Good morning Buckeye Nation.
Sometimes I’m not sure if it’s funny or weird how things work out. Last week when I did my Q&A with a San Diego State Blogger I was sent questions to ask. Two of the three of those questions (which apparently never ran) came from a reader asking me to explain off field issues OSU had past off-season and did I think its unfair or reasonable that OSU acts as though rules and regulations don’t apply to them and that they should adhere to different standards than the rest of the NCAA.
This kind of ticked me off thinking where does this guy get off asking these questions. Then it hit me and I started to understand these guys get their info from the FOUR letter network the same one that felt like suing Ohio State cause they thought they were hiding information in there overzealous attempt to bring the Scarlet and Gray down. They read sites with folks who make crazy allegations about the Buckeyes head coach like a Clay Travis.
As we Buckeye fans have seen over the years there is a national hate for our beloved Buckeyes like it or not. Haterade Nation loves seeing anything negative about The Ohio State University and anytime you can dig some up and run with it your web hits on your site go through the roof and you network viewership goes up pleasing advertisers.
Here is the thing myself along with the Buckeye Nation faithful don’t understand why all the outrage for what the Ohio State players did? Yes they broke NCAA rules and yes Jim Tressel did what he did leading to his demise. Folks were up in arms about how Ohio State let the guilty players play in the Sugar Bowl like the Sugar Bowl officials or the NCAA would let the players be benched and ruin their ratings when the game could be vacated later. Folks were on TV or in the national media and bloggers were yelling and screaming about how the Ohio State players were thugs for selling items they earned to get tattoos and or cash.
We all know that the nation rallied behind Johnny Football after his accusations came out that the NCAA cleared him of. I mean he didn’t get payed for those thousands of signatures cause every college student athlete would spend hours of their free time signing THOUSANDS of items for a broker to make money from that the player would NEVER see a dime from. He was suspended for a half because he violated the spirit of the rules or something along those lines.
Where was the outrage? The kids clearly a thug for allegedly selling his autograph right?
Nope nothing here lets move on wait what players SHOULD get paid? Funny there wasn’t any of this sentiment a few years ago hypocrisy at its finest.
Around the time of Tattoo Gate Clay Travis did dig up some dirt on Alabama and some of the things going on there. Of course everyone blasted Mr. SEC saying he was an Auburn guy and he was hating on the Crimson Tide. Naturally the NCAA and Alabama found nothing wrong and moved on. So did the national media.
We can talk about the endless dragged out never going to get done with investigation into the University of Miami. You know the one that seemed to start decades ago. Yup the same “U” that was one hit with sanctions and such for doing what they are accused of doing now, that they will get off on because well the NCAA dropped the ball.
This week there have been two big stories that have broke about allegations about Oklahoma State and some schools in the SEC.
SI.com is running a five part series into what they allegedly have uncovered going on at Oklahoma State. I am not going to go into the details as for I don’t know if any or all of these allegations are true so I’m not going to speculate I just want to see if there is going to be the same outrage that the Buckeyes had to endure and if the wonderful FOUR letter network will treat this the same way and do an outstanding investigatory job.
Will they be running their segments leading off with the Cowboy investigation? Will they sue to get what they want? Will their “experts” blast the players and coaches (if true) like they did for the Buckeye players?
Then yesterday Y! Sports breaks a story alleging 5 SEC players received improper benefits. Again I’m not going to comment because I don’t know the truth, but they say where there is smoke there is fire.
Folks around the country always says Buckeye Nation is full of themselves thinking everything must revolve around them. The Buckeyes fan are pompous, arrogant, and they think everyone is out to get them. They don’t feel as we do in that there is a different standard for Ohio State than the rest of the nation. Lets see how these investigations play out and what the national media does and see if there is a different standard just like the handling of the Oregon investigation. There wasn’t wall to wall coverage on that and when the sanctions got handed down 2 sec segment and move one.
Everyone came down hard on Urban and his players for the actions of the kids this summer saying he doesn’t have control over his players but he suspends Hyde three games for his actions. Les Miles (who’s allegedly involved in Ok. St investigation) lets his team vote on letting a violent criminal play.
Hater Nation will show their true colors as it always does and Scarlet and Gray will always be villains.
Play angry my friends.
Until next time Buckeye Nation…
Good summary, Shannon. So much of this conflict is over whether these rules are proper or if they are out-dated and wrong. But for now, they are still “The Rules” and everyone is expected to abide by them.
When things change (and I think they most certainly are going to change) then we can have a meaningful discussion. But until then, these guys look like they broke the rules a lot more severely (and more frequently) than what happened at Ohio State. But, because we were cooperative and turned ourselves in, we are bearing the brunt of the repercussions. Whether that’s fair or not is becoming more and more apparent.