the Ohio State University Buckeyes

While everybody else is breaking down the games by the X's and O's in the upcoming NCAA Final Four games this weekend, I prefer to focus on what I really think is important - logos, jerseys, mascots and cheerleaders.

First up, the Ohio State University Buckeyes (I refuse to capitalize "The"). First of all, let me preface this by saying that I hate everything about Ohio State. Everything. Living in Bowling Green, Ohio for three years I had to put up with nothing but Buckeye fans and that experience turned me off to OSU sports forever. The arrogance is unrivaled in all of sports and nothing makes me happier than to see a Buckeye cry. I will even root for Florida football if it makes an OSU fan weep. That being said, I'll try to be as objective as I can, but my passionate hatred wells up whenever I even think about Ohio State, so it's going to be tough.

Logo: It pains me to say this, in fact it makes me feel ill just typing it, but I like the Ohio State logo just fine. It's very simple but still makes a unique and bold statement. It's a logo that is classically designed and will never go out of style as much as I might want it to. That being said, I can't think of anything else to say about this logo, it's that uneventful.

Jerseys: The same could be said about Ohio State's jerseys until the Big Ten tournament started and they plum lost their minds. On the surface, they are still a classic looking, simple jersey, but then you see them in game action and you realize what a joke they are. Form fitting tops, itty bitty little arm holes, weird silver wings on each shoulder and big ass baggy shorts. Nike should be ashamed of themselves. Lebron James should be ashamed of himself. They aren't as bad as Syracuse's "Orange" jerseys, but they still look really strange. The future of basketball jerseys? I hope not. Maybe in the WNBA, but please, not college basketball.

Mascot: Seriously, this is the mascot of the nation's largest university and one of the most successful, profitable and popular athletic programs in the country? It's a felt nut wearing a rugby shirt and sweatpants! Classically designed and simple? Yes. Perhaps time to upgrade? Definitely.

On the other hand, it's probably one of the most accurate mascots anywhere. That's the expression that most Ohio State fans have on their face when reading, writing or doing arithmetic (objectivity be damned!).

Cheerleaders: If there is a more conservative group of cheerleaders in all of the NCAA, I have yet to see them. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University cheer squad dresses dirtier than this. The guys are showing more skin than the ladies and the basketball team's jerseys are more revealing. But what can you say, just like everything else about Ohio State, they are simple, classic and conservative. Anything else would seem out of place.

Overall: As I have said ad nauseum, Ohio State is simple, classic, conservative and...who am I kidding...boring, just like the state that it represents.

Team: the Ohio State University
Conference: Big Ten
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Arena: Value City Arena at the Jerome Schottenstein Center

Bowling Green State University Falcons

Congratulations have to go out to my Bowling Green State University Fighting Falcons women's basketball team for knocking off #2 seed Vanderbilt tonight 59-56 to earn a trip to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in school history and Mid-American Conference history. Yes Ryne Hamblet (above, right), that just happened.

Two seasons ago I got the opportunity to see most of this team in the first round of the tournament in Seattle when they were beaten handily by Kansas State as a #13 seed. Despite the loss, you could see the talent that Curt Miller had brought in and how they were only going to get better and the excitement that was being built for this program. Last season, with a 28-2 record going into the tournament, the Falcons were given a #12 seed and had to play #5 UCLA and once again were beaten fairly easily.

This season, after only three losses including a much closer than the final score nine point loss to Duke, they were given some respect with a #7 seed and have run with it by first beating Oklahoma State and then earning tonight's historic victory. Saturday they look to make history again when they face #3 Arizona State.

When I went to school at BG, our men's basketball team was king featuring studs like Anthony Stacey and Keith McLeod. Football was terrible, women's basketball was a joke and hockey was mediocre. As soon as I left, football got good but men's basketball stumbled. The past two years, football has struggled while women's basketball has dominated the landscape. Point is, only one BGSU sport can be good at one time.

So how did the women's basketball team grow to be so strong while at the same time the men's program fell apart? Simple. Old-school jerseys. The men have switched from great, simple, understated jerseys complete with brown and orange striped socks to a more modern jersey complete with the new athletic marks that the school has been trying to slowly integrate.

The women, on the other hand, have resisted change and are still wearing an old jersey design that, to me, is what BGSU basketball should look like. I personally am not a big fan of the new Bowling Green athletic marks, and to go along with it, I'm not a fan of jerseys that use one solid script logo on the front. I prefer individually sewn letters like the ones the men used to wear and the women are currently wearing.

So to whoever takes over as the men's coach (I was sad to see Dakich go, but something had to happen) please think about ditching these fancy new jerseys for something traditional. I'm telling you, they have some seriously good mojo.

And to my other favorite team, the University of Washington Huskies who are currently looking for a new head coach, may I please introduce you to Curt Miller? He has built a great tradition of winning at BG, got the community excited about women's basketball and come Saturday, unlike June Daugherty, he will have beaten Arizona State this season.

Ay Ziggy Zoomba! Go Falcons!

Team: Bowling Green State University Falcons
Conference: Mid-American Conference
Location: Bowling Green, Ohio
Arena: Anderson Arena

Cleveland State Vikings

Every year they have the NCAA Tournament in Cleveland they play the games at the Wolstein Center on the campus of Cleveland State University. And every year you see that funny logo in the middle of floor of the basketball with a shield and a sword. I always love to see that logo. That means it's tourney time, also know in my world as Christmas.

On the left in the above picture is Cleveland State's primary logo. A green blob of a viking. It's really a cheesy and silly logo but still very endearing and fun. But when you replace his green head with a basketball it reaches a whole new level of goofy. It's totally silly and ridiculous and I love how they tried to make it look mean and serious. That just makes it look even more silly.

That being said, I wouldn't have it any other way. Every time I see a game from the Wolstein Center in the tourney that logo makes me smile. There's nothing like big time college basketball played at it's most serious passing over the basketball viking every 35 seconds. It makes this otherwise hardcore and hard hearted basketball fan's heart melt every single year.

Youngstown SteelHounds

The Central Hockey League's newest member revealed their nickname and logo today. Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you, the Youngstown SteelHounds! Sorry about the small logo, it's only their first day and I couldn't find a bigger one.

I'm having a very hard time with this logo. I'm not really sure what to make of it. It's just so, well, I don't know, confusing. There are some things that I really don't like, for example the random hockey sticks underneath the lettering. What are they supposed to be? The only reason they are there, I think, is to make sure people understand that this is a hockey team.

And the name. This happens so often in hockey where a team just arbitrarily combines two words. Usually it is something like the IceHogs or IceGators so at least it isn't the IceHounds, although Steel is used quite often because it refers to the blades on ice skates. But anyway, why can't it be two words? The Steel Hounds. That looks much, much better.

All that being said, I don't hate this logo or name. Why, I can't say. It's just different and kind of cool. I especially like the colors. The brown (technically rust) works really well with the navy and gray and makes for some interesting looking jerseys. The white one they have a picture of on the CHL website doesn't look that great but the navy jerseys should look really nice.