Sandwasher

I decided after receiving my first fan email from someone other than a family member or close personal friend that I would publish my very own mailbag.    

M.D. Sandwasher, I read your article you published about the Ohio State Buckeyes earlier in the season [9/29/2005]. I feel that your criticism is completely deconstructive. If you are supposed to be an Ohio State supporter you should not attempt to rip apart players in your articles. Due to the fact that someone has a bad game does not entitle you to take away all that they had done prior to that game. In your article you claimed that Brandon Schnittker should not even be given handoffs at tailback and basically should not be on the field. If you don’t recall, on 4th and 1 on the goal line with Maurice Clarett in the backfield, it was not Brandon Joe who was in to lay the big block. It was Schnittker, and if you look at every magazine picture published with that play you can clearly see Schnittker knocking the living piss out of Jon Vilma.     

For your quote of them playing the field like Varsity Blues, I think you’re full of shit. Are you at their practices day in and day out? How do you know that the reason that they had been handing Schnittker the ball is because of how well he had been doing in practice?  I am not debating the fact that there have been situations during the season where his skills did not shine. Yet, I feel you are giving the man a bad rap for no reason. I have played football with Brandon Schnittker for 3 years.  Never once did I see him get the ball taken away from him like, "candy from a little baby.”  He is one of the toughest kids I have ever met.  What is next, are you going to criticize Tyson Gentry for breaking his back?  What you wrote makes me sick, and part of me wishes that you were on the goal line trying to tackle him, because I know the result of that one. Hopefully in the future you will not try to make your money by writing negative articles about a team that you are attempting to boast about.

Sincerely,

Don Graber    

SANDWASHER'S RESPONSE:  Don, next time you write, I hope you don’t hold anything back.  I was a little disappointed after you called me a  piece of shit that you signed off “Sincerely Don Graber.”  I thought for sure that I was due for a “Rot In Hell, Don Graber,” or “I Hope You Get A V.D. And Die, Don Graber”   

First, I’ll explain my style of writing and why I do what I do.  I’m an Ohioan, just like you, and you may have noticed the extreme, sometimes bordering on delusional, fan and reporting base for OSU football.  I definitely want to write about all the positives, but I want to point out what is not working too.  That is what makes me different from the Columbus Dispatch or 1460 AM The Fan.   

I honestly had to go back and reread the article that I had written to refresh my mind.  The first thing that came to my attention was that I wished I would have been clearer in my point.  I should have written that Schnittker should not have been playing out of position at tailback.  I was not arguing his blocking skills.  I think he is a phenomenal blocker and may even play his way onto an NFL-Europe team one day, but I don’t think he’ll ever be carrying the ball more than once or twice in a game professionally.   

My first main argument was the following:  Antonio Pittman, who often times led the offense down the field, would be pulled before getting the opportunity to score.  If you remember, Pittman had 233 yards going into the Iowa game, the fourth game of the season, but 0 TD’s.  Then he added an additional 171 against Iowa again without a TD.  It took Pittman 8 weeks before getting the opportunity to score.  Against Minnesota, Pittman was able to score on a 67-yard touchdown run.  In that same game, Pittman's number was finally called close to the end zone, scoring from 4-yards out.  That is why I made the Varsity Blues reference, where Wendell Brown, the star tailback, would be pulled in short distance scoring opportunities.  In this case, Troy Smith’s number would be called or Pittman would be pulled for Schnittker in close yardage red zone situations.     

My second point was the following:  The fumble against Iowa was Schnittker’s second in consecutive games (SDSU).  I felt that the “true” tailbacks should have been getting the opportunities, Maurice Wells and Erik Haw, over a natural fullback like Schnittker.  As the season wore on, Schnittker received fewer opportunities at the tailback position.  He only received 4 carries against PSU (13 yards) and 4 carries against Indiana (12 yards) for the rest of the year.      

Also, I reviewed the 2002 Championship game highlights, and I was unable to find that great Schnittker block on Vilma that you referenced.  I may be missing it, but I looked back to both of Clarett’s TD’s and was unable to find Schnittker.    

-M.D. Sandwasher   

As always, comments, rants, or questions can be sent to sandwasher@yahoo.com.  Your email may actually end up on the web in both flattering and unflattering ways.