 |
| Waving goodbye to college |
Terrelle Pryor has become quite possibly the most polarizing figure in the history of OSU football over his tenure at the university. There is no question the man possesses athletic ability that the common man can only dream of. He is at least partially responsible for giving the fans a great record since 2008 and has single handily won several big games for the scarlet and gray. There is no denying that he will go down as one of the great quarterbacks in the school’s history.
Unfortunately, with good comes the really REALLY bad. From most accounts he was an arrogant and self involved individual. I can’t say I wouldn’t be the same way if I had grown up with the public adoration and fan fare that he did. As a two sport star in western PA, I imagine the kid rarely heard the word no and was constantly praised throughout the community and the nation. Every one of us that fawned over him in the recruiting process through message boards and blog posts is partially responsible for the monster that ended up taking down our beloved coach, and to a degree, the university.
All of that being said, how the hell did his 5 game suspension get "carried over" to his professional career? What he did in college has absolutely nothing to do with what he may do in the pros. Is there any kind of precedent for this type of punishment? In the past there have been spouse beaters, $500 handshake takers, players who had tutors write a whole semesters’ worth of papers and any other number of individuals with more egregious offenses that welcomed into the NFL with open arms. I really think that Roger Goodell gets a hard on by just throwing his weight around. I realize that Pryor probably deserves everything that he has coming to him but you can’t just start making up rules on the fly. I agree that carrying over punishments from college to the pro game is a great idea. No doubt it would help curb the wild west mentality that college football currently resides in but you can’t just start with whoever you want! There has to be legislation drafted and rules put into place before this type of shit goes down. Whatever. As long as the Browns don’t waste a pick in him it’s all good. I just can’t endure another 5 years of wounded ducks floating toward the opposing secondary.
It has been open season on the Buckeye football program for awhile now. Rarely has anyone brought up the actual game of football over the last six months but that is now starting to change. Preseason polls are out and numerous publications have thrown their hat into the game. Most credible preseason prognostications (“credible” and “preseason poll” don’t really belong in the same sentence together but that is neither here nor there) have the Buckeyes somewhere in the 10-20 range for this upcoming season. What does it all mean? Nothing really but it is fun to have something to argue about for the next few weeks. I definitely see Ohio St. taking a step back this year. Not a BIG step but a step nonetheless. It is impossible to lose 5 starters from last year’s Sugar Bowl championship team, including the head coach, and expect to go BCS bowling again. I have come to terms with that and am prepared to suffer through a couple bad weekends this fall. Hopefully Fickell and company can get the best quarterback under center (PLEASE no Joe Bauserman) and implement an offense that will give us the best chance to win. I think the defense will be nasty as usual and the running game should be a strength moving forward.
All of that being said, how the hell did his 5 game suspension get "carried over" to his professional career? What he did in college has absolutely nothing to do with what he may do in the pros. Is there any kind of precedent for this type of punishment? In the past there have been spouse beaters, $500 handshake takers, players who had tutors write a whole semesters’ worth of papers and any other number of individuals with more egregious offenses that welcomed into the NFL with open arms. I really think that Roger Goodell gets a hard on by just throwing his weight around. I realize that Pryor probably deserves everything that he has coming to him but you can’t just start making up rules on the fly. I agree that carrying over punishments from college to the pro game is a great idea. No doubt it would help curb the wild west mentality that college football currently resides in but you can’t just start with whoever you want! There has to be legislation drafted and rules put into place before this type of shit goes down. Whatever. As long as the Browns don’t waste a pick in him it’s all good. I just can’t endure another 5 years of wounded ducks floating toward the opposing secondary.
It has been open season on the Buckeye football program for awhile now. Rarely has anyone brought up the actual game of football over the last six months but that is now starting to change. Preseason polls are out and numerous publications have thrown their hat into the game. Most credible preseason prognostications (“credible” and “preseason poll” don’t really belong in the same sentence together but that is neither here nor there) have the Buckeyes somewhere in the 10-20 range for this upcoming season. What does it all mean? Nothing really but it is fun to have something to argue about for the next few weeks. I definitely see Ohio St. taking a step back this year. Not a BIG step but a step nonetheless. It is impossible to lose 5 starters from last year’s Sugar Bowl championship team, including the head coach, and expect to go BCS bowling again. I have come to terms with that and am prepared to suffer through a couple bad weekends this fall. Hopefully Fickell and company can get the best quarterback under center (PLEASE no Joe Bauserman) and implement an offense that will give us the best chance to win. I think the defense will be nasty as usual and the running game should be a strength moving forward.
With the obvious limitations and youth in certain areas of the team, what is an acceptable and realistic win total for this season? I feel that 9-3 or 10-2 is a good bet and there is an outside shot at playing in the inaugural Big Ten title game in Indy. The trip to Lincoln will be tough but that game will see the return of Boom, Posey and Adams. That should have a dramatic effect on our scoring power so I am not ready to chalk that one up in the loss column just yet. Wisconsin and Michigan St. have BCS dreams this year but both have to make it out of Columbus alive which won’t be easy. Michigan and Penn St. will be physical and challenging games as well but I really don’t see any guaranteed losses anywhere on the schedule. A lucky bounce of the football or a good/bad break here and there can mean the difference this year but I sure as hell don’t agree with the mountain of writers that predict a 7-5 season for OSU. Come on guys! This is still Ohio St. and we still have the best collection of athletes in the conference. Go ahead and write your articles and toss out your ridiculous predictions. It only gives the team more fire in their belly to prove everyone wrong.
Now that is what you call a scandal! Man, the Miami story has everything. There were hookers, free cars, abortions (yikes!), cash payments, ponzi schemes and much much more. It was like Studio 54, ESPN’s Playmakers, and Any Given Sunday all rolled up into one juicy story. I can’t tell you how happy I was when this story first broke. In comparison it made the Buckeye players look like freakin’ choir boys. That evening I got all cuddled up on the couch, made some popcorn and awaited the newest Sportscenter so I could revel in the misery of those thugs from the U. To my surprise, the lead that night was some off the cuff remarks made by Pryor that he may have broken some other rules at OSU that hadn’t already been disclosed. Are you kidding me? The dude is already kicked out of school and on his way to a mediocre pro career. The story is dead. Let it go already! The media gods just dropped a mega story right into your lap and you chose to still harp on Pryor and Ohio St. Not only did ESPN not lead with Canegate but it didn’t even show up until almost 30 minutes into the program. When they finally decided to mention it all that was shown was a quick graphic and statement that there may be some trouble brewing in South Florida. I may have aged 10 years that day due to stress and anger. There is no doubt in my mind that ESPN is controlled by the devil or the ghost of Bo Schembechler is their producer. Either way their priorities are way out of whack.
Now that is what you call a scandal! Man, the Miami story has everything. There were hookers, free cars, abortions (yikes!), cash payments, ponzi schemes and much much more. It was like Studio 54, ESPN’s Playmakers, and Any Given Sunday all rolled up into one juicy story. I can’t tell you how happy I was when this story first broke. In comparison it made the Buckeye players look like freakin’ choir boys. That evening I got all cuddled up on the couch, made some popcorn and awaited the newest Sportscenter so I could revel in the misery of those thugs from the U. To my surprise, the lead that night was some off the cuff remarks made by Pryor that he may have broken some other rules at OSU that hadn’t already been disclosed. Are you kidding me? The dude is already kicked out of school and on his way to a mediocre pro career. The story is dead. Let it go already! The media gods just dropped a mega story right into your lap and you chose to still harp on Pryor and Ohio St. Not only did ESPN not lead with Canegate but it didn’t even show up until almost 30 minutes into the program. When they finally decided to mention it all that was shown was a quick graphic and statement that there may be some trouble brewing in South Florida. I may have aged 10 years that day due to stress and anger. There is no doubt in my mind that ESPN is controlled by the devil or the ghost of Bo Schembechler is their producer. Either way their priorities are way out of whack.
I see no way that Miami gets out of this without the much hyped “Death Penalty”. There are just too many players involved and too much evidence to escape it. Even former players interviewed about the story don’t deny that they did anything wrong. They just make statements like “that is in the past” and “this guy has an agenda”. Yeah, his agenda is to tell the truth to avoid dying in jail because of his BILLION dollar ponzi scheme. This story is just unreal. If you haven’t read the Yahoo! Story yet make sure you put the kids to bed have about a gallon of hand sanitizer on hand before you jump into that story. The great thing about it is Miami hasn’t even suspended any players named in the investigation yet. I don’t really blame them though. What is the point? This is going to be the last year of football for awhile so might as well give one last middle finger to the NCAA on the way out the door.
