- Joined
- May 8, 2002
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Have more comments, questions? Reach out to me at [email protected]. Letters are lightly edited for clarity.
To Brian: Can we talk? OSU women’s hockey coach Nadine Muzerall just signed a new five-year contract. I am happy for her, but I feel she is very undervalued by the university. She should be paid much more. She has won two national championships in the last five years and has the OSU women’s hockey team playing great and consistently at the top of the rankings. What an outstanding job she is doing. Year after year. Compare her new salary to coaches on the football or basketball team and it makes your head spin. I think the men's coaches receive the same amount of pay just to make coffee and pick up donuts in the morning. Where is the Title IX consideration here? OSU should thank their lucky stars they have a coach of Muzerall’s caliber and pay her accordingly. Remember, Brian, advice from a great hockey coach: "Keep your stick on the ice.”
Chet Ridenour Sr, Worthington
To Chet: Yes, we can talk. And I agree that Muzerall is a superstar who will go down as one of the great Ohio State coaches of all time in any sport. Our Rob Oller picked her as the top current OSU coach, six spots ahead of Ryan Day. (See his list here.) And our Dan Aulbach did a wonderful profile of Muzerall that can be found here.
To the editor: March Madness may be starting but I will not bother to watch any games. There are many fickle fans who apparently have forgotten how James Naismith designed/invented the game of basketball in 1891. The goals/baskets were high enough off the floor so that the ball needed to be thrown high into the air before only gravity pulled it down through the hoop. The ball could not be thrown down. Perhaps a dunked ball could count zero or negative-2 points today to preserve the integrity of the game while 3-point goals could remain as three points.
When I was a boy growing up, my dad said it takes absolutely no skill to dunk a basketball, and he was correct. Certainly, I could dunk the basketball if the basket were lowered to only 8 feet, 10 inches above the floor, but then my dunk would not show any sort of shooting skill. NBA and many collegiate basketball games have become very boring to me and have fallen off my screen. Let's preserve the true game of basketball and eliminate the dunked balls.
Fred Suter, Westerville
To Fred: Observers of Vince Carter, Julius Erving, Dominique Wilkins and Amare Bynum would disagree with the athleticism part of the argument. But for those who don't remember, dunking was indeed banned in the NCAA and high schools from 1967 to 1976, but it was due to injury concerns. The called it the "Lew Alcindor Rule." And my quick research tells me that Joe Fortenberry of the McPherson Globe Refiners is believed to be one of the first to dunk a ball in a game, doing so in 1936 in Madison Square Garden. That reportedly prompted the great Arthur Daley of The New York Times to write that Fortenberry and his teammate, Willard Schmidt, would "pitch the ball downward into the hoop, much like a cafeteria customer dunking a roll in coffee." Thus, the name. And that concludes today's history lesson.
To Brian: These NIT games have even worse attendance than minor league baseball playoff games despite being played at campus sites. Yale had 542. Unfortunately, after such a stellar four run, Bruce Thornton ended up going out on a disappointing note somewhat reminiscent of Aaron Craft's last game.
Dennis Singleton, Dayton
To Brian: Over the last nine seasons, Ohio State basketball has won three NCAA Tournament games. So has Northwestern, which has won two over the last three years while Ohio State has won none. Schools with a player on the AP All-American team since it last had an Ohio State player include Murray State and Dayton. Is that where Ohio State basketball is to be now?
Dennis Singleton, Dayton
To Dennis: Short answer: Yes
To Brian: Have you seen any report that correlates combine results with success in the NFL? The media seems to be interested in the numbers, but it seems to me the intangibles like decision-making, football instincts, coachability, being team oriented, "football IQ" are more important.
Raymond D'Angelo, Westerville
Rob Oller is right, and Rob Oller is wrong
Should Rob Oller be punished for missing Ohio State football bandwagon?
Reader comes to Rob Oller's defense, and what Is Ross Bjork doing?
What would St. Peter say to Woody Hayes, Ryan Day?
Does Ohio State really think it would beat Miami 9 out of 10 times?
Fans' treatment of Ohio State kicker Jayden Fielding is 'unhinged'
Can Brian Hartline be focused enough for Ohio State CFP run?
Ohio State football play-calling vs Indiana didn't make sense
Ohio State football coach Ryan Day cheered, Michigan jeered
Ohio State football is right to think of the long haul; Dispatch should, too
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Readers talk Ohio State hockey, basketball, and NFL combine
Continue reading...
On Ohio State hockey
To Brian: Can we talk? OSU women’s hockey coach Nadine Muzerall just signed a new five-year contract. I am happy for her, but I feel she is very undervalued by the university. She should be paid much more. She has won two national championships in the last five years and has the OSU women’s hockey team playing great and consistently at the top of the rankings. What an outstanding job she is doing. Year after year. Compare her new salary to coaches on the football or basketball team and it makes your head spin. I think the men's coaches receive the same amount of pay just to make coffee and pick up donuts in the morning. Where is the Title IX consideration here? OSU should thank their lucky stars they have a coach of Muzerall’s caliber and pay her accordingly. Remember, Brian, advice from a great hockey coach: "Keep your stick on the ice.”
Chet Ridenour Sr, Worthington
To Chet: Yes, we can talk. And I agree that Muzerall is a superstar who will go down as one of the great Ohio State coaches of all time in any sport. Our Rob Oller picked her as the top current OSU coach, six spots ahead of Ryan Day. (See his list here.) And our Dan Aulbach did a wonderful profile of Muzerall that can be found here.
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On college basketball
To the editor: March Madness may be starting but I will not bother to watch any games. There are many fickle fans who apparently have forgotten how James Naismith designed/invented the game of basketball in 1891. The goals/baskets were high enough off the floor so that the ball needed to be thrown high into the air before only gravity pulled it down through the hoop. The ball could not be thrown down. Perhaps a dunked ball could count zero or negative-2 points today to preserve the integrity of the game while 3-point goals could remain as three points.
When I was a boy growing up, my dad said it takes absolutely no skill to dunk a basketball, and he was correct. Certainly, I could dunk the basketball if the basket were lowered to only 8 feet, 10 inches above the floor, but then my dunk would not show any sort of shooting skill. NBA and many collegiate basketball games have become very boring to me and have fallen off my screen. Let's preserve the true game of basketball and eliminate the dunked balls.
Fred Suter, Westerville
To Fred: Observers of Vince Carter, Julius Erving, Dominique Wilkins and Amare Bynum would disagree with the athleticism part of the argument. But for those who don't remember, dunking was indeed banned in the NCAA and high schools from 1967 to 1976, but it was due to injury concerns. The called it the "Lew Alcindor Rule." And my quick research tells me that Joe Fortenberry of the McPherson Globe Refiners is believed to be one of the first to dunk a ball in a game, doing so in 1936 in Madison Square Garden. That reportedly prompted the great Arthur Daley of The New York Times to write that Fortenberry and his teammate, Willard Schmidt, would "pitch the ball downward into the hoop, much like a cafeteria customer dunking a roll in coffee." Thus, the name. And that concludes today's history lesson.
You must be registered for see images attach
To Brian: These NIT games have even worse attendance than minor league baseball playoff games despite being played at campus sites. Yale had 542. Unfortunately, after such a stellar four run, Bruce Thornton ended up going out on a disappointing note somewhat reminiscent of Aaron Craft's last game.
Dennis Singleton, Dayton
On Ohio State basketball
To Brian: Over the last nine seasons, Ohio State basketball has won three NCAA Tournament games. So has Northwestern, which has won two over the last three years while Ohio State has won none. Schools with a player on the AP All-American team since it last had an Ohio State player include Murray State and Dayton. Is that where Ohio State basketball is to be now?
Dennis Singleton, Dayton
To Dennis: Short answer: Yes
You must be registered for see images
On the NFL Combine
To Brian: Have you seen any report that correlates combine results with success in the NFL? The media seems to be interested in the numbers, but it seems to me the intangibles like decision-making, football instincts, coachability, being team oriented, "football IQ" are more important.
Raymond D'Angelo, Westerville
More from the Mailbox
Rob Oller is right, and Rob Oller is wrong
Should Rob Oller be punished for missing Ohio State football bandwagon?
Reader comes to Rob Oller's defense, and what Is Ross Bjork doing?
What would St. Peter say to Woody Hayes, Ryan Day?
Does Ohio State really think it would beat Miami 9 out of 10 times?
Fans' treatment of Ohio State kicker Jayden Fielding is 'unhinged'
Can Brian Hartline be focused enough for Ohio State CFP run?
Ohio State football play-calling vs Indiana didn't make sense
Ohio State football coach Ryan Day cheered, Michigan jeered
Ohio State football is right to think of the long haul; Dispatch should, too
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Readers talk Ohio State hockey, basketball, and NFL combine
Continue reading...
