Ohio State Football And The Affect Of Irresponsibility

If you follow college sports at all, I suspect you're aware of the happenings at Ohio State and how a hand full of athletes have given a black eye to one of the nations premier college teams.

I will begin by stating that I, along with most of Central Ohio, eat and breath OSU football. I grew up watching Woody Hayes. Loving him, hating him and all the emotions in between. We live in the largest city in Ohio, but the major league sports teams are located in Cleveland and Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh. Ohio State is all we have and on any given saturday in the fall, if you're here and you don't follow football, it's an ideal time to go shopping because the streets and stores will be almost empty during the game.

This spring the news broke that several of our star athletes were trading or selling their college sports awards for tatoos. The owner of the tatoo parlor was under surveilence by the FBI for selling drugs and using the paraphanelia he was getting from the athletes in his "business activities." Let us make this clear, the athletes were not accused of drug use, but they did violate NCAA rules by selling their "golden shoes", a pin they receive when they beat Michigan.

Coach Jim Tressel was notified by the lawyer for the tatoo shop owner that the FBI was doing an investigation. Instead of Tressel contacting the University Athletic Director or the President of the university or the NCAA, he kept quiet about it. He went on to play and win the bowl game, never notifying any other authority.

You would be hard pressed to find a better man then Jim Tressel. So what happens to a man whom, I believe, is genuinely good? He is noted for caring very deeply for his players. Possibly he thought this would all go away. I didn't say he was smart, just caring. His "star" player, Terrell Pryor, was the instigator of all of this, and he led his fellow players to the tatoo parlor. We can only surmize that Tressel wanted Terrell to be eligible for the Heisman nomination and continue playing so he could perfect his game.

Now what really is the reason he stayed quiet, may not be so charitable. College football is big business. I know that at Ohio State, the football program pays for all of the other sports. If no one comes to the games or buys the team clothing or trinkets then the University suffers all across the board. The University loses money from TV time. Tuition rises, schlorships are cut, jobs are lost. Campus bars and restaurants lose business. It really does have a domino affect.

Somehow, all of the closing of the eyes, the little wink here and there, have to stop. We had the problem with Maurice Clarett, who was so babied all through high school and then college, that he ended up in prison for armed robbery. No one ever told him he is responsible for his actions. He was a golden boy. Recently Maurice sent a message to Terell Pryor warning him not to make the same mistakes. Years before we had Art Schlichter, who could be found down at the local race track playing the horses while he was still a player. He is now sitting in a prison cell-another golden boy that no one ever read the riot act to. They just kept on applying the accolades.

Had Jim Tressel really cared about the man Terell Pryor, and the other players who were caught, he would have turned them in to the athletic director and the NCAA. Thank goodness all of this has come to light. All athletes, not just those at OSU, but all should be made aware that if you cheat the system or break the rules in football and in life then you have to pay the price. We have become a society that if you are famous for something then you believe that the rules don't apply to you. We see it in sports, in entertainment, God help us-in our churches, and especially in our government.

As for me and my fellow Buckeye fans, we will cheer extra loudly for the players who followed the rules, sans Jim Tressel and Terrell pryor.