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Tag: Ohio State University

  • Bob Newhart: Social Media Has Fun With His College Football Ref Doppelgänger

    Bob Newhart was the center of some fun social media attention Monday, when football fans noticed that the head referee for the first ever College Football Playoff national championship football game between the Ohio State University and the University of Oregon had a striking resemblance to the legendary comedian.

    Referee Greg Burks, who usually refs for Big 12 games, really does look like Newhart and perhaps that was a blessing, since the ref received little attention for blown calls and much attention for striking resemblance to his Elf doppelgänger.

    The Buckeyes went on to beat the Ducks, 42-20, becoming the first official national championship winners.

    Even PGA pro-golfer John Daly got in on the comparisons:

    #BobNewhart trended on Twitter Monday night, leading the man himself to chime in on Twitter, and he didn’t necessarily deny that it was him.

  • Oregon, Ohio to Change Its Name Temporarily to Support Ohio State Buckeyes’ Bid For National Championship

    Oregon, Ohio, a suburb of Toledo, is changing it’s name for a day to support the Ohio State Buckeyes football team in its bid to beat the Oregon Ducks for the college football national championship.

    On Jan. 12, the day the Bucks meet the Ducks for the College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T, the city will temporarily change its name, city administrator Michael Beazley told the Toledo Free Press. It has not been decided yet what the city’s temporary name will be, but Beazley said he and the mayor will issue a proclamation on Monday announcing the change.

    Matt Squibb and Mark Rabbitt, two residents of the city, organized a change.org petition calling for Oregon to change its name and for Oregon’s Clay High School to change its school colors from green and gold — the same as the Ducks — to Ohio State colors for the day, according to the Free Press.

    “I grew up in Oregon, Ohio and love the city, but for the day of the ‘Big Game’ I am asking the city council to make a proclamation to change the name of the city for one day,” reads the petition. “Call it Buckeye Town, Ohio City, Brutusville, whatever, you get the point. Let’s not leave anything to chance here! Change the name and support the Buckeyes!”

    Ohio State beat Alabama 42-35 on Thursday night to secure it’s place at the national championship game against Oregon, after they beat undefeated Florida State 59-20.

    Ironically, neither Squibb nor Rabbitt are Ohio State fans but each said it was a unique opportunity to support the university.

    “We’re just two guys going on a website and sparking something that most people would think is probably a really stupid thing, but to have so many people supporting it and then hopefully rooting for Ohio State to win it all is pretty great,” Rabbitt told the Free Press. “The Big Ten has been seen as a conference that can’t compete with the SEC or Pac 12. Now Ohio State has beaten the No. 1 team in the SEC and are facing the No. 1 team in the Pac-12, and we have this opportunity for Ohio State to win the national championship. I think it’s pretty good to see a community come together and support them.”

  • Mumps Outbreak Spreads Outside OSU Campus

    The recent mumps outbreak on The Ohio State University’s campus has officially spilled into the general Franklin County area.

    Twenty-eight cases of mumps were documented in Columbus since the beginning of February, but had previously been limited to OSU students and faculty, ages 18 to 48. As of the time of Columbus Public Health’s press release updating the public on the outbreak, 56 cases of mumps had been reported throughout Franklin County. Out of those, 40 were confirmed to have stemmed from the campus outbreak. Victims range in age from four to fifty years age.

    They recently updated this data to confirm a total of 63 victims with 45 stemming from OSU cases.

    With news of the outbreak broadcast from local and major news sources and prevention tips offered by the CDC and the OSU campus health source, how has the disease spread so quickly?

    Even with proper hygiene and precautions, the mumps vaccine is only 80% effective and is contagious even before symptoms arise. Mumps can also share several symptoms with the common cold symptoms, such as headache, fever, and weakness. It is markedly different mainly in the painful salivary gland swelling it causes. So, early diagnosis is both essential and incredibly difficult. It is understandably hard to contain the disease once an outbreak occurs.

    Fortunately, though painful and unpleasant, mumps rarely fatal and the infection usually passes in a couple of weeks. However, the CDC reports that mumps is more likely to cause serious complications such as hearing loss in children, orchitis in men, and mastitis in women who have not received their MMR doses. In extremely rare cases it can cause paralysis and seizure.

    Considering the dangers, Columbus Public Health Commissioner Teresa Long recommends any unvaccinated Franklin County residents “get vaccinated as soon as possible.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Mumps Outbreak Grows To 28 Cases At Ohio State University

    A recent mumps outbreak at the Ohio State University has ballooned to 28 cases, according to public health officials. The spokesperson of the city health department made a statement on Tuesday that the number could increase with students coming back to school from spring break.

    The official added that the infected individuals include eighteen students and one staff member. The report did not mention if the patients were unvaccinated, although both the university and the Ohio state law do not require the MMR immunization vaccine in order to be admitted to a college.

    The outbreak was said to have started on February 11 and the last reported incident took place on March 12. Of the confirmed mumps cases, 11 are female and 12 are male, and their ages range from 18 to 48 years. One of the patients is related to a student, another is a staff member, and three infected individuals neither study nor work at Ohio State but have connections to the university community.

    The spokesperson further said that health authorities are mapping cases to determine the cause of the outbreak. No one is currently hospitalized, although three people were reported to have been confined at a hospital for at least one day.

    Public and university health officials advised Ohio State students and staff to take proper precautions to avoid catching the virus as they make their return to class on Monday.

    Mumps is an infectious viral disease that can spread the same way as the cold and flu – through droplets of saliva that can be picked up or inhaled from surfaces and transmitted to the mouth or nose. Early signs of mumps include a headache, fever, fatigue, and some muscle pain. These symptoms progress into painful swelling of the parotid glands, which are apparent at the side of the patient’s face, giving him or her a hamster-like appearance.

    How To Prevent Mumps


    Image via OSU.edu

  • Dom Tiberi Consoled by Entire Ohio St. Football Team

    On Tuesday, September 17, Dom Tiberi’s life was changed forever. That night, the sports director at the CBS-affiliate in Columbus, Ohio, lost his daughter to a car wreck. AT 10:45 PM, Maria Tiberi, a student of Ohio State University, rear-ended a tractor-trailer which was stopped in heavy traffic. Maria was rushed to Ohio Health Grant Medical Center, where she died due to her injuries.

    Before OSU’s next game against Florida A&M, the Ohio State community honored the Tiberi family by holding a moment of silence. The Ohio State football program took the tribute one step further by applying black “MT” stickers to their helmets.

    But for Urban Meyer and his Buckeyes, this one gesture was not yet enough. When Dom Tiberi returned to work for the pivotal Ohio St. vs. Wisconsin match-up this past Saturday, the football team decided to show him how deep their sympathies and appreciation ran.

    Upon heading to the locker-room following their hard-fought 31-24 victory over the Badgers, the football players took a pit-stop to pay their respects to Tiberi in the most sincere way possible – Hugs. As each player approached Dom Tiberi, they stopped to give the man a much-needed hug and words of sympathy and condolence.

    After the gesture, Tiberi tweeted the following:

    Dom Tiberi Tweet

    When Tiberi returned to work at 10TV on Monday, he had some words of thanks for the central Ohio community:

    Despite the outpouring of support, Tiberi said “It’s never going to be the same; a little piece of me died.” However, Tiberi still holds a positive perspective on the world: “We’re going to try to make a positive out of this… Thanks for sticking with me.”

    Ohio State’s next game is against the No.16 Northwestern Wildcats, currently undefeated at 4-0.

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