M-Borg vs. THE Flavortown U Thread, Orig. by Buckeye Paul, absconded w/by talent.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Has that copy hit news stands?

As has his house of cards tumbles, Jim Tressel has become the Bernie Madoff of college football.

Except that Tressel has people like Dr. TOm and Brady Hoke sticking up for him. And isn't facing life in prison.

[Mackenzie]

Well he should be.

[Optimus Prime]

No not yet anyway DSL, he's not criminally culpable just morally bankrupt at this point, however as I've said a dozen times over at Talent's, it's the tip of the Iceberg. The "summer job" OSU payroll scheme will most certainly interest the authorities.

Just doin' my job.

[Optimus Prime]

DSL this may help.

NCAA rules prohibit paying college athletes for their athletic performances.

[Rocky Bleier]

I don't think you're supposed to lie to the NCAA to coverup wrongdoing either.

[entropy]

At the Big Ten spring meetings Wednesday, Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith -- while declining to discuss any details of the ongoing NCAA situation -- affirmed his support for football coach Jim Tressel.

More...

[lineygoblue]

Except that Tressel has people like Dr. TOm and Brady Hoke sticking up for him. And isn't facing life in prison.

I think that's really a stretch, to say that Osborne and Hoke are "sticking up" for Tressel. I think both men take a dim view of deliberately lying to the NCAA, and both men know what kind of penalties their programs would be facing had they done the same as Tressel.

Now, with Tressel and Gee's and Smith's connections within the NCAA, and the investigating committee, it wouldn't be surprising to me to see them all skate away unscathed. It won't be Hoke and Osborne that help Tressel get away with his deceptions. It will be the NCAA itself that is complicit.

[lineygoblue]

At the Big Ten spring meetings Wednesday, Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith -- while declining to discuss any details of the ongoing NCAA situation -- affirmed his support for football coach Jim Tressel.

More...

Of course.

With apologies to the FOB's out there, they are utilizing the Bill Clinton "what is/is" defense. Lie, deny, and blame others.

It worked for him, it will probably work for Tressel/O-lie-O.

and no.. I'm not trying to start a political discussion ...

[entropy]

Until the AD (if) fires JT, he will always be supportive. That is just par for the course.

[Jeff Buchanan]

For DSL ...... long, long piece written by a poster at the M site detailing the litany of very questionable behavior (from a legal standpoint - not the NCAA) by TO working to protect his players when they got busted. I'm not going to run around trying find it and to post it here but was very revealing.

I have no doubt that TO thought he was doing the right thing involving himself in police matters where his players were concerned ...... but the stuff he did, if it was described accurately in the ost I saw, was terribly wrong.

The point here is that I also have no doubt that jt thought that what he did (and probably has been doing through his extensive network of friends and associates for 20 years in ohio) was right for his players ...... its an interesting situation.

However, both TO's actions and jt's actions show a disrespect for the rules; it seems pretty clear that they feel those rules don't apply in special situations (those situations, of course, all self described).

We're going to see how the NCAA sees this kind of behavior. Even though it may have been rational in jt's mind and that the rules in question here, he reasoned, should not apply in the particular case of the tat5, the rules were still broken and the facts show that when he was asked about rule breaking he lied about it ..... twice.

Judges deal with this kind of thing all the time ..... "but judge I was broke and I had to by the cancer drug to save my wife's life so I stole the $10,000 I needed to buy it." They mitigate sentences all the time because there are circumstances demanding it. This may be the case here but I can almost guarantee you that TO thought everything he was doing in support of his players in trouble with the law was right and I'm pretty sure jt feels the same way and will try to argue that at the COI.

[entropy]

jeff.. I'd be interested in seeing that list of things TO did. I need a good laugh today.

It is good to see, btw, Michigan fans obsessing about Nebraska. It shows a lot of respect.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Well, it's not my wish to argue about whether TO did or did not do anything questionable in support of players who got in trouble while he was Neb's HC.

The point is that people rationalize their behavior in the face of what they might know to be wrong or knew it to be wrong after the fact; sometimes its justified, sometimes its not. My view is no matter how much rationalizing jt does about his behavior with regard to the tat5, he broke NCAA rules that he agreed to abide by and should be held accountable for that.

The last thing I'll be doing is obsessing about Neb; I'll leave that sort of stuff to Spartan and osu fans.

[entropy]

understand Jeff.. And I agree w/ your rationalization thought. I also think we all would agree the full story is rarely told. Michigan fans should know that just by dealing with the free press.

I'm not suggesting my opinon on JT, just stating the obvious.

[lineygoblue]

And Ent? ..

Consider this Michigan fan someone who has a lot of respect for what Osborne did as HC for Nebraska.

He may have had a couple times where he needed to use better judgement, but as far as I'm concerned, the overall success of the program speaks more to what Tom Osborne accomplished.

but then, there's that gold watch NC that his coaching friends gave him ... :-)

[Hannibal]

IMHO it's looking really bad for OSU. There are a lot of signs right now akin to the big selloff in the stock market that precedes some really bad news. The "ESPN The Magazine" cover with the red sweatervest saying "Busted" is one of these signs. It's an uncharacteristically ballsy move by ESPN and something that they probably wouldn't do unless the news for the Buckeyes is about to get a lot worse. Rumors blowing up all over that SI is going to break a story about paid vacations to players very soon. On top of that, you've got Chris Spielman predicting that Tressel will no longer be the coach in 2011, and Herbstreit moving out of Columbus to avoid the ire of OSU fans.