I sit here tonight with so many thoughts running through my head. I am as die hard of a Buckeye fan as there is. In the last 7 months we have had really good times and really bad times and as a fan it is hard to avoid the emotional roller coaster that we have all been on. At times I feel like John Candy in National Lampoons Vacation and I am begging to get off this roller coaster just so Clark Griswald can shoot me in the butt with a BB gun. At least then the horrible motion sickening aches I have will be over and I can go back to feeling normal again.
Thanks to El Kaiser I became a member of the Twitter world right around the time that the issues started back in December of last year. Since then I have come to follow and be followed by a plethera of different types of Buckeye fans. We are a huge Nation and we have very differing opinions on the people and situations currently causing our roller coaster ride. Also via twitter I have learned to like (Jason Whitlock and Ken Gordon and anyone affiliated with the Columbus Dispatch) certain media members and loathe many others (Bruce Hooley and Sports by Brooks and anyone affiliated with ESPN and recently bush league reporters at WSYX ).
Mostly though I have found Buckeye Nation has decided to choose camps. There is the Tressel is a scapegoat camp or Tressel is the problem camp. There is Terrelle Pryor is a dirt bag and Terrelle Pryor is a kid who made a mistake camps. There is the Fire everyone left who was involved camp and the Stop the bleeding camp. The biggest problem I have found is that Buckeye Nation is splitting up and I have seen infighting amongst our fans that should be saved for OSU fans vs. scUM fans. I know my fellow fans are angry or hurt or saddened or happy depending on which camp they are in. I feel all your pains. I understand what you are going through.
Terrelle Pryor is a guy who has made horrible mistakes. Has he made bad decisions lately? Yes, of coarse. Has he done harm to the school we all love? Yes, of coarse. Is there a lot of rumors and innuendos flying around about him right now? Absolutly and some or all of them may even be true….. or GASP some or all may not be true at all. We dont know the whole story yet. I dont trust the media to be unbiased and fair in their reporting since they have yet to do so. He is under investigation by both OSU and the NCAA and I am sure they will dig deeper then they already have and they have dug to China in his first 3 years here trying to find something that will stick. He is taking all the blame for what is going wrong at OSU currently but if you believe the rumors this stuff has been happening for longer then he has been at OSU by many years. He isnt the only player already suspended but yet he is taking all the heat. Which is fine I suppose if he gets all the glory for winning he should prob get the brunt of the bad as well. My question to all of you who wants him gone for good before the investigation is even over… Wat happens if he doesn’t get kicked off the team and comes back after his 5 games off and he leads the team to 7 or 8 more wins? Will those same people still be calling for him to be gone? or Will they stand and cheer and buy his jerseys and pretend like they always supported him? I vote for the second option.
Jim Tressel is now and will forever be my SENATOR. I dont think any less of him today then I did after he won the NC in 2002. He is a man of great character and great flaws. He is basically just like you and me….. HUMAN. He made a horrible mistake and has paid a heavy price for it. I dont know if the punishment fits the crime but if it doesnt it is really darn close. I will never buy into the National media telling me I should feel betrayed by Tressel. I have lied to my bosses and covered up for other people probably at every job I ever had and I imagine 99.9% of you can say the same thing. He isnt the coach anymore that is his pill to swallow for breaking the rules and making a huge mistake.
Gene Smith doesnt deserve to be fired or forced to resign. He didnt break any rules. He didnt help in any cover up. Did he bungle the handling of the Public Relations part of this whole thing? Yes, indeed he did. Honestly though how could anyone be prepared for all that has happened in the last 6 months? I am sure he has learned a lot from this all and I wouldn’t be surprised if he did resign sooner rather then later. Doesn’t mean I think he should.
E. Gordon Gee is a bumbling idiot. He is also a great President of one of the largest Universities in the world. He has done a wonderful job of making the University a better institution and has been masterful in fundraising and making OSU a research leader in many fields. He shouldn’t be involved in the athletic dept day to day dealings and shouldn’t even be targeted by the media for firing or resigning. His job is so large and expansive and involves so much more then Athletic Dept duties. Give the guy a break I am sure he could answer every question correct on Jeopardy but he clearly has no idea what a blitz or a Option Pass is. He is doing his job and he is doing a spectacular one at that IMO.
Lastly, Doug Archie and the compliance dept. Which until recently was 6 people. I heard they asked for and received 2 more people so they are now a dept. of 8 strong. That is 8 people teaching and enforcing compliance to over 1100 athletes and countless other coaches and Athletic Dept. employees. Having said that WHAT THE HECK HAVE THEY BEEN DOING THE PAST FEW YEARS? I wont pretend to know what their jobs entails but I get the feeling they haven’t been doing much of anything work wise for a while other then have classes where they read the NCAA manual to the players who some clearly aren’t listening. I don’t know if they should all be fired or not but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were or disappointed. I do hope OSU will take some of the millions of dollars they have and hire a staff of 50+ compliance people to help fix the issues we have and prevent future ones.
So I end this with a hope. I hope Buckeye Nation will pull together and become the close family we have always been and stop making camps that will divide us. We should support all of our Buckeyes from the top to the bottom until we have an actual reason with proof to not support them. Now more then ever we need to rely on each other in support during this crazy roller coaster ride ends and Clark Griswald shoots us all in the butt letting us know the ride is over and we can relax. Football season cant get here quick enough for any of us thats for sure. Until then Support Your Local Buckeye and hope we all make it to see better days as BUCKEYE NATION.
