Welcome to The Overtime Blog!!! A Positive Voice and the Power of Sport

January 2012

Welcome to The Overtime Blog!!! This is a site for the opinionated and intelligent football enthusiasts.  A web space where fans of NFL, NCAA, and high school football can go and contribute to the perpetual hope that makes us keep coming back each year to support our teams.  This is a forum for all of those fans who when January comes around find themselves once again "waiting for next year".

This blog is meant to be informative, opinionated, and entertaining and yet the main objective of The "O" is to create a positive environment.  With so many negative voices in Sports Media I believe it is important to get back to the positive messages of sport.  For instance, I only look at Tim Tebow's success as a positive for our culture due to the example he sets as an exceptional role model and epitome of sportsmanship.  Can you criticize his game?  Yes, of course you can argue that his elongated throwing motion is a detriment and so on.  However, to ever attack him because of his strong religious beliefs is an example of unnecessary negativity we hear in today's sports media. 

I once heard someone say that the most segregated times and places in America are places of worship on a Sunday morning when we all separate into our specific religions, races, ethnicity, and other socioeconomic strata.  In contrast, the most integrated and diversified places are sports stadiums on Saturday and Sunday afternoons when the only thing that matters is the color of your shirt.  Therefore, The Overtime Blog seeks to accomplish its goals of supporting opinions and disseminating information in an entertaining fashion while recognizing that were are all in this for the love of the game.

This past weekend I have seen many stories about Alabama fans sexually assaulting a passed out LSU fan in New Orleans following the BCS National Championship.  Not to be outdone,I also read a story about two 49ers fans in Georgia being shot by disgruntled Saints fans outside of an Applebee's restaurant.  When I was in school at the Ohio State's School of Journalism and Communication,  I used to despise some of the behavior of fan's at football games.  Many of the fans are uneducated about the game and basically drunkards with negative attitudes comparable to barbarians.  Also, I am a high school football coach and English teacher in my 10th year of coaching having coached in Ohio and Florida.   I am always positive with the kids and promote the love of the game and the true lessons that the great game of football can teach our youth.  However, many times as a coach, I have to deal with such negative influence from the parents who are missing out of the real reason we love this sport.  Just this past season, players in Sarasota, FL physically assaulted a referee in a youth football game.  These instances have to stop and we can do so by focusing on what sports really can do as a powerful vehicle for change in society.  

I enjoy hearing about the sports stories such as the all African American Polo team from Philadelphia that was able to overcome the racial barriers in the sport to become national champions.  I enjoy hearing about stories such as Jason McElwain, an autistic high school basketball player, who had the game of his life and lit up the hearts of anyone who saw the YouTube clip of his magical performance just a couple years ago.  I enjoy hearing about Urban Meyer's adolescent-like passion for OSU football and how he used to sneak away from his pregame responsibilities as a Graduate Assistant at Ohio State in the 1980's to watch TBDBITL perform "Script Ohio" as tears came to his eyes.     

If you are a fan who does not love the essential lessons that football provides to American culture, if you are a fan who's main focus is to get sloshed and miss half of the game, if you are a parent who doesn't recognize what coaches mean to their players, this is not the blog for you.

If you are a fan who grew up idolizing the great icons of this sport, if you are a fan who wants to constantly learn more in order to form an educated opinion of your favorite team to provide constructive criticism, if you are a parent who enjoys the positive values that football instills in our kids, then you found the right place.

Welcome to The Overtime Blog!!!

Joe Simko

 Kareem Rosser's Story

 Jason McElwain's Story