Is Ray Small Really To Blame?

Under surveillance indeed.

Saturday, ESPN launched a story that Ray Small was misquoted, and that the Lantern added things that Small never said. In the actual interview, Small says that he never said to the Lantern that "everyone did it" at Ohio State, talking about selling rings and other Ohio State memorabilia. Also in the interview, Small explained that "It was either break the rule or get evicted,". "That was the best thing I could do. It was the smartest plan I came up with to pay my rent." 


Small, whose senior season with the Buckeyes was in 2009, said he sold the rings midway through his Buckeye career because his regular scholarship check for room and board didn't cover his year-round costs of living in Columbus. He also felt compelled to unload them because he lacked the funds to afford a car he was driving at the time, a 2007 Chrysler 300 that carried a $600 monthly payment.

"Being young, I wasn't good with my money," he said. "I made a bad decision on a car and I had to pay it."

"Small found himself in the national headlines Wednesday when the student newspaper at Ohio State, The Lantern, published excerpts of a phone interview with him in which he seemed to suggest that teammates regularly received benefits in violation of NCAA rules. On Friday, Small claimed his comments were mischaracterized, and that he knows of no violations of NCAA rules by teammates.

At the same time, when asked by ESPN if he would disclose NCAA violations among teammates if he knew of them, he said no.

"I am a Buckeye at heart," he said."

I may be out of mind, but this speaks to me. The fact that he doesn't want to talk with the NCAA if he doesn't have to either tells me that Tressel and co. told him that no matter what he can't talk to them, or, he truly doesn't want to rat out his teammates and is now trying to do damage control. The media blew up on him, and now he's trying to fix it with the truth coming out. He said in the interview that when he sold those rings, that he knew he was breaking a rule, and he simply says that he didn't care because he knew he would get evicted if he didn't. 

One more mystery is also solved. Ray Small did not attend the 2010 Rose Bowl victory that brought the Buckeye's out of a BCS slump and back into the big picture, but for unknown reasons. Now we have found out that it is because he was found with drugs (pot) on him. Ray Small was a dirty player, but is he the one to really blame? The Lantern is an OSU School-based newspaper, and to print this type of story is just incredible to deal with. They had no right. Ray Small may not be the cleanest or well-liked Buckeye in the nation, but the Lantern might be right down there with him.