Entering the 2011 season Toledo returned nine starters. Now that total is down to seven.

Senior free safety Mark Singer will miss the 2011 season with a torn labrum. He will redshirt this season and return to the team in 2012.

Singer suffered a shoulder injury to the same shoulder as his torn labrum during the spring but Beckman said in the “Q and A” section of this year’s media guide he was expected to be “back to full strength by August.” It is unknown whether Singer’s injury worsened or if it was injured during a separate incident.

Singer finished fourth on the team in tackles (73) in 2010 including a career-high eight in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. He played in all 37 games over the past three seasons and started all 13 games last year.

Toledo’s third leading tackler from 2010, Isaiah Ballard, was removed from the program on May 25. The Rockets had planned to return three of their top four in tackles from last season, but with the injury to Singer and dismissal of Ballard, only linebacker Dan Molls will be back in 2011.

Ross Madison is listed at second on the UT depth chart. The 6-foot-1, 193 pound sophomore from Leesburg, Va. played in all 13 games last season totaling nine tackles.

The second annual Toledo Pride event is set for 2 p.m. to midnight Aug. 27 and will feature live music, food, merchandise, kids’ activities, a drag show and — new this year — a parade.
“We’re super-excited,” said Lexi Staples, executive director of the Pride of Toledo Foundation and event director for Toledo Pride 2011. “It will be Toledo’s first Pride parade ever. There will be floats and cars. Some of the bars are giving away free stuff. We’re doing beads and candy. We’re just jazzed. We expect it to be a really good turnout for our first parade.”
Last year’s inaugural Toledo Pride event attracted nearly 2,500 people from across the region — more than double the number organizers were hoping for. This year, the group is expecting at least double that number.
“We had such a good reception last year,” said Staples, who founded Toledo Pride about a year and a half ago. “The one thing everyone said was they wished there was a parade, so we decided to take that on this year and the committee has been really great at making happen what we dreamt.”
The parade will feature Toledo City Councilman Steve Steel and entertainer Hershae Chocolatae as grand marshals. It will start at 2 p.m. at the corner of Washington and South St. Clair streets in Downtown Toledo and end at Promenade Park to officially open the event.

From 3 to 7 p.m., attendees can browse the Community Connection Carnival, featuring more than 40 community organizations, vendors, food, merchandise, live entertainment, an activity area for kids and more. The kids’ area will be organized by Rainbow Area Youth (RAY), a confidential social and support group for LGBTQA  (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and allies) youth ages 13-19.
The parade and Community Connection Carnival will be family-friendly. The event will be restricted to those age 18 and older starting at 10 p.m.
Admission is $5 for adults until 7 p.m. and $7 after 7 p.m. Children age 17 and younger are free. Toledo Pride will be a cash-only event. Seating will be limited, so guests are encouraged to bring blankets or lawn chairs.
“We’re trying to make it really family-friendly,” Staples said. “There will obviously be people in ridiculous rainbow gear, but we’re going to keep it PG-13 and it will probably be friendlier than that.”
The entertainment will kick off at 3:10 p.m. with local singer, songwriter and guitarist Kyle White followed by all-female group Spectrum at 3:55 p.m., folk-pop balladeers No Excuses at 4:40 p.m., soulful rockers The Shiz at 5:25 p.m., Toledo indie-pop outfit Dirty Damn Band at 6:10 p.m., What’s next., a jazz-infused rock group featuring Toledo City Councilman Steve Steel, at 6:55 p.m., acoustic duo Arctic Clam at 7:40 p.m., New York City-based Bitch at 9 p.m. and Shelly McWulf at 9:55 p.m.
Starting at 10 p.m., a Drag Extravaganza lasting until midnight will feature local performers, including Felaciana Thunderpussy, Amber Stone, Deja D. Dellataro, Sylvia Austin, London Neal, Makayla Sinclaire Styles, burlesque from The Underskirts of OutSkirts and drag kings Bois with OutSkirts and Blayke Shooter.
The celebration will continue at the Official Toledo Pride After-Party at Bretz Bar, 2012 Adams St., at 9 p.m. and featuring entertainment from Deja D. Dellataro, Felaciana Thunderpussy and guest Genesis. Cover is $5 for age 21 and older and $10 for those younger than 21.
Those interested in getting a jump-start on the celebration are invited to Prom Before Pride starting at 8:30 p.m. Aug. 26 at OutSkirts Bar’s new location at 5038 Lewis Ave. Cover is $5 for ages 21 and older and $7 for those younger than 21.
“It’s fun and cheesy and open to everyone. People dress up super-crazy and we have a photographer come,” Staples said. “A lot of gay people either missed their prom because they didn’t feel comfortable going or didn’t want to pretend to be straight to go or they weren’t allowed to go with who they wanted to invite, so it’s fun.”
On Aug. 28, OutSkirts Bar also will host the Toledo Pride Post-Party and Drag-A-Palooza, starting at 3 p.m. and featuring music from Bitch, The Shiz and Backbone as well as drag performances. My House Diner at 5042 Lewis Ave. will serve $1 hot dogs, $1 fries and $2 burgers in the parking lot.
Parade coordinator Torie Thorne said organizers and community members are excited about the events, especially the historic  parade.
For more information, visit the website www.toledopride.com.

Most singers are used to taking requests. Barry Manilow isn’t most entertainers. He’s got a request for you.
“I ask the public, just give me one shot, put [‘15 Minutes’] in your car and listen to it from the beginning to the end. Just give me one full listen and, after that, it’s up to you,” he said.
The songwriter is talking about “15 Minutes,” his disc released in June. It’s been 10 years since he recorded a CD of original material. The thematic work is named after Andy Warhol’s notion that everybody will be famous for a short time.
“My collaborator, [lyricist] Enoch Anderson, who I’ve worked with many years, and I looked around and what we saw in the world of entertainment was a lot of reality shows — ‘American Idol’ and ‘X Factor’ and this one and that one, and young people becoming household names overnight,” Manilow said during a call from California. “I did ‘American Idol’ for three years, and it was young, talented people being thrown into the spotlight and I thought, wow, that’s kind of dangerous.

“And then we watched as Britney Spears, during that year before we began writing, we saw Britney, the press was driving her crazy; she couldn’t even go to Starbucks without them following her,” he said. “Here’s this talented girl trying to just live her life, and they kept following her and driving her nuts.
“And Enoch and I said, ‘Wow, is that the price of fame?’
“So that’s what started us off with this ‘15 Minutes’ album; is this the price of fame? And that felt like an interesting thing to write about.”
The legendary showman knows about superstardom. Between 1975 and 1983, Manilow had 25 consecutive Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. The pianist has sold more than 80 million records around the globe. Hits by the Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award winner include “It’s a Miracle,” “Could It Be Magic,” “I Write the Songs,” “Copacabana,” “This One’s For You,” “Weekend in New England” and “Looks Like We Made It.”
“These days if you’re famous, you can’t get out of your house without everybody knowing what you’re doing. That wasn’t the way it was with me,” he said. “It was complicated and pressured, but there was no Internet, no paparazzi.”
Working in the business eight years before his career skyrocketed helped ground him, Manilow said.
“I was a conductor, songwriter, I did commercials, I was a producer of other people’s work, you know, I was a solid musician by the time ‘Mandy’ hit, and even then it knocked me over,” he said.
Manilow’s 15 minutes has lasted more than three decades.
“I’ve just been a very fortunate guy. I’ve had great people around me that have helped guide me,” the 68-year-old said. “Most of all I’ve had the public who have always been on my side, always, even at the very beginning when I didn’t know what I was doing, they somehow liked what they were hearing, liked what they were seeing, and I just kept going.”
Last year, the Brooklyn native received a Grammy nomination for “The Greatest Love Songs of All Time.” “The Greatest Songs of the Fifties” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart in 2006. Collections from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s proved equally successful.
“The whole run of these cover albums was tremendously successful. But personally, I felt that I was really missing writing my own material. Most of all, it felt like I was playing it safe,” Manilow said. “I needed to shake it up; I needed to get out of my safety zone.”
“15 Minutes” debuted at No. 7 on Billboard 200 and was his sixth Top 10 debut in the past 10 years.
He talked about a follow-up.
“Last month, we did four unbelievable shows in Britain at a place called the O2. We sold out four nights of 20,000 people a night and we recorded it. I played there with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,” he said. “I’ve never been through anything quite like it — thrilling beyond words — and we recorded it. And we’re mixing it right now. I think that is going to be the next album.”
Fans can catch that Manilow magic at 8 p.m. Aug. 28 at Caesars Windsor, Ontario. Tickets range from $65 to $210.
“The power of music has changed the world. And if you do it the wrong way, it could change the world for the worst,” he said. “Angry music, nasty music does not do it, but beautiful, inspiring, uplifting music can help make a better world; that’s what I’m here for.”

In a piece in the Kansas City Star last week, Warren Buffet decided (for himself and many others making a lot of money) that rich guys are being “coddled” and are not paying enough in the way of taxes. My initial reaction to this was shock. It never occurred to me that Buffet had done so well with those concert tours, records and with that “Cheeseburger In Paradise” restaurant chain than I had previously suspected. It then occurred to me to be concerned that perhaps he was in fact wasting away again in “Margaritaville” and that overindulgence in the tequila required by the cocktail had begun to soften his brain.

Of course, I was mistaken. Oh not about the fact that Mr. Buffet’s brain may have gone soft, but that this Buffet was in fact the pop star (that’s Jimmy Buffet). It turns out that this Buffet was instead the head of Berkshire Hathaway, one of those evil corporations that in turn own other evil corporations, which are in turn owned by a bunch of equally evil rich guys. Warren Buffet is in fact listed amongst the richest people in the world each and every year, and he has been for some time.

Now rich people don’t normally get that way by giving away their money, especially by giving it away to the government in taxes; I think I would be safe in saying that Warren Buffet employed a small army of accountants and lawyers to insure that he was paying as little in the way of taxes as possible over the years. In fact, while being one of the richest men in the world, Warren Buffet drew a base salary in 2008 of only a meager $100,000, with the rest of his compensation coming in ways that would reduce his tax liabilities. There’s nothing wrong with such compensation structuring, assuming that his accounting practices fall within the legal guidelines of the tax code. I would be willing to bet that Buffet has been audited enough times by the IRS to be able to prove that this is the case.

So it occurred to me to question the motives (and sanity) of someone making such a statement about “coddling.”  It seems, however, that Warren Buffet had previously decided to begin to divest himself of all of his money anyway, having pledged to give 99 percent of it away before his death. He recently donated some $1.5 billion to the Bill Gates Foundation in token of pledge of over $30 billion committed to this charity.

Buffet also wrote a check to the government last year for significantly less than his charitable contributions, acknowledging that he paid taxes of $6,938,744 in 2010. While that’s a lot of money to pay in taxes, I never heard him say that he paid more in the way of taxes than the minimum that he was required to. Certainly no one prevents him from doing so, and the government readily accepts such overpayment. The idea of a voluntary contribution of cash to Washington DC apparently did not occur to him (or his accountants) however.

Now Warren Buffet will be 81 at the end of August, and perhaps as a corrupt leader of an evil corporation, his change of heart has something with beginning to recognize the ‘sins’ that he has committed in his past financial life. Perhaps, now seeing that there are fewer days ahead of him than behind, and recognizing the nature of his transgressions. He’s now seeking to in some way make up for his lifetime of avarice and greed, and gain absolution through his generosity. Without attempting to judge the motives of such a change, one cannot help but applaud the extent of his charity and acknowledge that it will undoubtedly be used far more efficiently and put to better purpose through the Gates Foundation than it would have been if simply handed over to the government.

Of course those of us of a more cynical nature cannot help notice that Mr. Buffet is little more than someone leading a rather comfortable existence telling all to, “Do as I say and not as I do.” Those looking beneath the surface cannot help but point out that all of these recent charitable contributions will not only reduce Mr. Buffet’s short term tax liability, but insure that when his time comes, there will be little in the way of taxes due on what is still likely to be a sizable estate when he does pass on. You know, maybe Mr. Buffet’s brain isn’t wasting away as much as I thought.

Toledo native Marcus Dean Fuller turned a trauma into inspiration with the movie “One Fall.” Fuller wrote, directed and starred in the film, which is based on his near-death experience.
“I was 18 years old with a bunch of buddies of mine on top of a cliff. We had been drinking and hanging out, and it was dark,” Fuller said. “I slipped and I fell. I fell over 100 feet. I landed through some trees and rolled down a hill at the bottom. I ended up breaking my back in several places and split my shoulder blade all the way through. I genuinely ended up pretty messed up. I spent several weeks in a hospital. I had doctors finally tell me I would probably never regain use of my legs. Two weeks later, I walked out of the hospital. Six months later, I was skiing. To this day, I don’t have any scars on me. As far as I know, I’m still the only person to ever survive the fall.”
While it left him terrified of heights, Fuller is now able to make light of the incident.
“Once you get some distance from anything in your life, you see it for what it is,” he said. “Most of the events in our lives are more than the sum of their parts. In turns, they are tragic and funny, dark and full of hope and joy. Any event from beginning to end is all of those things at once. All I do is kind of extend those moments into a film.”
The name of the main character adds a bit of the comedy to the film. After years of being recognized on the street from his recurring soap opera roles, Fuller is excited for the possibility of being recognized as James Bond.

“How many times in your life do you get to play James Bond?” Fuller said. “When you sit down to write, you always need a name. James is such an all-American name. The movie is kind of dripping with Americana, so James was a great name for him. Bond was really funny. Unless you’re a British superspy, don’t ever name your kid James Bond. James suffers for it in his own right. A little kid makes fun of him for it. He gets beat up a lot. Names affect who you are. Instead of being this glorious superspy, it’s just another burden he carries around.”
In “One Fall,” James survives a 200-foot fall off a cliff and discovers he has the power to heal himself and others. Working as a janitor at the local hospital, he begins scamming terminal patients to heal them.
“It’s a quirky little movie,” Fuller said. “It’s a character-driven piece, but it’s very funny. It’s very dark in turns. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry and you’ll stand up and cheer. There are a lot of twists and turns throughout. It’s not really any genre. We kind of invented our own genre. It’s kind of a funny feeling. You’ll feel really satisfied walking away from the movie.”
Fuller stuck to his roots when writing the script, setting the movie in a fictional town in Northwest Ohio.
“There was never another choice,” Fuller said. “You write what you know. Being from a small town in Northwest Ohio, that world is so clear to me. Having grown up there, Ohio is such a wonderful, magical, beautiful, brutal place in its own way. There is no other place like it in the country. Having traveled a lot, I can honestly say that. The town in ‘One Fall’ represents my kind of Norman Rockwell memories of childhood. It’s one of those beautiful, perfect Ohio days as a kid, and as you grow up you start to see where the cracks are.”
After moving out to Los Angeles in his early 20s, Fuller acted in commercials and had guest spots and recurring roles on several soap operas. In his late 20s, he decided to audition for the Yale School of Drama.
“I came to theater and film a little late,” Fuller said. “I felt I had missed something in my life. I always loved the theater. I wanted to go back and do more theater. I did a play in Los Angeles and was working with a lot of people who had come out of Yale, NYU, Julliard and others. They pushed me to audition for grad school. I auditioned only for Yale. I got in, so I headed to the East Coast.”
The move to the East Coast resulted in a chance coffee shop encounter that proved personally and professionally lucrative.
“I was getting ready to play Hamlet at Yale, and my wife was at the Divinity School and was getting ready to take an LSAT class,” Fuller said. “We met in a coffee shop and started chatting. We found out we both grew up in Northern Ohio. I invited her to come see the show, and it grew from there.”
After college, Fuller and his wife Julie Smucker started Compass Entertainment to produce their own movies, including “One Fall.” His father-in-law Richard Smucker, co-CEO of the J.M. Smucker Company,  got involved in the project after seeing a staged reading of the script held for potential investors.
“We had other people who were willing to come in, but it became about control of the project,” Fuller said. “Every time you add more producers, you get more opinions. That starts to change the project in a lot of ways. My wife, who is also a producer, my father-in-law and I got together and decided we want to control this project and make sure the product we are creating is as close to what we want it to be as possible. They are both very formidable business people in their own rights. I kind of represent the creative aspects of this venture. There is a fun little trinity there that works very well.”
Fuller planned to only write and produce the film, but after interviewing directors he decided to cut out the middleman.
“As we were interviewing directors, it became obvious that my vision for this film was very clear, and I was going to end up directing other directors into my vision for this film,” Fuller said. “My lawyer, who is one of our producers, looked at me and said, ‘You need to direct this movie.’ He was right. I saw the movie very clearly.”
Fuller stepped in as the lead actor out of necessity because their actor dropped out at the last minute.
“Everybody came to me and said I should play the role,” Fuller said. “It’s a tricky role, because he is a very unlikable character. The actor’s performance is going to have to win you back through the course of the movie, or it’s not going to work. There weren’t a lot of actors that could really do that. Whenever you write anything, you’re writing about yourself on some level. Having written it, I understood the character’s nuances and needs, and in turn, his fears and his potential.”

Fuller premiered the movie in mid-August at Chagrin Falls near Cleveland. The film does not have a scheduled release in Toledo. Fuller is in the process of producing five more movies and is looking forward to the opportunity to direct without acting.
“I really enjoy directing and being behind the camera,” Fuller said. “The one thing with ‘One Fall’ is I wish I could have enjoyed the directing process more. I was running from in front of the camera to behind the camera so much that you get a little schizophrenic. It was a great experience though. I really enjoy doing all of it.”

When Mind Fish frontman Dean Tartaglia returned home to Toledo from Ohio University this summer to do his internship and play shows with his band, he was not anticipating much out of the local music scene.
“I had no expectations going into the summer,” Tartaglia said to Toledo Free Press Star. “Even in early June I had little expectations, and now strangely enough it’s August and I have a lot of expectations for Toledo in the future within the next couple years.”
The seeds for those changed expectations were planted in April, when Mind Fish was on the bill at Frankie’s Inner City with GOLD and The Fight Within for Tropic Bombs’ first show.
“[Mind Fish] came up to Frankie’s in Toledo and played a gig with us, and we ended up having Dean actually come onstage with us to promote a film we were doing,” said GOLD vocalist/guitarist Zach Ruetz. “We made him wear this rabbit mask and, like, jump around with a poster of our movie. That was right after we met him.”

Tartaglia and his band forged a friendship with GOLD and Tropic Bombs that night, one which has led to a productive summer in Toledo for all three groups. On Aug. 27, Mind Fish, GOLD and The Strong Talk will play a free show at the Ottawa Tavern.
Growing scene
Rather than wearing a rabbit mask, Tartaglia has since been playing saxophone with GOLD in addition to jamming with Mind Fish and his other pursuits. This summer, Tartaglia was an intern for The James Poure Consultancy, which is consulting for Creadio founder/CEO and TEDxToledo curator Will Lucas.
TED — which stands for “Technology, Entertainment, Design” — started 26 years ago in California and is a nonprofit organization dedicated to “ideas worth spreading.” Tartaglia said that Lucas commented on how there is a growing arts scene in Toledo he has never seen before.
“It’s just cool because it’s real easy for someone within the scene to know that ‘Yeah, we have a good scene’ or whatever, but when you have someone completely removed noticing it, that’s when you kind of get the idea that maybe something bigger is going on than you could have even expected,” Tartaglia said.
Adam Sattler, who does booking, marketing and promoting for the Ottawa Tavern, said  the venue’s attendance keeps improving and that touring acts making stops in Toledo often comment on the positive response they get from locals.
“The other thing that I see is sort of a disappearing of a generational gap,” Sattler said. “Some of these older guys that have been in the music scene for a long time — Jimmy Danger, Dave Piciutto, guys like that — come out and support the younger bands, and the younger bands go out and support these guys. I think that more than anything as far as camaraderie goes, I’ve noticed that in the last, say, six months or a year.”
Tartaglia has noticed support on nights which typically do not draw big crowds, nights like the Tuesday he played saxophone at Manhattan’s.
“It was my friend’s 21st that night, and I brought my sax and was playing and it was, like, ass-packed in there by midnight on a Tuesday night,” Tartaglia said. “I was absolutely shocked that’s even happened on a Tuesday in Toledo.”
DIY effort
Sattler said more local bands are producing and promoting their material.
“GOLD and Mind Fish, they do it right,” Sattler said. “Just with this show, they didn’t wait for us as the venue to create a Facebook event. They did it, and they want to self-promote. The difference between the bands that promote themselves and [the bands that] don’t is one band plays to 200 people and the other plays to 50.”
Tartaglia credits that promotion as a big factor in how this summer has gone for Mind Fish, GOLD and Tropic Bombs.
“It’s the energy of the promotions going into the show because I’ve known a lot of bands that have a lot of great energy and bands that draw well over the past some-odd years,” Tartaglia said. “I know GOLD and Tropic Bombs — I’m sure they’d say the same about us — just the amount of promotion that goes into it, it’s hyped up. There’s a lot of buzz and we all know that, but we’re still real dedicated, real professional about what we’re doing.”
Beyond the promotion, GOLD used Garage Band to self-produce its 2010 six-song EP.
“It’s a pretty simple program, but you can move really fast with it,” GOLD bassist Tom Martin said. “That’s not a plug for Apple, though. I’m glad we did it ourselves because of the problems with some of the early bands me, Zach and Jacob [Czerniejewski were in]. When we went into a recording studio, you’re on the clock and it’s not a very comfortable atmosphere, and the technology has become more affordable.”
That affordability is one of the pluses Sattler highlighted for local musicians.
“In a city like Toledo, a band can get a record made for half the cost of what they can do it anywhere else, and you’ve got people doing it,” Sattler said. “I know GOLD recorded theirs on their own. Thirty Three and 1/3 just put an album out. I know that bands aren’t having to pay what they used to, and so I think Toledo’s really good for that. And not to mention, we’re surrounded by five great music markets that these bands can head out for a weekend and do a show in Columbus, or Cleveland or Detroit.
“Toledo’s a great place for a band to start.”
Irons in the fire
Mind Fish, GOLD and Tropic Bombs all have future, full-length albums in the works. While each band has its own distinctive sound, they all try to make the live shows as fun and energetic as possible.
“I think that’s what the three of us bands have in common,” said Ruetz, who at 24 has been playing music with Martin and Czerniejewski for eight years. “It’s all really positive stuff, and I think we need that right now in these times, in the recession and everything. People want to be entertained.”
Tropic Bombs vocalist Ryan Wayton echoed Ruetz’s sentiments in a July interview with Toledo Free Press Star.
“We all feel this resurgence, which is what we wanted out of the music scene,” Wayton said. “I feel like a lot of the people — like the fans and friends and stuff — are having a good time. A lot of them I think just embrace it because it takes them back to the old days with Promise of Tomorrow and stuff like that from what they’ve told me. It’s great.”
Tartaglia said Mind Fish plans to play in 15 different cities during the next two months with the ultimate goal being to do local spotlights on 89X. The band is aiming for a January release of its new album and will soon launch its new website — themindfish.com — as well as a Kickstarter.com project to try and produce hard copies of the new record.
“I just hope it keeps spreading exactly how it is right now, just little by little,” Tartaglia said. “I don’t think I can ask for anything more.”
Mind Fish, GOLD and The Strong Talk will perform a free show Aug. 27 at the Ottawa Tavern, located at 1815 Adams St. in Toledo. The show starts at 10 p.m. In addition to the concert being Tartaglia’s 21st birthday, Mind Fish will release two new songs off its upcoming album that show attendees can pick up for any price they choose, including for free. The band will also have new, $10 T-shirts available, while GOLD may play some new tunes as well. For more information, call (419) 725-5483, or visit http://otavern.com.

Now is the time for a little game of good news, bad news. First, the bad news: The United States is likely heading for a recession. More bad news: This recession probably isn’t avoidable, and the Federal Reserve almost certainly can’t get us out of it.

It’s not that the Fed doesn’t have the tools to keep the US economy out of recession; quite the contrary. Instead, they lack the political willpower to employ those tools. That is to say, politicians in Washington lack the will to support the Fed’s use of its tools.

Let’s face it, the American people don’t want to see a third round of quantitative easing. They simply won’t stand for it. Politicians, being politicians, know that they won’t be reelected if they allow the Fed to open the spigot with QE3, let alone if they support such a move.

In addition to lacking the will, the Fed quite frankly lacks the competence to employ its tools effectively, as it has clearly demonstrated over the past five years. To those democratic readers, count those years carefully; this isn’t an attack on Obama – not that he doesn’t deserve it – but on one of the least competent Federal Reserve Chairman in American history (right behind Alan Greenspan), Ben Bernanke.

How incompetent does the most powerful banker in the world have to be to employ two rounds of quantitative easing, PLUS the Fed’s normal open market operations, PLUS a prolonged policy of cheap money (read: sub-2% target Fed Funds Rate), and STILL not have jumpstarted the domestic US economy?

Still reading? Good, ‘cause it’s time for the good news! Well, let’s say better news.

It’s more likely than not that at this point in time, the United States is already in recession. While this hasn’t been reflected in last quarter’s GDP numbers, it probably will be once those numbers are revised – especially if the revisions to the numbers for first quarter, 2011 are any gauge.

Not only is the United States already in recession (great news, I know), but the economy isn’t likely to get a whole lot worse, except for an uptick in unemployment, which should be negligible because unemployment is already high. So while the economy probably won’t feel much worse than it already does, this slow patch will likely continue until closer to the 2012 elections, which brings us back to the Fed.

Lately a number of Republican nominees have been hopping on Ron Paul’s Fed-bashing bandwagon – Perry and Bachmann to be specific. Their comments (e.g. Perry’s quote that Bernanke printing more money could be considered “treasonous”), as well as responses from Obama and his White House staff, have brought to the forefront a fundamental question concerning the Federal Reserve: Is it independent, or ain’t it

After all, if the Fed isn’t independent, that would mean that it is just like any other government agency, and fair game for politicians to attack, defund, debunk, etc. If it’s not independent, there should be some degree of transparency for the American people to know and understand how and why the Fed is acting in their best interests. There should be supervision and someone within the federal government held accountable to such a standard.

If, on the other hand, the Fed is truly independent, as Obama says, then the federal government has a regulatory obligation to ensure that the Fed is acting legally, as is the case with any other corporation. So we must ask: Where are the audits? Where is the supervision? Who is charged with prosecuting Fed officials who act illegally? So many questions, so few answers.

The fact is that the Fed is indeed independent. It’s not a government agency, but a private institution, just like GE or IBM. The Federal Reserve, created by the Federal Reserve Act (pretty redundant, right?) of 1913, is owned by some of the world’s largest banks, and controlled by them.

In fact, the only input the government has, so far as the Fed is concerned, is Senatorial confirmation of appointed Chairmen of the Federal Reserve (and that is done pretty much out of courtesy, so politicians can pretend they have some power over this otherwise opaque organization).

In every other aspect, the Fed is almost totally nontransparent, just as GE or IBM. There are, however, a few key differences between the Federal Reserve and other private corporations. First and foremost, other companies don’t have control of this nation’s monetary policy – kind of a big thing.

Big difference number two: other companies tend to be regulated by the government in some way, shape or form. Companies are usually audited regularly, and their operations are scrutinized, as are their products. The Fed faces no such scrutiny; hardly any oversight in fact – mostly because politicians are scared of the organization

To summarize, when it comes to the Fed, don’t expect any help. The banks controlling this organization are focused on their own profit, and the interests of the big banks are increasingly at odds with those of the American people.

So, despite the Fed’s “best efforts,” the US economy has slowed back down. To add to this stagnation, recently released numbers (Producer Price Index, or PPI) have shown a marginal increase in prices. Plus, money supply, as measured by M3, is finally growing again.

Let’s wrap up this week with a quiz: When the economy is slow and prices are rising (due to expanding money supply) what does that mean?

Answer: It means stagflation – and usually a new president in very short order. Welcome back, Jimmy Carter. The question now is, who will be our Ronald Reagan?

Dock David Treece is a discretionary money manager with Treece Investment Advisory Corp (www.TreeceInvestments.com) and is licensed with FINRA through Treece Financial Services Corp. He has appeared on CNBC and numerous radio programs, and also serves as editor of financial news site Green Faucet (www.GreenFaucet.com). The above information is the express opinion of Dock David Treece and should not be construed as investment advice or used without outside verification.

In Tim Beckman’s third year at Toledo, the Rockets Head Coach has already put Toledo back on top the Mid-American Conference — at least in the preseason, anyway.

After three straight losing seasons under former UT Head Coach Tom Amstutz, including a 3-9 record in 2008, Beckman led Toledo to a near bowl berth in 2009 at 5-7. Last season, the Rockets finished 8-5, including a 7-1 record in conference play, on their way to the school’s first bowl game since 2005, which it lost 34-32 to FIU.

With the steady improvement and the league’s top-rated recruiting class by Rivals.com over the past two years, expectations have risen so much that UT was chosen as the conference’s pick to win the MAC Championship over both teams that played in the game in 2010. Voted on by members of the league’s media contingent, the Rockets (five votes) edged out last year’s champion Miami (Ohio) and runner-up Northern Illinois, which each had three votes.

“I don’t know if the MAC looked at our schedule,” Beckman said. “It’s got to be one of the hardest schedules in the conference. In the MAC, our home schedule is probably very beneficial having people at our place but to me this conference is very balanced. Week in and week out it’s going to be up to anybody. It’s going to be the way you play and the way you take care of your business.”

The expectations also earned Beckman a contract extension through 2015. Expectations, however, are often challenging to meet and this season Toledo will be tested right from the beginning.

The Rockets open with New Hampshire, which was ranked as the preseason No. 10 team in the FCS on Aug. 15, even getting one first-place vote. Then they travel to Columbus, attempting to be the first team to beat No. 16 Ohio State at home since 1921 (Oberlin won 7-6). They follow up the Buckeyes, last year’s Sugar Bowl Champions, with a home game against No. 7 Boise State. The Broncos finished 12-1 last year, including a 57-14 win over UT in Idaho, and were winners of the Las Vegas Bowl. Toledo then travels to yet another bowl winner in the fourth week of the season with 2010’s reigning Pinstripe Bowl Champion Syracuse.

“We are excited to have that opportunity and I think it speaks highly for Toledo football,” Beckman said. “When you come and decide to be a Toledo Rocket, you are going to play against the best of the best.”

Offense

Just as in the 2010 season, the competition for the top spot at quarterback remains. Junior Austin Dantin started the first nine games before he broke his collarbone and sternum while also separating his shoulder against Eastern Michigan, ending his season.

As for 2011, it is still Dantin’s job to lose. Beckman told Toledo Free Press that Dantin holds a ‘slight edge’ over sophomore Terrance Owens.

Dantin led the MAC in completion percentage (66.1 percent) passing for 1,254 yards with seven touchdowns. He also finished second on the team with 103 carries for 442 yards and tied for the team-high with eight rushing touchdowns. Dantin, however, did at times struggle to test opponents deep and turned the ball over too often, throwing eight interceptions.

Owens played in seven games in 2010 passing for 1,244 yards with 13 touchdowns and five interceptions. He was 2-2 as a starter with wins over Bowling Green and Central Michigan and losses to Northern Illinois and FIU in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. The southpaw has a much stronger arm than Dantin but still needs to improve his reads and accuracy.

With most of the attention still on the signal callers, Toledo has one of the deepest stable of running backs in the conference.

Senior Adonis Thomas leads the group and is the league’s top returning rusher. Thomas started slow in 2010, averaging just 62 all-purpose yards per game in the first six games with just one score. In the last seven games, however, Thomas more than doubled his output, racking up more than 156 all-purpose yards per game with nine touchdowns.

UT also returns sophomore David Fluellen, who before his knee injury had moments where he looked like the best back on the team, and senior Morgan Williams, who has a 1,000-yard season on his résumé in 2008.

At receiver the story remains the same as the search for Eric Page’s sidekick continues. Page, who caught 99 passes last season and is now just 49 short of the school record owned by Stephen Williams, had 81 more catches than the next highest receiver (Kenny Stafford). In fact, the team’s second and third leading receivers were running backs (Thomas, Williams).

Stafford returns for his senior season and must make more of an impact in the passing game and cut down on dropped balls. Former four-star prospect James Green enters his sophomore campaign after catching just nine passes in 2010. Starting wideout Julian Bellinger, who played in 12 games last year, caught just six passes. Senior tight end Danny Noble also has the size and speed to be a threat in the passing game. True freshman Justin Olack has impressed in camp and could see playing time as well.

Illinois transfer Cordale Scott is among the favorites to start alongside Page. At 6-foot-4, 220 pounds, Scott is the biggest receiver in the lineup and was projected by Stafford in March to finish the season earning All-MAC honors.

Among the biggest standouts in camp this year has been Bernard Reedy, who may very well be on his way to starting. The speedy sophomore is similar to Page’s skill set and showed flashes last season.

The offensive line lost center Kevin Kowalski and Nate Cole to graduation but should still be solid up front. All-MAC senior Mike VanDerMeulen and classmate John Morookian have started 37 and 35 games at the tackle spots, respectively. Senior Phillipkeith Manley returns at guard after starting all 13 games last season. Sophomore Zac Kerin, who played in 12 games last season spelling Cole, will fit in at guard while redshirt-freshman Greg Mancz is the preseason favorite to anchor the middle of the line at center.

Defense

Typically when a team loses two quality starters in the mold of defensive ends Alex Johnson and Doug Westbrook, that unit is bound to struggle. It’s a testament to the depth of UT that most in the program view the defensive line as a strength this season despite their loss.

The line is bolstered by defensive end T.J. Fatinikun, who in two short years has made a name for himself in the conference. Earning Third-Team All-MAC honors in his sophomore season, Fatinikun looks poised to take the next step in 2011.

Joining him at the other end spot is former defensive tackle Malcolm Riley. The 6-foot-3, 281 pound senior was quietly one of the best players on last season’s roster and is sliding over to make room for the plethora of talent at the tackle spot, including Johnie Roberts, Johnathan Lamb, Elijah Jones and Danny Farr.

Another tackle who is expected to make a run at the starting job is Andre ‘Tank’ Sturdivant, a 6-foot-3, 265 pound true freshman from Cleveland Glenville High School. According to Rivals, Sturdivant was the lone four-star recruit to join a MAC program. He chose the Rockets over Penn State and Michigan State and had offers from Illinois, Indiana and Ohio State.

Linebacker may be the most uncertain position on the Toledo defense as UT is looking for a replacement for Archie Donald, who led the team in tackles the past three seasons. The battle is down to junior Robert Bell and redshirt-freshmen Ray Bush and James Gordon.

The other linebacker spot is far from uncertain after the sophomore season Dan Molls had in 2010. Molls finished with 143 tackles, the 10th highest total in the nation. He was named Third-Team All-MAC and should be a strong candidate to earn even higher honors this season.

At the “star” position (a hybrid between linebacker and safety) senior Charles “Bobo” Rancifer will be taking over for his first season in the wake of Isaiah Ballard’s dismissal. Michigan transfer Vladimir Emilien would have been a candidate for the spot but his waiver to play this season was denied by the NCAA. Instead, former cornerback Byron Best will be backing up Rancifer at the spot.

In the secondary, Desmond Marrow enters his sixth season at cornerback after receiving two medical redshirts during his career. Marrow returned last season after missing 17 games during a two-year span from a torn ACL and meniscus. He had a successful 2010 season and helped shore up a secondary which struggled in the two years without him.

Senior Taikwon Paige will be manning the other corner spot for the second straight season. Behind Marrow and Paige, however, is more uncertain with Best moving to the ‘star.’ Among his most impressive freshmen through spring, Beckman named a trio of corners including Kishon Wilcher, Keith Suggs and John James. He also said that Toledo native Cheatham Norrils will play in his freshman season. Freshman Chris Dukes and senior Anthony Washington  also have a shot at playing time.

At the safety spots, the Rockets have four solid contributors. Junior Jermaine Robinson and senior Diauntae Morrow split time at strong safety while senior Mark Singer and sophomore Ross Madison are at free safety.

Special Teams

Special teams is really an area of highs and lows for the Rockets. Page will return at kick and punt returner where he was named an All-American in 2010. However, Ballard’s dismissal opens up the other returner spot where Reedy will be the favorite. Fluellen, Thomas and Williams also are candidates for the second returner spots.

At kicker, Ryan Casano has returned and is “100 percent” after suffering a season-ending ACL tear last year. He and freshman Jeremiah Detmer are in the lead for the starting job. Detmer was rated as the No. 4 kicking recruit by Rivals. Also competing will be Bill Claus, who replaced Casano last year, as well as redshirt-freshman Clay Simpkins.

Detmer also is an early favorite to take the kickoff job after kicking a ball out of the endzone in a scrimmage Aug. 13, the first time Beckman has seen that happen in three years at UT.

At punter, it’s no secret that Beckman is looking for more consistency. Toledo finished 117 out of 120 teams in net punting average last year (31.72 yards per punt) with Vince Penza and Claus sharing the duties. Surprisingly enough, that was actually an improvement from 2009, when UT finished last in the nation with 28.68 yards per punt with Claus as the main punter. As of now, Penza is leading the race for the job, competing with freshmen James Datz from Granville and Iowa native Jake Dunbar, who can punt with both legs.

At long snapper, sophomore Matt Wall is leading the race against senior Colin McHugh.

Outlook

For the first time in a long time, Toledo has all the pieces to rightfully be named favorites for the conference. This team has as good of individual talent as any team in the league but the challenge will be playing as a unit, which was a problem last season, particularly on defense.

The Rockets have as tough of an early schedule as anyone in the country and it’s important that regardless of the outcome they do not get too high or low from those games. Beating Ohio State or Boise State is attention- grabbing, but in the grand scheme has no impact on MAC play.

If Toledo can put it together, there’s no reason to think it can’t head to the MAC Championship game, especially with three of its toughest opponents (Miami, Northern Illinois, Western Michigan) traveling to the Glass Bowl. If it can, UT may be hoisting its first league title since 2004.

In 2010, Austin Dantin beat all competitors on his way to winning the starting quarterback job for Toledo. This season, he’s on pace to do it again.

UT Head Coach Tim Beckman told Toledo Free Press that Dantin has a “slight edge” over sophomore Terrance Owens in the battle to be named the Rockets signal caller.

“They both can play,” Beckman said. “I think they are both playing extremely well but I would give a slight edge at this time to Austin.”

Beckman also said that his policy is a player cannot lose his spot due to injury and that Owens would have to outperform Dantin in camp for the starting role.

“It’s a good feeling but at the same time I know that I have to come out here and prove myself regardless, year in and year out,” Dantin said. “That’s why we practice.”

“It would motivate me but at the same time I would be a little bit frustrated,” said Owens of the possibility of backing up Dantin. “At the same time though we have one goal and that’s to win, so I know that whatever the coach’s decision is I know it will be a good decision.”

While the question of who will start the Sept. 1 opener against No. 10 FCS-ranked New Hampshire remains in doubt, it is likely that both players will receive playing time with a chance to prove themselves on the field. The Rockets took a similar strategy into last season’s Boise State game.

“We have got two very good quarterbacks that deserve to play so I want to see how they respond,” Beckman said. “We are facing some pretty good opponents so they will get thrown into the fire and we will see how they respond.”

Dantin started the first nine games of the season in 2010 before his season ended after suffering a broken collarbone and sternum as well as a separated shoulder against Eastern Michigan. The injury occurred just one week prior to the matchup of league unbeatens when UT traveled to Northern Illinois. The Huskies won 65-30 and represented the Mid-American Conference West Division in the league championship game.

“It was really tough, especially with it being the week before we had Northern Illinois in that big game,” Dantin said. “It’s hard to describe what it was like not being able to finish the season out after everything we had been through.”

Dantin tried to make it back for the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl against FIU, roughly two months after his injury. He was cleared by doctors but ultimately was held out of competition to prevent any damage to his future.

“I tried my best to get back for it but really just with how everything felt there was just no way,” Dantin said. “I could throw but as for taking a hit that would have been a completely different story. I was happy to be there but it was unfortunate with how everything turned out.”

Dantin threw for 1,254 yards with seven touchdowns and eight interceptions in 2010. He finished second on the team with 442 rushing yards and tied for a team-best with eight rushing touchdowns. He also led the MAC with a 66.1 completion percentage before his season was cut short.

Owens began pushing for playing time last season while Dantin was at the helm, appearing in games against Wyoming and Boise State. After Dantin’s injury on just the fifth offensive play against EMU, Owens capitalized, completing 10-of-15 passes for 234 yards and four touchdowns against the Eagles, including a 74-yard strike to tight end Danny Noble on his first play.

Owens finished the season passing for 1,244 yards with 13 touchdowns and five interceptions. He won two of the last four games with losses to Northern Illinois and FIU.

“When my number was called I just stepped up and tried to win,” Owens said. “Our main goal is to win so I’m just trying to help the team out.”

In addition to the fierce competition from Owens, redshirt-freshman Dwight Macon has improved dramatically and has put himself in position to grab the third spot on the depth chart. Macon impressed in the UT Spring Game completing 6-of-9 passes for 107 yards and a touchdown and has been “throwing the ball extremely well” in camp, according to Beckman. Just another competitor for Dantin to hold off to keep his spot.

“It’s a lot of fun competing against the best, that’s why I’m here,” Dantin said. “It’s really just another offseason to get better and we will see what happens.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first installment of a weekly series in which Staff Writer Mike Bauman will profile sixth-year Toledo senior cornerback Desmond Marrow for the 2011 season.

For sixth-year Toledo senior cornerback Desmond Marrow, giving up was never an option. Growing up on Glenaven Avenue on Youngstown’s south side, perseverance was a way to survive in a rough environment.

“Youngstown’s a real small city,” Marrow said. “It’s actually a tough city to grow up in. It’s real. I guess you could say we have a violent reputation or whatever. It was hard times growing up, but I was fortunate enough to have great parents. My dad Duane and my mom Pam, they kept me out of the inner city and trouble and things like that.”

Sometimes that literally meant keeping his son out of harm’s way, as Duane Marrow had to do one Sunday morning as the family was getting ready for church when Marrow was between 5 and 6 years old.

“All of a sudden, out of nowhere we hear gunshots,” Duane Marrow said. “And there’s a drive-by taking place early Sunday morning about 8 or 9 o’clock at a house across the street from us, and I’m actually in my son’s room and we’re hitting the ground. The bullets are going the other way, but obviously at the time I don’t know it.”

That would not be Marrow’s last brush with gun violence as a boy. The youngest of Duane’s four sons, Marrow liked to hang out with his older brothers when they were around.

At about 10 years old, Marrow was with his brother Duaine and cousins Kevin and Terrance at Cleveland Park when an argument broke out between some guys during a pickup game.

“One of them said, ‘I’ll be back,’” Marrow said. “You know, you don’t think nothing of it, so he comes back and aggressively just comes out his car and just starts shooting at this park with little kids and little babies. Everybody’s just running. Then, I just realized that street life just isn’t something you want to be a part of if you want to live your life.

“The guy came back and just started shooting at the park in broad daylight. It was wild. Some people live for that life, but it’s something I didn’t want to be a part of.”

Even if Marrow did think of straying down the wrong path, his family was there to guide him. In addition to his position as a senior correctional officer at Federal Correctional Institution Elkton in Lisbon, Ohio, Duane is also a minister and has traveled as far as Singapore to do mission work. Pam Marrow works as an enrollment specialist for MYCAP Head Start in Youngstown, having been with the program for the past 16 years.

“It was definitely our faith in God first,” Duane said. “Early on with the help of his mom and his family, we were able to keep Des on track and try to model good living — having good, practical morals and so forth. And so those were the things that kept him on track, and I think he also knew that his mother would kill him.”

Pam deals with kids on a daily basis at her job, but said her son did not give her much trouble going up.

“He was a very good kid,” Pam said. “He really was.”

‘I didn’t really like football’

Football was unavoidable for Marrow growing up in Youngstown. His father and uncle Brian played at South High under local legend Bob Stoops Sr. — uncle of Oklahoma head football coach Bob Stoops — and both went on to play at Wisconsin. Brian later played in the Canadian Football League, while Marrow’s uncle Vince played at Cardinal Mooney, finishing his college career at Toledo before playing in the NFL with five different teams.

“They didn’t pressure me to play football, but I knew it was there because everyone was, ‘Oh, your dad used to be this, your uncle used to be this, blah, blah, blah,’ so I played just because I was an athlete,” Marrow said. “I could do it, but other than that, I didn’t really like football.”

Marrow’s first love was basketball, but Duane always knew football would be his path.

“I knew early on that his ticket would be by way of football, and that’s something that honestly I told my wife for years,” Duane Marrow said. “Even when Desmond was little, I knew. I told her, ‘Honey, we will not pay for Des to go to school.’ I wasn’t being presumptuous or anything like that. I just knew what was in my son.”

Marrow said he really started to take football seriously during his first season playing varsity at Cardinal Mooney as a sophomore.

“I just started coming around, like, I just started getting bigger, started making plays,” Marrow said. “The more you do something, the better confidence you’ll get, so I started getting more confident in football.”

By the time he was a senior in 2005, Marrow had grown to 6-foot-3, 196 pounds, making him quite the mismatch as a defensive back. He had 10 interceptions for the Cardinals that season, earning First-Team All-Steel Valley Conference, First-Team All-Northeast Ohio-Inland, NEO-Inland Defensive Player of the Year, First-Team Division IV All-Ohio and Ohio Division IV Co-Defensive Player of the Year honors as Cardinal Mooney won the SVC and reached the Division IV state title game.

“You really had to bring it at Cardinal Mooney in high school, so I think that kind of helped him,” Duane said.

Marrow remembers the best advice his dad gave him.

“He said ‘Don’t try to be him; just be Desmond,’ and I think that’s the best advice ever,” Marrow said. “You don’t want to have to try to live up to your uncles and your dad. Some kids have that pressure. I can only imagine being, like, Michael Jordan’s son or something, but [he said to] just be me and play my hardest and give it my best. He’ll support me in anything I do.”

Duane had conversations with Pam to make sure he was not giving Marrow an uncomfortable standard to live up to and kept the lines of communication open with his son.

“I thought that would be very liberating for him to know that ‘Hey man, there’s no pressure on you. Be free within yourself, and we will support you in what you do,’” Duane said.

Rocky times with Rockets

In February of his senior year at Cardinal Mooney, Marrow committed to Toledo, eager to join a program that had both family ties with his Uncle Vince and a winning tradition. The Rockets won two Mid-American Conference Championships and two bowl games in five seasons prior to Marrow’s arrival in the fall of 2006, and Marrow was confident he would have a chance to get on the field during his freshman year.

Marrow saw action in nine games as a true freshman, starting one, but Toledo finished with a 5-7 record in 2006 after going 9-3 and winning the GMAC Bowl the previous year. In 2007, Marrow tore his hamstring, forcing him to take a medical redshirt and sit out the entire season.

Marrow returned to the field in 2008 as one of the Rockets starting cornerbacks, recording 30 total tackles, three pass breakups and one forced fumble through the first six games of the year. However, one week after he helped Toledo defeat Michigan 13-10 at the Big House, Marrow tore his ACL and meniscus on the opening kickoff at Northern Illinois, ending his season.

“I’ve got to tell you, going into that locker room and seeing Des, that was tough,” Duane said.

Duane and Pam, who try to make it to all of Marrow’s games, had yet to sit down in their seats and were still standing for the opening kickoff when Marrow got hurt.

“It was a tough moment for me being hurt because I was previously hurt before that and I had to sit out a season, but I think the best part about that whole experience was my parents,” Marrow said.

Both Duane and Pam leaned on their faith and projected hope to Marrow, who listened to their advice and persevered.

“We just encouraged him and just let him know that he can get through this,” Pam said. “He had that in him, that drive to just overcome anything, so we knew he would.”

Marrow misssd a second full season due to injury, sitting out all of 2009 while the Rockets played under new coach Tim Beckman. Despite installing both a new staff and a new philosophy at his new job, Beckman did not quit on Marrow.

“He knew that this coaching staff was behind him,” Beckman said. “We pushed him, there’s no question about it. I know at times Des probably thought, ‘Ah, I don’t know if this is for me or not. I don’t know if I’ll take my sixth year,’ but he has bought into this program and bought into the way we coach and the way that we push our players to be better men. He’s done an outstanding job.”

In 2010, Marrow made his return to the field and had his best season to date with Toledo. He tied for the team-lead with three interceptions, led the Rockets with nine pass deflections and six pass breakups and was fifth on the squad with 72 tackles. Toledo finished 8-5 (7-1 MAC) and reached a bowl game for the first time since 2005.

“I’m proud of him because I think last year was kind of a get back into it type [of season] because he’d been out a year,” Beckman said. “It’s tough to leave this game and come back.”

In January, Marrow got the news that his application to receive a sixth-year extension waiver from the NCAA after missing two full seasons from injuries had been granted, giving him one final opportunity to win the MAC Championship and bowl victory he has been seeking since arriving on the UT campus five years ago. The Rockets were picked to win both the MAC West Division and the MAC Championship in the conference’s preseason poll last month.

“We have so much built-up anticipation on this team,” Marrow said. “Everyone has good thoughts for the season. Everyone’s upbeat, positive. People expect stuff out of us this year. It’s a weird position for me. I know being here for six years, there’s not much really expected out of us. We just expect to win a couple games here and there, beat BG and we’re content, but not with coach Beckman.

“The feeling around here is we want to win. We want to win big. We want rings, all that. Even in the classroom, we want to get the highest grades, so we just want to win.”

And while the path Marrow has taken to this point was not as he envisioned it, he is happy with how things turned out, even though it means taking another season of old man jokes from his teammates. After all, quitting was not an option. Not for someone who has persevered since childhood.

“Most people are like, ‘Why didn’t you give it up and quit and find something else?’” Marrow said. “I was like, ‘I didn’t want to quit because this is my dream. I never wanted to give up on it.’ Faith was all I had, but really, that’s all I needed. I’m here now.”