Unfortunately, the “here’s today’s updates” is going to become a regular feature here at tBBC. It is what it is. That being said, we’re looking for a picture/logo or even a new title to help distinguish this from the “normal” SBP updates- leave your recommendations in the comments!
NCAA InVESTigation
- According to several sources, folks from the University and the NCAA team met individually with the players named in the SI report today.
- Additionally, according to 97.1, the NCAA will also meet with Dohrmann’s source, “Ellis”. Speculation abounds as to the important aspect of their conversation.
Other Buckeye News
- Terrelle Pryor’s driver’s license?
Still suspended. UPDATE- Not anymore. The car he was driving? Being paid for by mom. ABC6? Still not classy. - In this economy, you could do worse- OSU Compliance Office is hiring!
- But it’s not for the job you’d think… Smith gets
the kiss of deatha vote of confidence from E. Gordon Gee.
Things To Remember
- Ramzy over at 11W talks about the influence that Jim Tressel had off the field… the difference you’d never see in the media, but only in the lives of others. Great article… if you’re a Buckeye, you’ll want to read this.
- Bryson Hummel’s parents give their perspective on Coach Tressel’s legacy– their son lost his leg in a tragic accident when he was younger; Jim Tressel worked to make him a part of the Buckeye family in some very special ways.
Other Great Reads
- Chris Spielman brings truth and perspective:
“See my problem is we live — and we’ve got to be careful as parents — in a very narcissistic society because everybody believes they’re owed something. Because we have Facebook and all these social networks and everybody thinks they’re a freaking star: Let’s post pictures online so everyone can see my great accomplishments.
“So until we get guys to realize it’s not about them, it’s about the team … And it’s OK to suffer a little bit financially while you’re in school, and you’re going to be better for it. Then kids will make better decisions.
- Former OSU AD Andy Geiger also weighs in:
He is, in my view far more than a football coach. He is in many ways a mentor, and would try to correct the problem from within and rectify the situation rather than have it become a ’cause celebre’. That fact is at once admirable, and (at the same time) the wrong thing to do.
I told USA Today yesterday, I haven’t looked at the paper, I don’t care that much in terms of that stuff (what the paper may have said), but I said if I had a young son who was getting ready, and was talented to be a program like that, there isn’t anybody in the country I’d rather have him play for and be associated with than Jim Tressel. This doesn’t change my mind on that.
- Sports Illustrated’s (seriously) Steve Rushin went meta and talked about the atmosphere of sports journalism–
In the past week, then, the word “scandalous” has been applied in print equally to Ryan Giggs (Manchester United midfielder accused of marital infidelity) and Dominique Strauss-Kahn (ex-IMF chief accused of rape).
In headlines, DISGRACED now precedes TRESSEL (who deserves scrutiny for evidently overseeing an unclean football program) in the same way it does MADOFF (who deserves life imprisonment for robbing people of their life savings). “Fraud” has been caboosed to both names, which suggests a failure of language. Their two transgressions, it somehow seems necessary to point out, are not equal. But the tenor of the commentary often is.
None of this is meant to excuse the daily litany of deceit documented on the sports pages. Tressel should of course be held to account. It’s the inevitable byproduct — the pro forma public condemnations, the expressions of moral outrage — that I find wearisome. A man’s public persona doesn’t reflect his private failings? Neither does mine. Creating an idealized public persona is practically the job description of column writing (and other forms of punditry), which makes it an exceedingly unlikely forum for moralizing.
Anyone who feels real moral outrage when reading the Sports section has almost certainly skipped the News and Metro sections. The murderers given a single paragraph on 2C, The Hague-bound war criminals on 1A, would leave the most self-righteous reader too demoralized to moralize on, say, the Miami Heat. A man taking his talents to South Beach is, in the context of a single day’s newspaper, a comical diversion, a performance-art piece of slapstick self-absorption.
Other College Football News
- Denny Mayo reminds us of this fact of college sports:
- Business as usual- At the coaches meeting today the SEC’s head football coaches voted unanimously to stick with the conference’s current recruiting/signing protocol, instead of a proposal that would lower the yearly signing allowance from 28 to 25.
- One interesting thing that came from the meeting, though: The Old Ball Coach proposed paying players $300 per game to help cover expenses. Interestingly enough, 7 of the 12 coaches said they’d be willing to pay that out of their own salaries. Undocumented, though, was the percentage of SEC players who weren’t interested in taking a pay cut. JoePa says he supports this plan, with limits.
- Just whispers… that the Will Lyles/Oregon situation might be back in the news pretty soon. Of course, this could be just wishful thinking /crossesfingers
And Finally…
- Help our friend Robbie Donoho by voting for him to be a part of the Indianapolis Colts’ media team!
- We laugh to avoid tears… Maestro of MSPaint Thujone has turned his brush to the recent Ohio State situation.
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