ten tips on how to avoid them

Let me paint the picture just spent the morning dressing in your best Pats gear, driving to Foxboro (paying a small fortune to park), tailgating your ass off (spending a small fortune on food and drink), and getting hyped up to watch the Patriots sans Moss take on the best team in the AFC (prepared to have no voice on Monday). Upon reaching the ticket giantsofficialnflproshop.com/Jay_Bromley_Jersey_Giants gate, you receive the awful news, the tickets you just spent a good chunk of change on were counterfeit. Can you imagine that feeling of helplessness, rage and embarrassment? Because some greedy asshat decided to suck at life even worse than he/she already is sucking at life, your day/weekend is now ruined.

I said this before, but scammers truly are the scum of the earth. Unfortunately, technology + greed + sucking at life means scams aren’t stopping any time soon. So it about time I revisit this topic and post some helpful tips on how to avoid counterfeit tickets on Craigslist. By no means is this the gospel on the subject, but taking these steps should help mitigate the risk of using peer to peer exchange sites like Craigslist:

Never wire someone money for tickets and in most cases, never pay for your tickets with PayPal or send a money order via mail. Does this mean you have to drive and meet someone with cash? Absofrickinlutely. Does this mean you may be limiting your options because some sellers will only accept payment via PayPal or a money order sent via mail? Absofrickinlutely. Does this mean your decreasing the risk involved in this exchange? Absofrickinlutely. (So why do I say, most cases? Because there are some good folks out there in Craigslist land, and there are real season ticket holders who can email you tickets from their account, saving both of you the time required to meet up. In these cases, PayPal is one method often used. However, I do some serious digging before I went this route, including a call to the season ticket department to find out if this individual was really a season ticket holder.)

Pay with cash, check, or credit card. Obviously, cash is king. The advantages of paying in cash are obvious; you get to meet the seller in person AND take any vital info that you think is necessary (license plate, phone numbers, etc. I serious, do this everytime). In rare cases, you can pay with a check or credit card, which give you as the buyer the most protection.

Deal with buyers in state only. Once again, you limiting your options by talking to in state sellers only, but more importantly, you limiting your risk. Everyone has a story and some may be perfectly legit, but the second you hear, from Boston but live in Florida now, so I send the tickets to you in the mail or have someone meet you for the exchange, hang up the phone or delete the email. It just not worth it. Say it with me, just not worth it, sing it louder, just not worth it. tickets rule! I get it, we live in a world where technology allows us to do some amazing things. I remember the first time I saw a ticket taker scan my stub at Fenway, I almost lost it on the spot. Unfortunately, technology has also made it easier to run these scams today. For example, what to prevent the seller from photocopying the print at home ticket numerous times? I read a few cases where one seller made up to 500 photocopies of one ticket and sold them on Craigslist! Also, in many cases, hard tickets are coming from season ticket holders. As a Sox season ticket holder, my version of Christmas in March is the day those tickets arrive in the mail. Kinda like that scene in Fever Pitch, only less corny, less Jimmy Fallon, and more me. To summarize, NEVER buy a print at home ticket. Say it with me, just not worth it, sing it louder, just not worth it. from a season ticket holder. Obviously season ticket holders have much www.giantsofficialnflproshop.com/Jay_Bromley_Jersey_Giants more skin in the game and are less likely to run a scam on a buyer. So how do you know if someone is a season ticket holder? Ask them for other games. That usually one good way to quickly tell if someone is legit or not.

Get a phone number. This is an easy one right? If someone is unwilling to give you a phone number, repeat after me, just not worth it, sing it louder, just not worth it. None of these tips individually will guarantee a scam free exchange, but added up, should help eliminate some of the risk.

Pay attention to the email address. Yup, this is something I noticed more and more, but email addresses such as or look more like addresses that were created in the last few weeks than someone personal email address. Just a hunch, but I bet none of these recent Craigslist scams came from someone using a work email address as their point of contact.

Google is your friend. Is it stalkerific to Google the crap out of both the email address and name of seller? Absofrickinlutely. Is it something I do every single time I connect with someone on Craigslist? giantsofficialnflproshop.com/Andre_Williams_Jersey_Giants Absofrickinlutely.

Post structure/information matters I want details in my post, I want the right terminology, I don want to read seats at Fenway or Bowl at the Garden. If you a season ticket holder, you know that your bowl seats at the Garden are Balcony seats, and they start with a 3 in their section name. Same goes with Fenway, unless you smoking something funny, you can possibly think that your roof deck seats are level, so cut the crap. Also, I want a detailed story in my post. Tell me where the seats are, where we can meet, how much the tickets are, and any other relevant info that will make me comfortable buying these seats. Unfortunately, Craigslist has devolved to www.giantsofficialnflproshop.com/Andre_Williams_Jersey_Giants the point where it now your job as the seller to convince me that your seats are legit. So do it!

If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. No chit, now this is pure genius, right? This line right here is why I get paid the big bucks. If you look one post down, you see a post from me talking about today game, and how difficult it was for me to find tickets at face value. Well guess what, after hours searching through posts, I did find a few pairs of seats listed at face, but I choose not to send those out. (The one I did send out was a single ticket, which has less value, and the pickup location was at Gillette prior to the game, and you would be sitting with the seller.) The market demand was obvious, everyone wanted this ticket and getting face value was a steal. So if you trying to sell me a pair of tickets for below face value, you better be picking me up, driving me to the stadium, cooking me steaks, walking with me to the gate, and sitting next to me during the game. Short of that, say it with me, just not worth it, sing it louder, just not worth it. there it is, 1366 words on why scammers suck and some tips on how to avoid them. Once a season ticket holder issues an e ticket the hard ticket is no longer valid. So an e ticket is actually better than a hard ticket.

One way to protect yourself on an e ticket is to be the first one thru the gate. If a con artist makes 500 copies , the first http://www.giantsofficialnflproshop.com/Andre_Williams_Jersey_Giants one in gets in the other 499 are out of luck.

Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski can return from back surgery

Tucker, a seven year NFL offensive lineman, played through the injury the season before, but finally decided in April to undergo surgery. And sure enough, he was in pads and ready to go for the first day of training camp with the Bills in 2005.

Many medical experts believe that Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski can be ready to take the field about 12 weeks after he undergoes surgery to repair a herniated disk this month. But there a difference in being ready to play and having full confidence restored. Tucker was cut by the Bills at the end of camp in and never started another NFL game.

truth is, it was a full year before I really felt good, and I never felt 100 percent again, said Tucker, now an analyst and host with NBC Sports and SiriusXM Radio. played three years after my surgery, but I was just a little bit less explosive. I never felt like my back was brand new.

a very, very common procedure. And Gronkowski has returned from this injury before, becoming an instant star as a Patriots rookie in 2010 after missing the 2009 season at Arizona following surgery for a herniated disk, called a a very, very common procedure, said Dr. Christopher Bono, chief of spine service at Brigham and Women Hospital. chance of return to play is actually quite good, and there a 90 95 percent chance he go back to playing at full capacity. bad news, though: Patriots fans might have to wait a little while to see their star player this fall perhaps as much as the first half of the regular season.

He also already undergoing his second diskectomy at just age 24 though his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said this injury is to a different disk.

And while the surgery is routine, getting Gronkowski back to the point where he can regularly slam into defenders without issue certainly isn and defensive linemen and Gronk is included, because he does some blocking are at the greatest risk for developing a poor outcome after this kind of surgery, said Dr. Wellington Hsu, associate professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. play the game in a squatting position, and have a lot of force on their back when they hit 300 pound defenders. spine has 26 vertebrae, and in between each is a with a hard exterior and gel like substance in Odell Beckham Jr Authentic Jersey the middle, that serves as a shock absorber. A herniated disk occurs when there is a rupture in the tough outer shell, and the gel seeps out and irritates the nerve, causing intense pain in the back and often numbness in the leg.

was the most annoying thing I ever experienced, said former Patriots linebacker Willie McGinest, who had surgery before the 2001 season and is now an analyst with NFL Network.

Most non athletes avoid surgery and let the disk heal naturally over 1 2 years, and many NFL players are able to play through the pain, as Gronkowski did last year. Tucker noted that he played in 16 games with his herniated disk in 2004, but only with the aid of painkillers, muscle relaxers, and an anti inflammatory injection before each game.

Gronkowski is opting for surgery now only as maintenance, Rosenhaus said, and waited until June because he needs the infection in his surgically repaired forearm to clear first.

Watkins, who also performed Gronkowski first diskectomy, is also regarded as one of the best in the business. Watkins repaired the herniated disk of Giants star pass rusher Jason Pierre Paul just last week, and the Giants hope to have him back by Week 1.

the forefather of disk herniation in pro athletes, said Hsu. has done more of these surgeries on pro athletes than anyone in the world. generally accepted recovery period after surgery is 12 weeks six to let the scar heal, and another six to get back into football shape. Gronkowski likely won be allowed to do so much as lift a 5 pound dumbbell until the end of July, at the earliest.

As Gronkowski noted in 2009, three weeks after his first back surgery, sit at home eight hours a day playing video games in the recliner. the scar is healed, he needs to get back in football shape which means a lot of work to his core and making sure he can withstand the pounding of football.

professional football players you may have to wait a little bit longer because of the intensity that they play, but generally within six weeks, he should be at a level that is probably close to full capacity, Bono said.

But many Authentic Weston Richburg Jersey players who underwent a similar surgery dispute the notion that they were 100 percent and ready to play after 12 weeks.

was put into training camp four months off of back surgery, which was completely asinine, former offensive tackle Kyle Turley said of returning from his back injury with the Rams in 2005. Three days later, he re herniated the same disk, and had to schedule a second surgery, which cost him the season. the middle of practice, boom, it hit me. I walked off the field, sat down on the cart. I knew Odell Beckham Jr Jersey I shouldn have been Weston Richburg Authentic Jersey out there. doing core exercises with a trainer is much different than replicating live football and being smashed by 300 pound defenders. Former Steelers Pro Bowl tackle Marvel Smith returned to training camp 10 months after his disk surgery, www.giantsofficialnflproshop.com/Weston_Richburg_Jersey_Giants but suffered a second herniation five games into the season, which ultimately ended his career.

training camp my core was still strong, but my endurance wasn there like it should have been, Smith said. lot of stuff that we do is twisting and torquing, and his body is going to get caught in awkward positions.

tried to come back, but my body just wasn the same. Everything that came naturally to me my whole career, I had to think about doing it. course, every player is different. Pro Bowl pass rusher James Harrison had two surgeries in 2011, and somehow returned to the lineup six months ahead of schedule, finishing the season with nine sacks in 11 games. Former Broncos defensive end Trevor Pryce missed most of the 2004 season, but played six seasons thereafter. McGinest made the Pro Bowl two years after his surgery. Bears guard Chris Williams had surgery in August 2008, played in the final nine games of that season, and started all 16 the next season.

Then there are players like Smith, Tucker, and Turley, who were able to return to football but never felt 100 percent, and were soon out of the league.

That Gronkowski is only 24, has already once returned successfully from this surgery, and will be under the watchful eye of Watkins and Patriots rehab coordinator Joe Van Allen, all work in favor of him returning eventually to a high level.

Watkins did a phenomenal job, gave me a great rehab program along with Joe Van Allen, McGinest said. just all about how much you put into the rehab, and how much you do, which is going to determine how fast and strong you get back. many expect the Patriots to be overly cautious with Gronkowski, arguably the most important player on the offense behind Tom Brady. The 12 week schedule would put Gronkowski return around mid September, but a stint on the physically unable to perform list in which he would be forced to miss the first six games of the regular season is a distinct possibility.

they smart and I think that they are he starting the year on PUP and we not seeing him until Week 7 at the earliest, Tucker said.

kid has got a chance at a 15 year, Tony Gonzalez type of career, Turley said. him get fixed, come into the season late. So what? Make your push at the end, you got other people. fell in the 2010 draft because of his back issues, and will likely have a proclivity to suffering this type of injury for the rest of his life. But it not unreasonable to expect him to return to his dominant self and play another decade.

be a lot more worried about the forearm than I would be about the back, Hsu said. is predisposed to getting another disk herniation, just from his history, but for that I wouldn have a poor prognosis for recovery. I would just recognize that he does have back issues and to keep an eye on him after he recovers. empty statusBar >

break’ game Thursday against the Steelers

A 19 16 victory over the Ravens back on Oct. 20 wasn’t necessarily a cure all to the Steelers’ problems but as the teams get set to renew acquaintances Thursday night at M Bank Stadium, the circumstances surrounding the game have changed significantly.

The Steelers have won three straight games behind a resurgent offense and an aggressive defense. Suddenly, they look like legitimate playoff contenders while it is the Ravens who badly need a Ronald Powell Saints Jersey victory on Thanksgiving night to keep their postseason hopes alive.

The Ravens and Steelers are two of six AFC teams with 5 6 records. Because of various tiebreaker scenarios, the Tennessee Titans currently hold the sixth and final playoff spot over the other 5 6 teams. However, with five games to go and so many teams still in the playoff picture, it’s hard to put too much stock right now in tiebreakers.

What can’t be discounted, is another Ravens’ loss to the Steelers would drop them one game behind their archrivals and guarantee they would lose any potential head to head tiebreaker with Pittsburgh. So essentially, the Ravens would Authentic Tavon Rooks Jersey have to make up two games on Pittsburgh with just four to play to have any shot at the final playoff spot.

"We have a lot at stake," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said Monday. " We understand where we’re at. We know what everybody’s record is. But we also know we have to win. None of that matters unless we continue to win. We’ve got to win Tavon Rooks Saints Jersey as many games as we can Ronald Powell Authentic Jersey and be hopeful that’s enough to get us in. That’s what we’re hoping for. We haven’t given up yet on the division championship either. But we have to win games. That’s it. We have to win the next one that’s on our schedule."

A day after their 19 3 victory over the New York Jets, the Ravens got back to work out of necessity, knowing that another game is just four days away. The Steelers did not practice at all.

Traditionally after a Sunday game, the Ravens would come in on Monday, go through meetings, film review and then a walk through practice to correct mistakes made in the game. Most players would then be out of the building late Monday afternoon and get Tuesday off. But this certainly isn’t a normal week.

"It’s tough," Ravens running back Ray Rice said. "Obviously you see us at the end of practice now and I’ll probably be here until 7:30 taking care of my body. There’s no set agenda. You know you have a short turnaround. If coach gives you an opportunity to get off your feet, the best thing to do is use your facilities. That’s what I do."

The Ravens have had similar turnarounds before so it’s not something for which they haven’t prepared. They also know that it’s not a standard Thursday night game.

Harbaugh called playing on Thanksgiving night which the Ravens are doing for the second time in three years an "honor," and playfully called for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to make it a permanent tradition http://www.officialsaintsnflauthentic.com/Ronald_Powell_Jersey_Saints in Baltimore. He’s embracing all that comes with the game, including the limited preparation time for a game that is annually among the most physical that they play in.

"Physically, we have to get back. The turnaround is quick [after the] physical football game that we were in," Harbaugh said. "We were in a very physical game so we got to get our guys back and ready to play another physical game after that. That’s one challenge. The other challenge is being mentally prepared from a standpoint of what to expect X and O’s wise, how to execute our schemes, timing in the passing game. Things like that are a challenge in a week like this."

Harbaugh acknowledged that the familiarity with the Steelers makes things a little bit easier. Not only did the two teams play a little over a month ago, but this will be their 14th matchup since the 2008 season, when Harbaugh was hired as the Ravens’ head coach.

"When you play an opponent that you don’t know, there is a lot of ground work that you have to do, in terms of establishing how they set up their system and how they organize things," Harbaugh said. "Both teams have a pretty good idea, I’m sure, of how the other is organized. So, we’re pretty far down the road with each other at this point."

During the Steelers’ three game winning streak, they are averaging 29 points a game. They’ve also picked up the pressure defensively under coordinator Dick LeBeau with 10 sacks and seven forced turnovers over the past three games.

"They’re finding ways to win football games," said Ravens defensive end Chris Canty. "They’re running with success. Ben Roethlisberger has got his mojo going again, so to speak, and they’re playing complementary football. They’re looking like the Pittsburgh Steelers of old. So, we’re going to have our work cut out for us come Thursday.".

America Is Not Broke

America is not broke.

Contrary to what those in power would like you to believe so that you’ll give up your pension, cut your wages, and settle for the life your great grandparents had, America is not broke. Not by a long shot. The country is awash in wealth and cash. It’s just that it’s not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks and the portfolios of the uber rich.

Let me say that again. 400 obscenely rich people, most of whom benefited in some way from the multi trillion dollar taxpayer "bailout" of 2008, now have more loot, stock and property than the assets of 155 million Americans combined. If you can’t bring yourself to call that a financial coup d’ then you are simply not being honest about what you know in your heart to be true.

And I can see why. For us to admit that we have let a small group of men abscond with and hoard the bulk of the wealth that runs our economy, would mean that we’d have to accept the humiliating acknowledgment that we have indeed surrendered our precious Democracy to the moneyed elite. Wall Street, the banks and the Fortune 500 now run this Republic and, until this past month, the rest of us have felt completely helpless, unable to find a way to do anything about it.

I have nothing more than a high school degree. But back when I was in school, every student had to take one semester of economics in order to graduate. And here’s what I learned: Money doesn’t grow on trees. It grows when we make things. It grows when we have good jobs with good wages that we use to buy the things we need and thus create more jobs. It grows when we provide an outstanding educational system that then grows a new generation of inventers, entrepreneurs, artists, scientists and thinkers who come up with the next great idea for the planet. And that new idea creates new jobs and that creates revenue for the state. But if those who have the most officialsaintsnflauthentic.com/Tavon_Rooks_Jersey_Saints money don’t pay their fair share of taxes, the state can’t function. The schools can’t produce the best and the brightest who will go on to create those jobs. If the wealthy get to keep most of their money, we have seen what they will do with it: recklessly gamble it on crazy Wall Street schemes and crash our economy. The crash they created cost us millions of jobs. That too caused a reduction in revenue. And the population ended up suffering because they reduced their taxes, reduced our jobs and took wealth out of the system, removing it from circulation.

The nation is not broke, my friends. Wisconsin is not broke. It’s part of the Big Lie. It’s one of the three biggest lies of the decade: America/Wisconsin is broke, Iraq has WMD, the Packers can’t win the Super Bowl without Brett Favre.

The truth is, there’s lots of money to go around. LOTS. It’s just that those in charge have diverted that wealth into a deep well that sits on their well guarded estates. They know they have committed crimes to make this happen and they know that someday you may want to see some of that money that used to be yours. So they have bought and paid for hundreds of politicians across the country to do their bidding for them. But just in case that doesn’t work, they’ve got their gated communities, and Vinnie Sunseri Jersey the luxury jet is always fully fueled, the engines running, waiting for that day they hope never comes. To help prevent that day when the people demand their country back, the wealthy have done two very smart things:

1. They control the message. By owning most of the media they have expertly convinced many Americans of few means to buy their version of the American Dream and to vote for their politicians. Their version of the Dream says that you, too, might be rich some day this is America, where anything can happen if you just apply yourself! They have conveniently provided you with believable examples to show you how Women’s Khairi Fortt Jersey a poor boy can become a rich man, how the child of a single mother in Hawaii can become president, how a guy with a high school education can become a successful filmmaker. They will play these stories for you over and over again all day long so that the last thing you will want to do is upset the apple cart because you yes, you, too! might be rich/president/an Oscar winner some day! The message is clear: keep your head down, your nose to the grindstone, don’t rock the boat and be sure to vote for the party that protects the rich man that you might be some day.

2. They have created a poison pill that they know you http://www.officialsaintsnflauthentic.com/Khairi_Fortt_Jersey_Saints will never want to take. It is their version of mutually assured destruction. And when they threatened to release this weapon of mass economic annihilation in September of 2008, we blinked. As the economy and the stock market went into a tailspin, and the banks were caught conducting a worldwide Ponzi scheme, Wall Street issued this threat: Either hand over trillions of dollars from the American taxpayers or we will crash this economy straight into the ground. Fork it over or it’s Goodbye savings accounts. Goodbye pensions. Goodbye United States Treasury. Goodbye jobs and homes and future. It was friggin’ awesome and it scared the shit out of everyone. "Here! Take our money! We don’t care. We’ll even print more for you! Just take it! But, please, leave our lives alone, PLEASE!"

The executives in the board rooms and hedge funds could not contain their laughter, their glee, and within three months they were writing each other huge bonus checks and marveling at how perfectly they had played a nation full of suckers. Millions lost their jobs anyway, and millions lost their homes. But there was no revolt (see 1).

Until now. On Wisconsin! Never has a Michigander been more happy to share a big, great lake with you! You have aroused the sleeping giant know as the working people of the United States of America. Right now the earth is shaking and the ground is shifting under the feet of those who are in charge. Your message has inspired people in all 50 states and that message is: WE HAVE HAD IT! We reject anyone tells us America is broke and broken. It’s just the opposite! We are rich with talent and ideas and hard work and, yes, love. Love and compassion toward those who have, through no fault of their own, ended up as the least among us. But they still crave what we all crave: Our country back! Our democracy back! Our good name back! The United States of America. NOT the Saints Khairi Fortt Jersey Corporate States of America. The United States of America!

So how do we get this? Well, we do it with a little bit of Egypt here, a little bit of Madison there. And let us pause for a moment and remember that it was a poor man with a fruit stand in Tunisia who gave his life so that the world might focus its attention on how a government run by billionaires for billionaires is an affront to freedom and morality and humanity.

Thank you, Wisconsin. You have made people realize this was our last best chance to grab the final thread of what was left of who we are as Americans. For three weeks you have stood in the cold, slept on the floor, skipped out of town to Illinois whatever it took, you have done it, and one thing is for certain: Madison is only the beginning. The smug rich have overplayed their hand. They couldn’t have just been content with the money they raided from the treasury. They couldn’t be satiated by simply removing millions of jobs and shipping them overseas to exploit the poor elsewhere. No, they had to have more something more than all the riches in the world. They had to have our soul. Vinnie Sunseri Saints Jersey They had to strip us of our dignity. They had to shut us up and shut us down so that we could not even sit at a table with them and bargain about simple things like classroom size or bulletproof vests for everyone on the police force or letting a pilot just get a few extra hours sleep so he or she can do their job their $19,000 a year job. That’s how much some rookie pilots on commuter airlines make, maybe even the rookie pilots flying people here to Madison. But he’s stopped trying to get better pay. All he asks is that he doesn’t have to sleep in his car between shifts at O’Hare airport. That’s how despicably low we have sunk. The wealthy couldn’t be content with just paying this man $19,000 a year. They wanted to take away his sleep. They wanted to demean and dehumanize him. After all, he’s just another slob.

And that, my friends, is Corporate America’s fatal mistake. But trying to destroy us they have given birth to a movement a movement that is becoming a massive, nonviolent revolt across the country. We all knew there had to be a breaking point some day, and that point is upon us. Many people in the media don’t understand this. They say they were caught off guard about Egypt, never saw it coming. Now they act surprised and flummoxed about why so many hundreds of thousands have come to Madison over the last three weeks during brutal winter weather. "Why are they all standing out there in the cold? I mean there was that election in November and that was supposed to be that!

"There’s something happening here, and you don’t know what it is, do you.?"

America ain’t broke! The only thing that’s broke is the moral compass of the rulers. And we aim to fix that compass and steer the ship ourselves from now on. Never forget, as long as that Constitution of ours still stands, it’s one person, one vote, and it’s the thing the rich hate most about America because even though they seem to hold all the money and all the cards, they begrudgingly know this one unshakeable basic fact: There are more of us than there are of them!

Mike Helfgot’s football recruiting notes for Chicago Tribune on Providence’s Miles Boykin

But going toe to toe with the likes of Loyola, Mount Carmel and St. Rita should benefit Stanley Jean-Baptiste Jersey the Celtics against a Crete Monee defense that features BCS recruits Nyles Morgan, Chris Slayton and Omari Stringer.

"I love playing in the Catholic Blue," Boykin said. "I couldn’t ask for any better competition. Authentic Brandin Cooks Jersey I don’t think teams that play in other conferences know what Authentic Stanley Jean-Baptiste Jersey it’s like to be in the Catholic Blue."

While the mighty Southeastern Conference has been swooping in to snare Illinois’ best with increasing regularity, Boykin has not been seduced by the SEC’s remarkable success in recent years.

"I think everywhere you go, there’s going to be talent," Boykin said. "The SEC might have better players, but there’s good officialsaintsnflauthentic.com/Brandin_Cooks_Jersey_Saints competition everywhere you go. That is not so much a concern for me. That’s not going to be a factor in where I go. I am just going to pick the school that’s the best fit."

Boykin recently picked up an SEC offer http://www.officialsaintsnflauthentic.com/Brandin_Cooks_Jersey_Saints from Ole Miss to go with Big Ten offers from Illinois and Michigan State.

Prospects of his caliber typically are swarmed officialsaintsnflauthentic.com/Stanley_Jeanbaptiste_Jersey_Saints with offers in the spring, and Boykin is hoping one comes from Ohio State.

He visited the Buckeyes unofficially last weekend during their 63 14 victory against Penn State.

"It was great," Boykin said. "Their fans are nuts. I got to go in the locker room and talk to Coach (Urban) Meyer and some of the other coaches. It is almost like I’m star struck when I meet (Meyer)."

An offer could be coming soon.

Boykin said he receives a letter from Ohio State every day and talks to assistant coach and former New England Patriots’ standout Mike Vrabel once or twice a week.

"Nothing is for sure, but I really hope so," Boykin said. "I just always liked them and the way they play. The Ohio State University is something I was always into."