Tressel McCheaty Pants

[bighousemike84]

As we all know Tressel and UOS have been cheating for the last 8 years. Offering money and gifts to both scholarship athletes and recruits. Notice the last 2 paragraphs of the article. It mentions a recruit who on a recruiting visit got special treatment in the form of a reduced rate hotel room and free food for him and his buddys all weekend.

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content//local_news/stories/2009/05/31/FERPA_OSU.ART_ART_05-31-09_A14_D4E14K6.html?sid=101


The recruit arrived in town sometime during the 2007 football season with three friends and went to a game.

The football player received a special, discounted hotel rate and free food while visiting Ohio State.

On Aug. 21, OSU declared the athlete ineligible and filed a violation report with the NCAA. He never missed a game, though. He paid back $158 for his extra benefits, and the NCAA restored his eligibility.

He was a freshman at Ohio State last year.

He was recruited by quarterbacks coach Joe Daniels.


Lets see. Pryor gets preferential and illegal treatment from Ohio State and somehow ends up signing with UOS after a long and heated recruiting battle. Hmmm... Coincidence? I think not. Worst of all since Pryor excepted the special treatment he was ineligible but all he had to do was pay 158 bucks to set things straight. I highly doubt that Pryor even payed that 158$.

I always knew that UOS was a school of cheaters and this is just further proof of that fact. Under Woody Hayes I could respect the Buckeyes, Hate them but at least respect them. Under Tressel I cant respect them. Tressel acts like he is such a great person but he will break just about any rule to get his way. Fucking Asshole

[Mike Furley]

i'm far from a Tressel apologist, but if $158 is what you are hanging your hat on, then I think you may be obsessing about this. If it were $500 or $1K, or more, or a Reggie Bush type deal for his folks, etc, then I think that could be construed as cheating.

$158 seems more like an oversight or a lack of knowledge as to NCAA rules. I have no idea what exactly transpired, and neither do you. I offer up the following as a hypothetical explanation:

Pryor is expected to arrive for a visit and arrangements are made for his care - hotel room & meal money. He shows up with three buddies. Instead of kicking the three friends out on the street, they move Pryor and friends to a room that can accomodate 4 people. The 4 of them order room service for the night, maybe four burgers and four sodas. The cost of a second room and room service could easily account for that paltry sum. OSU reports the violation and is told the player has to make up the difference. The player asks his three friends to pony up their share, and restitution is made. The NCAA accepts the restitution and eligibilty is restored.

Is this scenario cheating? Well, yes it violates the rules. Was it the right thing to do in that case from a human perspective? Probably yes. Should the NCAA have come down harder? Maybe, but take that up with them.

I too find Tressel to perhaps be more image than substance on the whole Ned Flanders routine. I don't know for a fact, its just a suspicion. But I wouldnt consider this event to be some sort of "smoking gun". Maybe I'm just a homer, but this by itself doesn't have the feel of a scandal.

[bighousemike84]

Here is my hypothetical explanation:

Pryor is expected to arrive for a visit and arrangements are made for his care - Hotel room and meal money for him and his three friends. Instead of telling his friends that they have to pay for a room themselves the hotel gives Pryor and his buddies a posh suite. The 4 of them order room service for the night. They order all kinds of stuff like burgers, sodas, pizza, chicken nuggets, desserts. The hotel owner is a huge Ohio State fan and gives everything to Pryor and his 3 friends because he gets to meet Tressel and is given an autographed football. OSU reports the violation and is given the option of paying a fine for the offense or face stiffer penaltys so they pay the fine for the player to avoid losing any playing time. The NCAA accepts the payment because they are a heartless, money hungry machine and eligibility is restored.

Yes they cheated. They cheated with Clarret. They cheated with Troy Smith and they have cheated with Pryor. Ohio State is very good at cheating and getting away with it. Tressel is good at putting himself in a position to deny any knowledge of the wrong doing just in case they ever get caught in something big. I just wonder how many thing has UOS done that no one knows about?


UOS "Where the cheaters are"

[gator]

Mike and Mike (ha ha),

I'm with both of you on nobody's buying the Ned Flanders routine...except OSU fans. What's done it for me is his history with the coaches poll. Remember the Texas and OSU vote number one controversy; he had some staffer come out and be the fall guy, but nobody will ever convince me he didn't know the vote. He just didn't think his vote would be made public. Then remember the no vote final poll before the '06 NC game. Oh, he had a nice spin on it like he did it out of integrity, but the guy just wilted on his obligation as a voter to the poll so he wouldn't take heat for his vote. He was in a tough spot, no doubt, but the guy had took the responsibility to be a voter so he should have lived up to it. This guy isn't politicing; he's a politician, which means he's a grandstander, spin-doctor, and liar IMO. Now is that a NCAA violation? Nope. I just don't have any respect for the guy and I wouldn't put anything past him. As an outsider from across the country, I'm with Furley on this. Sure it cast dispersions on the situation and you are certainly justified to be suspicious, but this is hardly a smoking gun. $158? These guys probably get more than that from slick handshakes with alumni after the games. If anything, Pryor should have been insulted if they made a move to buy him and that was all he got.

[Mike Furley]

Here is my hypothetical explanation:

Pryor is expected to arrive for a visit and arrangements are made for his care - Hotel room and meal money for him and his three friends. Instead of telling his friends that they have to pay for a room themselves the hotel gives Pryor and his buddies a posh suite.


I know you folks like to rip on OSU fans as "buckstaches" and Columbus as the worst synthesis of a ghetto and trailor park, but if you think a "posh" hotel room with all sorts of goodies adds up to $158, then I've got a bridge to sell to you. Shoot, even a real shithole like Detroit has "posh" hotels priced more than that.

I know we aren't going to agree on the whole Pryor incident, but we can at least agree on this point, no?


For the record, I agree with you part way on the Clarret issue. There is no way in heck Jim Tressel, being a year removed from the Youngstown area, didn't know what kind of character he was getting with Clarret. Now was he complicit? I don't think so.

He, like most sleazy politicians, want plausible deniability. He wiilfully looked the other way at Clarret's (and other Buckeyes' transgressions) until a player would be caught - and then he would do the Ned Flanders schtick.

Did Clarret tell the truth? To some degree yes, but I think he also lied so much that his credibility was completely shot.

[bighousemike84]

Who is to say the $158 isnt just a fine for the offense?

Obviously I dont think that a suite and room service adds up to $158! I dont think the money paid to the NCAA was for any kind of restitution

[byebyelloyd]

i'm far from a Tressel apologist, but if $158 is what you are hanging your hat on, then I think you may be obsessing about this. If it were $500 or $1K, or more, or a Reggie Bush type deal for his folks, etc, then I think that could be construed as cheating.

$158 seems more like an oversight or a lack of knowledge as to NCAA rules. I have no idea what exactly transpired, and neither do you. I offer up the following as a hypothetical explanation:

Pryor is expected to arrive for a visit and arrangements are made for his care - hotel room & meal money. He shows up with three buddies. Instead of kicking the three friends out on the street, they move Pryor and friends to a room that can accomodate 4 people. The 4 of them order room service for the night, maybe four burgers and four sodas. The cost of a second room and room service could easily account for that paltry sum. OSU reports the violation and is told the player has to make up the difference. The player asks his three friends to pony up their share, and restitution is made. The NCAA accepts the restitution and eligibilty is restored.

Is this scenario cheating? Well, yes it violates the rules. Was it the right thing to do in that case from a human perspective? Probably yes. Should the NCAA have come down harder? Maybe, but take that up with them.

I too find Tressel to perhaps be more image than substance on the whole Ned Flanders routine. I don't know for a fact, its just a suspicion. But I wouldnt consider this event to be some sort of "smoking gun". Maybe I'm just a homer, but this by itself doesn't have the feel of a scandal.

hmmmm, sensing some bias here maybe, but anyway, this is not the first time and it is becoming a recurring theme at ohio state, sure most schools probably do it, but ohio state keeps getting caught. they may want to lay low for a while. once the USC decision is made, the NCAA will be looking for the next ass to crawl into and ohio state may get caught with their pants down.