About Me:
Who says a theater girl can't love sports? I may be a Northwestern graduate, but I'm an Ohio State Buckeye at heart. Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, I relocated to New York City to find a life on the stage. After four years of trying, (and finding some
About Me:
Who says a theater girl can't love sports? I may be a Northwestern graduate, but I'm an Ohio State Buckeye at heart. Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, I relocated to New York City to find a life on the stage. After four years of trying, (and finding some
About Me:
Who says a theater girl can't love sports? I may be a Northwestern graduate, but I'm an Ohio State Buckeye at heart. Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, I relocated to New York City to find a life on the stage. After four years of trying, (and finding some
As some of you may (or may not) know...I love to moonlight as a sportswriter. I had loads of success with my blog at FoxSports.com, but I have moved on to a new position, writing for The Columbus Dispatch!!!
I was recently selected by the sports department at the Columbus Dispatch to blog about Ohio State Football. (Could there be a more appropriate job for me?) To read my winning entry, click here.
For the next year I'll be writing for The Dispatch Online at their BuckeyeXtra site, where I have my own blog called "Sports and the City." I posted my first article today and I'm pretty proud of where I have come since joining the blogging world several years ago. I'll be publishing about 2-3 times a week, and I promise it will be about sports and football, but I won't write exclusively on Ohio State. Please check it out, comment, and enjoy this new chapter of my sports writing career!
No one said getting drafted would be easy. I'm sure Brady Quinn never expected the hardest part of Saturday would be to "sit and look pretty."
Grace under pressure is easily harder than being tackled by a lineman. When the quarterback releases the ball and takes it to the gut with a crushing blow, any player would gladly take the physical hit versus the emotional smack of public embarrassment. While I've never been a Brady Quinn fan, I had to feel sorry for the poor kid as he sat there in uncomfortable silence as other names were called before his.
No one likes to be the last one picked in gym class when they were 10 and no one likes to feel overlooked when they are 20. Quinn's poise during Saturday's draft makes him a prime player for the NFL: one who is humble, well-composed, and a perfect role-model. (See Tiki Barber, for example.) Perhaps he's too clean for the NFL, someone who would make a better suit than a uniform. Regardless, he has enough fire in his spirit to start with the Browns and prove his standing. The Browns won a goldmine in their 22nd pick: they got the QB they wanted who is inspired to prove his critics wrong.
Even if Brady hadn't gotten picked until a later round, or not picked at all, the kid has more potential in his thumb to make something of himself than most college graduates have in their degrees. He'll succeed regardless of vocation...but will he be the next Tom Brady? Remember, Brady was No. 199 when he was drafted. The truth is in the rings, not in the numbers.
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In other news: I accepted my offer to attend Columbia University's School of Journalism as a New Media graduate student.
* Many of you have wondered why I haven't been so vocal about the accomplishment of the Buckeyes and their bid to the BCS Championship. Although I have been very proud of the team, I have been busy writing a final paper for a sports writing class about my trip to the OSU-Michigan game. While it may seem outdated and over-due, here is my final piece about that amazing day.
I would like to congratulate the University of Michigan football team on an excellent season, but as Urban Meyer has famously said "they got their shot." Sour grapes and all, with the current BCS system, we will never see a year without controversy. While I do believe the Wolverines to be the second best team in the country, it only seemed fair for Florida to get their chance to prove if they belong in that second slot or not. By January 9, 2007 - we'll all know who has the goods to back up their team. GO BUCKS!
As the black BMW ripped through the stale Pennsylvania landscape at 90 mph, I desperately pointed my cell phone towards the car window, hoping to find a signal. I needed to confirm the news I heard at a Pocono rest stop: was famed Michigan coach Bo Schembechler, merely ill or was it worse? Anxious to confirm the report, I tried calling anyone near a computer who could update me on the man's status. It was early afternoon on November 17th, the day before the biggest game of the year. With historic proportions on the line, it was inconceivable to commence the weekend with the death of an iconic archrival.
By the time the car pulled up to the beverage depot in New Castle, Pennsylvania at 4PM, Bo Schembechler was pronounced dead. With the state line just miles away, the sun setting, and the clock ticking closer towards kickoff, it seemed inappropriate but necessary to crack open a case of Coors Light and inaugurate the colossal weekend with a beer. The death of the Michigan legend indicated that the 103rd meeting between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Michigan Wolverines would be anything but ordinary.
This wasn't a road trip, it was a pilgrimage; a trip made by four devoted fans-mere acquaintances when they departed earlier that morning. Desperate to witness the m
I am currently in a writing class at NYU and I am writing a feature story about what people will do to watch "The Game." If you are planning on being apart of the Ohio State-Michigan(in any way), I'd love to know about it. For example, are you taking extreme measures to get to the game? Did you sell your ticket for loads of cash? Do you have any rituals for game day? If you can't be in Columbus, how are you planning on watching the game? If you don't give a load of crap about college football, your mistake! Thanks for your help, any stories or comments are appreciated!
Wednesday, November 8, 2006, 09:04 AM EST
[General]
Note: I must apologize to my loyal readers who think I have fallen off the map. I've been bogged down with work and have had little time to put in my two-cents to FoxSports. I am currently enrolled in a sports writing class, so this posting is my first assignment. I know it's a little outdated, but I hope you enjoy! -Belle
While the final seconds ticked off the clock in Giants Stadium on Sunday, all you could hear was the collective exhale from the crowd. As the 14-10 victory over the Houstan Texans was set in the record books, perhaps it was the team who was most relieved the game was over.
The New York Giants may be 6-2, but the performance against the Houston Texans (2-6) hardly earned style points or affirmations from the crowd. With a massive match-up against the 7-1 Chicago Bears next week, Giants fans were hoping to see a game that would reassure a victory over the Bears, not a game that proved any team can win on any given Sunday.
Nobody understands that sentiment better than Chicago. The previously undefeated Bears lost at home to an underwhelming Miami Dolphins team in a game that many expected to be a Chicago blow-out. Instead it was a Chicago bust, setting up a huge match against the Giants to battle for the number one place in the National Football Conference.
With injuries plaguing the Giants and several key athletes unable to play, the team relied on the veteran performance of the league's leading rusher, Tiki Barber, who had 15 carries for 115 yards. The Giants took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, thanks to a 16 yard run in which Barber scampered up the left sideline to the endzone. With Barber, it's always business as usual. Immediately after his touchdown, he returned to the bench and donned his Giants cap, no smile, no accolades, just a calm look on his face that said "I did my job, now you do yours."
Giants quarterback Eli Manning did his job, completing 17 of 28 passes for 179 yards. He had several needle-threading passes to tight-end Jeremy Shockey, including a 25 yard pass near the Houston goal line in the second quarter. That play should have resulted in a touchdown, but thanks to a crushing hit by Houston's Glenn Earl, the tackle forced the ball loose from Shockey's hand and the play was ruled incomplete.
The Glenn Earl hit was illustrative that when a team is struggling the little dog continues to fight, and that's what Houston did for four quarters. Earl wasn't the only Texan to deliver bruising blows. First round draft pick Mario Williams managed a sack on Manning in the second quarter and continued his torment of the quarterback for the remainder of the game. With Houston up 10-7 over the hometown team at the start of the fourth quarter, the sleep-walking game quickly turned in to a dog fight.
The Giants inability to stop third-down conversions helped keep the Texans within striking distance of the upset victory. Thanks to an offensive surge by the Giants that resulted in a 3 yard touchdown pass from Manning to Shockey, the Giants assumed the 14-10 lead with less than eight minutes remaining in regulation. The stagnant Giant defense was jarred awake by the nippy Houston offense, but managed to silence the little dog when Giants linebacker, Gerris Wilkinson, forced a fumble that ended the Texans final march to the endzone.
While the little dog may be laughing back to Texas, it was the bigger dog that won the battle and will continue to Chicago. The Giants might have overlooked the Texans, but there is no looking past the Bears.
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