Yahoo, Tattoos, and tOSU (1-year bowl ban, 82 scholly limit for 3 years)

[gracelhink]

One last observation:
Tressel is being torn apart in national media for not practicing what he has preached, kind of the "he/they look down on those of inferior character" with his sophomoric books, messages and personna of righteousness.
But the heart of the Tressel gospel has always revolved around forgiveness. He has practiced it for others who have erred, he has showed mercy for those who have been wrong, he has served as an ambassador of good will and an agent of reconciliation for those estranged.
Will we?

 

[Padraig]

My in-depth analysis (which I know everyone was awaiting):

#1 The legend of JT takes a bit of a hit for me personally.

#2 There is still no other coach in the country that I'd rather have as the caretaker of my program.

All other conjecture and speculation simply hurts my head, so I'm going to stick with those two thoughts and hope to move on from there.


(now where can I find the asprin taking smiley?)

 

[MaxBuck]

Ain't nothin you can do but drink and support the home team.

So, business as usual. I'm down with that.

 

[MaxBuck]

Not like you have a freaking mangy, leg humping poodle grad/player as your new coach, but bad...

You've given me a whole new perspective on Will Muschamp here. :tongue2:

 

[MaxBuck]

Anybody else feel Tress is taking one for the team on this one?

If by this you mean, "being less than forthcoming to protect others rather than protecting himself," yes, absolutely that's what he is doing. His entire history demonstrates that to be his MO.

Unfortunately, this characteristic provides ammunition to cynical pundits like Bruce Feldman. And sometimes behavior patterns that serve you particularly well as a leader your entire life become problematic at a specific time. Looks like this is just such a time.

 

[gracelhink]

For those who asked if Tressel apologized in his message at the presser. these are his words:

"I am sorry and disappointed this happened. At the time the situation occurred, I thought I was doing the right thing," Tressel said. "I understand my responsibility to represent Ohio State and the game of football. I apologize to any and all of the people I have let down. I will grow from this experience."

 

[SEREbuckeye]

What I don't understand is people saying that he's a fall guy or that he did a took a moral stand?

If it were a single email from a nutcase, thats one thing. Facts are he recieved multiple emails, and not only that he also responded to the emails asking for more information. His response was that he would take care of the incident and he didn't do so in lines of the bylaws.

This isn't bashing Coach Tressel, but I'm asking with the facts of the emails, how can anyone say that he is a fall guy for someone else? Its one thing to be a passionate fan and to follow the Bucks no matter the incidence, its another to want to turn a blind eye.

 

[buckeyboy]

Wow, the sun has risen here and I'm feeling a lot better about this whole situation. Seriously, tOSU will get through this. Mistakes were made...time to move on.

 

[BUCKYLE]

Which gains you what in the bigger scheme of things? SEC coaches and ADs now piling on when they might not have? Not a positive gain. Small mis-step in my book, with the only "gain" being from folks who are already all-in on the Bucks.

What recruit wouldn't want to play for a coach that has your fucking back. Not only with football shit, but with federal investigations. Oh, and fuck your SEC AD's and Coaches.

 

[redstatebuckeye]

There appear to be a number of unanswered questions, e.g., did he talk to the players after he got the email, did he do anything with the information, did he talk to the lawyer over the phone, in person, in a separate email account, did he talk to anyone in the compliance department, Gene Smith, legal. I hope someone pushes to get these and many other questions answered.

I think that the proposed penalty (2 games) is too short -- he lied (in filling out that form) and had a chance to admit he knew (in December), but choose to not say anything. If this was an SEC coach I would not believe the explanation. I am no longer giving Tressel the benefit of the doubt on these things - he cannot be that naive (and if he is he should not be the head coach).

 

[buckeyes_rock]

The other thing I have to say right now is how much I hate this for our basketball team, and especially the seniors. They have built and led this team to #1 and possibly an NCAA title run, and they can't even get a single month where they are the focus of the unversity. hate hate hate HATE it for Thad and the fellas.

Well then, I guess Thad and the boys will just have to go out and win the whole dang thing. That ought to put the focus back on them! :)

 

[Cicero]

Since you compared most of the people in this thread to ESPN hacks, would it be out of line for me to tell you to take off the Scarlet glasses and stop being a homer? We love the Buckeyes. ESPN doesn't. The comparison is offensive, at best.

The emails proved that JT knew about the allegations, and he chose not to say anything. How in the world you think that is good, I will never know. Whether or not you think he's protecting the players here, the emails didn't look good.

Sorry if I was blunt. I don't like being compared to Mark May.

And many of us much like ESPIN are jumping to conclusions. Is it at all possible that disclosing confidential information about a federal drug case could have gotten JT in legal jeopardy? Until you know the answer to this and a ton of other questions I think the guy has earned the benefit of the doubt.

Oh and I will never stop being a "homer." I hope that you will one day expereince the sheer joy of being a "homer."

 

[Cicero]

The rule has good intentions, lets say that. But it is not "fine". If you are going to give someone a gift, it is theirs. Period. They can sell it if they damn well please. If it is a problem, players should NOT get gifts. Or we should accept the fact that players are what make their gifts worth anything in the first place. Terrelle Pryor's talents are what make his jersey valuable to a fan.

And I am not behind comparing violations to justify our lesser ones. I was just making a point. We are all proud of our clean reputation. That is why when someone fails to understand that reputation, I tend to... make comparisons.



Well said.

 

[Cincinnatibuck]

Read the emails again, having trouble imagining those are the words JT would use to respond to the email.

 

[buckeyesin07]

First, thanks for not taking too much offense to my comment. (And thanks to Gatorubet for his comment as well). I'm not here to trash you guys, just giving my perspective on the issue.

You're backpedaling now. I am not sure how you can say something like the following "If the NCAA is to maintain even a modicum of consistency they will have to be handing down some big suspensions and probably a bowl ban and vacated wins," on a Buckeye board and not expect some people to take offense. At a minimum, your post comes off as sour grapes because of what has happened to USC.

I'm definitely not saying this is the same situation as with USC.

No, but the penalties USC is facing bear a striking resemblance to what the NCAA must hand down to OSU in order to "maintain even a modicum of consistency," no?

So, contrasting with USC is the issue of deceit.

Oh, and that little fact that OSU self-reported whereas old Petey took off for the Pacific Northwest, the former USC AD thumbed his nose at the NCAA, and (to my knowledge), USC still hasn't admitted that anything nefarious went down.

USC (allegedly) didn't know about what was going on, and the NCAA couldn't provide any evidence that the USC staff knew about Reggie's benefits, so the NCAA basically just said "well, you should have known" and hit USC with massive sanctions. But to be clear, USC got hammered for the actions of a single player acting outside the school and an ex-con turned wannabe agent, not due to the staff buying players or anything like that. But I digress.

Sour grapes/excuse making/whining.

In this situation, if I'm reading it right, you have the head coach who clearly knew about it going on and then proceeded to cover it up, and to be deceitful about it. There's clear evidence of him knowing about it. Sure, Ohio State is self-reporting, but they're self-reporting a long time after discovering the problem. Consider that, iirc, JT also signed a Certificate of Compliance saying he had told the university of any possible violations. Was that a lie?

I see very few people defending JT's actions on here. But please show me some precedent for the punishments you suggest the NCAA has to lay down. And see Pearl, Bruce and Calhoun, Jim (spoiler alert: those won't help you).

So consider the NCAA already was lenient in letting the guys play their bowl game and they received a LOT of flak for it at the time.

Lenient depends on opinion and perspective. A lot of OSU fans think a half-season punishment in 2011 is pretty darn harsh. There are opinions outside of ESPN, you know.

So no, I'm not saying the scenarios are exactly the same. But in my eyes, and I think the eyes of a lot of people, what happened here warrants a lot worse punishment than what Ohio State is trying to skate by with here. Considering how long JT knew about this, I'd expect vacated wins and a longer suspension at least.

Again, now is not the time for loaded statements like these. They come off as sour grapes. Perhaps whining about this on a USC board is a more appropriate place for this type of post.