“The Vest” remains in the news after Ohio State University has announced their 2010 Big Ten championship and 12-1 season will be sacrificed. The biggest hit on the fans may be these wins include a victory over bitter rival Michigan and an Allstate Sugar Bowl win.
Okay, so the dust has already settled from that bullshit since we all know OSU actually won those games regardless what the books will say. What’s more important is the fact Coach Jim Tressel and Terrelle Pryor are gone and several players are walking around with new tattoos they received as gifts.
Regardless what goes into the record books, the Buckeyes beat the rival Wolverines for a seventh straight time, won its 6th straight Big Ten title and had a quarterback driving sports cars most college kids could never afford without some outside help.
Along with “sacrificing” the season, the school included two years of self-imposed probation but will that be enough to appease NCAA officials who have been waving a huge stick lately (Google USC).
In case you’ve been in a coma over the past NCAA Football season and are just waking up here’s the brief recap. OSU football players swapped autographs and memorabilia tattoos and cash and after “The Vest” was informed of the activity, the head coach didn’t report it for about nine months and therefore is accused of covering it up.
So will this be enough to ward off the vicious NCAA investigators?
Have to doubt it since the actions by the coach and possibly people higher than him is more inexcusable than the actions of poor kids trying to make a few bucks while playing ball in college.
Smith went on record to explain how his school’s actions and punishment are “significant” but they really aren’t. Taking “FUTURE” bowl games, titles and recruitment rights away is the only legitimate punishment and we should expect that.
When teams impose punishment on themselves by taking past accomplishment away, it’s like saying sorry after you commit the crime and that’s not good enough; some time needs to be served.
Before this self-imposed move by OSU, there were five-game suspensions levied against five players. After that occurred, it was discovered that coach Tressell knew about the infractions almost a year earlier and that produced the mushroom cloud.
Yeah, Tressell is since gone for good but when the school agrees to pay him the last month of his base pay ($54,000) then the situation starts looking like a CEO getting paid leave after blatantly breaking laws or rules.
That said, expect the NCAA hammer to come down and crack the nuts open in Columbus.
Originally from Detroit, Tom is an Atlanta-based sportswriter whose work has been published in the New York Daily News, Washington Times, Detroit Free Press and national hockey mags including The Hockey News (Canada) and USA Hockey Magazine. Follow Tom on Twitter @TomFerda
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