By Eddie Calvert

Stop the Bleeding! OSU -70 Michigan -80

The sound over the field mic is crackled and garbled.  The voice from home base sounds again, “You aren’t there yet…”.

After needing to retreat the second time, somehow escaping major loss but in this jungle doubt can set in like grout, only quicker.  His eyes peered into the darkness, he could still see the glimmer of firelight, if he could reach the light…they would all be safe…

Then the throbbing came, looking down he could feel the burn of his last battle.  The wound itself didn’t seem to hurt as much as, what was it…his confidence?

If only he could stop the bleeding, and he wasn’t thinking of the wound on his leg –

So how many times can you lose a battle (especially one you are supposed to win) and still have enough to make it?  This is the second time the Buckeyes have taken a hit, twice in the same month they lose to teams they are “supposed” to beat.

“How much farther…,” his voice gargles back over the radio waves.

“Just a couple more steps.” Home base implores, static battling the words.

That’s it fellas just a couple more wins, it’s not too late.  Yet I see something missing in them, I can see its absence in their eyes - doesn’t matter right now we just have to stop the bleeding!

These Buckeyes have some time now to figure it out, a moment to regroup among the natives of the Big Ten jungle.  Certainly they can see that ticket with their names stamped on it ahead in the distance.  

I hear the words breathing silently on the air, and nobody dares to say it –

One of the next two games …must wins, maybe both?  Did someone say something? 

Words from home base come in again, “Stop the bleeding, stabilize and proceed forward.”  That time it came through particularly clear. 

It was that clear in the game yesterday too…Ohio State played well enough to win.  The stats aren’t great but surely enough to win with.  I thought the Buckeyes played well enough to win against Michigan State, Tennessee, and so on.  They just aren’t winning. 

That’s the only real problem, the bleeding needs to stop, and OSU just needs to wrap a Win around that wound and go from there.  Yes, I hear the words that are still a whisper on the air, and I also know there is enough time – but is there any room for error now, and if so how much?

Badger could be just the thing to fix a battered and hungry basketball team, and bring the goal of this mission just a little bit closer.