OT: Ohio going to honor 2002 team and Tressel will take part

Submitted by UMxWolverines on

http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2012/11/players_expect_warm_welc…

You're going to honor the guy that made this your last game of the season in the first place? Are they gonna bring Maurice back too? Whatever. They obviously still don't believe he did anything wrong since he gave the whole team a pep talk before leaving for Ann Arbor last year or something. Question.

Would you be okay with honoring the Fab Five? Me personally, I don't know if I would. Yes, they were a group of talent that will probably never be matched and were icons, but they helped to set the whole basketball program back.

inthebluelot

November 20th, 2012 at 12:14 PM ^

to Gary Moeller this past Saturday. It felt kind of odd to honor a guy who was fired for improprieties a couple of decades earlier. I like Gary, I like Michigan, it felt out of place to like them both at the same moment. Kind of like spending Thanksgiving with your divorced parents in the same room... awkward.

saveferris

November 20th, 2012 at 1:18 PM ^

Moeller's actions, while embarrassing to the University and ruining his credibility as being able to head the football program, didn't violate any NCAA rules or result in any kind of investigation or sanction against the football team.  Tressel knowingly violated NCAA rules and then lied about it in a lame attempt to cover his tracks, costing this years squad a chance at the BCS Title game.  There is NO comparison.

I had no issue standing up and giving Moeller and the 92 team an ovation.  Ohio trotting out the 2002 team with Tressel while the program is in the midst of the punishment he caused is a slap in the face to the NCAA, not that they'll do ANYTHING about it.

markusr2007

November 20th, 2012 at 12:32 PM ^

They brought Woody Hayes back over and over again to dot the eye and be honored at various football games, events and team conferences after his firing.  

Hayes was reprimanded multiple times during his career by Big Ten commissioner Wayne Duke and was publicly disgraced several times because of his sideline antics and violence against the press and players. 

But Hayes won a lot of games for Ohio, including Big Ten titles.

This is the lens through with Ohio fans see the the college football universe. It's not about how you win. It's about the win. Period. 

Michigan just honored Gary Moeller last weekend.  Michigan fans too see much more to Gary Moeller than what happened at a Southfield restaurant 18 years ago.

I'm not saying Tressel = Moeller even remoltely, but both coaches were disgraced.

At some point, the bad stuff is going to be subtracted from the good stuff, because average joe's want to remember the good stuff.  For Ohio, that's winning games and beating Michigan 6 times in a row (actually 7) - something that never happened before.  

Personally, I think it's too soon.  Tressel was fired and received a show cause. Maybe some Ohio seniors will have some mixed feelings about honoring the guy who destroyed their opportunity - all the more poignant if they beat Michigan and finish 12-0.  But this is Ohio's decision.

 

 

 

mGrowOld

November 20th, 2012 at 12:43 PM ^

As usual Markusr you've nailed it.  Down here in Ohio they measure everything through the prism of how did you fare against Michigan and lets face it, even beloved Woody didnt enjoy success against us like Tressel did.  And he did it against the backdrop of the horrific (to them) Cooper years when we owned them like never before.

This has nothing to do with Show Causes, Probation, Bowl Bans, Scholly Reductions or anything else for that matter.  Tressell beat Michigan and beat them soundly and regularily and for that he is and will be universally loved.  How he did it is completely irrelevant -  because when it comes to beating "that school up north", for Buckeye fans, the ends definitely justify the means.

TheGhostofYost

November 20th, 2012 at 12:45 PM ^

What do you expect from a school that named its athletic center after someone who punched a kid in the throat?

BILG

November 20th, 2012 at 12:37 PM ^

People get the leader they deserve.  From Tressel to Meyer.  They clearly weren't aiming to climb the integrity ladder.

I'll stick with the Lloyd Carr's and Brady Hoke's of the world.  

I can't help but think how Tressel's cheating effected the trajectory of Lloyd's career.  

ijohnb

November 20th, 2012 at 12:38 PM ^

will actually be honoring Louis Bullock and Maurice Taylor in their own triblute at half time of the game as well.

justingoblue

November 20th, 2012 at 12:38 PM ^

Is there a team anywhere that doesn't celebrate a tenth anniversary for a national championship season? The classy move would have been for Tressel to say, "I don't want to be a distraction, I'll do my celebrating with my wife and kids at home" or something to that effect. He could even host his own private celebration with the team or invite everyone over for wine coolers. Being the person he is, he obviously took the other route.

michelin

November 20th, 2012 at 1:31 PM ^

Honoring Tressel does seem to beg belief.  The NCAA was told that Tressel not only lied to the NCAA but that he was the only official who broke NCAA rules.  If so, then why would current officials honor a guy who single-handedly dishonored them?

On the other hand, if he was not the only guilty official, then this honor might make sense.  Maybe it's just another Ohio insurance policy to keep Tressel quiet and not release his emails or write his memoirs.  Remember, Ohio already allowed Tressel to rescind his resignation and retire, giving him hundreds of thousands in retirement and health benefits.  I wonder if he is demanding more.

 

LSAClassOf2000

November 20th, 2012 at 1:20 PM ^

"Some people will embrace it, some people will not. Some people will feel it's awkward, some people will not." - Gene Smith, quoted in the article

It was this caliber of incisive leadership that was integral to the problem in Columbus, of course, but I would say that it somehow follows that they would allow Jim Tressel to be self-aggrandizing just one more time.

 

08mms

November 20th, 2012 at 1:22 PM ^

I, for one, welcome the opportunity to beat a zombie tressel team in the way which we were never able to when they were alive and kicking.

saveferris

November 20th, 2012 at 1:29 PM ^

Would you be okay with honoring the Fab Five? Me personally, I don't know if I would. Yes, they were a group of talent that will probably never be matched and were icons, but they helped to set the whole basketball program back.

First, the only member of the Fab Five that was implicated in the Ed Martin affair was Chris Webber, so to suggest that all five of them set the whole basketball program back is patently unfair.

Second, I would be OK with honoring the Fab Five together if Webber were to make some kind of apology to the University for the damage he caused. Since Webber still seems to consider himself the exploited party and doesn't seem to believe himself guilty of anything, that won't happen anytime soon.

Third, I would be fine with the other four being honored this season, but I think those guys have already said as a group that wouldn't accept any such invitation that excludes Webber.

This isn't going to happen anytime soon, if ever.

keep_em_honest

November 20th, 2012 at 1:51 PM ^

Why are our fans such whiny bitches?  They're not "honoring" Tressel, they're honoring the 2002 national championship team who tressel happened to be a part of.  The NCAA didn't levy any type of disassociation with the program on Tressel like they did with Webber or Pryor.

You people act like he's dotting the "i" for Christ sakes.

michelin

November 20th, 2012 at 2:59 PM ^

Tressel was not just part of that team; he was by far the most visible. 

The NCAA essentially dissociated him from re- employment at every NCAA institution.

The fact that Ohio does anything they please, which is not explicitly forbidden by the NCAA speaks volumes about the moral vacuum that still exists there.

 

If you are proud of that, then you prove our point.

 

No, maybe Tressel will not dot the "i" but

...he will forever dot your "lie".

chewieblue

November 20th, 2012 at 3:01 PM ^

Saying that doesn't make me whiny, newcomer.
It's a shame that the NCAA couldn't (or wouldn't) nail them for what they knew them to be. A one year probation for what they were doing is a sad and pitiful joke. It was a renegade program from day one. I live in the God-forsaken state and personally know players from the Tressel years. Their stories of blatant money being thrown at them speak volumes to what was going on down there while The Vest was in charge.
What's worse, is that the cheating and our own turmoil led to seven straight miserable years for all of us.
This is not whining. It's simply wanting justice for the wrongs that led to so much sadness for Blue fans all over the world. I guess our guys are going to have to make their own justice in Columbus this Saturday.

Michigan football

November 20th, 2012 at 2:03 PM ^

So the probation department decided to take urine samples on Nov 24, and all their clients (Tressel, the osu team, and even Urban who escaped Florida's probation) have to meet at the horseshoe.

It's all a part of their terms of probation.