As an Ohio State Alum I am getting sick and tired of the press using the Ohio State NCAA violations as a comparison to what major violations other Colleges have committed and claiming they are one in the same or that Ohio State was worse and only received a “slap on the wrist”. This is nothing more than the same unethical reporting style we have seen since day one! I thought a reporters job was to justify their opinion with facts? I guess in today's world web-hits mean more to these guys than ethical reporting.
Couple new and a couple old but it goes to my point:
Yahoo Sports:
Charles Robinson
March 12, 2012
“The 15 scholarship losses over three seasons is a stiffer sanction than the nine scholarships docked from Ohio State in December, after the Buckeyes were embroiled in an extra-benefits scandal and concealment that ultimately cost coach Jim Tressel his job. Ohio State also received a bowl ban for one year (2012), as well as a five-year show cause penalty for Tressel.”
MY FAVORITE - Athlon thinks ESPN loves Ohio State!
Athlon Sports
“The sheer depth and breadth of the North Carolina violations mean that the Tar Heels are going to get hit a lot harder than the Buckeyes, and it's not just because Ohio State is Ohio State and ESPN loves them. All of the things of which North Carolina's program has been accused are all of the things that are reputed to be the deepest, darkest evils possible in college football. Academic fraud and agents handing over cash do and should trump players selling helmets and pants.”
Ted Miller
ESPN
December 20, 2011
“Breathe, USC fans, breathe.
In fact, I'd suggest you ignore what happened Tuesday with Ohio State and its slap on the wrist from the NCAA for a massive systemic breakdown and a coverup by head coach, Jim Tressel.
Yes, when you hold up the Ohio State case and the USC case, it's impossible not to conclude the Ohio State case was far more severe. It was, of course, without question. No informed, objective person believes differently.”
Full Story: espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_/id/31896/ohio-state-nothing-to-see-there-usc-fans
Thayer Evans
Fox Sports
December 21, 2011
The Ohio State University still doesn’t get it.
That’s the only way to explain athletic director Gene Smith’s asinine response Tuesday to the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions slapping the Buckeyes with a one-year post-season ban, the loss of nine scholarships over the next three years and three years of probation along with other penalties for football players receiving more than $16,400 in impermissible benefits.
You see, Ohio State’s Dumb (Smith) and Dumber (university president Gordon Gee) brain trust wanted the Committee on Infractions to accept its meager self-imposed penalties of vacating the 2010 season, returning approximately $340,000 in money from last season’s Sugar Bowl, going on probation for two years and having five fewer scholarships over the next three seasons, all conveniently WITHOUT A POSTSEASON BAN.
Full Story: http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/ohio-state-ncaa-sanctions...
There are so many reporters that I don't believe reviewed any facts before putting their opinions out there nor do they use the actual violations in their very generalized comparisons.
USC’s Infraction:
1. UNETHICAL CONDUCT; VIOLATIONS OF AMATEURISM LEGISLATION; FAILURE TO REPORT KNOWLEDGE OF NCAA VIOLATIONS. [NCAA Bylaws 10.1-(d), 12.01.1, 12.1.1, 12.1.2-(a), 12.3.1, 12.3.1.2 and 30.3.5 (2009-10 NCAA Division I Manual)]
Beginning in October 2004 and continuing until November 2005, two individuals (for the purposes of this report, "agency partners A and B" respectively), were in the process of forming a sports agency and marketing company, in partnership with student-athlete 1 and his step-father and mother ("the parents"). In the course of this relationship, agency partners A and B gave student-athlete 1 and his parents impermissible benefits in the form of cash, merchandise, an automobile, housing, hotel lodging and transportation. As a result of the receipt of these benefits, student-athlete 1 competed for the football team while ineligible. This ineligibility began at least by December 2004 and encompasses the 2005 Orange Bowl game and the entire 2005 football season, including postseason competition. Further, the assistant football coach knew or should have known that student-athlete 1 and agency partners A and B were engaged in violations that negatively affected student-athlete 1's amateurism status. The assistant football coach provided false and misleading information to the enforcement staff concerning his knowledge of agency partner A's and B's activity and also violated NCAA legislation by signing a document certifying that he had no knowledge of NCAA violations.
Read Full NCAA report:
http://i.usatoday.net/sports/college/2010-06-10-usc-ncaa-report.pdf
UNC Infraction:
UNETHICAL CONDUCT AND IMPERMISSIBLE PARTICPATION.
[NCAA Bylaws 10.1, 10.1-(b) and 14.11.1]
During the 2008-09 academic year and summer of 2009, the former tutor and
student-athletes 1, 2 and 3 failed to deport themselves in accordance with the
generally recognized high standards of honesty and sportsmanship normally
associated with the conduct and administration of intercollegiate athletics and
violated provisions of ethical conduct legislation when they engaged in academic
fraud. As a result of the academic fraud, student-athlete 1 competed while
ineligible during the 2008 football season, student-athlete 2 competed while
ineligible during the 2009 and 2010 football seasons, and student-athlete 3
competed while ineligible during the 2008 and 2009 football seasons.
Read Full Report:
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/files/2012/03/UNC.pdf
Ohio State’s Infraction:
FINDINGS OF VIOLATIONS OF NCAA LEGISLATION.
1. PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT. [NCAA Bylaws 12.1.2.1.6, 14.11.1, 16.1.4
and 16.11.1.6] (2010-11 Manual)
Between November 2008 and June 2010, eight football student-athletes ("studentathletes
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8" respectively) received preferential treatment from
and, other than student-athletes 2 and 7, sold athletics awards, apparel and/or
equipment to the tattoo parlor owner as set forth below:
Read Full Report:
http://www.dispatch.com/content/downloads/2011/12/NCAAreport.pdf
I apologize for putting all this reading material up but sometimes reading actual facts makes more sense than reading bias opinion. When the Ohio State sanctions were released 8 out 10 sports reporters came out in a false rage, disgusted, outraged, bewildered on the proverbial Ohio State “Slap on the wrist”. In order for these same reporters to save face and not have to admit they over-reacted they must continue to thrust Ohio State into the conversation as the most corrupt offender of NCAA rules every time someone else gets punished for something more egregious. These reporters should win Academy Awards for the wonderful ability to continue to hold up the act of being so infuriated that Ohio State only received a slap on the wrist while Major NCAA University Violator “A, B, and C” were so unjustly punished.
The only similarity in all of these is that each Head Coach knowingly lied, the rest of the violations are day and night in comparison and hold no equal weight in any debate.
Happy NCAA report reading.
/rant
My god let it go. We are the last ELITE program to be emrboiled in a scandal...its going to be a story and the one that other schools sanctions are compared to...just like us with USC. Its in the past and its time to move on...let it go.
I agree with 4dorr, I'm pretty sick of reading crap like the pieces you point out. But, it's provocative so they'll keep writing it. It's not journalism. It's tabloid. You'll go insane if you pay too much attention to it.
Unfortunately, because OSU was involved in a scandal and received NCAA sanctions, like it or not, we are gonna hear about it forever. And if Meyer has success, as he already has in recruiting, haters will say OSU is cheating, as they are already saying. OSU will not be able to live it down. And as for comparing scandals, people still bring up SMU from the 1980's. In fact when the SI story on Tress came out, people were comparing OSU with SMU and calling for the death penalty. That is where OSU is, part of a list of programs with notable NCAA violations that are going to be compared by the violations committed and the penalties received. It sucks, but that is part of the consequences for what occurred.