[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] It's hard to catch anybody cheating anymore, you know that? These slimy suckers are slippery -- and they're bold, too. Ohio State's Jim Tressel blatantly skated up to the edge of ethical badness last week, acting with such audacity that even the newspaper that broke the news had no idea it was breaking anything at all. And still won't unless it reads this here story.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] So here you go, Cincinnati Enquirer. I'll give it to you in three easy steps: [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 1. On signing day, the story at the bottom right of the sports front page noted that OSU football coach Jim Tressel had signed the best receiver out of Cincinnati, DeVier Posey of La Salle High School. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 2. On the same day, at the bottom left of that same page, a story noted that La Salle High was offering a school fund-raiser called "An Evening with Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel" on March 5. Tickets range from $60 for drinks and dinner to $175, which includes a photo op with Tressel as well as a football signed by the OSU coach. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 3. Connect those dots. Tressel had never signed a player from La Salle until he got Posey. Likewise, Tressel has never donated an evening of his time to help raise money for La Salle until this year. And the "Evening with Jim Tressel" wasn't announced in the local newspaper until the day after Posey signed. Why? This is just a guess, but it's a good guess: If Posey had backed out of his commitment to Ohio State, Tressel wasn't going to have an evening with La Salle.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] The NCAA won't bother to look into the Tressel-Posey thing, I promise you, because the NCAA can't prove intent. And as any OSU fan would tell you, Tressel's intent was merely to help a high school 100 miles away, and that DeVier Posey's deliverance to Ohio State was a coincidence.[/FONT]
