Go civil engineers

This post started as an assignment for my Tools for Civil Engineering class at the University of Akron, and you might not think civil engineering has much to do with sports, but in this case, it definitely does. Since I had already written some stuff for class, I thought I'd expand it a little for the blog. I hope my professor doesn't mind.

Akron is hosting the local region's American Society of Civil Engineers competition this weekend, and as my Tools professor is Akron's chapter adviser, he canceled class this week and told us to attend one of the competitions and write a paragraph or so about it. I chose the concrete canoe race, basically for no other reason than that it was held on Friday afternoon and I was already in Akron for Friday morning classes, so I wouldn't have to make an extra trip.

It was fascinating, though. Akron was one of eight schools involved, and three of them -- Ohio State, Kentucky and Pittsburgh -- are national powers in the traditional sports. Those schools cowered before the engineering might of the Zips, along with Western Kentucky and Youngstown State.

Akron’s teams did very well, running a canoe named the Bootlegger, finishing first in the men’s sprint and the ladies’ endurance competitions, and second or third in all others. It seems that the engineering aspect was a much larger component than the athletic aspect, as schools like Akron, Western Kentucky and Youngstown did well no matter who was rowing the canoes, and schools like Ohio State and Ohio U. were always bringing up the rear – especially OSU’s Matta Armada, which must make the Buckeyes’ basketball coach ashamed to have it named for him. I noted that one of the canoes actually snapped in half at one point, though it did not appear to be one of the competition canoes.

Maneuverability was a huge component. In the sprint races, the boats had to go down past some buoys and back to the original starting point. Akron's boat won the first men's heat because its canoe turned around much faster than Western Kentucky's, which was faster on the straightaway.

I'll tell you one thing -- the engineering students who attended were every bit as much into it as if they were at a football or basketball game. Four Akron students went shirtless with "ZIPS" painted on their chests, and they were chanting "Z-I-P-S, Zips, Zips, Zips!" There was much rejoicing whenever the Bootlegger came in first.

I also caught some of the root beer stein race, which was also pretty interesting. I’m not sure I see the tie-in to civil engineering, but it was fun anyway. It seemed that most of the competitors were much more interested in getting to the finish line in a hurry than keeping their root beer from spilling. I saw one guy from Kentucky wipe out just before the finish, leaving less than an inch of pop in his cup. I didn’t see how the scoring is done, but I’m sure than cost him, both because it took him more time to get there and because he lost most of his beverage.

Mixed day in Buckeye-land

As the Ohio State hoopsters prepare to start their expected deep NCAA Tournament run this afternoon, the football team suffers another setback as the five-game suspensions of the five players involved in Tattoogate are upheld by the NCAA, and Jim Tressel volunteers to sit out the same five games as punishment for knowing about their transgressions and not reporting them.

I've already expressed in this space what I think about the rule that ensnared the players, which is basically that they didn't hurt anybody, so what's the big deal. But the rules are in place, and Jim Tressel, who is supposed to be this great integrity guy, knows what they are, or at the very least SHOULD know what they are. On the one hand, I find it hard to fault him for not wanting his players to be punished for not hurting anyone; on the other hand, he knows darn well he and they are all subject to NCAA rules.

Of course, his volunteering to sit out five games doesn't mean he'll serve a five-game suspension and then show up for the Nebraska game in week six. The NCAA is still investigating, and could make his punishment more severe. All this over a few tattoos and trinkets. Crazy.

In other doings:

* The basketball Buckeyes haven't broken any NCAA rules lately, so long as anyone's aware, and are about three hours from starting play as the top overall seed in the Big Dance, against 16-seed Texas-San Antonio. They will of course cruise through this first-round matchup; the next 16 seed that beats a 1 will be the first ever, and these Buckeyes aren't going to lose to some pipsqueak upstart in their home state. That said, there are some potholes waiting for them in the later rounds. Likely opponents within the East Regional include Kentucky, Syracuse and North Carolina, all of which have won national titles in the last 15 years (albeit with different players than they currently have).

* Akron, the college I'm currently attending, is almost certainly about to be eliminated by Notre Dame, but it's nice to see a Northeast Ohio school in the tourney. It looked earlier in the season like Cleveland State might be the real deal, but they foundered right around the time I transferred from Cleveland State to Akron. Hmmm ... (By the way, don't ask me to name any players on either team. I don't want to embarrass you.)

* The Cavaliers won Wednesday night in Sacramento. That's the good news. Hey, there's been precious little of that for this team this year, so we might as well savor it. ... But the bad news is, they followed that up with a never-competitive, absolutely shameful 41-point loss in Portland. They were losing at various points by scores of 24-2, 35-6, 56-18, 74-33 ... you get the idea. It was only because the last three-eighths of the game were considered garbage time that the Blazers didn't double our score for the game. Had they kept their proverbial foot on our throat, it would have been even uglier. This is one of the worst teams in Cavaliers history, and that's not a small feat.

* The Indians' regular season starts in exactly two weeks, and while there's little reason to think they will contend this season, there are reasons to watch. I'm particularly excited about young catcher Carlos Santana, who was just mentioned on ESPN's SweetSpot blog as a potential breakout player for 2011. Some things I didn't know before I read that: Santana walked more than he struck out last year, between Columbus and Cleveland; and his combined AAA-MLB on-base percentage was .529. That's right, .529! Do you have any idea how good that is? Well, I'll tell you. The only players ever to post better OBPs over a full major-league season are named Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Barry Bonds. Obviously Santana's feat is not in the same league as theirs (both literally and figuratively), but still, this is a special player. And he's not a corner outfielder, as all three of those men were. He's a catcher! A catcher who can get on base with great regularity is a rare find indeed. Joe Mauer's about the only one I can think of, among current major leaguers, and even Mauer doesn't walk that much.

Browns lose to bad team; other things

As I stick my head above the snow and ice long enough to blog ... and get my face frozen off ...

* I don't have a whole lot to say about the Browns' loss to Buffalo. As the offense moved the ball steadily down the field in its first drive, it seemed like there was no stopping us in this one. But then they stopped hanging onto the ball, and couldn't move it down the field even if they did hang on to it. Did you realize the Browns never got past midfield the entire second half? Pathetic.

* Jake Delhomme has had success in the National Football League, but at this point in his career, he has no business running an NFL offense. If Colt McCoy can't come back next week against the Bengals, I want to see Seneca Wallace. I know he hasn't had a great career, but he can't be much worse than Delhomme.

* On the plus side, Peyton Hills topped 1,000 yards rushing for the season, and he's also the team's leading receiver in terms of number of receptions. On the minus side, Hillis fumbled three times, one of which was recovered by the Bills. Hillis is a beast, and I'm glad we have him, but we've got to be able to trust him to hold on to the cockadoody ball. The fumble he lost came at a critical time, right after the Browns had gotten a turnover and had a chance to score a touchdown, or at least a field goal. Not that there's ever a good time to lose a fumble.

* The Cavaliers ... yeah. They're bad. A couple of weeks ago, I had what seemed like legitimate hopes they could be a playoff contender. They've now lost eight straight, and at 7-17, have the fourth-worst record in the Eastern Conference. All this while the cotton-pickin' Miami Heat have won eight straight. It makes my soul hurt.

* But hey, how about that Akron Zips soccer team? They beat Louisville 1-0 yesterday to win the national championship -- the first national title ever for a team from the U of A, a year after losing in the title game.

* Another Ohio school is making noise in another non-marquee sport. The Miami Redhawks hockey team is ranked #6 in the nation. Like the Akron soccer team, Miami's icemen went deep into the post-season last year, after losing in the title game in 2008-09. And come January, I will have attended both those schools. Not that I have anything to do with their success, of course, but hey, that's what makes a fan a fan.

Can't stop Kent State

There were four games played at The Q yesterday, and three of them came down to fantastic finishes. The Miami Lady RedHawks pulled out a last-minute 70-66 win against Toledo, with Toledo-area native Laura Markwood hitting a big shot with 32.1 seconds left to break a 66-66 tie. They'll play Ohio at 1 p.m. today, after the Lady Bobcats needed double-overtime to beat Bowling Green yesterday, 68-66; Quintana Ward was the last-shot hero in that one. I did not see either of those games, as they were played while I was at work, but the title game is on Fox Sports Net. It should be a hum-dinger. Miami comes in at 22-10, Ohio at 20-12, and these are historic rivals. Being a Miami grad myself, I'm obviously biased, but whoever wins, I hope they go deep into the NCAA Tournament.

Akron easily handled Western Michigan last night, 73-62. The game was not as close as the final score indicates. The Zips will play Kent State in tonight's final, at 7 p.m. on ESPN2, after Kent beat Miami 49-47 last night. Now THAT was one HECK of a college basketball game. Both teams played tough, tough defense throughout. It came down to the closing seconds. Kent's Al Fisher hit a running jumper with three seconds left. Miami's Tim Pollitz had a good look at a close shot at the buzzer, but he left it short.

Bless his heart, Pollitz collapsed in disappointment as he saw his shot go off the front of the rim, and the cameras caught him moping off the court afterward. On Sunday, in Miami's last home game of the year, Pollitz, a senior, bent down and kissed the RedHawk in the center of the floor as he was leaving the court for the last time. It was both very touching and a little gross. The 17-15 RedHawks are obviously not going to get into the NCAA Tournament, and have to be considered a longshot even for the NIT, which means Pollitz's brilliant Miami career is probably over. I can understand that he'd feel bad about ending his career on a missed shot that would have sent the game to overtime. But hold your head up, Tim. You've got a lot to be proud of -- not least of which is a fine Miami University education.

So anyway, it's an all-southern Ohio women's final this afternoon, and an all-northeast Ohio men's final tonight. I'm predicting the Miami women and Kent men will get the automatic NCAA bids, but I will not be surprised if either or both is upset.

Incidentally, of the 12 schools in the Mid-American Conference, exactly half are in Ohio. And yet, of the eight teams that reached the semifinals between the two genders, seven were from Ohio -- and the one team that was not from Ohio was the one team that did not manage to hang in. I might point out that Miami is the only school that had both its teams reach the semifinals, but I'll leave that to the reader to figure out.

MAC tourney heats up at Q

I'm a Miami (Ohio) graduate, and I heard some smack talk from some of my Ohio U. grad co-workers yesterday leading up to last night's quarterfinal between the two teams at Quicken Loans Arena. But the smack's going to go in the other direction after the RedHawks' 74-61 win. Michael Bramos was the key, putting in 23 points, and Miami closed the game with an 11-2 run to send the Bobcats back to Athens.

For those of you who don't know, Miami and Ohio consider each other their arch rivals. It's no Ohio State-Michigan, but it is the two oldest schools in Ohio, and we do hate each other, albeit in a fairly good-natured way. It seems like we meet up in the MAC tourney every year somehow, and the games haven't always gone as I'd like. So enjoy this one, Miami fans; it could go the other way next year.

Our opponents tonight at 9:30 on Fox Sports Ohio? Top-seeded Kent State, now 26-6 after easily dispatching Toledo yesterday, 77-57. (Miami's 17-14, if you were wondering.) Kent's got a darned good team, and could make some serious noise in the NCAA tournament. I'm hearing the Flashes might not get in if they don't win the MAC, which seems ridiculous to me, but that almost makes me want to root for them against my own school tonight. But not quite.

In the other bracket, second-seeded Western Michigan, behind 24 points from David Kool (yes, that's his name), took care of Eastern Michigan, 70-61; though it was a tougher game than expected.

The Broncos (20-11) will play the Akron Zips (22-9) in the 7:00 game tonight, after Akron's easy 81-60 win over Central Michigan yesterday. Kent is certainly the class of the MAC this year, but I could certainly envision either of these teams pulling off an upset in the final on Saturday, assuming Kent gets past Miami tonight.