Sideliner

It's a new football season all right. The Speakeasy Sports Staff is back in action too, bringing you their not-necessarily-so-expert picks on this week's NFL winners and losers.

Considered by many to be just an East Coast sport, lacrosse has swept through the Midwest like a current with a forcible undertow.

So picture this: It’s noon on a Saturday, and your friends have not quite started drinking yet. You are bored, so you hop on your laptop and start surfing away on the Internet.

As another school year comes to a close, Speakeasy Sports takes a look at the past year in Ohio Bobcat athletics with its countdown of the five biggest story lines of the 2007-2008 school year.

Winter Quarter at Ohio University is like Soviet Russia. Fortunately, for OU students, that means Spring Quarter is just around the corner with warm weather, sunny skies and outdoor drinking games to be played.

With high hopes of returning to Athens, Ohio, with a national championship, the Ohio University men's lacrosse team was stunned and dispirited following an unexpected loss for the first time in more than a year.

It took 364 days and an hour-long thunderstorm delay for the Ohio University men's lacrosse team to avenge a loss that prematurely put closure to its 2007 campaign.

Speakeasy Sports made their quarterly road trip last weekend, this time into the heart of our hated rival -- Miami University in Oxford. The boys made the three-hour drive across Ohio and saw first-hand why the rivalry is called the "Battle of the Bricks."

The best parties in life are free and the Super Bowl Sundae Party in the Ping Center lounge Sunday evening was no exception.

Commercials and the Super Bowl. Brackets and March Madness. Strawberries 'n' cream and Wimbledon. These pairs are inseparably linked in the minds of sports fans. But not everything in sports mixes well together.

When the Harlem Globetrotters' theme song, “Sweet Georgia Brown,” echoed through the Convocation Center on Jan. 16, there was trick dribbling, windmill jams, underhand half-court shots, cartwheels, pull-ups on the rim, and a 360-through-the-legs dunk. And that was just the pre-game routine.

Lloyd came close to fulfilling his guarantee of going perfect last week, but like everyone else, went 3-1. The tension is mounting on both the field and on the Web. The boys are back with more playoff action.

Although the Campus Sports Guy met his death this winter, the boys managed to survive the snowy doldrums and the holiday season and have been making their picks via email. But with the playoffs upon us, Speakeasy decided to go all out and rise to the occasion. By the Super Bowl, the boys should have a brand new site to display their fortune-telling abilities. Will has a strong lead, but the Patriots haven't been crowned yet!

A tragedy has occurred at Ohio University's only student-run Webzine. Katie Couric reports the unexpected death of a legend. Will the Webzine survive without him? Who will replace him? Those answers and more to come. For now, Couric has the bizarre story of one man's rise and fall from blogging.

Lloyd made like his Steelers last week and forgot to show up. It also explains why the picks weren't posted last week, but it's okay because we have a mid-week edition of the Speakeasy Picks thanks to the holiday. Will extended his lead by going 14-2 last week and rankings are now based on percentages thanks to Lloyd. Happy Thanksgiving everyone and enjoy the Turducken and football.

After taking last week off and keeping our picks secret (Will extended his lead after going 10-4), the guys have gotten their act together and are ready to get back to work. Will has a commanding lead, but the beer is still up for grabs. It's business time!

As we approach the halfway point in the season, Will has a three game lead, as Lloyd is in a downward spiral, going 7-7 last week and dropping into third place. The Campus Sports Guy can feel the Miller in his hands. The Weis Guy had his best week a week ago, going 11-3, and is back in the thick of things.

Lloyd choked last week going 5-8 and no longer holds the top spot alone, as Will is surging and making like a psychic. We're approaching the midway point in the season and things are heating up

Ohio University has come up with a new slogan to promote good decision making and to decrease high risk drinking using a common sports metaphor. Just like Stop at the Buzz, the Campus Sports Guy isn't buying into the logic here.

Fans are going to new levels to get into their opponents' heads. They're using the latest technology to get any advantage they can. They're dropping the face paint and picking up a laptop, and the Weis Guy thinks it’s great.

The Ohio volleyball team spanked the competition during Homecoming Weekend defeating Ball State 3-0 (30-15, 30-17, 30-20) and Toledo 3-0 (30-20, 30-23, 30-22), but it will be a different story in the near future.

As soon as students walk into the Charles J. Ping Student Recreation Center, the first thing they see is the rock-climbing wall. Many see it but have not climbed it. For one Ohio University freshman, it is exactly the opposite.

How bad is Zach Swartz at this pick em? What kind of a tear is Will on in these games? Granted we aren't picking against the spread, but still, he should consider gambling. Here the guys pick week six.

With the college football season approaching the midway point and many teams entering conference play, the Weis Guy explores what makes NCAA football so unique and better than the Sunday version.

The Campus Sports Guy has a winning pro-football team and he's going to an ALDS game Thursday night, so why is he complaining? Could it be because of an embarrassing football loss to the school he almost went to?

It was an ideal Saturday afternoon for a football game, but OU students didn't agree. The stands were empty. The Bobcats lost. The question is, what better activities did you all have?

Caution: Lloyd had a big week last week in Speakeasy Sports' weekly pick-em game. If he has another big week, no one will hear the end of it as he pulls away from the pack.

Not that long ago, the Mid-American Conference was respectable in both football and men’s basketball. It had diamond-in-the-rough-turned-superstar athletes making it into the professional leagues and teams being nationally ranked annually. Not anymore!

The Indians are in the postseason. The Campus Sports Guy has his ticket to game one, but after the first three games of a four-game series with the Seattle Mariners, he's worried about who he calls the key to October success.

The Campus Sports Guy dropped his boycott and was in attendance at Peden Stadium last Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately most of you weren't there with him, and those who were, including the Bobcat team, didn't show up for the second half.

Two weeks are in the books. All of the NFL's teams are mathematically viable for post-season play and the same can be said for the guys of Speakeasy Sports. The guys are all separated by three games.

It finally happened and the Campus Sports Guy is jubilant. He was jumping and dancing after his beloved Browns defeated the loathed Bengals. United by technology, the CSG enjoyed the victory with several friends of Browns' Nation.

With his beloved Cincinnati Bengals losing to the Cleveland Browns this past Sunday, the Weis Guy is left hungover. Between the Cleveland faithful's taunting to the horrible fantasy football week, he just needs to vent.

Bricks line the streets in Athens, but the brick Bengal fans flock to every game day is a bar. It may not be Paul Brown Stadium, but The Red Brick Sports Pub is the campus haven for the Cincinnati faithful.

It may be located one state east of Ohio, but Pittsburgh certainly has a strong fan base here in the heart of Southeast Ohio. Two years off a Super Bowl win, the Steeler faithful still fill that same bar on Court Street every weekend.
   

After a dismal Sunday during which the Campus Sports Guy consumed some forty chicken wings, it took a Sunday night game that didn't involve an oval-shaped ball in order for him to get his priorities straight.

It has been a rough year for the Campus Sports Guy and everyone is picking his Browns to finish last. On the other hand, he thinks the Big Guy has got his back, and he's not talking about Romeo Crennel.

The NFL season is upon us and the guys at Speakeasy Sports are picking winners all season. So far one wager has been place. Lloyd and the Campus Sports Guy have wagered a case of expensive beer to whoever picks the most winners. Be sure to check Speakeasy every week to see who the guys picked.

The Campus Sports Guy has been writing his blog for almost a year now, but he has never done a mailbag. Today, he gives back to his readers by answering questions because his e-mail has been so congested.

The Campus Sports Guy is moving into his new crib on Friday, but he's got a lot of things on his mind because it's a special time of the year.  

Enough is enough and it's time for a change. All of the bad jokes, flamboyant graphics and thoughtless panel discussions, the Campus Sports Guy is sick of the new SportsCenter. He has to get some things off his chest. 

He wrote back in October how he was obsessed with the Cavs. He celebrated the Eastern Conference Finals up and down Court Street like he won the lottery. Now, with s Cavs on the brink of a sweep, The Campus Sports Guy decided to keep a running diary of Game 4.

Four tables, four dealers, 16 competitors. While the sounds of shoes squeaking against basketball courts echoed throughout Ping Center on May 1, a much more calm air surrounded the Ping Center Lounge, where the Intramural Poker Tournament took place.

Since the beginning of his collegiate athletic career, Ohio University senior track and field athlete Scott Mayle has proven over and over that he’s got what it takes to compete.

As a freshman, Mayle won the long jump title in the indoor Mid-American Conference Championships and finished 14th in the long jump in the NCAA Outdoor Championships. In his sophomore year, Mayle once again captured the MAC’s long jump title in the indoor season. In 2005, Mayle managed to place 17th overall for the long jump at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Then last year, Mayle made his third trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, qualifying for the finals for the first time and also becoming the first Bobcat track and field athlete since 1998 to reach the finals in the NCAA. He came in 12th place, just four places shy of earning All-American honors.

Welcome, readers. The tradition of the Campus Sports Guy's Festivus celebration begins with the airing of grievances. I have a lot of problems with you people! And now you're going to hear about it!

What everyone (at least the other members of the local and campus media) may not realize with the sport-cutting situation that has gone on in the athletic department is the individual impact.  

While Valentine's Day may be only a couple weeks away, Super Bowl Sunday is just hours, minutes and seconds away. One can be sure that the latter will take precedence this weekend for many. So snuggle up together on the couch, boys and girls, it's Super Bowl time once again.

From T.O., to A-rod, to D-Wade, to the Big Unit, to the Big Hurt, the world of sports is filled with nicknames. As for titles, all major professional sports have commissioners. All professional teams have general managers and presidents of operation.