A Fallen Hero

Keith Maupin: 'My boy is coming home'

Army general brings word; president calls

BY HOWARD WILKINSON | HWILKINSON@ENQUIRER.COM AND AMBER ELLIS














Matt Maupin

The Department of Defense confirmed Monday afternoon what the family of Sgt. Matt Maupin was told on Sunday by Army officials – that human remains found in Iraq were indentified as those of the Clermont County soldier who has been missing for nearly four years.

The official release offered no details on where the remains were found or how they were determined to be those of Maupin, although the Maupin family said Sunday that a three-star general who visited them Sunday in Union Township told them that the remains matched Maupin’s DNA.

The U.S. Army has been searching for the Army reservist and Glen Este High School graduate since April 9, 2004, when his convoy came under attack by insurgents using rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire. Two of Maupin’s fellow soldiers in the 724th Transportation Co. were killed in the attack; and Maupin, then a 20-year-old private first class, was taken hostage.

Maupin had been listed by the Army as “missing and captured” since April 16, 2004, the day when a video was released showing the soldier surrounded by masked men bearing arms.

In the release issued Monday afternoon, the Department of Defense said the Maupin case is still under investigation...

My Prayers go out to Matt's family. May God give you the comfort that passes all understanding!!!

Nuxie

There's going to be a little something missing for Opening Day today.

Opening Day!

More on St. John Arena

Rapp Up: Pining For Good Ol' St. John

By Jeff Rapp, Basketball Analyst & Staff Writer
jeffrapp@bucknuts.com
Posted Mar 31, 2008

St. John Arena
Value City Arena has had its moments over the years but according to the columnist Ohio State basketball should keep ties with its old home, St. John Arena. The power of St. John was on display for the second round of the NIT and should not be overlooked by school officials who still don't seem to fully understand the public's thirst to connect with the program. Sensational. Tremendous. Loud.

Those were just some of the adjectives used by Ohio State men’s basketball coach Thad Matta and his players to describe the crowd Wednesday night at Value City Arena after the Buckeyes hosted in-state rival Dayton there.

That the two teams drew a sellout of 19,049 for an NIT game was headline enough. But the involvement of the fans already was under the microscope considering the Buckeyes hosted California two nights earlier at St. John Arena because of a scheduling conflict and rekindled a yen for the good old days.

While Ohio State’s season lives on – the Buckeyes boarded a plane to New York City Sunday and face Mississippi in the second NIT semifinal Tuesday night (approx. 9:20 p.m. Eastern, ESPN2) – so will the debate during the offseason as to how the university should maximize a following for the program.

It’s an interesting pickle that may have been avoided altogether if the Buckeyes didn’t have to move down Lane Avenue to St. John last week because Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band had taken up residence for the evening at much more spacious VCA.

Of course, this was Andy Geiger’s vision when he approved and set in motion construction for the Schottenstein Center, which became home for the men’s and women’s basketball teams and men’s hockey team 10 years ago (OSU also now has a women’s hockey team). The former athletic director wanted a professional sports arena that would compete for large attractions and regularly host events when Buckeye teams weren’t already on display there.

As I said earlier, the university needs to look into completely redoing VCA. I don't know how feasible that would be, but it should be considered. If there was a way to gut it and redo it in the image of SJA it definitely should be done! Maybe it would mean dropping the seating capacity a couple of thousand, but it would be worth it to gain a better atmosphere. It's not like there aren't facilities available to use until the redo is done(hello season at SJA). The university did an excellent job refurbishing The Shoe and building first class facilities for the many other sports. It should consider the same for VCA.

Greg Koukl - Was Jesus just a great teacher?

Pretty simple if you ask me. He clearly is who he said he was!!!

Ohio State, Tennessee sign up for gridiron battles in 2018, 2019

The Lantern

Issue date: 3/28/08 Section: Sports

If Ohio State still has trouble beating a Southeastern Conference team in 10 years, at least the word will be out long before January.

The Buckeyes and the Tennessee Volunteers agreed to a home-and-home football series in 2018-2019.

Tennessee hosts the first contest Sept. 1, 2018 in Knoxville, Tenn. Ohio Stadium will play host Sept. 7, 2019.

"Tennessee-Ohio State is a great natural matchup for two tradition-laden schools that are less than 400 miles apart," OSU Associate Athletic Director Steve Snapp said. "Playing the Volunteers for the first time during the regular season will be a great series for our fans..."

I'm glad to see this. Once again it proves that The Ohio State University football program wants to play the top programs. I just wish we didn't have to wait 10 years for this series.

Boren to run

The Lantern

Commentary

Zack Timmons

Issue date: 3/28/08 Section: Sports

Let me start this off by saying I never thought I'd say this in a million years, but with all the things happening at the school up north recently, I'm left feeling not even THEY deserve the cancer that is Rich Rodriguez.

Since leaving West Virginia for supposedly greener pastures at Michigan, Rodriguez has driven away three offensive linemen, two top receivers and a potential star quarterback.

The loss of receivers Adrian Arrington and Mario Manningham was chalked up to two NFL-caliber receivers leaving alongside their beloved coach. Linemen Jeremy Ciulla and Alex Mitchell walked out the door before Rodriguez could even close it behind him. Quarterback Ryan Mallett was the antithesis to the spread offense Rodriguez coddles like his first born.

But Justin Boren wasn't supposed to go anywhere. The sophomore had 14 starts under his belt in two years and was poised to be a preseason All-Big Ten selection...

..."Michigan football was a family, built on mutual respect and support for each other from (former) Coach (Lloyd) Carr on down," Boren said in a statement. "We knew it took the entire family, a team effort, and we all worked together. I have great trouble accepting that those family values have eroded in just a few months. That same helmet, that I was raised on and proudly claimed for the last two years, now brings a completely different emotion to me, one that interferes with practicing and playing my best and mentally preparing for what is required."

The general public's distaste for Rodriguez has been no secret since early December, but for the first time it seems as though someone on the inside is finally fed up.

Now fans and media alike are doing everything possible to figure out whether Boren's next helmet might feature an ever popular Buckeye leaf...

Eeeewwww, seems things in Maize and Blue land are in a bit of turmoil. I don't think Richie is going to be their Jim Tressel, at least it sure isn't starting out that way.

BuckeyeXtra

college football

Boren considering OSU after departing Michigan

Thursday, March 27, 2008 3:21 AM

By Tim May

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

JOHN T. GREILICK | THE DETROIT NEWS
Justin Boren, center, a graduate of Pickerington North and son of a Wolverine player, is the third offensive lineman to leave Michigan this offseason.

One week after beating out Michigan for top quarterback prospect Terrelle Pryor, Ohio State found itself in the running yesterday for Michigan lineman Justin Boren, who announced he's leaving the Wolverines.

Boren, a Pickerington North graduate who started for the Wolverines as a sophomore last season, released a statement in which he criticized the atmosphere under new coach Rich Rodriguez. Boren's father, Mike, a former Michigan captain and linebacker, supported his son's decision.

"Ohio State would be a good fit for Justin, and that's why he's not at Michigan anymore, because Michigan is not the right fit for him," said Mike Boren, who played under Bo Schembechler in the early 1980s.

"I have not talked to Ohio State and I'm not sure about their situation. … But would he go to Ohio State? Yes. The only two schools he seriously considered three years ago were Ohio State and Michigan, and he almost went to Ohio State even then..."

Things don't appear to be very, shall we say, "Rosey" at "the school up north" right now. Bo's gotta be doing back flips in his grave at the prospect of a M******n player transferring to The Ohio State University. I promise you this, if he wants to come here he may not get a "football" scholarship, but he won't have to worry about paying tuition.

Congressional Landmines

Onion Radio News

With Doyle Redland

• Congress Calls For Removal Of Land Mines From Congress

  Wednesday, March 26, 2008

I say we need a small neutron bomb to drop on the place, wipe out everyone there(especially the likes of Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Teddy(the drunk) Kennedy, the RINO's, et. al.) while saving the building. Then we can start from scratch and HOPEFULLY get some competent people that have some genuine real world experience in business and life, and people that will be true to the founders intent of what a Congressman is supposed to be.

Opening day too sacred to leave America

The Lantern

Commentary

Matt Gottfried

Issue date: 3/26/08 Section: Sports

Unless you're an avid baseball fan or happened to wake up at 6 a.m. Tuesday morning, you probably didn't know the Major League Baseball season has begun.

Now I know what you're thinking: Yesterday was only March 25, he must be talking about a spring training game. Unfortunately that's not the case, as Oakland and Boston kicked off the 2008 season with a non-exhibition game in Tokyo, Japan.

And I say non-exhibition so as to not confuse it with the exhibition games every other major league team is still playing in their respective Florida and Arizona spring training sites.

And I say non-exhibition so as to not confuse the two-game regular season series with the three-game exhibition series that will take place this weekend between the Los Angeles Dodgers and - you guessed it, Boston...

I thought the same thing! That just cost Oakland's fans 2 home games. That's just plain stupid! Ok, if you want to send them over for some exhibition games, fine, but to start the season of America's past-time outside the U.S. is nuts. What makes it even worse is having the game take place half way around the world so that the game time is such the the 2 teams fans aren't going to be able to watch(especially Oakland's). I've always thought Bud Selig was a dim bulb, but this proves it.

MLB

03/26/2008 10:19 AM ET

MLBP, MLBPA, Topps and Upper Deck celebrate National Baseball Card Day

Exclusive baseball card packs available at Toys "R" Us stores nationwide

Major League Baseball Properties and the Major League Baseball Players Association, in conjunction with licensees Topps and Upper Deck, will celebrate the second annual National Baseball Card Day on Saturday, March 29. On this day, exclusive baseball card packs will be given away nationally to kids, collectors and fans as part of this celebration...

I still have many of my cards that I collected. They're boxed and safely stored away. Unfortunately, with all of the different companies that are making them now, it's difficult to collect anymore and the joy of collecting is gone. I remember looking for the mistakes that would make it through the screener and editor. My goal every year was to collect the entire Reds set. I didn't much care for the rest except for wanting to have one complete set. The doubles would get traded and the triples would get used in the bicycle spokes. Collecting helped keep the summer interesting.

St. John atmosphere brings hope to OSU basketball fans

The Lantern

Commentary

Zack Timmons

Issue date: 3/26/08 Section: Sports

Monday night was like a dream.

A sea of scarlet flooding the doorways to St. John Arena. Fans standing in front of every seat screaming and chanting for their Ohio State Buckeyes.

The same team might have been on the court Monday night, but don't confuse the St. John fans with the nose-upward, keeping-up-appearances crowd that usually fills the stiff Schottenstein Center.

To do so would be an injustice to anyone who made the trek to OSU basketball's old home.

Monday's 73-56 win against California in the second round of the National Invitational Tournament was a once-in-a-lifetime experience in the corporate age in which OSU athletics currently exists.

"It was really great to hear the fans be so loud," senior point guard Jamar Butler said. "The atmosphere really got us going. Every college athlete wants to play in this kind of environment..."

Again, just a terrific game day atmosphere!!!

Bob Hunter commentary: Schott can't match feel of amped-up St. John

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Tuesday, March 25, 2008 3:08 AM

By Bob Hunter

NEAL C. LAURON | DISPATCH

Ohio State cheerleaders entertain the sellout-crowd of 13,276 in St. John Arena during a timeout in the second half. The Buckeyes will return to action against Dayton at 9 p.m. Wednesday in Value City Arena.

There was something wrong here. The Ohio State-California game meant nothing. Zilch. It was a second-round NIT game -- N-I-T, as in Not Important Tournament -- and the noise was a lot like the water inside a covered pot sitting on a burner turned to high, boiling faster and faster until it felt like the roof, uh, lid was about to come off.

You can feel St. John Arena. No kidding. You can actually feel it. That has happened on a few occasions in the Schottenstein Center, although most of the time your sensory experience there consists of some kid winning a "Buckeye prize pack" for guessing that David Lighty's favorite country is New Zealand.

Maybe it's my imagination, but when the announcer said "Welcome to St. John Arena" last night, some of the fans cheered the building. If ever a place deserved it, this 52-year-old basketball cathedral does...

I totally agree with what he says! There's just something about St. John Arena. It's a special place, like The Barn at Minnesota, Pauli Pavillion, even Madison Square Garden. That is where I watched The Bucks play when I was in school and I can tell you that it was the loudest arena I've ever been in. Who ever designed The Schott didn't do their research. If they had, they'd have designed, simply a bigger and better St. John. At some point the University needs to think about redoing VCA and making it more like St. John.

Butler leads way in 73-56 win against Cal

The Lantern

Matt Gottfried

Issue date: 3/25/08 Section: Sports

Sean Spitzer/The Lantern

Ohio State's P.J. Hill takes on Jerome Randle of the Cal Bears during the Buckeye's 73-56 win in the second round NIT game held at St. John's Arena Monday. The Buckeyes advance to the quarterfinal round Wednesday where they take on in-state rivals Dayton.

The last time Ohio State and California met on the hardwood, the Buckeyes' basketball program clinched its first National Championship with a 75-55 victory back in 1960.

Of course, if one were to have entered St. John's Arena last night he or she might have thought the second-round match-up in the National Invitational Tournament had nothing short of a national title on the line...

The Onion

Ghost Of Barbaro Appears To Teach Nation True Meaning Of Barbaro Day

LOUISVILLE, KY—Exactly one year to the day after Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro was tragically taken from us before his time, an apparition of the beloved racehorse appeared in the morning sky to teach Americans from all walks of life about the true meaning of Barbaro Day.

Barbaro, assuming the spirit form of the healthy young colt America fell in love with before a severely broken right leg derailed his career and threatened his very life, manifested himself in the heavens during a Churchill Downs memorial ceremony in his honor. Across the nation, people reported seeing the thoroughbred's benevolent countenance appear among the clouds—his large liquid eyes looking solemn yet hopeful, his auburn mane swaying in the breeze, and his ethereal face suffused with a heavenly inner light that cast a gentle warmth over the masses...

The Onion

Study: 93% Of People Talked About Once They Leave Room

LOGAN, UT—According to an alarming new study published Monday in the American Journal Of Sociology, the vast majority of Americans are critically discussed after leaving a room occupied by two or more additional people.

The groundbreaking research contradicts decades of previous inquiries into the area, including dozens of informal surveys in which respondents adamantly denied ever having talked behind others' backs...

Pryor Chooses Buckeyes

The Lantern

Joe Mandak - Associated Press

Issue date: 3/24/08 Section: Sports

JEANNETTE, Pa. (AP) - Oregon was too far away. Penn State was too rural. Michigan was a close second.

Terrelle Pryor, the highly touted western Pennsylvania prep quarterback, announced Wednesday that he will play for Ohio State.

The 6-foot-6, two-sport star - flanked by his parents, two younger siblings and some of his coaches - made the announcement on the auditorium stage at Jeannette Senior High School near Pittsburgh, where Pryor had one of the greatest prep careers in state history...

New Ikea opens near Cincinnati

The Lantern

Nicole Staples

Issue date: 3/24/08 Section: Campus


Courtesy of Ikea
Ikea's 34th U.S. store opened outside of Cincinnati March 12.

IKEA opened its 34th store in the U.S. in West Chester, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati, on March 12. The 344,000 square-foot store, known for its low prices and small-space solutions, has 48 different model rooms to inspire customers.

IKEA representatives hope the store's central location to several colleges and universities will make it an ideal place for students to shop for dorm room and apartment furnishings...

Your Debt Has Been Paid!

Life’s most important question is...

What’s going to happen to me AFTER I die?

If you’ve trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior you know exactly what’s going to happen to you. If, however, you’ve never done so, you should consider the following.

ALL of us are sinners!

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." (Rom 3:23)
"As it is written ’There is none righteous, no, not one...’ " (Rom 3:10, Psalms 14:3)
"If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (1 John 1:8)

None of us wants to admit it, but if we "do our own thing" or "do whatever feels right" we are outside the will of God. If we are outside His will and not doing what He commands then we have sinned.

God being Holy, He will NOT overlook sin.

"For the wages of sin is DEATH,...
...BUT the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom 6:23)
"For to be carnally minded is DEATH,...
...BUT to be spiritually minded is life and peace" (Rom 8:6)
"how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,..." (Hebrews 2:3)
"And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire." (Rev 20:15)

We cannot escape paying for our sins. God, being holy, will require payment for them, 1st through physical death then through banishment to Hell.

Because God loves us Christ died for us!

" ’For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.’ " (John 3:16)
"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom 5:8)
"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit." (1 Peter 3:18)
"and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again." (2 Corinthians 5:15)

God knows all! He knows where we’ve been and what we’ve done. Despite it all He still loves us, to the point of sending is only Son to pay for our sins by dying on the cross at Calvary. Innocent blood was shed for the payment of our sins.

Trust in Christ Jesus as YOUR Lord and Savior and the ONLY way to Heaven!

"that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." (Rom 10:9)
"For ’whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ " (Rom 10:13, Joel 2:32)
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)
"Jesus said to him, ’I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’ " (John 14:6)

Salvation CANNOT be earned! It is not gained by church membership or denomination. Salvation is given by God to those who believe with their heart and soul that Christ Jesus died for our sins on the Cross at Calvary and rose again 3 days later. It is not just a knowledge of this but true belief and acceptance of Christ as ones Savior.

If you want to know how to receive Christ as your Savior, here’s how:

1. ADMIT that you are a sinner and that you are guilty of sin and that you’ve been separated from God by your sins. You must then be willing to ask for forgiveness of your sins.

2. BELIEVE that Christ Jesus died on the cross at Calvary to pay the price for your sins, rose from the dead 3 days later, and is now sitting at the right hand of His Father.

3. CALL on the name of Jesus and ask Him to forgive you of your sins and come in and live in your heart as YOUR Lord and Savior.

"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:12-13)

If you would like to receive Christ as your Savior then simply ask Him NOW to come into your heart and life and be your Savior. There is no magical prayer. Just, in your own words and your heart, ask him to forgive you and to be your Savior. Now it’s time to live for Him!

If you did this I encourage you to seek out a Bible based Church and go to the Pastor and tell him what you’ve done and that you want to follow Christ in Believers baptism. I encourage you to find a good Baptist church (this is my own preference). If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment.