My Jim Tressel Rant

     Those of you who have been reading this site for a while now certainly know my take on ethics in college football, and college athletics at large if you also read me on Twitter. I have been very hard on two areas in particular, and those areas are Cam Newton and family, and the Ohio State Buckeyes. So here we are again, just a few short months after my rant on those topics, that I find myself compelled to go on the attack once again.
     If you read an article that was posted on this site (I refer to it as my WAR piece), you will know that I felt very strongly as to what I perceived as preferential treatment of the Ohio State football program by both the NCAA and the Sugar Bowl Committee when 5 Buckeyes (Terrelle Pryor, Dan Herron, Devier Posey, and two others) were basically given free passes to play in a bowl game, and were subsequently suspended for 5 games in 2011 instead. That is a penalty that I still abhor as being completely unethical and morally corupted. It was a deal that was struck because the Sugar Bowl execs felt that they would lose financial resources and that people would tune out of their bowl if the OSU "stars" were kept out. Not only did they accept that these major violations had occurred, they promoted that these players be allowed to play in their game even though they had been found guilty of major NCAA violations of the highest order of amateurism.
     I felt then that the violations I mention (selling items for tattoos in this particular case) were not as innocent as they may seem on the surface, and I suspected, as is usually the case, that people at the highest levels of Ohio State football knew that this was going on and did nothing to curb it, alter it, or stop it in the name of NCAA compliance. In suspecting that, it turns out that I was more than correct, that the man at the very top of it all, Jim Tressel, knew about what was happening,and according to Yahoo Sports, he covered it up for 8 months before he notified anyone in his department, those who are supposed to be his superiors, those who claim responsibility for NCAA compliance.
     In doing so, Jim Tressel has placed himself directly on the dais of responsibility. He has made himself out to be a ringleader of sorts, not of decent young men forging forward to becoming better people, but a leader of a ring of young punks whose very limited minds tend to make them think that the rules do not apply to them, because they strap on several pounds of high end plastic and throw their bodies around like crash test dummies. In covering up these violations of NCAA rule, Tressel has given not only his indirect wink and nod, but tacit approval to do whatever you want to do as long as you don't get caught. And let us not fool ourselves. If there is smoke in Columbus, there is likely a raging fire to be found in the athletic department offices in Columbus of the kind that Yahoo has not yet found. There are already allegations of improper contact and benefits from a Columbus car dealership, amongst other items. How much of that does Tressel know about? How much may he have facilitated, even indirectly? How many of these types of things were set up by high end boosters that do what they do so that Tressel doesn't have to get the smear of stain on his sweater vest?
     In uncovering that Tressel knew what he knew, his facade of being a man of dignity and class has also been uncovered to show that he too is nothing more than a cheap used car salesman. He too is not a man that should be leading the young men and women of America into another bout of 80's "me, me, me" generationalism. He didn't do what he did to protect these young men from undue scrutiny. It was all due. Every last damned ounce of it. He did what he did to cover his own ass. He was complicit because he failed to stand up and do what he should have done. He failed to stand up to his moral obligation to do the right thing and teach young America that it isn't all about one individual. That's the false narcissism that plagues the world today. I, I, I. Me, Me, Me. Tressel did what he did because it was good for him to keep these kids eligible. He did what he did because HE has a terrible record in BCS bowls, and HE needed that win over the SEC because HE hasn't been able to beat that conference. He gave that light penalty to the guilty parties because HE knew that HE was complicit in those violations by HIS actions. Backfiring is a bitch, ain't it?
     Not only did Tressel's master plan not pass the test of this sarcastic blogger, but it didn't pass the bullshit test either. It also didn't save him in the end because he got found out. He was the puppet master all along, and all of those BCS apologists and big school snobs danced the dance like they always do. Dance on to your song of denial puppets...dance on. As long as the big bowls come rolling on, don't ever hold your team up to any kind of accountability. Just win, baby, and the winning will wash all of the dirt away. You can always wash the dirt away, because you won that big shiny trophy. It doesn't matter if it was earned unethically, because it's still all about "scoreboard, bitch".
     Let me tell you something. Tressel did win. He did. How, you may ask? Isn't he now suspended for two games against mighty Akron and Toledo? Why yes he is. And that is how he won. You see, Tressel was suspended for those two games. And that first rate idiot Gordon Gee can make his statements about how "he would have been suspended if we were playing Michigan and USC" all he wants. Truth is that you will be playing Akron and Toledo, and I can coach your thugs to wins in those games, guaranteed. Not only has he won, but he has made, once again, a mockery of everything that the rules are there to prevent. All in the name of the dollar bill, yo.
     At the end of the day, I can't even blame Ohio State. I have to blame the NCAA, the toothless tiger that constantly keeps its head nestled up its own ass. As Kody Bannon said to me via Twitter, "This has been the NCAA's year to show a perceived enforcement, then let it slide with no real penalty". I could not have said it any better myself, my friend.
     The NCAA is supposed to govern, but the tail wags the dog, and the institutions have a puppet monarchy, much like MLB has Bud Selig. They tell him what to do and say. The BCS doesn't even answer to the NCAA. That's what the privatisation of America gets you for your dollar, and whether you know it or not, at a state school, you are paying the bill. Whenever you buy a product that gets advertised during your team's game, you are paying the bill. When you buy that jersey, you get the picture now. But back to the point at hand. Simply point, the NCAA is failing our athletes, our schools, and us. By lack of serious efforts, and by allowing an overage of school self governance, especially in the case of Ohio State, they are showing us that if you break the rules, there is no real penalty, because, as long as you are raking in those TV dollars, everything will be ok. I ask of you all...I beg of you all...demand better. If you think that this is about sports, and that it doesn't mean anything, it does. All aorund America, our youngsters have been looking up to these athletes, to these institutions that are ingrained in our very culture. Do you want your kids to walk around this world thinking "fuck the rules. They don't apply to me, because my teachers, my coaches, my mentors don't worry about that sort of thing?"
      You should also be outraged because, as an employee of Ohio STATE University, Tressel is an employee of the state of Ohio, and you people pay his inflated salary. What would happen to you at your job if you covered up a grave violation of policy, something that stood against the institution that was your corporate structure and every fiber of it? Do you think that you would get another shot after a couple of days off? Do you seriously think that you could go on earning millions? Do you think that you would be accepted for it? That everything would be water off of a duck's back? If you truly believe that is so, than go jump off of a building, because if you truly believe that this is acceptable behavior in society, than YOU are the problem here.
     I was called every name in the book by some folks after my previous article some months back on this topic. Apologists that cannot handle the truth, and would rather stick their head in the muck, I suppose. It's ok. And, thanks for reading. I may be an ass, but I'm correct here, and I will go to the end believing that I am. Quote me if you like, as I won't deny I have stated any of this, as it is printed here available for all to see. You see, I may be an ass, but at the end of the day, Jim Tressel, Gordon Gee, and the NCAA are coming out of this smelling like one.