Jim Tressel Character Testimonial from Tyler Moeller
Tyler Moeller's blog post on his personal experiences as an osu football player, and his thoughts on Tressel and tatgate. Moeller's official biography. Update on Moeller's attacker. Moeller's injury report in 2010--he received a medical hardship waiver and will play in 2011. This blog is three months old with 15,000 hits so far for you statisticians out there. Key passages:
1. Coach Tressel is a better person than most people can ever dream about becoming and has helped me grow as a person since my first day at Ohio State. Yes, he made a mistake that has been blown out of proportion, but one mistake does not define a person. It’s funny, I walked into church last Sunday to find Coach Tress worshipping in the front row – 20 minutes early so he could give a speech to our group because a student intern asked him if he would come talk to us. That is just one of the things he does all the time that people don’t see. They don’t see the 1000′s of hours he has spent with young children, sick patients, our armed forces, etc… Sadly, many just see a coach in a sweater vest that “lied”. They miss the great man that gives back to the world 24/7 and helps young kids like me grow into men; even the ones that everyone had already given up on like Ray Small.
3. I drive a car my parents bought (my uncles old car) and they pay for my cell phone bill, car insurance, and health insurance. I live off campus in a dump apartment that hasn’t had screens in the windows or sliding door since we moved in while the AC has been broke for a month. I haven’t been out on the town socially in over a year and thankfully, my girlfriend isn’t into that knight and shining armour 50′s bullcrap, so we usually split the bill 50/50 when we do go out to dinner. Still, because I live in Columbus full time for school and football, by the end of the summer I’m often asking my parents to help me out a little. 4. ^ In reference to Number four many kids that come into the program are not fortunate enough to have the support system that I do. I understand their hardship and until you walk in their shoes, maybe you shouldn’t judge them so harshly on mistakes they make when they are young. Additionally, I understand that NCAA rules are in place for a purpose, but can you imagine being a player and watching calendars and photo’s of yourself being sold and auctioned off for lots of money, but you can’t even get a picture yourself to hang on your personal wall unless you pay for it at full retail? If I bought one from the dispatch I would have to pay $14.99 for a 5×7 of myself? Is that right?
Moeller then goes on to take this swipe at unnamed media figures:
6. You can take what I said out of context or you can say whatever you want because your basketball bench riding career is over and you have to talk about this stuff to keep to veiwers. I totally understand that keeping the drama alive keeps the $$$$ rolling in and your boss happy. It’s okay, I understand, WE understand and it’s not going to break us, you’ll see.
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