Involving Cleveland Browns wide receiver/kick returner Josh Cribbs:

http://www.ohio.com/news/break_news/70113032.html

And done all class, as signified by the fact he was introduced as “brother Josh” and not “family friend Josh Cribbs” so as to not create a total distracting mob scene. Also this was October 30th and it took over 2 weeks be become widespread public knowledge what even happened.

From ohsaa.org:

2009 OHSAA Football Tournaments – Regional Semifinal Pairings
Division I – All Games at 7 p.m. Saturday Unless Otherwise Noted
Crew Region 1
34 1 Cleveland St. Ignatius (11-0) vs. 5 Cleveland Glenville (10-1), Lakewood Stadium
42 2 Solon (11-0) vs. 3 Mayfield (10-1), Parma Byers Field
Region 2
45 8 Canton McKinley (7-4) vs. 4 Canton GlenOak (9-2), Massillon Paul Brown Tiger Stadium (1:00 p.m.)
37 2 Twinsburg (10-1) vs. 3 Massillon Washington (8-3), Canton Fawcett Stadium
Region 3
8 1 Dublin Coffman (11-0) vs. 4 Westerville South (9-2), Upper Arlington Marv Moorehead Memorial Stadium
25 2 Hilliard Davidson (9-1) vs. 3 Pickerington Central (10-1), Gahanna Lincoln Stadium
Region 4
18 1 Cincinnati St. Xavier (9-2) vs. 4 Cincinnati Elder (8-2), Nippert Stadium (5:30 p.m.)
6 7 Middletown (10-1) vs. 3 Cincinnati Anderson (11-0), Nippert Stadium (2:30 p.m.)
Division II – All Games at 7:30 p.m. Friday Unless Otherwise Noted
Crew Region 5
5 1 Mentor Lake Catholic (10-1) vs. 4 Canfield (10-1), Twinsburg Tiger Stadium
1 2 Warren Howland (10-1) vs. 3 Ashland (10-1), Canton Central Catholic Lowell Klinefelter Field
Region 6
19 1 Toledo St. Francis DeSales (10-1) vs. 5 Avon Lake (8-3), Fremont Ross Harmon Stadium
13 2 Toledo Central Catholic (9-2) vs. 6 Maple Heights (9-2), Huron Memorial Stadium
Region 7
9 8 Columbus Marion-Franklin (9-2) vs. 4 Lewis Center Olentangy Orange (9-2), Dublin Scioto Stadium
22 2 Logan (11-0) vs. 3 Columbus Brookhaven (9-2), Columbus Hamilton Township Hamilton Field
Region 8
32 1 Cincinnati Turpin (11-0) vs. 5 Trotwood-Madison (8-3), Cincinnati Princeton Viking Stadium
39 2 Cincinnati Winton Woods (9-2) vs. 3 New Carlisle Tecumseh (10-1), Centerville Stadium
Division III – All Games at 7:30 p.m. Friday Unless Otherwise Noted
Crew Region 9
2 1 Youngstown Cardinal Mooney (11-0) vs. 4 Hubbard (10-1), Warren G. Harding Mollenkopf Stadium
44 2 Poland Seminary (9-2) vs. 3 Akron Archbishop Hoban (8-3), Uniontown Lake Blue Streak Stadium
Region 10
3 1 Columbus St. Francis DeSales (8-3) vs. 5 Tipp City Tippecanoe (9-2), Dayton Welcome Stadium
4 2 Columbus Bishop Watterson (8-3) vs. 3 Napoleon (9-2), Findlay Donnell Stadium
Region 11
41 1 Steubenville (10-1) vs. 5 Salem (9-2), New Philadelphia Woody Hayes Quaker Stadium
21 2 Dover (10-1) vs. 6 Canal Fulton Northwest (8-3), Canton Fawcett Stadium
Region 12
24 8 Springfield Shawnee (8-3) vs. 4 Circleville Logan Elm (9-2), Hilliard Bradley Athletic Complex
15 2 Cincinnati Wyoming (10-0) vs. 6 Monroe (9-2), Kings Mills Kings Stadium
Division IV – All Games at 7:00 p.m. Saturday Unless Otherwise Noted
Crew Region 13
46 1 Chagrin Falls (11-0) vs. 5 Cortland Lakeview (8-3), Aurora Veterans Stadium
43 2 Girard (11-0) vs. 6 Peninsula Woodridge (9-2), Uniontown Lake Blue Streak Stadium
Region 14
17 8 Pemberville Eastwood (9-2) vs. 5 Ottawa-Glandorf (9-2), Findlay Donnell Stadium (7:00 p.m.)
29 2 Genoa Area (11-0) vs. 3 Orrville (8-3), Ashland Community Stadium
Region 15
26 1 Amanda-Clearcreek (11-0) vs. 5 Coshocton (9-2), Zanesville Sulsberger Memorial Stadium
40 2 Ironton (9-2) vs. 3 Heath (9-2), Nelsonville-York Boston Stadium
Region 16
16 1 Clarksville Clinton-Massie (11-0) vs. 4 Kenton (10-1), Troy Memorial Stadium
28 2 Kettering Archbishop Alter (11-0) vs. 6 Carlisle (9-2), Monroe Stadium
Division V – All Games at 7:30 p.m. Friday Unless Otherwise Noted
Crew Region 17
10 1 Cuyahoga Heights (11-0) vs. 5 Gates Mills Hawken (9-2), Solon Stewart Field
7 2 Columbiana Crestview (10-1) vs. 3 Youngstown Ursuline (7-3), Austintown-Fitch Falcon Stadium
Region 18
35 1 Hamler Patrick Henry (11-0) vs. 5 Jeromesville Hillsdale (9-2), Tiffin Frost-Kalnow Stadium
27 2 Defiance Tinora (10-1) vs. 3 Lima Central Catholic (9-2), Defiance Fred Brown Stadium
Region 19
47 1 Fredericktown (11-0) vs. 5 Wheelersburg (9-2), Nelsonville-York Boston Stadium
11 2 Oak Hill (11-0) vs. 6 West Lafayette Ridgewood (11-0), Lancaster Fulton Field
Region 20
48 8 St. Henry (8-3) vs. 4 West Liberty-Salem (11-0), Piqua Alexander Stadium
38 2 Coldwater (10-1) vs. 6 Anna (9-2), Wapakoneta Harmon Field
Division VI – All Games at 7:00 p.m. Saturday Unless Otherwise Noted
Crew Region 21
31 8 Bascom Hopewell-Loudon (9-2) vs. 4 Bucyrus Wynford (11-0), Tiffin Frost-Kalnow Stadium
14 2 Norwalk St. Paul (11-0) vs. 3 Mogadore (10-1), Medina Ken Dukes Stadium (Friday, Nov. 13 – 7:30 p.m.)
Region 22
12 1 Delphos St. John’s (11-0) vs. 4 Leipsic (10-1), Lima Senior Stadium
20 2 Ada (11-0) vs. 3 Carey (10-1), Findlay Donnell Stadium (1:00 p.m.)
Region 23
23 1 Malvern (10-1) vs. 4 Bridgeport (10-1), Steubenville Harding Stadium
33 7 Shadyside (6-5) vs. 6 Grove City Christian (10-1), TBA
Region 24
30 8 Covington (8-3) vs. 5 Maria Stein Marion Local (6-5), Kettering Fairmont Rousch Stadium
36 7 Fort Loramie (9-2) vs. 6 South Charleston Southeastern (9-2), Dayton Welcome Stadium

And on a local note, Oak Glen did qualify for the West Virginia state playoffs in AA. They are seeded #16 and will visit #1 Wayne at 1:30pm on Saturday 11/14

The redesignation of the Parkway West and the Beaver Valley Expressway as being a continuation of the Parkway East’s I-376 has been officially completed. The collection of freeways north and west of Pittsburgh from the Ft. Pitt Bridge to Mercer County will now bear that simplified designation, rather than at various places being I-279/US 22-30, US 22-30, and Rt 60:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09310/1011377-455.stm

October 22, 1934 Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd was shot and killed by authorities at a farm near East Liverpool. Today was the 75th anniversary of that moment in history:

http://www.reviewonline.com/page/content.detail/id/520150.html?nav=5008

http://www.reviewonline.com/pdf/news/520185_1.pdf

http://www.reviewonline.com/pdf/news/520188_1.pdf

http://www.reviewonline.com/pdf/news/520189_1.pdf

That is what Findlay Township officials would like to do if they can get PennDOT funding for the project:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09288/1005726-100.stm

Upgrades would definitely be helpful speaking as someone that uses that interchange twice a day. A lot of traffic comes through here and uses Clinton Rd to cut over to Rt 60 at Pittsburgh International Airport. Its a faster way to head towards Pittsburgh than taking Rt 30 right through downtown Imperial to Rt 22 and locals use Clinton Rd to get to Rt 60 towards Beaver County as well. But I’m not sure how much room there is to widen roads, especially Clinton Rd which has a restraunt hard to one side and a convenient store on the other. Eastbound Rt 30 there is a gravel lot that could be trimmed to make room for a left turn lane and a straight/right turn lane of travel. But westbound is contrained by the above said convenient store on one side and the Clinton PA Post Office on the other side. I don’t know if PennDOT would want to pay for completely re-routing Clinton Rd to come out on 30 at a less congested spot. But even merely giving eastbound 30 a left turn lane at the intersection could ease congestion a fair bit.

What the dignitaries that presumably won’t have to worry about what this is doing to the Pittsburgh traffic patterns will be talking about:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/22/AR2009092204049.html?wpisrc=newsletter

My advice to anyone planning on coming to Pittsburgh during the G-20 Summit is quite simple: Don’t

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09258/998174-147.stm

http://www.g20safety.org/map.htm

The Pittsburgh-Columbus Corridor, that is:

http://www.reviewonline.com/page/content.detail/id/518034.html?nav=5008

Personally, I would tell someone looking to go from Pittsburgh to Columbus to just take I-79 south to Washington, PA to pick up I-70.  May need I-470 to bypass Wheeling while the Wheeling Tunnel is being rehabbed but other than that its functional.  That having been said, extending the St. Rte 161 designation along these other highways out to Steubenville would make things simpler.  I have driven that entire routing in whole or in part on a few different occassions, and it is a nice alternative to boring I-70 without being a lot slower.  The Tappan Lake area is very picturesque and one cannot truely say they’ve lived until they’ve seen the Longaberger Basket with their own eyes.  Of course, to widen that stretch of US 250 to four lane would be difficult in places through Tappan Lake unless you re-route to a place that you can’t actually see the lake.  Any road enhancements along this corridor would also serve to better connect the people of the Coshocton area to the rest of the state, especially if they add new 4 lane stretches.  Perhaps also enhance St. Rte 60 from Ashland through Zanesville to Marietta.  But I’m not sure traffic would ever justify making it 4 lane the whole way from Newark to Cadiz (Cadiz to Steubenville along US 22 already is 4 lane as is IIRC the I-270 out towards Newark stretch in central Ohio).  However any feasible enhancement to roads leading to Columbus can be a very useful thing.  I would say keep existing roadways with one road designation prevelant and widen to 4 lane where that is doable, leave 2 lane, at least for now, where its not.

But, quite frankly, I can think of higher priorities from a budget and need standpoint.  In Columbus, and frankly statewide, I would call it a much higher priority to redesign US 23 a limited access freeway north from I-270 through Delaware County.  In Eastern Ohio completing the project to make US 30 4 lane statewide in eastern Stark and western Columbiana Counties, or at least get a bypass around East Canton and Minerva would be more useful.  I’m not sure if its doable but it would be nice to have the Rt 7/I-70 interchange in Bridgeport redone so you didn’t have to go through downtown Bridgeport.  I can think of a few improvements that could be made in the Toledo area and I’m sure there are other projects as well.  Still, its a nice idea to at least redesignate the route.  All that takes is new signage.

In recent days it has been announced that all Pittsburgh City School buildings will be closed the 2 days of the G-20 Summit in late September and today the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh announced that all Catholic high schools in the City of Pittsburgh would close those days as well.  It had been previously announced that Duquesne and all campi of the Community College of Allegheny County would be closed those days due to myriad traffic concerns.  I still can’t help but wonder what Pitt and Carnegie Mellon are holding out for.  Especially Pitt, which has a large commuter student population, and it is my understanding that G-20 related activities are planned for the Cathedral of Learning.  I’m sure as the time draws closer and security measures become better known many non-essential downtown businesses will also decided late September is a good time to take an extended long weekend.

In conjunction with the Opening Night of the NFL season and the Titans visiting Heinz Field there will be a free concert at Point State Park headlined by Tim McGraw and The Black Eyed Peas:

http://awfulannouncing.blogspot.com/2009/08/your-kickoff-concert-has-been-announced.html

I must say those two are an, um, interesting combination.  Something for most everyone I guess.  If the undercard includes The Clarks the crowd for that show is probably going to spill out to the Golden Triangle and beyond.  But in the vein of one of those performers, when it comes to pro football, I say let’s get it started in here.

Speaking of Pittsburgh traffic, earlier this week the Community Colleges of Allegheny County announced that all campi would be closed the days of the G-20 Summit in late September, joining an earlier announcement from Duquesne University.  I have also heard unofficially that Carlow College will close as well.  Not sure what the University of Pittsburgh is waiting for . . .