Around the Big Ten

[iam416]

I read it, Rob. It is an article about Paterno's influence. It is based on a single email chain over whether player stuff should be public. In other words, an absolute zero. The only reason this article is even written is because of Paterno's influence in the Sandusky debacle. It has to pile on to that to be relevant. Anyone with a brain knows that. And so when someone talks about JoePa and his influence in any broad sense or even a bad sense, it had to be included - it is the foundation of the claim. This email chain is jackshit without it.

Now, maybe I'm also misreading OP, too. You M boys are, apparently, like trying to read fucking Joyce. And he's the one author I never did get. So, please keep explaining what folks "really" mean. Or, heh, more likely, what you wished they meant.

[iam416]

Liney:

That much is true. I expect M will be much closer than 30 and 35 this year in Columbus. But I will still be happy with the win.

#winsawin

[Optimus Prime]

It's too easy and sadly no longer "sporting".

[iam416]

Oh, OP. You're no mystery. Your approach is always honest.

[Optimus Prime]

I actually meant DSL, as for Talent it's more like:



Was hoping for board harmony before I hit the high seas on vacation, guess it's not meant to be.

[hack]

[Jeff Buchanan]

I didn't post that comment about the scurrilous behavior of jim tressel and his cohorts as a flame. I posted it as a matter of fact.

Let's look at this. One view is that prinicpals at osu, much like Nick Saban does at UA, optimize thier positions and advantage themselves thereby because the NCAA rules allow that to happen. Its like the IRS code. Lots of complexity, lots of gray area, lax enforcement and because of it a purposeful and designed, "we can get away with that" attitude.

That's one factor. Another factor in this discussion about the culture at PSU and osu that allowed questionable activity to occur unchecked is the undeniable Don like character of these two head coaches. In the case of tressel, he wrapped himself in a cloak of religious righteousness while lying out his ass thus purposefully building an aura around him of honesty and integrity that turned out to be false but allowed people to believe, "he'd never do someting like that." JoePa simpy relied on his long standing record at PSU to allow himself to throw his weight around and in both cases, I would think they had something (dirt) they used as leverage to obtain deisired outcomes.

Why does any of this matter? Well, one, the culture that JoPa relied upon to protect his legacy (and allow the unspeakable conduct of Jerry Sandusky to continue) was unquestionably something that Paterno was responsible for creating and, even posthumously, should be held accountable for. Having his effigy around campus, for example, is something I find distasteful. Having NCAA sanctions (LOIC) or getting hammerd by the B10 being taken off the table or considered inappropriate, are, in my book, wrong.

This is exactly how you hold institutions accountable. You penalize them and lay out a pathway to correct the problems identified. Yeah, I've heard the argument that the current players and football staff had nothing to do with what hapened and should not be punished for it. They're not. They are collateral damage for the punishment the institution absolutely should get for allowing someone like Paterno to set the school's agenda and how it did business. That culture was responsible for criminal activity. That's the way it goes. Current players, coaches and administrators can be a part of earning their institution's respect back. Noble goal.

....... back to osu. In the tressel affair, I don't think that school acted inappropriately or criminally at the same level as PSU. Nonetheless, osu should be held accoutnable for it's conduct of lying and covering up, which in my opinion went all the way up to gee and beyond. Yes, they have been sanctioned by the NCAA. Fair enough, but that doesn't go far enough, IMO. The problem is that the real corruption wasn't and isn't going to be uncovered. And that was my point in the original post. The NCAA doesn't have the tools or the resources to uncover it. What happened at USC, what happened at PSU, what should have happened at Auburn but didin't resulted from fderal and state authorized investigations that had the tools and the resources to find the dirt.

talent would argue no proof that osu acted in the way I am suggesting it acted and should be held accoutnable for. OK ....... and OJ didn't murder Nicole; Auburn (or someone closely associated with Auburn) didn't pay a pile of hard cash for Cam Newton to play there. I get that.

Considering the amount of money that is at stake these days for getting to a NCG, as fans, we should be able to know that programs aren't cheating ther asses off to get there. There's plenty of evidence to support osu was doing just that during the tressel era. So, yeah, I get aggravated that the dirt that was there in c-bus didn't get exposed while the dirt at PSU did get exposed. It's a differnt kind of dirt at PSU having broader implications for sure. But the tressel era at osu should be remembered not for the many games the vest won but for his abject cheating and the compromise of ethical conduct he and other osu officials represented in this matter.

Like my feelings about holding PSU and Patern accountable, I feel the same way about osu and maybe more angry about that situation because smtih and gee got away with it paying no price whatsoever for their behavior. The sad reality is though that while it's likely PSU is going to pay a big price for the Paterno era, osu won't for the tressel era.

[iam416]

What a steaming pile of shit post.

FYI, idiot, there WAS evidence that OJ murdered Nicole.

There's as much evidence that Gee and Smith "got away with it" as there is that Schembechler fucked little boys on the 50 yard line.

I will say, I'm glad you're so irate. Just knowing that will make it that much sweeter when Urban slams up M's ass sideways in November. Oh, the smug will feel so fantastic.

[Optimus Prime]

In observance of the recent passing of crackhead and alcoholic Rodney King:

"Can't we all just get along?"

[iam416]

Cats. Dogs. Living together. #masshysteria

[WM Wolverine]

There was tons of smoke in Columbus about no-show classes, no-show jobs, loaner cars, and $500 handshakes; I'm guessing there is/was fire. I think it took considerable effort by the AD to not know (failure to monitor) and hide (LOIC) what was happening in Columbus.

[hack]

They appear to be good at that down there. Which is why we will always perceive them as inferior. Until they fess up, fix their culture, and compete on an honest basis, all wins are tainted and all losses will be particularly humiliating, knowing they lost to a rival that doesn't cheat. Theirs is a shitty position to be in.

[iam416]

Being The Flagship is, indeed, tough, but I don't mind.

BTW, hack, you used the plural form of loss...you must be talking about non-M games, too. At least over the relatively recent past.

#domination

[Rocky Bleier]

He was speaking of losses in the future. It is domination that is to be spoke of in the past tense.

[Optimus Prime]

Forget the partisan bickering, consider the words of countless current and former players of Jim Tressel, most incriminating statements.

ESPN interviews Mo Clarett:

"I couldn't have asked for more," Clarett says.

"I had the money I wanted, the car I wanted. I literally, literally had everything. My freshman year, being 19. If I wanted to call a girl, I could've called any girl I wanted, probably, in Ohio. If I wanted any car to drive, I could go to a dealership and get it. If I wanted some clothes, I had the money to put clothes on my back."

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=1919246

Jim Tressel's Legacy:

http://www.sportsreviewmagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=935:dotting-the-lie-timeline-of-jim-tressel-deceit&catid=14:video-a-links-of-the-week&Itemid=37

Nothing Ohio State has accomplished in the last ten years is valid anymore. From Clarett, to Smith, to Pryor, and all the others in between, with the cars and the cash and the discounts and the cutting of corners, Ohio State is essentially an SEC school operating in the Midwest. Tressel is a proven, documented cheater, and if the NCAA has any balls at all, they will slap him with a show-cause order, blackballing him from ever coaching again. He has successfully manipulated his public perception so he comes across as a righteous, homely, ethically pure gentleman, when the reality is he's basically a gangster, willing to do whatever it takes to win, and turning a blind eye toward the corruption that he himself endorses. He distanced himself from Ray Isaac at Youngstown when the NCAA came calling. He distanced himself from Maurice Clarett while simultaneously shredding Clarett's credibility when he tried to destroy Ohio State. If some injustice is committed and he somehow survives this latest storm, he will distance himself from Terrelle Pryor and his friends, too.

Tressel entered into a perfect marriage with Ohio State back in the winter of 2001. A native son with enormous success at a lower level, but more than ready to take the next step. And a school so desperate to reverse their fortunes in that final game in late November, so eager to erase the sour taste of 2-10-1 from their mouths, willing to sell their souls at all costs if it means claiming dominance over "That School Up North." That is the culture of Ohio State football. The means don't matter whatsoever. As long as the end is a victory over Michigan, they will tolerate anything that comes their way. And now they deserve the darkest of fates. They knew what they were getting in Tressel: a faux-superior thug, who shares the win at all costs mentality of his followers. They are essentially a hostile regime, with Tressel leading the masses in "Death to Michigan" chants. And any dissenters, anyone who dares speak out against the regime - Kirk Herbstreit, Bruce Hooley, Mark Titus, Ray Small - is thrown to the wolves, their credibility and character put through the meat grinder by the bloodthirsty masses. The brainwashed followers, from the dusty streets of Youngstown to the outskirts of Cincinnati, from the shores of Lake Erie and Glenville High School to the backwoods of Westerville, and Centerville, and the epicenter in Columbus, they all march in lockstep as Senator Tressel commands them. And eventually, he will lead them off the cliff, and they will follow him without question, even it means their own destruction.