In the shadows of Ohio Stadium, there sits a little spot between two iconic fixtures in Columbus where fans mingle and the excitement for Ohio State builds. Thousands walk by this spot every Saturday as they make their way from the Skull Session in St. John Arena through the massive rotunda full of stained glass murals before they enter the greatest college football stadium in America. This spot inconspicuously sits at the northwest corner of Jesse Owens Plaza. This spot is right at the corner of Woody Hayes Drive and Cannon Drive. (To keep with the spot reference…the spot was in fact good.)
Here at Hayes & Cannon, our goal is to bring you the most opinionated form of Ohio State Buckeyes entertainment on the internet. We aren’t here to do the standard articles you see each week from every Buckeye website ever. When it comes down to it, we are all fans of the Buckeyes and that’s what we are going to focus on. Whether we are elated or upset with the current Buckeye sports world, it is our job to let those opinions be known. Not everything is always perfect (we’re looking at you basketball) and sometimes it may be tough to hear but like it or not…the opinions will be flowing.
Tony and company do a great job here, but they are not able to get to every article and every angle they would like. So we’re here to assist in any way possible. We scoured the internet to come up with a great team to not only help them out, but to bring you all entertainment in the forms of articles, podcasts, and numerous other Live platforms.
With all of that out of the way, let me introduce you to our team that stretches all around the United States. There are a few more big names in the works but this is our team right now.
Clair Crawford joins us after contributing to a number of sites. You may have seen some of her previous work on Buckeye Banter, Columbus Alive, Cbus Magazine or The Buckeye Battle Cry. More recently, you can catch her as a regular guest on the Bill King Show on WNSR Sports Radio in Nashville and occasionally on Sirius XM College Sports Nation. Joe and Clair were cohosts and cohorts for the Buckeye Battle Cry Radio Hour and Script Ohio for several years. You can expect for this tremendous duo to team up again in the near future. In addition to all of that, Clair has spent time working for ESPN Game Day and ESPN Radio…she is kind of a big deal. You can follow her on Twitter @buckeyeclair.
Joe Dexter joins the O-Zone from The Buckeye Battle Cry where he served as editor and writer for eight years and The Student Section. Previous to those positions, Joe had written for Scarlet and Game. During all of his tenures, Joe has covered everything from Ohio State to the B1G and even moonlighted as an American Athletic conference writer. Joe’s true love though is podcasting where he has hosted numerous shows from his college days until now. Joe’s most recent podcast was Script Ohio with co-host Clair Crawford. You can follow Joe on Twitter @buckeyeradio or you can follow along with his real life job as a staff writer for RockinghamNow, which is a BH Media news outlet in Rockingham County, North Carolina.
Chris Drake is well-known throughout the O-Zone world. He joined the Buckeye Battle Cry late last year but you probably know him as a long-term moderator and poster for the message boards…and as the EADAF champion of the world. When he wasn’t getting called by Mr. Ed to discuss his Fan Forum conduct (aLOL), Chris enjoyed the family atmosphere at the O-Zone and hopes to keep it going in his new role. You can follow Chris @Chris_Drake.
Terry Johnson comes to the O-Zone with an impressive background. Terry is the associate editor for the Comeback’s NCAA site and is known for having no shortage of opinions…especially when it comes to college football. In addition to writing, Terry is a software developer who likes to put his skills to use to analyze and form those strong opinions. Terry is a member of the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA). You can follow Terry on twitter @SectionTPJ.
Mike Meals joins us from The Buckeye Battle Cry where he was a writer. Mike is known for is creative ways and ability to come up with outside the box types of articles. Additionally, Mike is the mastermind behind the Sons of Schmidt Podcast (@SonsofSchmidt) which will be making a comeback in the near future after taking a Spring Break. When he isn’t dreaming of his pet penguin, Mike can usually be found on Twitter making a sarcastic comment about something or someone. You can follow him on Twitter @mmeals.
Chip Minnich comes to us after writing with Athlon Sports and The Buckeye Battle Cry. His sports journey began in 1995 where he started as recruiting assistant under Bill Conley at Ohio State. Chip was able to parlay that experience into an internship with the Washington Redskins. After working for the Buckeyes and Redskins, Chip began to have the itch to write and started up the still functioning From the Mind of Minnich blog. Chip is co-host of The Silver Bullets Podcast (formerly MOTSAG podcast) with Shannon Sommers and has appeared on The Sons of Schmidt as a guest. Chip is a member of the FWAA. You can follow Chip on Twitter @chipminnich
Shannon Sommers joins the team after working for Men of the Scarlet and Gray and The Buckeye Battle Cry. He is co-host and producer of the Silver Bullets Podcast (formerly MOTSAG podcast) where he tries to stay out of Chip’s way. Shannon is a Navy veteran and proud Seabee. Shannon is a member of the FWAA. You can follow along with Shannon on twitter @ShannonCFB.
As for me, Brandon Zimmerman, I join the O-Zone from The Buckeye Battle Cry where I was a writer and part-time editor over the past two years. Some may recognize my name as the guy who broke the Basic Defense/Austin Kendall story but most attribute that to other websites anyways and I am okay with that. The Oklahoma fans were not too happy with me. Outside of writing, I am also a co-host of The Sons of Schmidt Podcast (@SonsofSchmidt) where I play the smart one and appear every Wednesday night on MarkRogersTV. I am an Air Force veteran and current government employee. Like a few others, I am a member of the FWAA. At your own risk, you can follow me on Twitter @bzimmerman9.
Well there you have it O-Zone world. We look forward to joining the team and please let us know what you like or do not like. Whether it is our writing, our podcasts, or our Live shows…we are a bunch of part-time writers with real jobs who do this for all of our entertainment. So let us have it!
