Midweek Mierda: Early Christmas Weekend Ed.

Despite the impending holiday weekend, Ohio State fans were hardly as giddy seven days ago as they may be this weekend.  

After all, Desmond Howard had just been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame , propelled in large part by his famous (and classless) pose at the Buckeyes’ expense.

Oh, what a difference a week can make.

Combine today’s incredibly-expected announcement from Braxton Miller with tomorrow’s potentially disastrous news for the  Fighting Kiffie-Kins and it may feel like an early Christmas for many OSU fans. (Sure, you may think you are above schadenfreude but I challenge you not to feel the slightest bit of glee if USC, the slayer of Ohio State and all things Big Ten, gets hammered by the NCAA - however unlikely that may be.)

Ironically, the effects of these two events may be felt by their constituencies for about the same amount of time, but the impact should theoretically become more pleasant in Columbus as the years pass.

No matter how expected Miller’s commitment was and however unlikely a severe punishment for USC is, this is the first week of June and I will take what I can get.

You’re on your own, Buckeyes: That was the clever headline from Robert Vitale , one of the authors of the Dispatch’s The City blog, regarding Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman’s recent decision to prohibit any city-funded trips to Arizona, including the 2011 Fiesta Bowl or, more importantly, the 2011 BCS Championship Game.

Of course, there was not that much travel out west for Columbus city workers anyway.  Unless it was for a taser seminar .