Concerning the Buckeyes

This combination of attire will make you a douche. AUTOMATICALLY

As this is an SEC sports blog, and as I was raised from a child in the South, you don’t hear much about my views on other conferences or coaches. My family is from Western Pennsylvania, so I was ingrained with a love for Penn State football. This guaranteed certain things: that I would forever defend Joe Paterno’s right to retire whenever he damn wells feels like it, and that I would hate the Ohio State Buckeyes. The latter is not a unique condition, and it is not exclusive to Nittany Lion fans, but it has not faded with time. When I was younger it was because they were always beating State, later it was because of the fans, and now…now it seems to be a little bit of everything. Besides the obvious hubris displayed by those faithful to the central Ohio, the reasons extend far and wide. So if you will allow me, please sit back and enjoy a bit of good off-season hatred.
Ohio State is dirty. Besides an entire university and fan base pledging its allegiance to a poisonous nut, it is truly an arrogant move to demand that everyone puts “the” in front of your name. The smug superiority on display every time you talk to a Buckeye fan, despite the act that they haven’t won a significant championship since 2002, is enough to rub you the wrong way; but so help me God, if someone does the stupid O-H-I-O cheer in front of me I’m punching a small animal.
A few years ago (it seems to be more than a few by now) I was watching OSU play Wisconsin when a scarlet clad linebacker broke through the line, only to be a half second too late as Badgers QB Jim Sorgi released the pass. But instead of pulling up and displaying good sportsmanship he hit Sorgi, fell on top of him, and put his hand on his throat and put as much weight down on his larnyx as possible. I can remember watching, horrified at the sheer malice of it and OSU, who had been struggling prior, went on to win the game. I’m sure dirty plays like this happen all over college football, but I can distinctly remember then brazen openness of the act and how it was the act of a desperate team that was about to be taken down by someone lower than them in their eyes.
All of this leads me to the point of the conversation today: that it is all coming crashing down. If you haven’t been paying attention, check out this link for the info. Basically, players were trading signed memorabilia in exchange for tattoo’s (which is a violation, but not program crushing) but the real interesting part of this is coach Jim Tressel’s involvement. After the NCAA and the FBI asked him about it, he denied knowledge. After it was proven that he knew (via leaked emails), he said he knew but didn’t tell anyone. After that was proven to be untrue (more leaked emails in which he not only revealed to Terrell Pryor’s “handler” he knew, but encouraged it) he said that there was no way anything else could have been going on. Then recently a new report came out that implicates two car salesman giving players and family members of players steep (and by steep, the sale price on one of the cars was $0.00) discounts on cars. When asked, the administration denied knowing these men but signed documents have proven that they were at BCS bowl games and up to seven others by using player issued tickets. All of this under the watch of a man who has repeated ad nauseam that his program is one of honesty and morality makes this such a pleasing event for me. Ohio State is about to get cracked on, and the supposed champion of morals and clean prgoram running is about to get blackballed. Anything less than Tressel’s firing is unacceptable, but it hasn’t happened yet and the only reason it hasn’t is because the AD doesn’t think that it will ease the punishment. So what should be done. The NCAA hasn’t handed out a death sentence since the SMU decision of the mid-80’s that killed their football program, but I’m not impractical enough to believe that the fine folks who took away Enes Kanter would be willing to cut a chunk of revenue that size out of their wallets, but to act like these sort of egregious violations don’t indicate a university wide disregard for the rules is being naive.
So why go on this lengthy rant just to explain the current state of Ohio State football? Because it has made my year. So far. That, and the combination of Tennessee preparing for the hammer to be brought down on them. Now all that has to happen is for justice to be served. That and Jessica Biel needs to call me back. I’ve called like 30 times.

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