Jim Tressel: Your Only "Fear" Was Getting Caught—Period

Listen, full disclosure here, this post is not an attempt at being fair or balanced. No, the approach here is simple: to call a spade a spade. 

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 homer humble opinion, be required to sit out more than just a couple of meaningless football games in 2011. The stuff should hit the fan for Ohio State and, if it doesn't, expect most of hell to not only break loose, but to take up permanent residence in Indianapolis—starting with the office of the president. 

Related articles

• Jim Tressel's success leads to missteps (aol.sportingnews.com)

College Football: Forget Integrity, We Just Want The Money

After the story broke about Ohio State players selling their jerseys and accepting favors, many of us watched and waited to see what the all-mighty NCAA would do to punish the players and the university—at the very least we expected the six offenders to sit for the Sugar Bowl.

Well, what happened instead is yet another example of how the NCAA is just another bully masquerading as an organization of order.

Ohio State was given the option of delaying suspensions until the start of the 2011 season, and now that the representatives of the Sugar bowl have spoken, we know why—money.

Said Sugar Bowl CEO, Paul
Hoolahan,

"I made the point that anything that could be done to preserve the integrity of this year's game, we would greatly appreciate it...that appeal did not fall on deaf ears, and I'm extremely excited about it, that the Buckeyes are coming in at full strength and with no dilution."

Must be nice.

While it's easy to understand Hoolahan's motives—he is a business man after all—it's less easy to explain away the obvious double-standard of the NCAA in this case.

Are they the governing body of college football or not?

A.J. Green sat four games for selling his jersey, Anthony Dasher missed four for taking a $1500 loan, and last season, Dez Bryant missed most of his final season for talking to Deion Sanders...but Ohio State gets the option of delaying punishment because some bowl official doesn't want another lackluster BCS game on his hands?

Nice job of getting tough, Mr. Emmert. Here we thought you were bringing balance to the NCAA—as it's new president—but as it turns out, you just brought a bigger checkbook.

What a joke.

Ohio State vs Michigan: Does The Big Ten Realignment Tarnish Their Rivalry?

The Big Ten announced its new alignment following the addition of the Nebraska Cornhuskers in 2011, and Michigan and Ohio State will be placed in seperate divisions. Will that make the annual season-ending battle against these two traditional powers less interesting?

Honestly, the one thing that made this match-up so crucial was the fact that it meant something—a trip to the Rose Bowl in many cases. Now, the Big Ten will not only maintain the rivalry in-season, but offer it the possibility of happening twice in one season via the conference championship game.

How is this a good thing?

Granted, right now, Michigan doesn't seem to pose any threat of giving Ohio State a run for its money— this year or the next. But, the Wolverines will not be down forever, they will eventually get rid of the stain that is Rich Rodriguez and this rivalry will return to its former glory. When that happens, how much juice will it have if neither team is playing for anything of importance—nationally?

It hurts both Michigan and Ohio State on a national level because no one outside of those who reside in Columbus or Ann Arbor will be able to get excited to see the two teams play—especially if they feel it will happen more than once.  It will cease to be must-see tv for a large segment of college football fans who love not only the rivalry itself, but what it stood for.

Here is what ESPN's Andy Katz had to say about the realignment:



Beyond this, though, the real losers are the Big Ten basketball fans—wow. 

This alignment essentially gives Michigan State a red carpet to March Madness every year while giving the finger to the fans of Penn State, Illinois, Purdue, and Indiana. No doubt the fans of those programs are staging a silent protest as we speak—just another reminder that college football rules the checkbook.