I Keep Bumping Into Days, and Waiting For Them to End.

Grad school, amongst other things, has a propensity for sticking daggers through fun. It lingers around corners and screams obscenities at your grandmother. It is not pleasant. If you are thinking of grad school, especially in English lit, I would dissuade you. Mostly because I hate competition, but also because it is a bitch-mother. When I started this blog back midway through last football season I had a plan that started with blogger and ended with world domination. Conquering the blogosphere in the name of RAWRCATZ! would be not only incredibly easy, but the apex of my life. I'm fairly sure that I had dreams where Frank Solich came to me and yelled, not because he was mad, but because he is one loud dude. He told me that my digital endeavor was an honorable one, and that I would one day establish myself in the pantheon of RAWRCATZian heroes. I'm also fairly sure that I was happy.

But then the pressures of my scholastic life intervened. As anyone who has typed in our web address hoping for an in depth look at our incredible MAC tourney run, and the culmination of our mighty RAWRCATZ! hoops force in their drubbing of Georgetown in the NCAA tourney has noticed, we were ominously silent. Fear not, your intrepid blogger took great joy in these moments. But he also had term papers to write, professors to coddle, and a pantheon of literature to overcome. Literature, not fat people or mother-in-laws (oddly enough), is the bane of all existence. And in the long run the weights of academia and the reality that I am not worthy to carry the e-Banner of Athens, forced me to reconsider the future of the site. And the future, it seems, has reached the fate of so many others in Blogfrica, it has come time to say goodbye.

I hope that all the RAWRCATZ! RAWRing across the countryside found a brief home at RAWRCATZRAWR! I know that exposing DeKalb as the post apocalyptic shitpit that it is, and watching Theo Scott make murder of MAC defenses has been the highlight of my e-Life, and will shine radiantly in my memories. And you can be damned sure that when I am filling out apps for my PhD that RAWRCATZRAWR! will be at the top of my list of accomplishments. No, don't look at my thesis, check out this blog I had. Yeah, I knew you'd let me in. It was only a matter of time.

But, my greatest hope is that King Solich would be proud. If he stopped by, on one of those sleepless nights where he is plotting the demise of yet another tasty MAC morsel, if he perused these pages, that he would be entertained. I know he wouldn't smile... Frank never smiles. But I hope that he would look upon the pages contained within and think, just for a second, that he doesn't want to kill me with that steely eyed glare of his. You know, the one that kills nations and Turner Gill's career with a single look. And though I will miss him most of all, I will also miss RAWRjuiceboxRAWR's immaculate photoshoppery (see above). I will miss our legion (read 3) of readers who read these rants, sent their emails, followed us on Twitter, and had words of encouragement. And I will miss having a place where RAWRCATZ! are in a perpetual state of RAWRing. Never have we RAWRed as proudly as we have this season, and I am grateful for the opportunity to have shared in the revelry with you.

So it is with a somber heart, and a hearty sigh, that I say farewell. Wherever you may roam, make sure you are RAWRing!

-RAWR CATZ

Recruiting: An Introduction

This is Seantrel Henderson. He's big. He's bad. He's sad.

"Sad?" you say.

Yes, sad.

This is a picture of him getting kicked out of King Solich's office after begging to be allowed to walk on to the RAWRCATZ! and realizing that he will be forced to go to USC and play for Lane Kifflebits instead.

Poor guy, I wish I could help him. But we are RAWRCATZ! And we help no one.

No, instead we have signed 17 bright and beautiful young cubs who will soon be molded into the carnage unfurling, death dealing RAWRCATZ! that we love and follow. Some highlights, or rather, some lowlights for every other team in the nation, because they didn't get these future MAC champions.

John Prior - OL

Quiz time!

John Prior left Florida State because:

A. Bobby Bowden was forced out and John was incensed by it, transferring to Ohio where he knows King Solich will never die, and never be forced to abdicate his throne.

B. He wanted no part of the proliferation of a gang of cheaters. His classroom record is impeccable.

C. Peden Stadium - 'nuff said bro.

If you answered "D. All of the above." You not only are correct, but you blow my mind for knowing that there was a choice D when I hadn't even typed it yet. Creepy, but mystifying.

Jamaal Tarrant - DL

Jamaal goes by the nickname of "HuggyBear." Not because of the pimp in Starsky n' Hutch, but because he literally hugged a bear. Some bear got all up in his face in downtown Toledo (I know you saw it on CNN) and Jamaal, instead of fighting it, hugged it. It takes a real man to caress and angry bear back from the brink of annihilating one's hometown. It takes an even bigger man to do it while whistling, "Party in the USA."

Kyle Snyder - QB

Kyle Snyder is listed at 6' and 3/4 of an inch. This extra 3/4 of an inch (not lacking of another 1/4, our glass is half full) was added after his verbal commitment to the RAWRCATZ! simply because RAWRCATZ! walk tall, and Kyle had never had perfect posture before.

More of our recruiting highlights will follow in the coming days, but Seantrel will be crying for months. USC is in the ghetto and Athens is a blissful city full of mermaids and gryphons. I'd want to spend 4 years amongst that too.

Lest We Forget

Here at RAWRCATZRAWR! we refuse to let our seniors go off into the night. We celebrate not only their ability to move on to more profitable endeavors, but fight for their right to party.

In this vein, news from the Senior Bowl has been incredibly optimistic for outgoing world-beater Taylor Price. ESPN's ever smug and supple Todd McShay praised the burgeoning draft hero in a quick segment.

Check the one minute mark. "Real Deal?" No, more like "Savaging Your Cornerbacks On The Way To The Endzone... Deal."

That's how RAWRCATZ! get it done at the Senior Bowl.

RAWRCATZRAWR - BACK FROM THE DEAD!

From the ashes RAWRCATZRAWR springs forth.

Sorry for the slacking, lack of news mixed with the ever burdensome graduate school makes posting a light affair. RAWRCATZRAWR will try its best to continue to fight for all that is Ohio University RAWRCATZ! Football.

So, to get back into the spirit, IT IS POSTING TIME!

1. The Marching 110 performed at the Rose Parade, which is no Detroit, but Pasadena was much nicer to us than Detroit this year, so let's get with the posting.



The Marching 110 is undefeated in its fight against all things that march and suck. Now if only we could get some of these dancers:



That's the Hampton University Ebony Fire, FTW. POW POW POW POW GET IT GET IT!

2. Adam Olesheski and Fort Knox Money Matt Weller are All-MAC Academics. RAWRCATZ! getting their knowledge on is even more important than getting their game on. Remember that junior RAWRCATZ!, academics is huge in these parts.

3. Thad Turner participated in the Shrine Bowl this past weekend, and Taylor Price will represent the RAWRCATZ! in the Senior Bowl on January 30th. Congrats to two seniors who not only embody the spirit of the RAWRCATZ, but have a chance to play at the next level.

4. Speaking of the next level, next Wednesday is national signing day for high school recruits. If you are interested in hearing about the next great class of the Solich Death Squad then you can head over to the Peden Stadium tower of power and get some analysis by the coaches on who the next fine young men to play for the greatest team in the state of Ohio will be.

5. We will be giving a slight profile of our recruiting class as it is announced next week.

And finally, a special thanks to the gentlemen over at MGoBlog for the link in today's recruiting post. Thankfully we don't have the rivalry that that other team in Ohio has with them, so we can enjoy their prose without looks of scorn coming from our friends and relatives. It isn't like they are RedHawks or anything. RedHawks are dirty, dirty creatures. They live in caves and eat the souls of rabbits. How is that a lifestyle that you'd want to lead?

That's all from us for now, but we promise to be more active, and as always KEEP RAWRing!

RAWRCATZ Takes On: Villains

In the opinion of RAWRCATZRAWR Tennessee just dodged a bullet. Lane Kiffin just saved them from having to fire the desolate wasteland that resides between his ears after going 5-7 next year.

RAWRCATZRAWR would definitely like some of those Orange Pride girls though.

This is why you hire someone like King Solich. Because loyalty flows through his veins. Not cowardice and greed.

Enjoy your purgatorial marriage Southern Cal, you've had this coming for a long, long time.

Post Season RAWRCATZ Brou-ha-ha

Some end of the season loveliness that we missed.

Congrats to the All-MAC RAWRCATZ!

First team:
Placekicker: Fort Knox Money Matt Weller
OLB: Lee Renfro
Kickoff Returner: Chris Garrett

Second Team:
WR: Taylor Price
WR: LaVon Brazill
ILB: Noah Keller
DB: Thad Turner
Punt Returner LaVon Brazill

Third Team:
OL: Joe Flading
OL: Chris Rogers
DL: Ernie Hodge
DB: Gerald Moore

In addition to these some RAWRCATZ! received some national attention:

Freshman All-American 2nd team - Matt Weller (collegefootballnews.com)
Freshman All-American 3rd team - Matt Weller (Phil Steele)
All-American 2nd Team Punt Returner - LaVon Brazill (Sporting News)
Freshman All-American - Gerald Moore (Sporting News)
Honorable Mention All-American - Noah Keller (Sports Illustrated)

And finally, which should come as no shock to anyone, in the world, ever:
Frank Solich - MAC Coach of the Year (Phil Steele)

This Phil Steele guy obviously knows who wears the pants in these parts.

Once again, congrats to all of the RAWRCATZ! who won awards after a fine season. Although, honestly, Noah Keller has 138 tackles and only gets an honorable mention? What's a RAWRCAT gotta do to get some love?

RAWRCATZ takes on: Mike Leach

This offseason RAWRCATZRAWR will dabble with a few ideas of how to entertain you with a complete dearth in RAWRCATZ! news. This is the first of those campaigns: RAWRCATZ takes on. Here you will get a take on news outside of Athens, which is never quite as glorious, but might be of interest to those of you in RAWRCATZ! Nation.

Mike Leach... where are you now oh Pirate captain? That was a rhetorical question, don't feel like you have to answer it. The news coming out of Lubbock, which I've heard is a dust bowl mixed with turds, is that Mike Leach locked noted saint Craig James's kid in an electrical closet for refusing to practice with a concussion. RAWRCATZRAWR has no clue if these allegations are true. But, for the purpose of this piece, we are going to assume that they are.

Mike Leach loves himself some pirates. We've known this from day one. He has Blackbeard in his veins and Davey Jones's locker in his bedroom. But being a pirate comes with some responsibilities. For one, you cannot show your swarthiness to your athletes on a regular basis. You're already known for a cavalier offensive scheme that swashbuckles its way up and down collegiate fields, that's more than enough. There's no need to go rogue on a player (especially one with a famous dad who has a media soapbox at his ready) and throw him in a closet. Especially not one with a concussion. Now we here at RAWRCATZRAWR don't read all that much. For example here's a list of books that we've read in the last 6 months:

Shel Silverstein - Where the Sidewalk Ends (just looked at the pictures)

Dan Brown - The Lost Symbol (too many big words)

Bobby Flay - Boy Meets Grill (RAWRCATZ! love flesh)

That's it. So you can't expect us to be experts on concussions or post-concussion difficulties. But we do know that ex-NHLer Pat LaFontaine, who is the greatest American born hockey player of all time (eat it Mike Modano) was forced to retire early because of concussions. And just like you can't keep the RAWRCATZ! from winning the MAC East again in 2010, you can't keep Pat LaFontaine off the ice for anything but the most important of reasons. We'll put our trust in science in this one; concussions are bad.

So that makes Cap'n Leach's treatment of Adam James even more egregious. Concussions are not to be messed with, and that is probably why as I was writing this Mike Leach was forced to walk the plank at Texas Tech.

So goodbye Mike Leach, hopefully you don't wind up in the MAC. RAWRCATZRAWR would like to see him land at an MWC school that wants to get serious about beating up TCU and BYU.

Also, goodbye to Texas Tech, because you've just fired the only coach who ever took you anywhere and you'll never be relevant again. Guns Up!