Breaking News: water is wet, Tressel is a liar.
I just heard this on WTKA. This just gets funnier by the day. So, Tressel says that he kept the information quiet because of the confidentiality of the investigation, really? Apparently, that's not so. He felt it was necessary to tell Pryor's Corvette supplier what was going on.
Just heard them talking about this on WTKA too. Hopefully their sources are as strong as they say they are, because they admittedly have zero hard evidence at this point. I would have thought they'd wait for the FOIA request to come back at least before declaring all of this fact.
I thought the same thing, but the article cited multiple sources. It's amazing anymore what can be printed citing "multiple sources". However, it's the Columbus freakin' Dispatch. That was probably the most surprising part of this. I couldn't believe that the hometown paper would write something like this, proving their coach lied again.
March 25th, 2011 at 10:40 AM ^
That's kind of how journalism work. Reporters find sources and write a story based on the infromation given to them. Not every story can be based on a smoking gun. Maybe they'll eventually have hard evidence that the email was forwarded, but who knows.
Consider that the original Yahoo article cited a single source. "Multiple sources" sound pretty solid to me.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:25 PM ^
March 25th, 2011 at 11:24 AM ^
Depending on what the emails say, this might be the tipping point for me. If they say something along the lines of "I heard TP was selling stuff, but he denied it when I asked him. Have you heard anything about this, or can you try to find out whether he's lying?" or "Hey, TP follows your advice, and I can't go into details, but tell him to stay away from Rife," I don't really care. If it's anything else, Tressel needs to be gone.
you're such a homer. Take off the Tressel glasses and get off the sack. The guy needs to be fired already, he doesn't need anything else. His excuses were all flimsy but the concern over the integrity of the investigation was the only one that even had any chance of merit. Now it's been laid bare as total BS and added to his list of transgressions. Other coaches have been fired for much much less, he needs to go.
March 25th, 2011 at 11:49 AM ^
"I would have thought they'd wait for the FOIA request to come back at least before declaring all of this fact."
That's exactly why I think their sources must be solid.
Bravo to the Dispatch. Maybe they are sick of constantly helping aOSU to cover up its problems.
Yes, this is the fall of Rome.
This proves that Tressel KNEW that his players were violating the rules and that he KNEW what to do with that information.
Yet he still didn't tell compliance. Come on man. JT, you f'd up, and its' gonna bite you baby.
Let the Angry Jim Tressel, Ohio State Hating Gods make their comeback known and let them rain down upon that program...
Is it really breaking news if we all knew he did lie, just not all the full details of his lie?
Ummm...that statement was preceded by "water is wet". I thought the two statements were so obvious that the sarcasm detectors would easily pick it up.
March 25th, 2011 at 10:48 AM ^
Obviously the sarcasm detectors are broken since they couldn't pick mine up, either.
Sorry for all the hate, yo.
March 25th, 2011 at 11:23 AM ^
No worries; and I'm not the one that negged you. Plus, you get the bonus points for your sig and for ending a sentence with "yo", yo.
Okay, NCAA...
We should start a new thread; which NFL team will Tressel be an assistant on?
Or, as alternative, will he just retire for good when he's forced out by the NCAA?
I am actually starting to feel sorry for Pryor. It looks more and more as if he could have done with some people around him who were actually thinking of his long-term prospects, rather than trying to ingratiate themselves with cars and shit. On the other hand I guess you could argue that he made his choices.
Yet another reason why there needs to be some kind of professional path for these kids. You can't really expect them to keep their hands out of the cookie jar. Frontal lobe development and all that.
Tressel on the other hand is a lying little stoat.
I can't go as far as to say I feel sorry for Pryor but reading the restaurant owner say it isn't fair that his Heisman hopes are gone and it isn't fair b/c the stuff was his, makes it obvious the support structure around him is lacking. I understand it is a blue collar town and the modest roots but Pryor does not do himself any favors.
Imagine this though. Imagine that every time they mention Pryor, replace it with Denard Robinson and realize how ridiculous these statements sound.
Sure, Pryor probably doesn't have the (seemingly great) support structure Denard has...but Denard's family is more than a few hours away. It ultimately comes down to character.
March 25th, 2011 at 11:31 AM ^
I'm of the opinion that I dont care that he sold his stuff since they were of a more personal nature; his gold pants, his champ. ring etc and not items deemed to be school property such as AJ Greens jersey.
Howeva, that doesnt make it ok to trade autographs for free stuff and considering Dez Bryant got screwed for having lunch @ Primetime's house I believe their punishment fit the crime with the exception that they should have been suspended for their tainted BCS Bowl win.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:23 PM ^
Yeah, but he got the gold pants, ring, etc. because he was an OSU football player. By selling them he was capitalizing on his status as a football player.
If this kind of thing was allowed, why not establish a team tradition where they award each player a diamond encrusted ring valued at $10,000 for each B1G win? Those rings would also be their own property, and each OSU player could then raise about $70,000 by selling those items. Do you think that might give them a bit of a bump in recruiting? The rule may seem dumb or nit-picky, but the potential for abuse is quite significant.
the disconnect happens with all the OSU/Pryor fans. They focus on what Pryor did instead of the more egregious transgressions of Tressel.
+1 for the use of the word stoat. Way classier than weasel.
March 25th, 2011 at 11:12 AM ^
When looking up wtf "stoat" means on dictionary.com, I came across their word of the day that I never heard of. Seems like this should be filed away for use in an Mgoblog version of a flame war.
bumptious
\ BUMP-shuhs \ , adjective;March 25th, 2011 at 10:05 AM ^
It is surprising to me, given my utter loathing of tOSU, that I am ambivalent about the sweater vest going down (as I think is increasingly likely). On the one hand, anything bad for them is intrinsically good for the human race. On the other hand, I had really hoped that Brady Hoke would put an end to the tOSU dominance on the field, rather than it happening in the NCAA offices. Moreover, in agreement with you, I think the NCAA's idea of amateur athletics belongs in the social context of a 1930's world that simply no longer exists. Yes, the players and coaches should abide the rules and it is a matter of character. Yet the system is completely out of touch with the reality of college athletes, especially football and basketball players.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:30 PM ^
I couldn't agree more. I stated in a post when this whole mess came out that I was really looking forward to a legitimate Michigan beatdown of Ohio State, not the NCAA. Satisfying, yet not.
tsio was beating the living snot out of UM because of the coaching decision Martin made, do you think any tsio fan lost sleep over disadvantages UM experienced due to loss of recruits, scheme changes or any other issue? Hell no, they revelled in whopping our ass and I for one won't feel any remorse returning the favor. The beauty of it happening like this rather than an eventual Hoke domination is that it's going to happen sooner than later.
March 25th, 2011 at 11:15 AM ^
You make an excellent point, that everyone around Pryor let him down. Parents, advisors, teammates. (Ditto Chris Webber, right?) And Pryor let everyone down as well.
But Tressel didn't get any tattoos. Tressel didn't start this. He's not hangnig around with drug dealers. I'm not excusing Tressel; we'll see what sort of reports an investigation can produce. I'll enjoy that much, if only for a voyeuristic look inside the Buckeye football program. But this is not at all the way I'd like to see Jim Tressel go down.
My very mixed emotions are all about how close we came to signing Pryor to a Michigan letter of intent. Judging by his prom pictures, I'm not so sure that Pryor was dragged into inequity in Columbus. Would Pryor have avoided all this trouble in Ann Arbor? Perhaps. I sure as hell hope so. I think we have at least some good reason to think so.
But all this began, not with a scheme by coaches to break any rules. It began with reckless conduct by a few players. Followed by what appears to be a dumb, low-level, personal cover-up by Tressel.
It's just a matter of time until all the emails are out there, including probably more that we haven't heard about. The Dispatch has a FOIA request pending for those emails (they published the story because they had multiple sources, even though they're still waiting for the actual emails). This is on top of a more comprehensive FOIA request from Yahoo Sports. I'm willing to bet there are even more FOIA requests from other news organizations for Tressel's emails.
At this point, it is only a matter of time until the really nasty dirt comes out. My guess is that OSU is probably thinking about when and how to fire Tressel, and actively looking for his replacement. You don't want to fire a coach in a public spectacle without having his replacement lined up, right?
March 25th, 2011 at 10:13 AM ^
On the other hand, an accurate summary of the article is this:
First paragarph: "X is true."
Later paragraph: "We have no hard evidence that X is true."
March 25th, 2011 at 10:23 AM ^
I read the article a little differently:
First paragraph: "X is true."
Later: "Multiple sources have confirmed that X is true".
Later still: "OSU has declined comment that X is true."
If it weren't true, don't you think that OSU would have flatly (and quickly) denied it?
March 25th, 2011 at 10:25 AM ^
They may have the emails soon but they don't have them now.
March 25th, 2011 at 10:42 AM ^
The Dispatch must be pretty sure that Tressel forwarded the emails. I say that because of the outstanding FOIA request. Why risk reporting something false if it's only a matter of time before you get the emails? I have some familiarity with journalists who have made these types of decisions before, and that's my read.
March 25th, 2011 at 10:48 AM ^
My only point is that they don't have the emails. Journalists have been lied to before.
Tressel forwarded the information to Ted Sarniak, a mentor to Terrelle Pryor, after the coach received emails warning that Pryor and at least one other player had sold memorabilia to a local tattoo-parlor owner who was under federal investigation for drug trafficking, multiple sources have confirmed to The Dispatch.Who Is Ted Sarniak?
March 25th, 2011 at 10:20 AM ^
Also known as Mr Corvette.
March 25th, 2011 at 10:45 AM ^
TP's sugar daddy.
"Mr. Sarniak and Terrelle Pryor have been friends for a number of years, and their friendship dates back prior to Terrelle's enrollment at Ohio State," Archie said in an email to The Dispatch. "As the friendship developed, Mr. Sarniak is someone who Terrelle has reached out to for advice, CORVETTES, CLOTHES, ELECTRONICS, BEST TABLE AT THE RESTAURANT, CASH, and guidance throughout his high-school and collegiate career."
Fixed.
March 25th, 2011 at 11:08 AM ^
I think your version is a little more accurate. Also, there's this, FWIW:
"Sarniak, 67, is a prominent businessman in Pryor's hometown of Jeannette, Pa. He befriended the quarterback years ago and accompanied him on recruiting trips to Ohio State and other universities."
March 25th, 2011 at 12:11 PM ^
Minus the huge payments - at least that we know about.
While it's kinda fun to watch the drip, drip, drip of Tressel's impending doom, I would have rather beaten OSU on the field, at full strength. As a backup position, however, I will still be happy beating them as their coach and entire program twist in the wind.
March 25th, 2011 at 10:28 AM ^
I keep hearing this argument, and I understand it. But, honestly, I really don't think it matters. OSU going down in any way, shape, or form pleases me. I hate them with every ounce of my being. But, unlike many, I don't enjoy my hatred of them. I'm not a fan of the fact that something so trivial in life like sports generates such venom in my heart. There is no "mutual respect" with me. I would be happy if I didn't have to hate OSU. I would be happy if OSU was an afterthought in sports.
March 25th, 2011 at 11:38 AM ^
If this has anything to do with age. (I obviously have no idea how old you are.) My formative football years were in the mid-to-late 80s, I went to HS in the 90s, and graduated from college in 2000. Because of this, OSU's success strikes me as an anomally. In my childhood, ND was the big game on the schedule. They were the real threat. Sure Michigan lost some games to teams not from South Bend, but that was usually a one-off situation featuring whichever other Big Ten team was having a good season, not a year-after-year struggle. Based on the view of Michigan-Ohio State I developed as a child, this isn't supposed to be a real rivalry so much as a game we win every year, and about which the state of Ohio whines. I guess that leads me to agree with this:
There is no "mutual respect" with me. I would be happy if I didn't have to hate OSU. I would be happy if OSU was an afterthought in sports.
I just want them put back in their place: a Big Ten also-ran of no national significance.
March 25th, 2011 at 11:45 AM ^
Well to be fair, your opinion also largely rests on you becoming a fan in an era without Woody. Someone who was from the era before (and it's not me, it would be my parents, if anything) would have a very different take.
So do I, by the way; having never watched a victory over OSU live, the Buckeyes are the scary monster in the closet.
I see the rationale behind this sentiment, but if Tressel's program and, therefore, domination over Michigan the past 10 years was built on lies and loose adherence to rules, then Tressel as genius has been an illusion as well.
Without Maurice Clarett, OSU doesn't beat Michigan in Columbus in 2002. Without Troy Smith / Terelle Pryor, OSU doesn't beat the Henne / Hart teams 4 straight seasons. Without those signature moments, Tressel is just Earle Bruce and not the second-coming. If Michigan as a program was willing to turn a blind eye to player shenanigans or make as many compromises as it appears Tressel has, would OSU have been able to go on a 7 game winning streak as they have?
Winning matters, but how you win matters as well. If it didn't, then we wouldn't have pulled down the banners after the whole Ed Martin stuff came to light with the basketball program.