Monday, May 30, 2011

O-H WHY-O?

Unless you live in a Land Without ESPN, a state too despicable to even imagine, you have probably heard by now that Jim Tressel has resigned his position as head football coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes. Something about this makes me really, really sad.

Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't consider myself a Buckeye fan - my allegiance to the SEC is hardly a SECret, but I have been to the Horseshoe, and it's hard to not respect the ole' "O-H I-O" tradition - even if they did fall (HARD) to my conference of choice in consecutive National Championships and even if Wayne "Woodrow" Hayes did try to make a puree out of Charlie Bauman's voice box.

It's sad to me, though, because I thought Tressel was one of the good guys - a purported man of faith, the so-called "Vest" redeemed the red sweater look from the damage done it by Bobby Knight. Tressel seemed to be a class act, a cut above, and I cheered for him even when I cheered against his team.

My opinion slipped, though, when this scandal broke just before the Buck's 2010-2011 bowl game. That Tressel allowed the offending players to take the field shocked me. I expected him to be tough-on-crime, no-nonsense, hard-nosed. I expected him to expect the same character from his players that he seemed to demand from himself.

But as the bad news continued to break in Columbus, it became increasingly clear that, beneath his red, smooth and velvety shell, the head Buck was as nut-ty as the players who sold their memorabilia for free tattooes and, it turns out, maybe a Chrysler or two.

This just makes me so sad - and not just because these misguided kids chose Chryslers. I'm sad to be disappointed by another sports figure. Actually, after scandals involving Tiger Woods and ever how many professional baseball players took steroids (what's the number now?), I expect to be disappointed by sports figures. I don't, though, expect to be disappointed by the guys who pretended to be above board.

And, to me, that is just absolutely sad.

1 comment:

  1. That is very good. So are you heading out to become a sports writer just like your daddy and bro in law???? Where are you gonna live, when you get married and btw, when are you getting hitched!!!!

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