undersized Whiteside.
  
  "Geoffrey was a late bloomer. You could see on tape that he had speed and athletic ability and had a knack for picking up yards. But after talking to him for 10 minutes and seeing how quiet and humble he was, I knew he would work [at Navy]," Davis said.
  
  "We don't care about the size [in the slot backs] here. We want workers and leaders, and that's him. He started out eighth on the depth chart when he first got here, and Geoffrey just came to work with his lunch pail, took his punishment on the scout team and never complained about anything. I've loved watching him stay the course."
  
  "[Whiteside] is the quintessential Navy football player. He isn't great at any one thing, but he's very good and consistent at a lot of stuff," added slot backs coach Danny O'Rourke, who pointed especially to Whiteside's commitment to blocking.
  
  "Besides quarterback, his position is the hardest to learn," O'Rourke said. "You're part of the running, passing and blocking games, and you've got to know everything about the offense. Like a lot of freshman, Geoffrey didn't know his left from his right early on. But he started looking like a totally different player as a sophomore."
  
  Whiteside recalled the thrill of finally getting on the playing field in 2012 - in Dublin, Ireland, of all places. Navy opened that season against Notre Dame. Whiteside was on the Mids' coverage team on the opening kickoff.
  
  "I remember feeling that adrenalin running down the field, hearing how loud the crowd was. It was a strange experience," he said. "I was real nervous leading up to the kickoff, but so excited to actually be out there."
  
  Gradually, Whiteside earned more snaps and touches in the offensive backfield while playing behind veterans such as Gee Gee Greene and Darius Staten. By the time Whiteside caught a key, third-down pass against Army to set up a game-winning touchdown by Brandon Turner, he already had gained a huge fan in quarterback Keenan Reynolds, then a freshman.
  
  "To me, Geoffrey was an unsung hero that year, lurking in the shadows and grinding," Reynolds said. "He's an easy-going guy, not very vocal. But he can make plays, and he's not afraid to block anybody, whether it's a 250-pound linebacker or a five-star cornerback in the open field. He takes pride in those blocks on the perimeter. He just plays bigger than what he is, which helps him be a leader of the [slot backs]."
  
  Whiteside became one of Navy's steady playmakers in 2013. He broke off a career-long, 31-yard run and rushed for a career-high 97 yards in the season-opening, 41-35 win at Indiana. He rushed for two scores and teamed up with Reynolds for a career-long, 61-yard pass play the next week against Delaware.
  
  He remained an integral part of Navy's 9-4 season all the way to the end, when he spent much of the day producing blocks that helped the Mids grind up Middle Tennessee State with a 24-6 rout in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl. Navy rushed for 366 yards that day, marking the sixth straight game in which the Mids passed the 300-yard mark.
  
  And now, the swift, undersized grinder from Columbus is ready to take on the school he rooted for in his youth. The adrenalin will be flowing big time in Baltimore.
  
  "You can't get away from Ohio State in Columbus. There are no pro teams there. I remember watching guys like Ted Ginn and Troy Smith when I was younger. I really looked up to them," he said.
  
• Con_Alma

  Cont.
  
  "Now, I'm really looking forward to playing against them. It's going to be great in that big stadium. I try not to make the stage too big. I just want to prepare for it the same way I'd prepare for any other game. But there is a little bit of an extra chip on my shoulder."
  
  

  Navy Football
• HelloAgain

  Why would you copy & paste the entire article instead of just linking it you fucking moron?
• Con_Alma

  1 copy 4 pastes
  
  as opposed to 1 copy and 1 paste.
  
  It's not overwhelming of a task.
  
  The link is there for anyone interested.
• DeyDurkie5

  

  Con_Alma;1647154 wrote:1 copy 4 pastes
  
  as opposed to 1 copy and 1 paste.
  
  It's not overwhelming of a task.
  
  The link is there for anyone interested.

  It takes up way too much space. Post the link, and the 2 people who want to read it will read it you tool.
• Con_Alma

  I disagree. Each post on this bulletin board is *permitted to be up to 10,000 characters. I didn't exceed that so it didn't take up too much space.
• DeyDurkie5

  

  Con_Alma;1647156 wrote:I disagree. Each post on this bulletin board is allotted 10,000 characters. I didn't exceed that so it didn't take up too much space.

  Gotcha. You are still a tool tho.
• HelloAgain

  Con_Alma;1647154 wrote:1 copy 4 pastes
  
  as opposed to 1 copy and 1 paste.
  
  It's not overwhelming of a task.
  
  The link is there for anyone interested.

  Not the point dumb fuck.
• HelloAgain

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Con_Alma

  HelloAgain;1647161 wrote:Not the point dumb fuck.

  Apparently it wasn't your point but it was my point.
• HelloAgain

  Con_Alma;1647164 wrote:Apparently it wasn't your point but it was my point.

  Okay, as long as we don't break any forum rules
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Con_Alma

  [video=vimeo;6462429][/video]
  
  Part of the 2009 pageantry.
• vball10set

  Come on, Con_Alma, you gotta be smarter than that...smh