Without regard to where 'you' stand re: JT's punishment and standing:
These are, of course, just my opinions and hopes, as they relate to the situation (as it relates to our little site here). They are by no means directives or rules. BP is going to be BP (which is to say I think we have awesome mods/admins *and* posters), and that in of itself is a good thing, I think.
Apologies for adding another thread to the discussion. I think the (to paraphrase) "we're in"/"we're not in" threads have as much a place as the actual discussion thread itself. I didn't want to respond in both, nor did I want to pollute the specifics of the main thread with broader-field-of-vision stuff like this. In time, all of these threads will probably find a special home somewhere in the archives of the site. I think we're all looking forward to a point where this is a historical discussion.
- It's March, we have the #1 team in Men's Basketball. We just won the regular season title outright, and have a pretty good looking path to the conference championship. We have amazing seniors in Lighty, Diebler, Lauderdale, and Days, who only have a handful of games left in their careers as Buckeyes (and perhaps the same may hold true for guys like Buford and the Mayor -- but we'll all continue to hope not). As frustrating and (pending NCAA resolution) relatively damaging and hurtful the football stuff is, it's still basketball season and there's still a metric shit-ton (that's a scientific term) to be excited about.
- The punishment announced by the university tonight is a suggestion. The NCAA is a standalone independent watchdog of sorts (with value and integrity wide open to debate, but that's another issue). If JT deserves a harsher punishment, we can be uncomfortably confident he will draw just that. We can (and no one should feel warned against doing so) debate the proper penalty all we want, we just don't yet know what he (and we) will actually have to pay for this mistake.
- As important and influential as JT is, he isn't the program personified (long term; one could certainly argue he is at least in terms of national perception in the short term). One can remain proud to be a Buckeye, and still be (supportive of/angry at) the man with the keys to the car. What's most important, above all things, is that we don't allow this to be divisive within our own community. People respond to adversity in different ways; let's all continue to take deep breaths (and govern ourselves accordingly, you have one week!) before posting -- as everyone already has!
- We're about to move to [strike]a new server[/strike] two new blindingly fast servers. Faster BP! That's got to be worth something.
- No one is perfect, no matter how hard they may try to be (I can't speak to how hard JT or anyone else but myself tries). We want Smith to know better than to take a little money. We want Obie to "do what's right" and not violate rules to help one of his players. We want Clarett to listen to himself and not those around him. We want guys to know and follow NCAA guidelines to the letter, even if/when those guidelines make as little sense to us as they do them (not specific commentary, just being all-inclusive). We want players who are elevated to dizzying heights of popularity and notoriety out of HS because of the money-driven hype around recruiting to come back down to Earth and make good decisions when they get to OSU. We want our coach to err on the side of caution when it comes to the program, even if that runs contrary to his interests when it comes to the kids that play for him and the high expectations of the fans and himself when it comes to the success of the program. To err is, indeed, human -- and all of these people are just that, no matter how huge they may seem on any given Saturday afternoon. Not saying anyone should write off the mistakes, or chalk them up as an inevitable byproduct of the sport; just saying that we can always hope to be better, as a program and university, after each and every mistake because they can and will happen.
- Haters are gonna hate. They've got some stones to throw. The easy retort is always something like "this happens at every program" -- the closer-to-'right' one is probably something more like "we expect more and better of ourselves at Ohio State." Don't sweat the trolls. Don't feel like you have to defend yourself or the program as an extension of yourself to others. You don't owe them anything. Trolls don't reason, they just troll. If YOU know we're better than this, if (and that's for you to decide for yourself) you believe our coaches and players know that -- then who or what else matters?
- The Buckeyes will be the Buckeyes after TP goes pro, after JT moves on, after the next coach passes the baton to the one after that. We're bigger than this. The same way USC is bigger than the punishments they're facing. The same way Auburn is bigger than what they may face if the Newton thing ever blows up. You don't have to be a fan of the 'now' to be a fan of the Buckeyes. This will pass.
- Get it all off your chests, then let's do our best to shelf it until (a) the NCAA responds, or (b) the tourney is over and football is staring us in the face. Lighty, Diebler, Sullinger, Craft, Buford, Lauderdale, Thomas, and Matta (with all due respect to Days, Sibert, Smith, Kecman, and Ravenel) -- that's where we are, and the view is pretty. There's no point in allowing problems with one sport taint our enjoyment of the other.
These are, of course, just my opinions and hopes, as they relate to the situation (as it relates to our little site here). They are by no means directives or rules. BP is going to be BP (which is to say I think we have awesome mods/admins *and* posters), and that in of itself is a good thing, I think.
Apologies for adding another thread to the discussion. I think the (to paraphrase) "we're in"/"we're not in" threads have as much a place as the actual discussion thread itself. I didn't want to respond in both, nor did I want to pollute the specifics of the main thread with broader-field-of-vision stuff like this. In time, all of these threads will probably find a special home somewhere in the archives of the site. I think we're all looking forward to a point where this is a historical discussion.
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