Readers: Buckeyes coaches, QBS must do what it takes to win
Unfortunately, we don't have room in the print edition for all of the great reader feedback we're getting. For more of the letters, go to Dispatch.com. Have more comments, questions? Reach out to me at bwhite1@dispatch.com.
On Ohio State football
To the editor: I wanted to write and say what a great column by Rob Oller regarding the QB competition coming up between Kyle Mccord and Devin Brown. Like Rob, I also never understood why coach Ryan Day didn't get these guys more playing time in blowout games. He did the very same thing when Justin Fields was QB. I get it if you're breaking in a new starting QB early in the season, but not when you have a seasoned QB and you're depending on that person to help you win a national championship. It also doesn't help when most people know your QB is leaving for the NFL and you have no one really prepared going into the next season.
I can only hope that whoever wins the battle will run just a little bit more than C.J. Stroud ever did. I'm not asking anyone to be the next Fields, J.T. Barrett or even Braxton Miller. I'm just looking for someone to help keep the defenses honest. I believe that many of the short-yardage struggles by the run game over the past few years were due to the defenses knowing they didn't have to account for the QB. They could just zero in on our running backs. Having a QB who will at least force the defense to keep in the back of their minds an ability and willingness to run will only help the overall offense.
Best of luck to Kyle and Devin. Michael A. Thompson, Grove City To the editor: Ryan Day is a $9 million coach, which is fine and dandy, but he needs to go to the next level − a priceless coach. He needs to learn from Woody that winning isn't the best result but stepping on the neck of your
opponent is, especially if it is Michigan. From Urban, he needs to learn that unrelenting passion in his gut to win even if it sacrifices your personal health. And from the coach of the team up north, he has to learn how to instill in each player team and toughness.
I know these words are harsh in 2023, but football truly is binary with the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Let coach Day fulfill my only New Year's resolution I haven't broken − trounce the team up north this year and beat Alabama convincingly for the national championship. Doing that would make Day a priceless coach with a $15 million salary.
Michael Oser, Columbus
To Michael: While I'm all for someone taking lessons from the top people in any field, I'm not sure about the part about sacrificing personal health to that extent. Surely, there have to be other ways to win.
On Major League Baseball
To Brian: I just got back from my first MLB game of the year under the new rules. Twins beat the Blue Jays in under 2 1/2 hours. Pitchers pitched, batters batted. No juggling of rosin bags, no repeated adjustments of batting gloves and body armor. Just enjoyable baseball. The game went moved nicely without feeling rushed. MLB definitely got this one right.
On the Dispatch online edition
To the editor: As a longtime Dispatch reader, and supporter of local newspapers, I noted a complaint in the sports letters column related to not covering games. You replied the stories were covered in the Extra Edition. This morning I immediately went to Extra Edition to find a brief, but adequate, story on yesterday's women's game. I know you get lots of complaints re: late or nonexistent stories. You need to better promote this option!
Patrick Hughes
To Patrick: Yes, I do get a lot of complaints about our inability to get lategame results and news in the print edition. I wish we still could, but modernday deadlines won't allow it. But one advantage we have over many other outlets is the Gannett-produced section called Sports Extra, which is in our daily e-edition on Dispatch.com. It is thorough and timely and has the national scores and stats that used to be in print newspapers with late deadlines. Now, for the latest on our local teams, Dispatch.com's sports page has immediate stories from games or news. For instance, Rob Oller's fine columns this week from the Big Ten basketball tournament all were online but not in print because they would have been outdated due to the timing of the next days' games. But he still wrote, and wrote well, as did Adam Jardy with his many different angles from the games.
To the editor: I really miss the sports page with the previous day's scores and stories, especially the MLB box scores and basketball − all levels − box scores. I was wondering when USA Today took over the printing out of town, did anybody ever think of printing the sports here in Columbus to get the latest info from the previous day? Seems like a wonderful solution to the crap sports page of today!
Lanny Ross
To Lanny: Please allow me to let Patrick (above) introduce you to our e-edition. While I, too, wish we had it all in print, that edition with all the late games and box scores, is a pretty good solution available to all subscribers.