Our response vs. TSIO response to the media

Why are you on Bucknuts? And what else would you expect from Buckeye fans? 

We also had a fragmented fan base while Tressel is a hero in Columbus. We probably had a lot of people who were glad that the scandal happened to RR so he could be fired.

Michigan fans were not as stalwart and osu is not being persecuted.

I have to agree with above poster.  I will never understand why fans spend so much time on another teams board.  No offense Irish, but I just don't get it.

But, Buckeye fans are as delusional as Gordon Gee.  I don't think they really understand the gravity of the situation their football program is in.  They stand by the man that wiill potentially sink their "rich and storied" team into the ground.  You really can't expect it to be any different from them.

Here's what I think.  I think we are seeing ESPN do the same thing with OSU as they do with the Red Sox and Yankees.  Their have been moments where they have filler stories to keep OSU in the news because they are a "big market."  Do I think they are witch hunting? Absolutely not.  They are a business and know just how big and sexy this whole story is.

That being said, I don't think this is an instance where ESPN, "hates the Big Ten," or has a personal vendetta against Ohio State.  The denial and delusion taking place at OSU is nothing new to me, as I have lived in Ohio my entire life.  Buckeye fans are in a deep stage of denial and will be forever.  Even after the sanctions are handed down, they will still be screaming, "What about Cam Newton!?!?!?!" and not realizing that has nothing to do with them.  They feel as though they should be treated like an SEC team because of the money they bring into the NCAA.

Their misplaced logic with Jim Tressel is probably the most troubling thing about the psyche of the typical OSU fan.  Everytime I hear a someone defending their beloved Senator (which is such a fitting description for him as so many government officials are crooked nowadays) they place their anger on Pryor.  My favorite thing to throw in their face is that OSU fans love to say, "everyone cheats, we are just being targeted."  Well their logic here is disturbing.  If everyone cheats, how can you blame Pryor? Shouldn't Tress have taught them to cheat better? This boils their blood because they realize I just blew their mind and caught them in their stage of denial and displaced anger.

I feel like Michigan fans could never get to the point of OSU fans.  We have too many deep thinkers among our fan base.  OSU people tend to be knee jerk reaction and feel a sense of entitlement because their overall lack of winning in pro sports (I'm an all Cleveland fan, don't hate).  They have one team in their life that wins, as I did at one point, and they defend that with their life.  If OSU fails, they have nothing to look forward to in the sports world.

I actually think as your post suggests, the overwhelming response (at least on this site) was similar.  It was called the "jihad" by many, as if to suggest the press was waging war on the program.  There were similar accusations of it being a "witch hunt".   Now at the end of the day, if we take the NCAA ruling as the actual truth, history shows that the truth lay somewhere in the middle of the Freep allegations and what this site maintained (probably closer to the site). 

So I don't think we should get on our high horse about the fan response.  That being said, I think we do have ground to talk about the University response.

I was enjoying the comments about how ESPN is full of UM and SEC grads over on 11W -- forget about Smith and Herbstreit.  How many do we actually have over there other than Desmond and Schefty?  

But to answer your post, remember this is the fan base that agreed with Smith's statement that a 2 game Tressel suspension was the disciplinary "sweet spot." 11W, which is by far their best site, has been in perpetual denial (much like the institution).  They circle the wagons / turtle up just like SEC folks who have nothing else going on for them besides their football interests.  Bucknuts and Ozone are rumor, innuendo and UM vitriol mills.  There is nothing to see there, move along.

OSU's paranoia about espn is a major distortion of the truth, since a vast number of media outlets all over the country--not just ESPN--- have been critical of their program.  By contrast, the UM accusations came almost entirely from one source: the Freep.   In fact, coaches and media all over the country said that UM's "practice" patterns would be found at most places.  Craig James--not a UM fan-- even called the attacks on RR a "witch hunt".  The NCAA now is even considering altering rules, so that schools accused on relatively small allegations--like UM--- would not be put through the same ordeal as those accused of major crimes--like OSU.

In any case, UM had considerable support for its objections to one media outlet.  Its world view was shared by many.  Whereas, OSU has received almost universal condemnation.  Its world view is idiosycratic.  That is the hallmark of paranoia.

Finally, you don't need to be a UM fan to see that there is a big difference between not counting a few minutes of extra "stretching" as "practice"--like UM-- and overt lying to the NCAA about player eligibility for an entire season--like OSU.   

If the NCAA grew some balls and actually called a spade a spade, I'd sit back and enjoy the implosion over Columbus, and all of Ohio for that matter.  As it is, I sort of side with them on the issue.  Much ado about nothing.......until hard evidence and a NOA which includes LOIC is personally handed to Gene Smith and Gordon Gee while they enjoy their french cuisine at The Refectory.

Personally, I can't let myself watch the coverage or pay close attention because I know it will only make me angry when the final decision is made.  I just know that OSU is going to escape with a light slap on the wrist and will annoy me.  This way, I won't get too invested and thus not be annoyed at the result.

/OSU jinxed!

Ohio State fans are really focusing on the Pryor handouts, and whether it's really the end of the world that a guy gets to benefit from his talents. They also feel that losing Tressel is the worst thing in the world, and therefore more than enough payment to rectify anything.

The general Ohio State misconception is that they're oblivious to the program's role in covering up, and that they failed to act many times to properly regulate themselves. NCAA is a self-regulatory system, therefore Ohio State's defensive posture is basically like having the investigatory officer playing defense attorney instead.

The problem is undermining NCAA's easily underminable justice system. It's the cars since 2002 that never got investigated, and the 10-day faux investigation that couldn't turn up from its own people what SI and ESPN reporters found in days. It's the equipment manager looking the other way as tens of thousands of dollars of stuff disappeared from the equipment cabinet and appeared, signed,  in Rife's window. It's thinking that Tressel lying to the NCAA and then having the chutzpah to clear the players for the bowl game when he had known it all year was worth a two-game suspension and that should be the end of it.

It's not that Pryor sold autographs -- it's that the school knew all of this was going on, facilitated it, and still think they can walk away from this without giving the NCAA any more than the NCAA had in December.

Remember when the practice thing hit for Michigan, the original report was based on claims every college athlete at every school under every coach will make: the "optional" practices and workouts etc. are never really that "optional" if you want to get on the field. But our Athletic Department, knowing full well that they were getting put on trial for a speeding ticket, went balls to the wall to turn up the unsigned practice reports and simulated footballs with towels and how the confusion and decisions were made about warmups counting, and then after turning in a report far longer and more comprehensive that Ohio State's, proposed sanctions on itself that more than doubled any positive effects gained. A better example is probably the Fab Five, where Michigan itself went out and found the most damning evidence, including reporting damnable things nobody else ever found -- which is the expectation for these things, firing their head coach with only scant evidence he knew about any of it, and proposing flaggelatory punishments upon its program.

Getting back to Columbus, there isn't supposed to be a 2nd investigation after the first. The school is supposed to do as Michigan did: scrounge every corner and act as its harshest investigator, turning in a massive, comprehensive report all the stuff the original accusation didn't find. I can't tell what NCAA is doing because they're more than capable of doing an extra sniff just to placate the flabbergasted public then calling things clean. Or maybe this second investigation is looking directly at the department because they're as convinced the AD and president are playing defense as everyone over 4th grade who doesn't live in Ohio is.

and the funniest (and increasingly truthful) point that the docu points out is the disparity in intelligence amongst our fanbases.  When I'm bored and there aren't any good discussions going on here or any of the other Mich blogs that I read, I'll meander over to Bucknuts and see what lunacy is being splattered over the tubes of the internet, and you know what?  It always makes me laugh.  They're not smart.  It's that simple.  

Whether it's lack of book smarts and they can't comprehend it or it's lack of common sense and they're allowing their blind allegiance to a man who has been proven to be a crook over and over, the fact that their intelligence is unable to process simple historical data is getting a litte re-damn-diculous.  Funny, but ridiculous.

Just like most Michigan fans, I hope that they get what they deserve.  If we're going to get punished for the rules we broke, I hope they do.  It's not so their program will burn and die, but because the repercussions across collegiate sports will be massive if OSU is allowed to get away with these infractions.  This also applies to the SEC schools and Oregon and USC and any other institution that is allowed to break rules because the reward greatly outweighs the risk.