Things just got a little more interesting for Ohio regarding the Talbott situation.
gets a 19 year old kid's name as his vanity plate? My God, what an incredible douche nozzle.
Realizing all these kids probably either opened up on-the-side bank accounts or just straight up cashed the check to a bank without depositing, I believe the IRS is the key here. IF they investigate Talbott for tax evasion, are they allowed to release their findings to the NCAA, or is that an informational confidentiality breach?
FOIA i believe. so everybody gets it.
Another VESTIVUS miracle.
So I have to get rid of my DENARDED plate on my Shelby Mustang or I am a douche?
He has a 100% ebay rating
and confirms Talbott as the ebay user infinkelwetrust, so now Pryor's attorney is lying (surprise, surprise) and Talbott is lying.
Since idiot Gee hinted that the NCAA has ended their investigation, while all of this exists and is now coming to light, I would hope the NCAA is pissed off and will drop the hammer on OSU.
HAHA. Man, this Brooks has a hard on for all things seedy in Columbus. Where was this guy last year and before? He seems to devote every waking second to unearthing more and more violations.
Also, BWAHAHAHAHAAHAH. Look at all those pictures of players and Cheaty signing stuff and then that dumbass puts it on Facebook and Ebay. They deserve every last criticism that's hurled their way.
Death to Brutus.
So this is proof that they signed the merchandise, but you still need a concrete link of payment to the player. Maybe they have that with these alleged checks. As great as this is, I worry that the connection to tOSU is weak outside of Tressel and his cover-up. There compliance staff sucked, but so far no implication of knowledge, which would be needed to drop the hammer. Maybe something is known that I forgot about or don't know yet, but that is how I see it
The game used merchandise doesn't give it away? If the autographed stuff was simply pictures or footballs that would be one thing but the fact that Talbott has game used helmets, gloves, etc. should be a clear indication of many violations.
He seems to really do his homework on the dirt around the country. He posts a lot of stuff on Auburn dirt (to be continued), and had some on Oregon as well.
Brooks used to work for a Columbus radio station as well, so I'm sure that he's taking a little pleasure in all of this...considering he ruffled some feathers with fans/station execs while there. It's quite obvious that *uckeye fan can't handle the truth.
This is why I give Brooks a "free pass." He has been instrumental in exposing a lot of the lying, cheating, and stonewalling that are happening at THE Ohio State University. Hopefully, the NCAA will become insulted and indignant, and THE Ohio State University will get THE worst penalties given by the NCAA since SMU.
What's happening in America's Cesspool right now is the perfect opportunity for the NCAA to show that they are serious about cleaning up the game. If I had a "vote," it would be for a two-year "death penalty."
Does OSU have a policy forbidding athletes from signing autographs? Because if not, these pictures don't seem so implicating. None of them show athletes being paid for their autographs.
Like my response to a previous poster: The autographs do not represent anything on their own but the game used equipment surely does. College athletes, unlike professional, usually don't hand out their stuff for free after games.
Howeva......
Let's be honest, the pictures in and of themselves are not incriminating. Players and coaches autograph stuff all the time. LINKING those items to money paid directly to the players is the key to the violations. Luckily, that genuis Pryor seems to have accepted and deposited CHECKS into his account. Talk about stooooopid.
That's exactly what I was thinking. This "report" is kind of worthless IMO. We know Talbott is involved and we know he was selling the memorabilia, but until there is proof beyond a resonable doubt that he was paying the players for it, this kind of story is pointless....except for one thing.
"Pryor" to this we really only knew/thought Pryor was involved with Talbott. This story sheds some light on how involved other players from past years might have been involved.
Either way, I hope this isn't the story The Common Man and The Torg were talking about...I want juicy news on my Friday.
Where do you get this "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" standard? Seriously, is that what the NCAA goes by? I know that is the standard in a criminal legal case, but in a civil case (which this is more akin to), the standard of proof is "a preponderance of the evidence" i.e., more than 50%
Even so, I don't think these photos really do that for me.
Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is the standard for criminal trials. This would more likely require a burden of proof around "preponderance of evidence," which in layman terms would suggest 51% proof-positive. In other words, a standard that says if the person is more likely than not guilty, he's guilty. This is the standard in most civil trials. Of course, I have no idea what the NCAA holds themselves to, but I would almost be certain its significantly less than "beyond a reasonable doubt."
If we have a witness that puts Pryor and Talbott together, exchanging funds....and Pryor refuses to cooperate with the NCAA..what other conclusion can be drawn? He refuses to defend himself, clarify events, answer lingering questions related to the charges...what other conclusion can be drawn than guilty?
while that isn't a good situation, even the NCAA wouldn't say "well, this random person claims you have committed a violation, can you prove you did not? OK GUILTY". I mean, either he did or he didn't and either that can be proved, or it can't. There isn't a middle ground where the NCAA would say "we're kinda thinking you took money but don't have any evidence of such". Either they do or they don't. Money changing hands is pretty tough to prove unless, as has been alleged, there are checks with Pryor's name on them. If those checks don't exist, the NCAA doesn't really have much to go on in the way of proving violations occured. If they do, of course OSU is effed even further. While the Reggie Bush case did contain a lot of innuendo, most of that was about implied knowledge by the staff, the violations were clear. The agent had payment orders receipts that were used to pay the mortgage on Bush's family house, that's pretty clear cut. The foggy area was about who knew and when unlike the Tressel email bonanza.
He doesn't have to cooperate with the NCAA. If he is no longer a student athlete then there is no reason for him to. He go his money, fucked OSU, and moved on. Nothing to talk about on his end. Why should he cooperate with them? In all honesty, I would prefer he didn't. If he refuses to cooperate then he can't be punished....that leaves OSU exposed as the only punishable offender left after Tressel and Pryor departed. I feel as though this would make the sanctions that much worse for OSU.
Pryor can't be punished either way. The NCAA has no power over him. He could cooperate but it wouldn't benefit him in any way.
Better than a witness.
when "stooooopid" makes me LOL.
As the hyena says in The Lion King, "Hey, who you calling upid-stay?"
i know that it doesnt look good to be associated with this talbott guy but unless the ncaa can prove players other than pryor were getting paid it doesnt seem like they can do anything about them signing stuff. The NCAA now needs to look at every single bank account on the team. We know pryor isnt the smartest guy but what if the others knew enough to open an extra bank account and not let the NCAA know about it?
That I was hoping for somthing worse than this to big the friday crap columbus news, maybe this isnt what they were talking about.
SportsbyBrooks did a good job showing that Talbott obtained and sold autographed photos of players while they were in college. Problem is that's not a violation in and of itself. It's only a violation if:
1) any players benfitted financially from it, a violation of the NCAA amateurism code and cause for immediate revocation of the player's eligbility
2) He maintained contact and got first person access to OSU football players or staff after he was "banned" by the university's AD whch happened in 2010.
I would argue that #1 is what's being investigated with Pryor-- did he get cash as the OTL source said he did from Talbott. #2 is less sure but all the NCAA needs is one check fro Talbot for $0.01 to Pryor or a cell phone call post university ban and that's #2. Not saying the Talbott stuff isn't hot shit, but I think this latest piece by Brooks just provides more background and not is revolutionary in advancing the story. Pryor's lawyer isn't denying the Talbott connection anymore per a radio interview I heard yesterday on Sirius 94, but he maintains the contact ended in 2010 when the OSU AD banned Talbott. Talbott broke no NCAA rules on eligibility or even boosterism if he obatined the autographs in a publically available forum (post Spring Game event, etc) and then sold them for his own profit-- that happens all the time with memoriabilia dealers. The one smoking gun Brooks has is the Tressell photo from Jun 7, 2011 supposedly- but the facebook link from above that shows Talbott had that photo in 2009, before he was banned. If that's the case, then there's nothing to see here except a guy trying to hide his biz from the NCAA and state of Ohio for tax reasons. You have to have proof Talbott had first-person contact with the OSU football program after he was banned to really make a big case about this, unless of course Pryor did cash checks from Talbott at any time.
... prove that Talbott is a liar. He stated publicly the other day that he has never obtained any autographs from players while they were still active but has done so only from players who have completed their eligibility. That clearly is not true.
he said that he only paid players for autograph sessions who no longer had eligibility. He never said he "never got an autograph from an active player". That is actually pretty common for businesses to pay recent draftees to come and do a signing for an hour or two, it happens a lot. I believe that is what he was claiming.
BOOM!
In the words of the immortal Howard Cossell, "Down goes the program, Down goes the program."
Turn out the lights, the party's over.
The key to the proof is access to Talbott's and the players' checking accounts. It has been proven Talbott wrote checks to pay Pryor; therefore, it is likely he wrote checks to other players. Now, how does the NCAA obtain access to a private individual's (Talbott's) checking account? The Buckeye loving moron did not register his company so it is likely he did not pay taxes. OSU, per scholarship agreements, has access to the players' checking account records. This will be useful to the NCAA if the players were dumb enough to deposit the checks like Pryor. Something tells me many were dumb enough.
are you for sersly that the NCAA can look at players bank accounts? It's like the gift that keeps on giving.
show that Talbott had an nregistered business in Ohio that made a lot of eBay money. I'll bet he didn't pay taxes on this income. When the IRS comes knocking DJ will come talking.
Now, Pryor, Herron, Posey's...checking accounts can be looked at by OSU Compliance (who will say aOK!) and the NCAA.
He does need to have created a formal business for tax purposes. It would just be deemed a sole proprietorship and his profits would flow through to him personally for taxation. He would still have to pay taxes,though.
have a field asking you if you made any money from online sales. If someone has a hard-on at the IRS they can go back and see if Talbott claimed any income from these. If reported dollar 0, all the proof they need he avoided reporting income would come from the eBay fedback comments probably :)
Someone like this guy?
it's the off-season, and all things Buckeye DOOM are acceptable.
One of these days I'll wake up and there won't be more news piling on Ohio State. Hopefully that day won't come until September, when the only thing more entertaining than bad news for Ohio State will start -- then I'll obsess over that thing until February or something, then this ridiculous class will sign, and then the Ohio State bad news can start again.
would be if Talbott's checks were cashed by TP and compliance knew about it.
That would be big.
The interesting thing to me was that it was confirmation that the NCAA had copies of checks made out to TP from Talbott.
It was reported that Sports by Brooks had seen them, but it seemed unclear to me (in the past) if the NCAA would get them.
Those checks are probably going to be the key piece of evidence for the impending doom hammer.
Who says to themselves "man, I gotta get me some Schlegel gloves for $169.99"
I give you Exhibit A, and Exhibit B.
I loved some of the comments on the article itself. How thick can some of these fans be? I'm sure the natural reaction to these indictments coming out would be for the owner to shut down a legal/clean business and remove ALL advertising and any shred of evidence that it ever existed. That's what an innocent person would do...right?
So does anyone know exactly why OSU banned him? I would think that would show they knew violations were occuring and didn't report it. Though he seems kinda skeezy so there could be other reasons to ban him too.
that he was given access as a photographer, but that he used that access to hound players for signatures. I think the story (true or not) is that they banned him essentially for abusing his privileges.