It never ceases to amaze me at how people can be so incompetent at what they do for a living, yet get promoted to unimaginable heights by higher-ups who couldn’t recognize talent if it beat them across the face. Case in point: Drew Sharp, and his waxing poetic on the ever-progressing Ohio State saga.
A fair warning: if you can’t take large doses of idiotic drivel in one sitting, you might want to break this post into a few pieces.
The calendar doesn’t change.
Really, Drew? I’m pretty sure yesterday was July 11th. Today? Probably the 12th, but we can’t be too sure.
On Friday, it was 2,785 days since Michigan last beat Ohio State in football. Today it will be 2,786 days.
It’s also Saturday (or it was when his article was written), and tomorrow is… OK I’m done.
The season doesn’t change.
Again, 2011 isn’t 2010. Unless you actually think Auburn is going to repeat as national champions which, knowing your credentials, wouldn’t be a surprise.
Michigan State doesn’t get a retroactive Rose Bowl invitation as the Big Ten’s 2010 official BCS representative.
Uhh, Drew? Wisconsin went to the Rose Bowl. Ohio State played a vastly overrated Arkansas team in the Sugar Bowl. MSU already got embarrassed in one bowl game. I doubt they would want to go toe-to-toe with a better TCU team this time around.
Ohio State’s erasure of its 12-1 record last year as part of its self-imposed sanctions for acknowledging major NCAA violations was a necessary housekeeping matter. The Buckeyes admittedly used ineligible players. Those victories can’t count. That was a no-brainer.
So what about the 4+ years of using ineligible players prior to that?
It was evident awhile ago to anyone with any understanding of the NCAA investigative process that the Buckeyes wouldn’t hit themselves much harder in their official response than they did Friday.
OK, you’re right on that one. Blind squirrel finds his nut, etc., etc.
Aside from vacating those 12 victories, Ohio State also placed the football program on two years’ probation. It’s a wrist slap, consistent with the tone of the NCAA’s initial allegations in April.
Redundant Drew is redundant.
But it also leaves plenty of room for the NCAA judges to take Ohio State’s recommendations for punishment and add a little something to them. And the NCAA will. It always does.
Yeah, another year of “probation,” which you already dubbed a “slap on the wrist” is nothing more than another slap on the wrist, Drew. The NCAA isn’t going to hit one of its cash cows any harder.
It rarely rubber-stamps self-sanctions. But it won’t be anything close to the hammer the NCAA applied to an arrogant, stubborn Southern California, which was deemed absent of institutional control.
There’s a Lane Kiffin joke in there somewhere.
The NCAA could add a one-year bowl ban for this upcoming season and then close the book on this sordid chapter. It would create the illusion that the NCAA is hitting one of the big boys hard, considering that the Buckeyes are a big BCS bowl ticket and television draw.
Yes, banning them from the Alamo Bowl is a reeeeal big punishment. Though, to be fair, San Antonio is a great city.
But in actuality, such action would be the best news for the Buckeyes.
Uhh no, it’s not. The NCAA deciding that OSU’s self-imposed sanctions are sufficient would be the best news for the Buckeyes. Likely? No. Best case scenario? You bet your ass.
They’ve already effectively eliminated themselves from BCS consideration this season.
If by “they” you mean “Terrelle Pryor leaving for the NFL,” then yes they have.
Jim Tressel is gone.
There’s the investigative journalism we’ve been looking for. How long did it take you to dig up that story, Drew?
Their senior, three-year starting quarterback, Terrelle Pryor, also is gone. They’re probably looking at an 8-4 season anyway so what difference does it make if they’re prohibited from a meaningless bowl trip to Jacksonville, Fla.?
So you point at the self-imposed ban from BCS consideration as reason for punishment, but then claim that there’s no shot they get there? And as for the difference from a “meaningless bowl trip,” other than the countless amounts of free swag the players get, is well into six figures, if not seven.
No bowl game also gives them the opportunity to introduce their new coach — hello, Urban Meyer — in early December if they choose and he can immediately go back after those 2012 recruits who verbally committed elsewhere because of the uncertainty surrounding OSU’s future.
Considering a lot of these kids will already be enrolled at Michigan, I’m not so sure that’s the best idea for Urban. And as for Meyer going back to coaching? After he spends a year getting paid to sit on his ass at ESPN, he’s not going back to the sidelines, especially not for the type of resurrection job he’s going to have to pull at Ohio State. There’s no Tim Tebow to save his ass this time.
For Ohio State, it’s still all about saving those future scholarships.
Yeah, those 2 and 3 star recruits needs somewhere to go to (elementary) school.
Who cares about erasing the past or eroding the present?
Obviously not you.
Let me reiterate this.
The only way Ohio State loses scholarships would be if the school is hit with a lack of institutional control or failure to monitor charge. The NCAA didn’t do that in the original April notice of allegations.
Anyone with half a brain could have pointed that out. Congratulations Drew, you at least have that much.
The NCAA targeted Tressel and Pryor in its probe, and the Buckeyes pretty much dumped everything on their scarlet-and-gray graves.
Pryor and Tressel both left on their own terms (as far as we know). OSU hasn’t dumped shit. Smith and Gee sitting on their hands while whistling and staring at the ceiling throughout this whole process makes Casey Anthony look as innocent as I am in her case.
Not surprisingly Ohio State will get off easy while Michigan and Michigan State only get a historical correction that doesn’t really matter.
What correction? You already said that MSU doesn’t get a retroactive bid to a bowl that wasn’t vacated in the first place. This is the first time you’ve even mentioned Michigan in this article (thankfully).
And just because these violations don’t help either of those schools retroactively, you can best your ass that they’re licking their chops to go up against a depleted Ohio State team this season. No Tressel? No Pryor? Neither of these fanbases give a shit. Justice can be a cold, cruel bitch sometimes, and it will be served en masse this season. Maybe it will finally be served in your case as well. If nothing else, it will save the Freep money by not printing this garbage.
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