The Futon Report

I’m not exactly notorious for thanking a media entity for bringing me in their fold, if only for 10 minutes, then turning around and biting their fleshy, delicious hand. But wait a few paragraphs.

Even if a home game isn’t an automatic win for BG (one more defensive rebound and they win that game against Central Michigan), it’s certainly an automatic win for any team hosting Toledo. In case it needed repeating: 7-1 at home and 0-13 on the road coming into Wood County. And why don’t we go ahead and just make that 0-14 on the road?

Even though Bowling Green handily won 69-58, I’m torn. One one hand, I want BG to win every game possible against Toledo. On the other hand, I’d hate for a rivalry game to be predetermined based on previous home and road records, neither of which are purely predictive. But that’s the way it’s shaping out to be.

This 11-point loss is the closest contest the Rockets have seen on the conference road:

• January 13 at Northern Illinois: Lost 78-62 (16 points)
• January 19 at Western Michigan: Lost 75-62 (13 points)
• January 22 at Eastern Michigan: Lost 68-44 (24 points — how a team can suffer a two-dozen-point loss against a now 8-14 team, then turn around and beat the conference’s best team and almost sniff an upset against Vanderbilt at home, is officially beyond me.
• Okay, this list is getting boring, but you absolutely have to get the picture by now. Oh, and there was a 29-point loss at Miami thrown in there for good measure.

On the other side, Bowling Green has quite the enigma at backup center, and that enigma’s name is Otis Polk. For one, I’m amazed Otis Polk is still NCAA eligible, since I lived him as the bandleader in National Lampoon’s Animal House. But Polk has one of those big, googly bodies (6′9″, 285 pounds) that those around him saw and said, “wow, you should play basketball!” so he did and was quite good at it, because he was a six-inch Subway sandwich taller than everyone else but two guys in the conference. This size advantage is like the solar eclipse that shows itself every once in a while against an undersized team like Toledo, where he gets impressive lines of 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 blocks.

Only a sophomore, I’d like to think Polk could grow into an effective center, because those kinds of players dominate like nobody’s business in the MAC. But then I think back to Kevin Netter and Matt Lefeld. Centers don’t grow in Bowing Green. They just remain tall, slow, and fun to push around.

The only difference in Polk is that he isn’t weak, but he doesn’t last long on the court. Twice this year’s he’s fouled out in just 16 minutes of action. Only once did he break 30 minutes, and he scored 17 points in that game.

Yet another reason to end the silly one-game-against-the-other-division business, or at least make an exception in this rivalry. Otis Polk needs all the chances he can get against littler teams. Then again, that second game would be at Toledo, and we all know what will happen. ◼ Toledo Blade

Oh, and that thing about WSPD? Well, here’s the thing: I’m in Northern Ireland now (again! Woo! I think!) and the live listen link WSPD provides will purposely not work outside the United States. (Exception: overseas military) So all the excitement of the one time UT and BG will play this year was felt through the aftermath of the box score. What a rush.