Ohio State: the most blindly loyal and recklessly protective culture in college sports
Matt Hayes of the Sporting News (whose wife went to OSU) just destroys Ohio in his column today:
Considering what happened at Penn State, those are some strong words.
While his comments might have been forgiven, they weren't going to be forgotten any time soon. The risk of that hurting his fundraising ability is real.
"Why would a university with so much to give academically; with a revered role as the unquestioned leader of the megaconference Big Ten; with an alumni base and fans more passionate than any, get caught up in nonsensical fights they’re guaranteed to lose"
He had to throw them some sort of bone.
Agreed, this kind of comes off as writen by a somewhat rational, but angry OSU fan.
Run 2 Daylight posted a quote above that reads very Reverse Buckeye Schandenfruede(I don't even know what this is but, it seems pertinent).
If you think Big Ten leaders, you think Michigan and Ohio State. The size of their undergraduate enrollment is now almost double Michigan's and one of the top 5 in the country. Whether you like it or not, their fan base is as large or larger than Michigan's and the gap is growing. Michigan is always going to have to deal with another large Big Ten institution with MSU; that is not the case in Ohio.
As for a comparison of the quality of education between Michigan and Ohio State, that is a different story...
Michigan's academic reputation, coupled w/ a larger endowment and larger Alumni base is the reason I went all LOL at the above quote.
COMPLETE different story. I have dated, am kin to, facebook friends with numerous dozens of osu alumni and their grammar, among many other intellectual benchmarks expected of a college grad, can be so laughable. This is a cruel, underhanded shot at them, but honest to God it's true. I confess that I don't know too many UM alums either, but just go read the 11 warriors message board replies as an aggregate to what is acceptable protocol here and there's your consensus.
Earle Bruce was derisively referred to as "old 9-3" because he seemed to have that record every year, and got fired for it. And poor John Cooper had better records, but couldn't beat Michigan, and got fired for it. As someone said recently in another thread, does anyone ever leave that school on good terms? I look forward to seeing what causes Urbs' demise.
My money is on a "Bobby Petrino"-esque incident... There were whispers in Gainesville.
I thoroughly enjoyed that.
Penn State takes the cake for "blindly loyal." They were flipping over news vans after a pedaphile enabler was fired. I didn't hear any OSU fans sticking up for Gee...Hell, the President of the Catholic league said it was "just a joke."
Keep it one hunna.
Go back to cheering that cheat, Tressel. Can't remember the last time I heard 100,000 give a standing ovation to a liar, cheat, and overall scumbag. Although that shouldn't surprise anyone judging from the usual schenanigans at that "academic" institution down south. What an absolute farce. Can anyone tell me exactly HOW Gee moved them up in the rankings? If the rankings are accurate, he could probably get Rose O'Donnell on Miss America.
EDIT: Serious question. Just read somewhere that the average ACT of OSU went from a 20 to a 29 in his tenure. First of all, 29 hahahaha (it's not actually that high). But second, I've heard similar statistics, so why exactly did ohio go from a generic fall back school to one of the best in the state? The economy? Sports? Actual academics?
Surely someone who graduated high school before the ACT even existed and still posts on a message board can figure out how to do basic qualitative research on the interwebs.
No, I mean 29 is good. Suspiciously good for ohio... Judging from other schools, I'd peg them below PSU, but above MSU. So what, I'd guess the 75th percentile for the ACT at ohio to be a 26-27, maybe 28. Saying the "average" ACT score at ohio is a 29 right now would be insane, that would mean about ~40% of their students would be scoring in the 30s.... which is REALLY GOOD SCHOOL LEVEL.
You have no god damn idea what you are talking about.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bielefeld_Conspiracy
You are not real. Wyoming does not exist. Let us test this on the board:
- Do you know anybody from Wyoming?
- Have you ever been to Wyoming?
- Do you know anybody who has ever been to Wyoming?
No, no, and no.
(eye roll)
I've never been to Wyoming, but I can point it out on a map.
I've been to Wyoming, they have some great skiing there.
on either the SAT or the ACT, or both? when i took them we used a chisel to put our answers on stone tablets, but i thought i'd heard they basically re-numbered them.
I'm not sure when he started there (IIRC, he was there in the early 90s, left and came back)...
but OSU never rejected a student with a HS degree until about 1997 I believe. Theyy would admit a TON of freshmen, watch a crap ton wash out after a year having taken their tuition.
these days, everything has become more competitive. every school in the nation has raised avg ACT/SAT scores - there are more students applying and attending college.
For the bigger schools, common app has helped as well (tho IDK if OSU is on the common app). Easier to apply, more students to apply, better pool of kids to accept.
Says the OSU fan still masquerading as a Michigan fan.
Not sure where you live, but my Buckeye fan coworkers and about everyone they have been interviewing on the local CBus news have been defending Gee. It's always been "a joke" with this guy.
Great article. osu is a skid mark in the Big Ten's collective underwear.
Uh... Penn State, Rutgers, OSU. So what, that's 3/12(14) school presidents who have been ousted /in serious trouble because of sports in what, just about a year. Yay college sports! As much as we mock the SEC for making a mockery of the "academic" side of things... LOOK AT THE BIG TEN!!!
Sidenote: Rutgers President involved in a new discrimination suit: http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20130604/NJNEWS/306040040/Rutgers-president-facing-yet-another-personnel-controversy (Not sports related, but hey, welcome to the Conference Rutgers!)
I'm not sure what any of those scandals have to do with the "academic" side of the Big Ten...
Now the "morality" side...
Sports have surpassed academics as the category by which University Presidents are most at risk for being fired. To anyone who consumes ESPN, MGo, etc (though Gee's firing made front page of BBC... ohio embarasses itself internationally) would think that University Presidents are more akin to general managers than academic leaders. Honestly, 3/14 in a year?! What an absolute embarassment. I'm starting to get the feeling that the SEC may be a more honest league than the Big Ten. At least they don't pretend to be all about academics and "above the fray". Remember, what got Gee in trouble with ESPN (and led to the witch hunt) was his comments about being commish of the SEC and how they "do it wrong". Look at your own house Mr. Gee.
Even Auburn fans would blush at the cheers Tressel received.
The truth can be just so damning...
This article is much more hateful/ insulting than anything Gee said. Listen, I dislike Ohio a lot. It is amazing to me, as a 27 year old professional, that I have so much unjustified hate towards a university and the people from it. When I meet OSU grads I have to remind myself that they aren't horrible people, just happened to go to Ohio. That is crazy. When I look at 11 warriors I despise every post and feel the community is wildly delusional.
But--
While Ohio has lesser academics, it is easy to argue they are the most similar school to UM from a NCAA standpoint. Stanford, ND, USC are all private. Cal is bad at the important sports, same with UCLA, Virginia. North Carolina, maybe? What I am trying to say is watching Gee/OSU get run by the national media this week pissed me off a bit. He offended the SEC for their poor academics, which is why this story is getting so much press-- not because ND is offeneded, or because Catholics are offended. It bothers me that ESPN flamed this story enough that Ohio had to fire someone who was an asset to their university. ESPN is more worried about Gee than over signing, brutal academics, paying players, etc...
Gee called a spade a spade. ESPN got butt hurt. Who do these college football/ basketball analysts think they are demanding the firing of a college president. Fuck off and explain a 2-3 zone to me.
Obama wouldn't be fired.
Oh man oh man oh man. I hate the no politics rule. I have such a zinger right now, but I'll save all you lefties from getting pissed right now, I know Maddow is on and I know how much I hate being disturbed during O'Reilly. Guess I'll have to shoot an e-mail to Sean and see if he'll put in on air.
But I'll yell at this guy for all you Dems. I'll let you get back to your tofu and French imports or whatever you do on Tuesdays.
"ZOMG NO POLITICZSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
(eye roll)
Tofu and French imports are Thursdays for us.
*tantamount
I don't know.....calling out catholics, even in jest, is pretty despicable. And stupid. I can't speak for his character, but I sure wouldn't want him representing my school in public, or, as it turns out, private, either. A bunch of partying college kids think he's cool because he shows up at their parties. Perhaps he should take on a new role: fun mascot.
Agreed. Maybe there is a reason he is the only "fun" President I know of in the US. If you want to be "fun", be the Dean of Students, not the President.
Gee called a spade a spade? Huh? How so?
ESPN didn't force Gee out. He's 69 years old, and the Board probably figured that keeping around one or two more years just wasn't worth the damage to the brand. It's kind of a no-brainer if you ask me. If Gee were 45, we wouldn't be having this discussion.
is the very reason I can not wait until Fox Sport 1 launches in August.
Its disgusting to watch their cheerleading for the SEC in every broadcast of every sport, and now the cheerleading has filtered into their newsroom. Its awful and pathetic.
Hayes (ironic name) doesn't look like he is hammering Ohio, as much as being an alum who is fed up with their shenanigans and wanting to clean up his school. His reaction is about the same as many people here when a player does something really stupid and needs to be kicked off of the team.
The obvious difference here is that the University of Michigan doesn't put up with cheating or the kind of public statements Gee made. If anyone in the program was cheating, there wouldn't be any blind defense; most people here would be clamoring for the cheaters to be ousted ASAP. As for hate speech against a religion: there is no way that is ever tolerated at the University of Michigan.
Hayes is spot on about his alma mater. With his conscience, he probably should have gone to Michigan.
And achieving neither when it counts.