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Buckeyes Don’t Believe They’re Underdogs Against Oregon

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Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott (15) runs Alabama in the first half of the Sugar Bowl NCAA college football playoff semifinal game, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott (15) runs Alabama in the first half of the Sugar Bowl NCAA college football playoff semifinal game, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

RUSTY MILLER, AP Sports Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Offensive tackle Taylor Decker doesn’t believe that Ohio State is an underdog to Oregon in the national championship game on Monday.

In fact, Decker refuses to recognize that anything so outlandish is even possible.

“I know Vegas or ESPN or whatever has us as a 7- or 9-point underdog or something like that but we are not,” Decker said, clearly agitated. “We are not an underdog. Ohio State is never going to be an underdog, and that is just how it is.”

Oddsmakers in Las Vegas have the Ducks as a 6 1/2-point favorite, a spread driven up from an initial straight-up pick by bettors backing Oregon. Many TV pundits also like Oregon to grab the inaugural playoff crown.

Meanwhile, the Buckeyes take it personally, privately and sometimes publicly seething while awaiting a chance to prove people wrong in a third consecutive game — the third of four games this season Ohio State will play as an underdog.

Wisconsin was favored over the Buckeyes in the Big Ten championship game. The Badgers did not cover the 3 1/2-point spread, however, losing 59-0. Then, Alabama was an 8-point favorite pick to win the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day against the Buckeyes. Ohio State came out on top 42-35.

It’s been a driving force all season for Ohio State: Somebody puts them down or praises an opponent and next thing you know, the Buckeyes are celebrating when they leave the field.

That was the case in their biggest win of the regular season, when they were 3 1/2-point underdogs traveling to No. 8 Michigan State on Nov. 8, then beat the Spartans by 12 points.

“Everyone chose us to lose. We took that to heart. We went out there and played,” said Ohio State defensive tackle Adolphus Washington. “It was a good thing to carry over throughout the rest of the season.”

The Buckeyes, like Oregon a winner in 13 of 14 starts, have won a nation’s best 12 games in a row since a dismal 35-21 loss to Virginia Tech in its second game.

They’re 9-5 against the spread this year (compared with Oregon at 10-4 against the spread), and face two big elements swaying public perception toward the Ducks in the national championship game, gambling expert R.J. Bell of Pregame.com said.

Oregon is appealing to bettors because it plays fast, scores a lot of points, and just beat a team that hadn’t lost in two years, Bell said. Meanwhile, some bettors perceive the Big Ten as a second-rate conference in college football — teams in the conference were underdogs in all 10 bowl games played so far this year before the title game, Bell said.

“It’s just very unusual that it would fall this way,” Bell said. “It’s really a perfect storm of public bias.”

It makes most of the Buckeyes angry.

“Shocker. That’s a shock that we’re the underdogs again even after we beat the No. 1 team in the nation,” said linebacker Darron Lee. “But, hey, whatever.”

Safety Tyvis Powell also bristles at the mention of the ‘u’ word.

“We still don’t get the respect that we deserve,” he said. “I’ve seen some things on the Internet where, like, 66 percent of the world is picking Oregon. I mean I understand why, everybody sees Oregon and they’re like, ‘Oh, wow.’ But it’s just motivation to come out here and make sure we get the job done.”

Others are disinterested in what others say or think.

“I don’t care if we’re the underdogs or favorites,” quarterback Cardale Jones said. “We’re going to go out there and play like it’s the last game of the season.”

Because, well, it is the last game of the season — with the first CFP playoff title riding on the outcome.

Bell said being pegged as an underdog often motivates elite teams and gives them a psychological edge.

“Bowl games in particular, underdogs have an advantage because they have a significant leadup time to the bowl game in which they’re told they’re not supposed to win,” Bell said.

Since 2000, Ohio State has been an underdog 31 times. It beat the spread 20 times and won 16 of those games outright, Bell said.

Coach Urban Meyer said he may conjure up the underdog label to fire up his team, if need be.

“I don’t, like, pull out my ‘underdog script’ that we have in my file,” he said, tongue in cheek. “It’s what kind of team you’ve got and who you’re playing. Since I’ve been a head coach, we’ve gone berserk with it a few times and there’s other times — this last one (against Alabama) — we didn’t really play it up much.”

Several of the Buckeyes said they welcomed being an underdog. After all, it’s easier to surprise your opponent (and the experts) that way.

“It’s kind of an unsaid feeling, a vibe that we all get. It kind of goes to the hunger we have as a team,” wide receiver Evan Spencer said. “Them putting us as underdogs? Let ’em, I don’t care. We play so well as underdogs, I don’t really care what they predict the score to be because I know what we’re going to go out there and do. Let’s go play ball.”

___

Follow Rusty Miller on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/RustyMillerAP

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Arts and Culture

Gov. Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom Host 2024 Hall of Fame Ceremony

Former Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and three other African Americans were among 10 luminaries inducted into the 2024 Class of the California Hall of Fame on Feb. 8. The 17th Annual California Hall of Fame ceremony was held at the California Museum.

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Willie Brown, Former California Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor, was proud to be among the Hall of Fame inductees. CBM photo by Antonio Ray Harvey.
Willie Brown, Former California Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor, was proud to be among the Hall of Fame inductees. CBM photo by Antonio Ray Harvey.

By California Black Media

Former Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and three other African Americans were among 10 luminaries inducted into the 2024 Class of the California Hall of Fame on Feb. 8.

The 17th Annual California Hall of Fame ceremony was held at the California Museum.

“The California Hall of Fame is one of our families’ favorite traditions as it is a time to come together to celebrate remarkable Californians as well as their loved ones because we know that it is about partnerships,” Siebel Newsom said. “The governor likes to say that California is a dream factory because it doesn’t matter what zip code or background you come from, the California dream is alive and well to everyone who calls this state home.”

The other Black honorees were filmmaker Ava DuVernay; Federal Judge and civil rights leader, the Hon. Thelton Henderson; and basketball Hall of Fame player and broadcaster Cheryl Miller.

“It’s what I’ve been waiting for and to be among a great group of individuals that also deserve the honor,” Brown told California Black Media on the event’s red carpet before the ceremony began. “No, I never thought someone from Texas would be recognized this way. But here I am, and it all happened in the great state of California. It’s a fantastic feeling.”

Other 2024 inductees are: master chef and “mother of fusion cuisine” Helene An; computer scientist and “father of the internet” Vincent A. Cerf; all-female pop punk band The Go-Gos; Chicano Rock band Los Lobos; former U.S. Secretary of Defense and Congressman Leon E. Panetta; and artistic director and choreographer Brenda Way.

This year’s honorees join a history-making club with over 150 inspirational Californians previously inducted for their groundbreaking achievements and personifying the state’s innovative spirit.

“It’s just a humbling experience. I want to thank the Governor and First Partner. Who would have thought 100 years ago (that I would be inducted?) It’s incredible,” Miller said after her induction. “I want to thank the governor and First Partner for an incredible event.”

During his acceptance speech, Henderson said he was deeply honored.

“You know, it really would have been a really big deal to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in the area where I grew up, for example, South Central Hall of Fame, or the Watts Hall of Fame, or the Straight Out of Compton Hall of Fame,” he said. “But being inducted into the California Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame of the greatest state in the country in this great nation is something else.”

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Community

El Cerrito High Senior Jayvon Bolds Named to Blue-Grey All-American Bowl

El Cerrito High School senior Jayvon Bolds is set to play in the Blue-Grey All American Bowl game at Cowboy Stadium in Dallas on Jan. 8. Bolds, an 18-year-old scholar athlete whose favorite subject is history, was nominated for the honor by Rodney Alamo Brown, founder of Soulful Softball Sunday who also serves as an announcer for the Texas bowl game.

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Jayvon Bolds (No. 4) is headed to Cowboys Stadium to play in the Blue-Grey All American Bowl. (Photo courtesy of Rodney Alamo Brown).
Jayvon Bolds (No. 4) is headed to Cowboys Stadium to play in the Blue-Grey All American Bowl. (Photo courtesy of Rodney Alamo Brown).

By the Richmond Standard

El Cerrito High School senior Jayvon Bolds is set to play in the Blue-Grey All American Bowl game at Cowboy Stadium in Dallas on Jan. 8.

Bolds, an 18-year-old scholar athlete whose favorite subject is history, was nominated for the honor by Rodney Alamo Brown, founder of Soulful Softball Sunday who also serves as an announcer for the Texas bowl game.

“It’s a real honor,” Alamo Brown stated about Brown’s selection for the bowl game. “This makes him an All-American.”

Bolds will play three positions for the Eastern team: kr, slot back and special teams—i.e., kickoff and punt return.

“The plan is to line up Bolds all over the field and let him do his thing. He’ll be a weapon for our staff,” said NFL veteran Tampa Bay Buccaneers standout and All-American Bowl Coach Dick Bell. “In a game like this, with the platform being an NFL facility with former professionals as assistants and mentors, he’ll have a chance to shine on one of the biggest stages around.”

Recently, Bolds received a scholarship offer to continue his higher education at Clarke University in Dubuque, Iowa.

Bolds maintains a 3.3 GPA and is heavily involved in leadership as he is the vice president of the Black Student Union.

Blue-Grey Football launched in 1989 by founders Gus and Erik Bell with the aim of helping prospects gain national exposure so that they can improve their chances to secure college scholarships.

Some of the nation’s most talented young football players compete in the annual game, with Fox Sports, CBS Sports and USA Today regularly providing coverage, as well as ESPN.comScout.comRivals.com and 247Sports.com.

Bolds’ family is planning on traveling to Dallas on Friday and is seeking donations from the community to offset the enormous cost. Those who are willing to donate may do so by sending their donations to this cash app, $Juanita Towns.

Rodney Alamo Brown contributed to this report.

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Book Reviews

Book Review: “Who Got Game? Basketball”

A little less than two feet. That’s how far you can get your two feet off the floor if you’re an average kid doing an average vertical jump. Not quite twenty-four inches, but don’t worry: the taller you grow, the higher you could be able to jump. Practice some, dribble a little, shoot more three-pointers, and you might jump right into a book like “Who Got Game? Basketball” by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Jez Tuya.

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“Who Got Game? Basketball” Author Derrick Barnes Courtesy of EyeSun Photography (Charlotte NC). Book Cover Courtesy of Workman Publishing c.2024.
“Who Got Game? Basketball” Author Derrick Barnes Courtesy of EyeSun Photography (Charlotte NC). Book Cover Courtesy of Workman Publishing c.2024.

A little less than two feet.

That’s how far you can get your two feet off the floor if you’re an average kid doing an average vertical jump. Not quite twenty-four inches, but don’t worry: the taller you grow, the higher you could be able to jump. Practice some, dribble a little, shoot more three-pointers, and you might jump right into a book like “Who Got Game? Basketball” by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Jez Tuya.

Here we are, football season’s almost over, and your mind has turned to other things – namely, hoops set high over your head, and a round bouncy basketball. Kids like you who “got game” have had it for more than a century. Yes, the game of basketball was created by Dr. James Naismith in 1891 in Massachusetts.

In the years since, basketball has changed a lot, thanks to what Derrick Barnes calls “pioneers.” Julius “Dr. J” Erving improved the dunk. Before that, in 1950, the NBA first allowed Black basketball players on the teams. There have been super-tall players (Manute Bol and Gheorghe Muregan were both seven feet, seven tall) and smaller b-ballers – five-three Muggsy Bogues had a vertical jump of nearly four feet! – and just two years after the game was invented, America had its first women’s team.

A lot of off-court people poured themselves into the game, too. Barnes writes, for example, about Pat Summitt, hoopster, leader, and “one of the greatest coaches in all of sports history.” Her record of 1,098 wins ranks her at first-place in coaching women’s basketball, and as the coach with the second-most wins overall.

You can probably guess that in a book about buckets, there are bucketfuls of stats. Barnes includes a list of NBA players who jumped to a team right out of high school. He writes about the greatest basketball park ever, he explains why winners cut down the net, how Title IX changed the game, why backboards rarely break into a zillion pieces anymore, high scores, bad injuries, “hoops movies,” and where in the world you can pick up a game today.

So, your 9-to-13-year-old loves basketball so much that they dribble a ball in their sleep? They think their favorite jersey is church wear? Then you’ll be the hero of the day when you bring home “Who Got Game? Basketball.”

But first, there’s one big thing you need to know: this is not a how-to book. There aren’t any instructions inside here, no rules or plays to follow. Instead, author Derrick Barnes makes young b-ballers happy by sharing little-known info about the game they love so much, short lists, great stories about great players, wins and losses, and phrases they should know to talk the talk. All this knowledge is supported by colorful illustrations by Jez Tuya that kids will enjoy alongside the facts.

This book is for die-hard young b-ballers, but don’t be surprised if an adult finds a thing or two to learn here. “Who Got Game? Basketball” is a book any fan will want to jump on.

“Who Got Game? Basketball” by Derrick Barnes, Illustrated by Jez Tuya, c.2023, Workman Publishing, $16.99, 172 pages.

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