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| So much controversy |
Should they or shouldn’t they?
That question, when directed towards the OSU football team, has many answers from many topics. It could deal with possible sanctions, or maybe Jim Tressel’s future, maybe it deals with the suspended players being given their starting spots back when they return. Those are all valid topics, but not what I am going to write about. Today, I am going to write about if the players, coaches, and support staff should be given their sets of gold pants that were earned for beating Michigan 37-7.
As of now the gold pant charms are still with the jeweler that is contracted to make them. Where they are not, is with the people who earned them. Should they receive them, when there is a danger that all of 2010 wins are vacated? In my opinion they deserve their Gold Pants. If the NCAA rules they have to vacate the wins, and OSU has to give back Rings and trophies, and even take the score off of the Illibuck, then so be it, however, they should still keep the Gold Pants. The other awards are official NCAA sanctioned awards, or in the case of the Illibuck, a trophy given between schools.
However, the gold pants are an OSU Award. They are not also given to Michigan if they EVER win the game, no they are only given to OSU players, coaches, and personnel WHEN they win the game. No matter what the NCAA says, no matter what the “official” record books say, the Buckeyes beat Michigan!! I know they did, I watched the game. That is a memory that cannot be taken away from the people associated with the team. The NCAA cannot, from what I know take away personal school awards. Can they take away team MVP awards? Can they take Buckeye leaves of off the helmets? No and No. Years from now when people ask Cam Heyward and Dane Sanzenbacher how they did against Michigan, they won’t say: I was on a team that beat Michigan 4 times, with an asterisk, and here are my three sets of Gold Pants. They will see say we beat Michigan 4 times and they should be able to show off ALL of their gold pants.
Sure, if you look at from a negative perspective, these charms may not mean as much to some people. Yes, some were traded for tattoos, and apparently two pairs wound up on the History Channel show Pawn Stars, but in my opinion the players should be able to do whatever they want with them, once they are in their possession (I personally would never give mine away, if I ever had a pair), they earned them (the NCAA needs to look at that rule). I also don’t believe that OSU should hold them until the players are out of eligibility. Are varsity “O”s being held until eligibility is up? I doubt that.
If, after this whole tattoos for gifts fiasco, people do not realize that it is against NCAA rules to trade items for gifts (again, the NCAA should rethink that rule for future purposes), then honestly they are not intelligent enough to go to a great university like OSU. So these ramblings are my opinions. The players, no matter what the record books might say once the NCAA is done with the Buckeyes, were on a team that beat Michigan, and they should get the awards that they deserve.
