This ought to perk everyone up.
http://www.bocaratonnews.com/index.php?src=news&prid=10230&category=Sports News
Football paying off at Ohio State
Opinion
Published Thursday, November 18, 2004 at 1:00 am
by Steve Zimmerman
College football used to be fun to watch either on television or in person. That was when real amateurs played the game.
But now with huge television contracts and shoe companies waving big bucks under university college presidents and athletic director’s noses, a seamy side has emerged, chock full of suspicion, innuendo and outright guilt.
So meet college football’s latest poster boy for alleged illegal activity.
Jim Tressel has come under scrutiny again after his former star running back Maurice Clarett alleged being paid for jobs he never worked and for being given cars to drive by boosters.
And Tressel deserves everything he is getting now. For Tressel is a traitor. He is a traitor to his players and his programs, plural. Tressel’s problems at TOSU are well documented. The one’s he had at Youngstown State are not.
Tressel was employed at Youngstown State prior to taking over as OSU football coach from John Cooper in 2001. Since then, the Buckeyes have finished 7-5, 14-0 and 11-2 and were national champions in 2002.
In 2003, Tressel came under fire for his first Maurice Clarett affair. Clarett was dismissed from the team after leading them to the national title in 2002. He was accused of, and admitted to, lying on a police report and also admitted he accepted gifts of cash and cars from boosters.
All the while Clarett was under fire; he never once gave up the coach. But when the heat fell on Tressel for an explanation, he, without hesitation, gave up Clarett, squealing like a greased pig at a pig race on the Fourth of July.
That sent a very chilling message to any players who might also have thought about coming forward with accusations or, heaven forbid, the truth.
Don’t cross the coach or else you could wind up like Clarett, on the sidelines out of football.
In 1988, the Youngstown State Penguin quarterback was a young man named Ray Isaac. Isaac was the star and Tressel knew it. So did one “overzealous” booster. And therein lies the beginning of Tressel’s problems with the NCAA.
Isaac, by his own admission, began taking money from a booster shortly after becoming a Penguin. He admitted in the past few weeks to several news organizations that the amount could have been as high as $10,000 in his college career. And that is above and beyond the use of cars he had.
The gifts, which came from the former chairman of a well-known discount drug store chain (Phar-Mor), only came to light when that chairman found himself in court accused of corporate fraud.
Tressel, like Sergeant Schultz on the old Hogan’s Heroes comedy, told investigators, “I know nothing.”
And they believed him.
Clarett has alleged the same things at OSU, including jobs where he got paid but did little if any actual work. And again, Tressel has claimed no knowledge of any illegal activity.
And now, four other former Buckeyes, including former Minnesota Viking Robert Smith say they either received gifts or knew of gifts being given players at Ohio State.
But the tie-in between Clarett and Tressel goes even deeper as Clarett is from guess where...Youngstown, Ohio. And Tressel knew Clarett and followed his high school exploits closely while still at YSU. He also recruited Clarett’s older brother to come to YSU.
An investigation was conducted over the allegations at Youngstown State but Tressel skated by without a nick. It was after the final report was released that he was hired by The Ohio State University.
What has happened to Clarett is nobody’s fault but his own. He took the gifts knowing it was wrong. He stopped attending classes during his freshman year because he didn’t think it mattered. And he took the bad advice of an agent, signed with that agent and tried to move to the NFL following his sophomore season.
He was rebuked by the NFL and lost in court. So now he sits in limbo, apparently working out in preparation for the 2005 NFL Draft.
If Clarett is drafted, after all he ha been through and the baggage he now carries, it won’t be until the late rounds. If he stayed in school and had played his sophomore and junior seasons, coming out after his junior year, he might have gone in the top three rounds.
Now that is just a fairy tale for Clarett. The NCAA is now planning to visit the school for what could be just another of its dog and pony shows.
And Tressel, following another loss Saturday, sits on the hot seat. Unfortunately, it is because of wins (lack of) and losses (too many) and not his skating ability.
http://www.bocaratonnews.com/index.php?src=news&prid=10230&category=Sports News
Football paying off at Ohio State
Opinion
Published Thursday, November 18, 2004 at 1:00 am
by Steve Zimmerman
College football used to be fun to watch either on television or in person. That was when real amateurs played the game.
But now with huge television contracts and shoe companies waving big bucks under university college presidents and athletic director’s noses, a seamy side has emerged, chock full of suspicion, innuendo and outright guilt.
So meet college football’s latest poster boy for alleged illegal activity.
Jim Tressel has come under scrutiny again after his former star running back Maurice Clarett alleged being paid for jobs he never worked and for being given cars to drive by boosters.
And Tressel deserves everything he is getting now. For Tressel is a traitor. He is a traitor to his players and his programs, plural. Tressel’s problems at TOSU are well documented. The one’s he had at Youngstown State are not.
Tressel was employed at Youngstown State prior to taking over as OSU football coach from John Cooper in 2001. Since then, the Buckeyes have finished 7-5, 14-0 and 11-2 and were national champions in 2002.
In 2003, Tressel came under fire for his first Maurice Clarett affair. Clarett was dismissed from the team after leading them to the national title in 2002. He was accused of, and admitted to, lying on a police report and also admitted he accepted gifts of cash and cars from boosters.
All the while Clarett was under fire; he never once gave up the coach. But when the heat fell on Tressel for an explanation, he, without hesitation, gave up Clarett, squealing like a greased pig at a pig race on the Fourth of July.
That sent a very chilling message to any players who might also have thought about coming forward with accusations or, heaven forbid, the truth.
Don’t cross the coach or else you could wind up like Clarett, on the sidelines out of football.
In 1988, the Youngstown State Penguin quarterback was a young man named Ray Isaac. Isaac was the star and Tressel knew it. So did one “overzealous” booster. And therein lies the beginning of Tressel’s problems with the NCAA.
Isaac, by his own admission, began taking money from a booster shortly after becoming a Penguin. He admitted in the past few weeks to several news organizations that the amount could have been as high as $10,000 in his college career. And that is above and beyond the use of cars he had.
The gifts, which came from the former chairman of a well-known discount drug store chain (Phar-Mor), only came to light when that chairman found himself in court accused of corporate fraud.
Tressel, like Sergeant Schultz on the old Hogan’s Heroes comedy, told investigators, “I know nothing.”
And they believed him.
Clarett has alleged the same things at OSU, including jobs where he got paid but did little if any actual work. And again, Tressel has claimed no knowledge of any illegal activity.
And now, four other former Buckeyes, including former Minnesota Viking Robert Smith say they either received gifts or knew of gifts being given players at Ohio State.
But the tie-in between Clarett and Tressel goes even deeper as Clarett is from guess where...Youngstown, Ohio. And Tressel knew Clarett and followed his high school exploits closely while still at YSU. He also recruited Clarett’s older brother to come to YSU.
An investigation was conducted over the allegations at Youngstown State but Tressel skated by without a nick. It was after the final report was released that he was hired by The Ohio State University.
What has happened to Clarett is nobody’s fault but his own. He took the gifts knowing it was wrong. He stopped attending classes during his freshman year because he didn’t think it mattered. And he took the bad advice of an agent, signed with that agent and tried to move to the NFL following his sophomore season.
He was rebuked by the NFL and lost in court. So now he sits in limbo, apparently working out in preparation for the 2005 NFL Draft.
If Clarett is drafted, after all he ha been through and the baggage he now carries, it won’t be until the late rounds. If he stayed in school and had played his sophomore and junior seasons, coming out after his junior year, he might have gone in the top three rounds.
Now that is just a fairy tale for Clarett. The NCAA is now planning to visit the school for what could be just another of its dog and pony shows.
And Tressel, following another loss Saturday, sits on the hot seat. Unfortunately, it is because of wins (lack of) and losses (too many) and not his skating ability.