Yahoo! Sports reports that Jim Tressel was aware of Ohio State players having sold team memorabilia to a tattoo parlor owner as early as April 2010. If so, OSU’s appeal to the NCAA to reduce the suspensions of the five cheaters will fall on deaf ears. Will harsher sanctions follow if Tressel attempted to sweep the matter under the rug? Will Tressel be fired? I’m sure termination will have to be considered if Tressel deliberately covered up information he had a duty to report to the NCAA and the University. It will be interesting to see OSU’s response tomorrow (most likely complete denial).

Of course, if Tressel played games with ineligible players participating, Ohio State may have to forfeit its entire 2010 season. Will The Dispatch update its daily ticker (days since Michigan beat Ohio State in football)? Wouldn’t it go back to zero? Perhaps we will no longer have to hear about Ohio State “winning”/sharing a “record” 6 consecutive Big Ten Titles? Maybe Pryor will be suspended for the entire 2011 season (which would be the best thing that could happen to Ohio State)? Loss of scholarships as well? The possibilities are limitless.

Ohio State fans are in a state of denial and disbelief. Don’t they realize that other players went to the same tattoo shop to get tattoos, saw what was going on and reported it to Tressel? It’s all pretty simple.

мебели от чамAdam Rittenberg from ESPN’s Big Ten Blog interviewed Craig Haubert, recruiting coordinator for Scout’s, Inc. Although this quote was attributable to Haubert, I’m going to call Rittenberg and Haubert to the table on it.

Fiction: “Just so much of the country is shifting to the south, so if you’re the Big Ten, you’ve got to go where the people are. You’ve got to start reaching down to Florida, which I think Ohio State in the last two or three years has done well, reaching more down south and getting guys out of Florida. ”

Fact: Ohio State currently has seven players on their roster from Florida:

Jaamal Berry
Etienne Sabino
Jordan Hall
Travis Howard
Orhian Johnson
Carlos Hyde
Michael Brewster

Haubert seems to ignore the fact that Michigan has nine players on their roster from Florida:

Denard Robinson
Vincent Smith
Jeremy Gallon
Vladimir Emillen
Brandin Hawthorne
Martavious Odoms
Mike Jones
Brendan Gibbons
Ricky Barnum

And somehow Ohio State gets mentioned as the recruiting power in Florida. Whatever!

How about Purdue?

O.J. Ross
Antwon Higgs
Al-Terek McBurse
Gary Bush
E.J. Johnson
Robert Marve
Antavian Edison
Jonathan Linkenheimer
Rob Henry
Charlton Williams
Ricardo Allen
Ishmael Aristide
Josh Johnson
Chris Quinn
Normando Harris
Jarrett Dieudonne
Kevin Pamphile
Will Lucas
Brandon Taylor
Gabe Holmes

20 players on their roster from Florida.

Illinois has 13 Florida players on their roster.

So I wrote Rittenberg. Let’s see how he responds to:

Adam,

I was reading your column, “Big Ten recruiting Q&A: Part I” with expert recruiting analyst, Craig Haubert, as your guest. In that article, Haubert lauds Ohio State for reaching down south into Florida where the players are. He indicates that Ohio State is “adjusting the best” to going where the talent is in Florida over the last two or three years. However a very cursory review of Big Ten rosters belies his statement. OSU has only 7 players hailing from Florida on their current roster and 3 2011 commitments doesn’t really skew things in their favor. Michigan has 9 on their current roster. Illinois has 13. Purdue has a jaw dropping 20. I’m left wondering why I should subscribe to his “insider” reports. Or are OSU fans more likely to open their wallet if they are pandered to then other fans?

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It’s time to call ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg to the table. He gets away with far too many unsupported statements. His latest: “We can debate whether Ohio State’s Sugar Bowl win is tainted by the suspension drama, but the Buckeyes showed that at full strength, they’re one of the nation’s best teams.”

The evidence against his claim:

1 – Ohio State had a total of 93 yards of offense in the second half. While everyone seems to be making a big deal of Pryor’s 336 total yards, he was a no show in the second half. Apparently, Rittenberg chose to ignore this when he wrote, “Terrelle Pryor is a big-time bowl performer.” What?! Are you kidding me? Terrelle Pryor couldn’t complete a third down pass in the third quarter. What did his coach do in the fourth quarter? Having lost complete confidence in this big-time bowl performer,” Tressel didn’t allow Pryor to attempt another third down pass in the fourth quarter. Even when faced with a third and 15, he had Pryor attempt to run for a first down, and the big time bowl performer came up a yard short. Tressel basically told Pryor and anyone watching that he didn’t have confidence in his quarterback. This message seems to be quite the contrary to “you’re a big time bowl performer, Terrelle.”

2 – Faced with a fourth and one, Tressel elected to go for it, and one of the nation’s best teams fumbled the ball and failed to pick up a first down to ice the game. Please note that Tressel had Pryor hand off the ball to Saine. Why didn’t Pryor run the ball himself if he was such a big time bowl performer? Perhaps the memory of Pryor fumbling against Penn State on fourth and one still flashed in the mind of Tressel. If you are truly a big time bowl performer, the coach gives you the ball in that situation.

3 – With a little over a minute to go in the game, Ohio State punted from their own 38 yard line. One of the nation’s best teams (despite their troubles all year long with special teams) had the punt blocked. Arkansas, however, didn’t have the sense to scoop up the ball and run it the remaining 18 yards into the end zone. How can you be one of the nation’s best teams if you’ve had trouble all year with special teams?

4 – Pryor was a measly 1 for 6 in the second half against Arkansas. That’s a whopping 16% completion rate folks. He would have been worse but his coach had the good sense to take the ball out of his hands in the fourth quarter.

Conclusion – I’m not sure how Pryor won the MVP for the Sugar Bowl when he only showed up for half the game. If anything the award should have gone to Cam Heyward who played at a high level throughout the entire (i.e., whole) game. Without Heyward, OSU would have been rocked by Arkansas. Ohio State may have one of the nation’s best defenses but they only played one half of offense and special teams are a major issue. Not sure how you can be one of the nation’s best teams when your offense doesn’t show up for half the game and special teams are a significant liability.

Back up your statements, Rittenberg. I’m calling you to the table from now on.

A little digging and you can find all kinds of court records on Ohio State players:

Jermale Hines – no operator’s licenses and ACDA

Jermale Hines charged with driving without a license, driving on sidewalk, etc.

Jermale Hines cited again for driving without a license

How do you get away with driving without a license on three separate occasions? More Ohio State favoritism from Columbus police?

On his last such offense, the judge fined him a total of $150.

In light of Terrelle Pryor’s most recent spate of traffic violations involving three cars (none of which belonged to him), here’s an offense I dug up in Franklin County.

There is no confirmation by the University of Michigan that David Brandon has fired Rich Rodriguez. Detroit newspaper, radio and television sources have jumped the gun and have no basis for their claim that Rodriguez was fired. No decision will be issued until Wednesday, January 5 at the earliest.

Don’t believe everything you read.

Terrelle Pryor claims to have paid for his tattoos, presumably with cash instead of an ink for ink trade. But how did he pay for those tattoos? Was it with the $2500 he made selling his 2008 gold pants, his 2008 Big Ten title ring, and the 2009 Sportsmanship Award he earned in Ohio State’s loss to Texas in the Fiesta Bowl?

Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith’s best defense was that the university failed to specifically educate the players on the NCAA rule forbidding a student-athlete from selling such items. Apparently, none of Ohio State’s players possess an iota of common sense because this seems like a no-brainer to me. Smith’s position is that the university is too blame for this lack of education and not the players. Most Ohio State players, however, receive little if any education at The Ohio State University anyway so it comes as no surprise that the lack of education was far greater than originally thought.

The NCAA is unlikely to reduce the suspensions given an appeal by OSU. Some like to point to a four game suspension received by A.J. Green for selling his jersey for $1000. Pryor’s violation is much greater as he sold three items for almost three times as much as Green. Pryor also allegedly traded his autograph for tattoos. Further, some complicity more than likely exists as five players were involved in the conspiracy.

What’s likely to happen? Well, Knucklehead may go pro after all despite his claims that he would not, citing a need to leave a legacy at OSU. His legacy may not be much better than Maurice Clarrett’s at this point. I hope he’s ready to play wide receiver finally.

It will be interesting to see what Tressel does in terms of punishment. I’m sure all players will be allowed to start the Sugar Bowl. Heck, Tressel only suspended Robert Reynolds for one game after the choking incident.

Suggested penalties:

Sell your Michigan gold pants – no longer eligible to play in Michigan game.

Sell your Big Ten Championship ring – no longer eligible to play in Big Ten games.

Sell your Bowl Award – no longer eligible to play in bowl games.Картини

We recently interviewed Terrelle Pryor on how he would dominate college football if his coach wasn’t such a conservative bastard. Pryor indicated that if he had went to Michigan, he would’ve dominated not just the Big Ten but college football. Here’s what Pryor had to say:

“Man, I would dominate college football. I would own it. College football would be my bitch. I would’ve won the Heisman three times in a row by now. Archie Griffin could kiss my ass if I let him.”

When questioned about the contributions of his teammates and how those around him may have helped him get to his current level, Pryor stated: “I wouldn’t even need a team. I’m that good. Well, maybe I would need someone to snap the ball to me. But that’s it! I wouldn’t need anyone else. If it was a pass play, I’m so fast I could pass it to myself. Yeah, I would dominate.”

What about kickers, Terrelle? Wouldn’t you need some of those? “And I wouldn’t bother kicking. I’d always go for two. I’m that good – wanna kiss myself.”

Pryor concluded the interview by pulling a mirror out of his purse, admiring himself for several moments, and exclaiming, “Damn, I’m pretty!”

Here’s Devier Posey flashing the gang sign after a touchdown against Michigan.

Jordan Hall participates in the team conspiracy to show its true level of sportsmanship against Michigan.