Well it was just a matter of time.....the ubiquitous Hitler video is out with his reaction to the Tressel resignation....be forewarned, many f-bombs in print.... http://youtu.be/8HWubSaqB9U
Perspectives from some of the players.....young man did a very good job. Punters must be smart.... http://www.the-ozone.net/football/2011/Tresselaffair/ThomaColumn.html
:roll: Stu were all those cars you drove in college owned by you or the local auto dealership? I'm frankly amazed at the reaction of the Ohio State fans here...
Owned by the bank, JO'Co... Why amazed? I'm not downplaying the seriousness of anything, nor that it looks bad...just sayin' let the facts be found out. Paper today says that TP traded in his old car and got $11,000 for it and his mother took out a $17,000 loan on the difference on the new car and is making $300/month car payments on it. Oh, the shame!
I'm amazed, because the cheating was so blatant and the coverup was admitted and the reaction of the OSU fans here seems to be so mild. Before all of this came to light, I had never even considered the possiblity that the Buckeye football program would do anything wrong. Woody had established a reputation for honesty at the school which matched it's renown for a physical style of play. Maybe I expected too much, but I honestly thought that you guys would be screaming bloody murder and demanding the Big Broom to sweep out the entire athletic department. Instead I find you fellows sounding a lot like USC or Oklahoma. Where is the outrage? Mr. Sweatervest just put a huge dent in what had been a pristine facade of correctness and you guys seem more concerned with the dent than what caused it in the first place. A lifetime of living near USC and UCLA tells me that if you don't remove the root cause of this problem, it will happen again under other coaches.
I'm a little surprised myself and, as I have stated here before, I love the Buckeyes, I am a Buckeye and they are #1A on my list behind the Irish. I attended Ohio State for one year ( 73-74 ) before my dad yanked me out and I finished at Wright State University back in good old Dayton. The temptations of the big school atmosphere were too much for this simple boy :wink: . I am the same age as the sainted Archie Griffin and used to see him frequently around campus. Rumors abounded that Archie was getting special treatment and he did nothing to dampen those rumors. He dressed flashy and expensive and drove a brand new Lincoln Continental town car. He had a hard hat in his car and claimed he was a part time construction superintendent. Said he would show up at a job site and let everyone see him and then his work day was over. He was a nice guy and no one thought much about it even though we were driving ten year old beaters or riding bikes, wearing jeans, t shirts and Chuck Taylors, delivering pizzas and eating whatever we could scrounge up. It just seemed that this was how the system worked. Pete Johnson was his running mate in one of the best backfields I ever saw. The legend was that Pete was in charge of irrigation at the campus athletic fields. They said his job was to go the sites at a certain time and, if he saw water sprinklers on, his job was complete. At that point in his life that was about as demanding job he could handle we all thought. Many thought he was illiterate . To this day I think he stole my Timex watch off the counter while I was in the shower in the Stradley Hall dorm. He had a decent pro career but got into a lot of trouble with the law over drugs and some check scamming. The culture of big school football really hasn't changed much over the years..... only the vigilance of reporting has. The game is bigger than the framework in which it is played and otherwise reasonable people are willing to take chances to see it grow and prosper even more. Everyone loses their perspective when talking about their own school. Over on the Blue-Gold site they are dancing on the OSU grave with delight. BUt the same critics over there have broken their backs alibiing for Michael Floyd, Jimmy Clausen or anyone else who screwed up. It's just the way we roll in our own college football sandboxes. One guy's scandal is another's youthful indiscretion.
You gotta be sh#ttin me... Whatever. I'm not sure where any of us has made any excuse or downplayed anything that's been done...nor have we asked for light penalties. We haven't blamed "youthful indiscretion" nor have we used the "it happens everywhere" argument. Kinda would like it to be for something that actually happened, though. All I have done is questioned whether some of the allegations are factual or not...and have admitted that they very well may be...and that they should be investigated and punished. I am not a fan of either Mr. Gee or Mr. Smith...however I don't make a habit of calling for heads to roll until the facts are in. If that makes me sound to you like your fricking USC so be it.
For example, over on the BGI BB right now they are qeueing up beneath the story of Nate Montana being arrested and charged with DUI. Comments like " Kids will be kids" and "he wasn't goiong to start anyway" abound. Note: He transferred to U of Montana but the Irish faithful still circle the wagons.
I see that Ohio State fans held a rally for Tressel and then marched to his home and sang the Alma Mater along with song(s) disparaging Michigan and Tressel came out and promised that the Buckeyes would kick their arse again this coming Nov. I can't imagine Texas fans or Notre Dame fans doing the same. Of course they said they did it for Earle Bruce as well. :roll: :wink: Fans seranade Jim Tressel
....and once the facts are in to determine the "punishment" appropriate for the "crime". In this case, the man was tried and convicted in the press prior to his August day in court. The heat of the media glare spun out of control and created a tidal wave of public opinion that forced the Board to cave......very sad imho. Even the criminal dregs of our society have an opportunity equal to those of the prosecution to defend themselves in court....not so with JT. Sorry Jim, I just don't accept your fundamental premise....there is no question that he made a grave error in judgement no matter how well intended, but not worthy of termination. If the investigation into the "car" issue finds compelling evidence of his complicity or negligence, we'll go from there...... The degree of integrity in the coaching profession just took a massive hit, in my view, in the view of his peers and in the view of those that knew him best.
BT... I have kept out of this argument up until this point. I can no longer do so. Several people on this board called for Bruce Pearl's job and chastised me for not doing so simply because he lied to the NCAA. Has it not been proven that JT did the same thing? Is this a penalty that should be only imposed upon SEC coaches?
No Tom, it's not a penalty that should only be imposed on SEC coaches. I do believe that there are material differences between the two cases and therefore believe there should be differences in the outcomes. Pearl misled NCAA investigators to cover up his own wrongdoings in situations that he wrongly initiated/organized in order to provide him some competitive advantage. At present , I have seen no compelling evidence that would overcome a lifetime of work to not take him at his word so I take Tressel at his word when he stated that he misled the NCAA - which is in and of itself a very bad decision - in order to not bring public bad decisions - not his own - on the part of several of his players so as not to interfere with a federal investigation and in an effort to protect them from potential harm from a very dangerous and violent man. I do not believe it reasonable to assume that Tressel believed he could gain any competitive advantage in so doing given that that which people claim he was hiding was already in the hands of federal investigators and could have had no idea when the evidence would be brought forward in court, but knew that it was a certainty. In my view, that is the most plausible conclusion one can reach based upon all the facts as known at present and based upon his lifetime of work.....I do believe that material sanctions were in order but I do not believe that the NCAA would have compelled the school to fire him after the August proceedings.....he was tried, convicted and sentenced in the press and it is a shame. If there is more evidence found of his complicity or negligence in this matter or others, I will be the first to say I was wrong.....just my view and I do appreciate and respect the question and your reasons for the inquiry.
I don't pretend to know the whole situation. Maybe only JT does. I think it highly unfair for Pearl to have been judged in the media and here on the Skybox and it not be fair to judge another coach the same way.