McDonald’s All-American Game Heading to the 614
COLUMBUS, OH – Ohio State’s 2010 recruiting class is so robust, that it’s helped to lure Ronald McDonald’s wacky high school all-star game to Jim O’Brien Court within Value City Arena at the Schottenstein Center. The venue for the exhibition game is fitting, considering the lack of defense seen these days inside VCA.
The real reason the game is in Columbus: Jared Sullinger, he’s ranked by some recruiting services at the top player in the 2010 class. The 6’8” big man is a more athletic version of Tyler Hansbrough (yep, just did a cross-racial comparison). He’s a hefty player with a feathery touch inside. Because he is undersized, he’ll have no choice but actually a stay a few years, which is desperately needed in Thad Matta’s program. We just hope he stays away from the free fast food that weekend.
The Buckeyes also have DeShaun Thomas. He’s another five-star guy already lined up who should expect to see minutes in that game. The last time the McDonald’s All-American festivities were held in Ohio, LeBron James was booed out of the Woodling Gym after robbing Shannon Brown of the dunk title.
If you haven’t seen one of these games before, here’s a quick checklist of the weekend’s events: A bunch of guys botching alley-oop attempts off the backboard; a female winning the dunk contest with a two-footed 1960′s “jam shot” from right underneath the rim; 14 players on the roster selected from Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, including their team manager and waterboy; a 6’2 white Duke guard who can make threes from anywhere but wouldn’t otherwise be in the game; and a three-point contest with more glass balls than makes; and Brad Nessler’s constant “These guys are amazing” mixed in with ramblings from Tim McCormick.
Oh and thank goodness Wendy’s founder and one-time Columbus resident Dave Thomas is not here to see this.
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Here’s hoping that once he leads the Little Cyclones to the state title, the #4 player on the ESPN 100 list for the 2010 class, and future savior for The Iowa State Cyclones (fingers crossed) jumps over your Jared Sullinger.
This is great for the kids and for OSU. In 5 paragraphs you find countless ways to knock the game, the sponsors of the facility, the OSU team, McDonalds, atop prep school, the announcers, and make a joke of Dave Thomas’ passing. Rather disrespectful.
Rather, this is a big deal to the kids that are named. These are the top players in the country and they get a chance to come, play, make friends, and for once, concentrate more on having fun and being relaxed than anything else. It is an honor for them, no one else, and they will leave with a lot of good memories. That is what this game is all about. Ask any player that has ever participated.
With the resurgence of the Cleveland State Vikings basketball program, there is a strong possibility that a number of the players featured in this game will be committing to CSU. Columbus should be prepared for a horrifying influx of trashy Clevelanders who have rightfully received a majority of the blame for the riots that followed the OSU win over Michigan preceding the Buckeyes National Championship win in 2002.
Msturm, you missed three other cheap shots I took. My site is the where’s Waldo of low blows.