Grantland.com, My New Favorite Website And Their Open Letter to Jim Tressel

A couple of months ago, ESPN/ESPN.com writer extraordinaire, Bill Simmons, launched the website Grantland.com.

I have quickly become a big fan of the site. Great writing, not only on sports but also on pop culture.

This open letter to Coach Jim Tressel was posted yesterday, written by John Brandon. Excellent!

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6891889/dear-coach-tressel

You can follow Grantland.com on twitter, @grantland33.

Terrelle Pryor Gone

Jim Tressel and Terrelle Pryor in the Good Ole Days

Terrelle Pryor will not play his senior season at Ohio State.

Here's the article from the Columbus Dispatch's website:

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2011/06/07/pryor-skips-senior-year-ohio-state.html

Here's his statement:

"In the best interest of my teammates, I have made the decision to forego (sic) my senior year of football at The Ohio State University," Pryor said in a prepared statement read by his attorney Larry James.

Bottom line, Terrelle Pryor had lost the respect of his teammates. Buckeye Nation wasn't going to welcome him back.

He couldn't even get the name right when he announced that he would attend Ohio State University back in March of 2008. THE UNIVERSITY OF OHIO STATE?!?!

Here's the press conference from that fateful day:

Hmmmm....

As I write this, ESPN has reported that Terrelle Pryor made $20,000-$40,000 signing memorabilia for a Columbus Businessman at Ohio State.

Idiot. Good riddance.

Here's the report from ESPN.com:

Terrelle Pryor Signings Netted Thousands

Link to Sports Illustrated Article About the Ohio State Football Program and Jim Tressel

Here is the Sports Illustrated article I referred to in my previous post about the resignation of Jim Tressel. Just released this evening:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/magazine/05/30/jim.tressel/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t11_a2

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/ photo Gary A. Vasquez/US Presswire

Jim Tressel Resigns-I'm Not Surprised

The Columbus Dispatch is also reporting that Jim Tressel was encouraged to resign by Ohio State University officials. Link:

Sources: Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel was encouraged to resign

There are reports that a damning article about Ohio State football and Jim Tressel is going to come out in Sports Illustrated this week, so it looks like the issues facing the program are too overwhelming for Jim Tressel to stay on as head coach.

Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio has been asking some intriguing questions of his guests on this morning's show. Can you win in big time college football and stay clean in the NCAA's eyes?


Look at some recent history. There are questions surrounding the 2011 National Champion Auburn and their recruitment of Cam Newton in addition to allegations of recruiting violations against the team Auburn beat, Oregon. USC will probably have to vacate their 2004 National Championship due to major infractions. 

ESPN just broadcast a report Sunday morning on their show, Outside the Lines, regarding the impact on recruiting that 7 on 7 high school football summer leagues is having. Third-party influences in the recruiting of college football players are becoming problematic according to the report.

I have said it before on this blog. Are Ohio State and Jim Tressel any better or worse than any other University trying to maintain their football program as a perennial top 20 in the country? It's a big business with multiple influences both inside and outside of those programs. And although the NCAA expects these programs to maintain "institutional control" it seems as though it is an impossible task.


Former Notre Dame head football coach and ESPN college football analyst Bob Davie had the best take I have heard regarding Jim Tressel's resignation. On Colin Cowherd's ESPN radio show this morning he said that Coach Tressel was the victim of a "self-inflicted wound" by not reporting the violations he was aware of to the NCAA and his superiors at Ohio State a year ago. 


College football and Ohio State will survive this. The Jim Tressel resignation will make for a great couple of days of coverage on talk radio and on the blogs. Columbus, Ohio will be batty for a couple of weeks. But soon all will be forgotten, and big-time college football will be back again in the Fall. Just a bump in the road in the big business that is college football.

Kirk Herbstreit-Harsh Words for Ohio State Football Fans

Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN College Football Analyst and former Ohio State Quarterback had some pretty harsh words for Ohio State and it's fan base in the wake of the "notice of allegations" sent to Ohio State from the NCAA today.

Here's the full report from ESPN.com:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6424573

A couple of quotes from Kirk:

"The Ohio State fan base blindly is supporting Ohio State and Jim Tressel. It's almost gotten to the point that he beats Michigan, he wins 10 games, he goes to BCS bowl games, they'll support him no matter what he does as far as the fan base.

"If this would have happened to John Cooper [Herbstreit's coach], not only would they have fired him, they would have actually lined it up and had a firing squad and fired him."

“quit recruiting players like Maurice Clarett and Terrelle Pryor.” 

Kirk Herbstreit and his family recently moved away from Columbus as he had decided that if he was going to be objective as a college football analyst, including being critical of his Alma mater, he wouldn't subject he and his family to the vocal minority of Ohio State fans who just couldn't understand that.

“Nobody loves Ohio State more than me,” said Herbstreit, a former Buckeyes quarterback. “I still have a picture of Woody Hayes and my dad (Jim, a former OSU player) in my office, and nobody will do more than I do for the university behind the scenes. But I’ve got a job to do, and I’m going to continue to be fair and objective. To continue to have to defend myself and my family in regards to my love and devotion to Ohio State is unfair.”

“From a sports perspective, this is rough,” he said. “I love Ohio State. Love the Blue Jackets. Love the Reds. Those are my hobbies. I don’t like moving. I love living here. I don’t want to leave. But I just can’t do this anymore. I really can’t keep going like this.

“Eighty to ninety percent of the Ohio State fans are great. It’s the vocal minority that make it rough. They probably represent only 5 to 10 percent of the fan base, but they are relentless.”


Kirk is right in his evaluation of the situation at Ohio State. Jim Tressel, believing he was protecting his players. But the players have also made bad choices. When you recruit players of questionable character, you will pay the price.

But, as I noted in my previous post on regarding this subject-who cares? It's big time college football, and winning is the goal. Ohio State and Jim Tressel are no better or worse than any other major college football coach or program.


GO BUCKS!

Just Like All The Others? Jim Tressel's Transgressions

I had a long drive last night after finishing a business trip to St. Louis. Listening to sports talk radio 700 WLW out of Cincinnati, I was able to hear highlights of the Jim Tressel press conference and local Cincinnati reaction to the story.

Jim Tressel was obligated to report information he received in emails about Ohio State football players selling/exchanging memorabilia with a tattoo parlor owner in the Columbus area months before the information became public this past December. The players implicated have received 5 game suspensions to be served at the beginning of the 2011 football season.

Jim Tressel screwed up. He said as much in the press conference last night. Talk radio callers generally gave him credit for standing up and taking his punishment. I'm not so sure. First of all, he didn't come out and self report it. He was caught. He had to face his punishment.

Secondly, I have to wonder about the inconsistencies of the punishments related to this incident. The players received a 5 game suspension for selling the memorabilia. Jim Tressel, the man who is supposed to be their leader, the man who is supposed to set an example for these young men, withholds information he was obligated to provide to his superiors, and signed an NCAA certificate of compliance at the beginning of the 2010 season stating "he has reported any knowledge of possible violations to the institution". What is Coach Tressel's punishment? A 2 game suspension and $250,000 fine. The NCAA will probably add to this punishment. But shouldn't the coach receive a harsher punishment than the player?

My take? No defense for what Jim Tressel did. He didn't get fired because he beats Michigan, wins Big Ten titles, and has won a National Championship. The disappointment for me is Jim Tressel seems to hold himself to a higher standard as does The Ohio State University. Both the coach and the institution are no different than any other College football coach or program.

But in the end, who cares? All will be forgiven when Jim Tressel leads The Ohio State University to another win over Michigan, another Big Ten Championship, and another BCS Bowl game.

As reported in the Columbus Dispatch: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2011/03/09/tressel-i-let-some-people-down.html?sid=101

New Puppy Part 2-The Verdict on a Name? Gracie!

Our new puppy came home today. We decided to name her Gracie. Not an original idea. Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel has two dogs named (and very appropriately I might add) Scarlett and Gracie.
Isn't she cute?