Upon reading Jim Tressel's "apology" for failing to report the violations of his players—which, by the way, if you're buying that whole "feared for their safety argument", then I have a wonderful piece of sandy real estate in the north pole to sell you—I only have two observations: 1) Tressel is only sorry he got caught, and 2) Tressel is about as honest as an Amway salesperson if he tries to spin it any other way.
While I won't profess to know all of Tressel's intentions, his decision to withhold information about the impermissible activities of his players cannot be accepted as an omission prompted by any so-called "fear" of restitution by any third-party. On the contrary, based on the emails exchanged between Tressel and the informant, his players engaged in the behavior, willingly, on multiple occasions—at some points even soliciting Mr. Rife via cell phone contact—and Tressel's response didn't seem to elicit anything more than a passing curiosity as to how he might curb their behavior.
At the press conference, Tressel stated "I have had a player murdered. I've had a player incarcerated. I've had a player get taken into the drug culture and lose his opportunity for a productive life...it was obviously tremendously concerning. Quite honestly, I was scared."
Well, not to sound insensitive, but there are more than a handful of coaches in the college football ranks who share in that experience with Tressel—it explains nothing.
And, even if anyone was naive enough to buy Tressel's stab at emotional sympathy, those same persons would be smart to ask the following question: why not blow the whistle on the whole enchilada once the shady dealings were finally exposed in January? Surely if there were ever a time to let the information highway flow freely, it was then because, well, the cat was out of the bag. Yet, instead, he continued to keep the information to himself—why?
I'll tell you why, he kept it a secret for the same reason then as he did in April of 2010, he knew he was in deep crapola if any one found out. He was simply trying to protect his and his players backsides—nothing more.
However, the more appalling behavior, in my opinion, comes not from Tressel (unfortunately, dirty coaches appear to be in fashion right now), but from the Ohio State administration in general. Do they honestly believe that a two game suspension coupled with a $250,000 fine is enough?...Seriously?
First of all, the Buckeyes play scrub one and scrub two in the first two games, so it's not like Tressel would have done much coaching in the first place and, furthermore, university president, Gordon Gee, sounds like he's just moments away from grabbing a set of knee pads for ol' Jimmy (good grief, Mr. Gee, could you BE anymore of a sniffer, "I'm just hoping the coach doesn't dismiss me."...is this guy for real?), so it wouldn't surprise me if the $250,000 fine doesn't come out of Tressel's pockets—per se.
NCAA President, Marc Emmert, has already proven to be a complete moron in the way he handles such blatant violations as this one (see Cam Newton as well as the Ohio State Five), so all eyes will be on him again with this latest turn of events and, for his sake, I hope he finds some intelligence in making a ruling on a real punishment for The Ohio State University.
They should be forced to forfeit the entire 2010 season and Jim Tressel should, in my
