First of all, I am a fan and an alumnus of The Ohio State University. My fall Saturdays are spent watching, cheering, and screaming over Buckeye football. Luckily, I have a very understanding wife and daughter. Because of this love of the Buckeyes, the news regarding the “violations” committed by the players and coach have been disheartening, to say the least. At this point, though, I have, for the most part forgiven the players. They broke a rule and, no matter how bad we the fans think the rule itself is, they should and will pay the price by missing the first five games of the season. However, I am having a more difficult time forgiving Coach Tressel.
I remember when I first heard the Buckeyes hired a Division 1-AA coach, albeit an extremely successful coach, I wasn’t thrilled. I wanted a big name, an established big time coach. However, my feelings quickly changed. When Tress went to the OSU v Michigan basketball game and announced that we would be proud of the team in the classroom, in the community and in 310 days in Ann Arbor, Michigan, I was sold! He would bring the pride back to the football team; we WOULD beat Michigan!! He did what he promised and once again made the Buckeyes football royalty. Since Coach Tressel took over, we have dominated Michigan and the Big Ten. The Buckeyes are “beasts.” Outside of a few small infractions - most notably Troy Smith accepting $500 from boosters - our Buckeyes have been a clean program, led by a great and honest coach. Well, at least those are the rosy feelings I used to have. These feelings started to crumble this past winter, when Tattoo-Gate appeared. Players, most notably “superstars” Pryor, Posey, and Herron, traded items for tattoos, resulting in their suspensions. Tressel claimed to know nothing, and we as Buckeye faithfuls believed him. Actually, we believed in him. How wrong we were.
