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http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=384313
This article has some very, very interesting quotes from Dr. Anzalone (Alex's father). Seems like a decommitment was coming even before the events of today/yesterday and they are biting their tongues as to what really "wasn't right" at OSU.
Wow. I can only imagine what might be revealed from all of this. Let the digging commence!
"You don't want your son to go to a place where there's a potential issue (like this)," Sal Anzalone said. "You expect the (football) staff to have some sort of control on how things are handled with recruits when they visit. This is ridiculous.
"I was concerned with what recruits do, and with them being allowed to visit these kind of places where it puts kids at risk. That's the issue. You entrust people (at the school) to do the right thing."
While he said he doesn't believe the Buckeyes coaching staff was aware that a sexual predator had access to its recruits and players, Sal Anzalone said he is upset at what transpired.
"Of course," he said. "Who wouldn't be? I'm outraged."
If I were a parent and I felt that a school wouldn't/couldn't keep my kid safe, there's no way in hell that we'd consider that school (especially considering all of the other options available). This story has the potential to do some major, major damage if OSU made any mistakes in how they handled this.
Wow, it looks like this story just might blow up.
At this point, I think it's pretty clear why Lewis Neal decommitted, too. From The Silver Bullet (http://www.osusilverbullet.com/4/post/2012/05/recruit-talk-lewis-neal-th...):
Why did you de-commit from your verbal commitment to Ohio State?
LN: It's too personal, I can't tell you because then it'll end up everywhere. If everyone knew the real reason, then some of the fans wouldn’t be coming at me like that. Because my reason is legit, and you would clearly understand. It has nothing to do with football trust me!
Did the offer from LSU contribute to your de-commitment?
LN: My decision was nothing to do with football so no, the LSU offer did not contribute!
"Sal Anzalone said that his son had expressed his concerns that "something wasn't right" about his visit shortly after returning from Ohio last month." - from the OP's article
When you have 17 year-old recruits that are noting serious cultural shortcomings at your institution, you would hope that this would serve as a kick in the pants for some serious re-evaluation, not just there, but everywhere. These are still kids, football or not, and you would hope that any program is putting their safety first and foremost. If that isn't happening in their mind, there is a HUGE oversight occuring at your program.
not that I am complaining, becuase Alex is very very good, but why let your son commit after the spring game then.
do you think a good chunk of the team would have been spending all its downtime at Rife's tat parlor?
Maybe when you drop your kids off at school the first time you want to think they'll hunker down and keep their noses clean, but you also know they're finally away from home and they're going to let go too, do the things kids do, some of them stupid. When you get the call about the underage drinking bust or the bar fight or the weed he was seen smoking, well, that's just part of the deal.
The call you do not expect is the one about the feds busting the place where your son and his friends call home. From a parental perspective, the real story at Ohio wasn't whether or how they were cheating; it was that the football team spend their time not in the dorms or the library or any of the other places you'd expect to find students but hanging out with a major drug dealer who's wanted by the FBI.
I would never have expected it to take this particlar turn, but there's a sense in which this is more of the same. There are some exquisitely unsavory characters hanging around the Ohio athletic department, and the school and maybe more importantly the community doesn't seem to particularly give a damn. Maybe this incident will push them into caring.
Even reading the comments on Eleven Warriors, many of focused not on how it could possibly come about that a sex offender could be seen in photographs with recruits, but how this would affect the larger recruiting picture, I was pretty stunned that it seemed like "business as usual" inside the fanbase at least. There were some more enlightened replies here and there, but rants about Urban and recruiting were prevalent, not this story per se.
It also seems like the athletic department isn't doing enough to change the culture if you have Neal and now Anzalone decommiting for reasons which they indicate are larger than the programs themselves, and I start to get the feeling that perhaps it may be something even more substantial than what has happened here. Obviously, safety being a good fifth or sixth (possibly) on the list is not new at Ohio - I hope something like this makes them reconsider that too.
The Ohio leadership from Gee and Smith on down have repeatedly shown that they want to win at all costs, probably because the mostly insane Ohio fanbase demands it. To me, this is the opposite of surprising.
in the North East (PA I mean, not Ohio).
"I will pray for the fans that are coming at me, also."
I like this kid.
As was the case during the Penn State... happenings, Sexual Predator jokes will not be tolerated. Please be good everyone.
But once this is over we can resume the jokes, right? I'm no use to this board without jokes.
In regards to the actual topic of discussion, how long has this Waugh guy been around the program? If he's been giving out illegal benefits such as meals, drinks, etc. to recruits for a while, the NCAA might have to investigate again.
I'd imagine that they will investigate this. This is serious stuff, and in the wake of the Penn State scandal, this will be in the front of the NCAA's mind. That doesn't necessarily mean that they'll investigate with an eye on how to punish OSU, but at the very least, they should investigate to try to figure out if there are ways to keep today's student-athletes safer.
Don't worry, Gene Smith has everything under control. After a thorough investigation he determined the pedophile "is not a booster." Nothing to see here...move along.
Someone photoshop me a Brutus Buckeye with the Pedobear head. I'd do it myself but I'm too old to computer it.
You have the imprimatur to delete the sodomy jokes above...that started this thread...do it...why tolerate that?
Not sure how I didn't manage to process that the first time around. I guess it was too subtle.
From now one, peope should label their inappropriate sexual predator jokes with #rapejoke, so I will be able to more easily identify and delete them.
http://m.espn.go.com/wireless/story?storyId=7892108
Get the Pop Secret back out and grab a cold one.....this could be interesting.
Call me crazy...or not blood-thirsty enough or something...but I personally hope that this is it.
But that it is in NO WAY related to this current situation. Like, Luke Fickell has uncontrollable flatulence, or Urban Meyer kept calling him "Tom."
Anyone hoping there's more to the sexual predator piece of the story needs to reevaluate some stuff.
No baked beans and weenies for Fickell then.
Come to think of it, Fickell having uncontrollable flatulence is completely consistent with Lewis Neal's explanation for why he decommitted:
It's too personal, I can't tell you because then it'll end up everywhere. If everyone knew the real reason, then some of the fans wouldn’t be coming at me like that. Because my reason is legit, and you would clearly understand. It has nothing to do with football.
Are we breaking news here?
Perhaps. Breaking wind? Almost certainly.
Most telling quote in the article: "Something's just not right at Ohio State," Sal Anzalone said. "It's not for him."
Urban Meyer should put that up the next time he wants to make a poster comparing Ohio to Michigan.
You people need to seriously sit back and check yourselves. Some of you are getting WAY too carried away with this whole football rivalry thing.
Go back to bucknuts
Is someone from Ohio actually saying that people in Ann Arbor are getting "WAY too carried away with this whole football rivalry thing?" That's like Sean Payton saying that your team needs to pay more attention to sportsmanship.
"Owl:" I know you didn't mean it that way, but your post is the funniest one I have seen here all year.
As for the actual subject of the thread, it looks like this could gut Meyer's class if he doesn't "circle the wagons" quickly. It doesn't surprise me much, either. A lot of shady people have been allowed into the "inner circle" of Ohio's football program the last few years.
Then again, 14 players convicted of misdemeanors didn't sway many recruits from Michigan State, so Ohio might not lose too many more. We'll know shortly.
I’m not from Ohio. I’m actually I rising junior at Michigan. The guy above you just assumed I was a rival fan because he disagreed with me.
Wherever you're from, you're apparently in the wrong place.
A sick human being unaffiliated with OSU took pictures with some football recruits. That is odd, I grant that. However, to extrapolate from this that Urban Meyer is a terrible human being who runs a dirty program is premature and irresponsible. Furthermore, to take glee in this happening to a rival (which some seem to be doing) is extreme. I am here because I love Michigan football/ hockey. That doesn’t mean that I have to be unreasonable about it to the point of comparing Urban Meyer to Sandusky, as someone in this thread did. It is the realm of Mlive, not mgoblog. That sort of behavior should hardly be emulated, and I want it nowhere near my University. That you’d prefer I conform to it is disheartening.
please delete
It could be (and I hope it is) that circling the wagons won't be enough for Urban. Think about this... Tressel had a shady program with the same shady fans and characters involved in the program that are still fans of the program. The difference is that Tressel recruited the vast majority of his players from Ohio, where they have the same mindset of "Buckeye victories at all costs," and like that all the fans are so "involved" because it's a basically a religion. Meyer is now recruiting the vast majority of his players from outside of Ohio, where they haven't been brainwashed into loving Ohio more than their mothers, so when they see the weird cooler pooper behavior there, some of them see it for what it is- weird. Maybe this is an indication that Meyer opening up the walls around Ohio has broader ramifications than are obvious initially.
Hahhaha come on. You really think the creepy, sex offending Tweeter is part of Urban Meyer's inner circle? Explain to me how this is an OSU problem, and not a problem that couldn't have happened anywhere in the country--we just got unlucky. Shit, the dude's from Kentucky, he isn't even from Ohio.
Dude, the issue is that this campus is WAY too overrun with people of "poverty". You go down to 4th and 5th off High St., and it's like a "mild" corner from South Chicago. That's a very impulsive comparison, but you can hopefully understand the message in my words. The veracity of this situation is that the University should be more wary of the precarious situations people could find themselves in if they're from, say, Pennsylvania. You know as well as me that if YOUR seventeen year old son (one of the nation's top recruits mind you) was wandering around campus AT NIGHT, you might lose some sleep.
I live right by Lane. Am I safe? Well, let's look at recent events you may recall:
1.) http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/11/13/osu-area-robberies-prompt-warnings.html Nov 11'
2.) http://www.thelantern.com/campus/thefts-and-robberies-near-campus-alarm-students-1.2831818#.T6Sy0utAbkM Mar 12'
Anzalone is a minor, correct? OSU should take full responsibility for his official visit. Stop deflecting the blame.
really sum things up nicely. I expect my kid, on his official visit, would be supervised. If the coaching staff isn't supervising him, then you can't expect they will later on.
This is not a dig on OSU, as this is how I assume most programs do things. The idea of in loco parentis went out a generation or more ago. Any regular college kid isn't going to be supervised, but might not be as big a target as these athletes.
...except that this was not an "official" visit.
I thought it was an official. Third total, no? Well, in any event, I'm not sure that I know if my brash response was due to the general nature of this topic itself, or the general nature of the heartland fan shown above. IMO, University officials should take more action into making this campus a safer place. Anzalone felt uneasy about his encounter with what seems to be a common, unnerving, profiled person...
I don't know. But more supervision was obviously necessary here. And if not, I'd just like to see less rationalizing from Coumbus as a whole and more measures to make this campus - safer. To put it simply, safer.
To say: "This could've happened anywhere. We're just unlucky" is a very...perfunctory statement.
Now when I say; "I read this in the Lantern and it doesn't surprise me" is similar to the above statement and is what I think he meant to say. Not good.
Not good for recruiting, for Urban, for the program, and the University in general.
Campus is safe, I don't know what you're talking about. If you expect areas of off-campus housing in a major city to be as safe as a place like Ann Arbor, then that's unrealistic. You'd have to move the campus to a new town. What more can OSU do? Provide a campus officer to every one of the 55,000 students walking around at night?
Columbus is a major city. There's poor poeple there, what is your point? That OSU shouldn't have people go there because poor people are nearby? The picture shows the kid in a bar or a restaurant, not some back alley off King Ave. and finally it wasn't even an official visit. I don't understand what OSU should have done differently?
And Kentucky is the sophisticated version of Ohio
I don't even disagree with most of what you're saying, but why do you have to be such a condescending douchebag about it? "You people"? Relax buddy, it's an Internet message board.
Also, you just finished your sophomore year. Go get drunk.
People need to be sensitive about this. OSU aside, there really isn't anything funny about this. This is, even on the face of it, a terribly serious issue.
Sensitive to whom? I don't think the creepy guy is the main issue here, he's just the most public one.
Sensitive to common human decency. We are, at the end of the day, a sports faction. Granted. We despise our aversaries. Granted. But this is, apparently, about a sexual predator who had access to children, and the fallout. At the very least, it seems to be about ths.
Do not crow about this. Do not celebrate this. I guarantee you I hate OSU as much as the nect man, but as is not about the Wolverines against the Buckeyes. This is not a Shadenfreude situation.
So again, I implore my comrades, be sensitive about this.
I think we all agree that the stuff with the sexual predator is deplorable, and (hopefully) no one is taking glee in that part of things.
His point, I think, is that it seems like there whatever else is under the surface is unrelated, and may just involve generic things in Ohio that we would normally feel comfortable laughing at. Those things are fair game.
I don't think it's really about the creeper, though. These players are "children" in a technical sense, but they're not helpless little innocents either. By that I mean, I doubt they'd decommit from a place they really wanted to go to school and play football over a couple chance encounters with a creepazoid. There has GOT to be more to it than just a pissant sex offender. There's something else about Ohio State causing these players to decommit.
P.S. - I'm not the one downvoting you. Your point is fair, I just think it's missing the rest of the story.
That's fine. All I am suggesting is waiting until we know, rather thanm assume. I refer you to the eloquent "Anal Zone" anagram post above to make my point. I'm not saying this is a torrid scandal. I'm saying I, who am on record as being a notorious prick to our adversaries, would like to wait and find out before acting the rake here.
People don't have to agree with me. I just hope they would.
You stay classy, San Diego.
EDIT: I take your point. I do. This is not meant to be bellicose. I merely advocate as I do for concern of the gentility of the Michigan fanbase.
Yeah, someone might have to explain to me how that "Anal Zone" joke from aaamichfan has reached "
Because it's funny.
moderation is based on what the mods find offensive rather than any policy. same goes re: political content.
Anzalone faced before he became the size of a D-1 prospect linebacker? Growing up with that joke might make you even more sensitive to a situation where it might crop up again.
I can't speak for others here, but my comment was aimed directly at the media sharks smelling blood in the water. There was no joke intended, nor did I make light of sex offenses.
Not to mention... another pedophile scandal is NOT exactly good for Big Ten football...
Good for victims
Just some wild conjecture, but what it the entire OSU program is in the closet? Tressel did make a bit of a splash a few years ago by standing up for gay rights.
Are you just asking to get Bolivia'd?
DirtyUrby has to know his program is being closely watched, but he can't control people who try to contact his recruits, everyone knows that. There's something else going on under the surface.
This sad incident aside, that interview highlighted a difference between UM & OSU in recruiting. Kids commit to Hoke because they love the family atmosphere, trust Hoke, and overwhelmingly think the program feels right & is a good fit. Here we have an OSU commit decommit due to not fully trusting Meyer and the fact that "something wasn't right" (which he felt even before this incident). Just something I noticed.
This is bologna. Are you serious?
Great, insightful contribution to the discussion, AdaBuckeye.
I respect that he used the word "bologna" instead of "baloney". Impressive.
This is not an Ohio State problem. The quotes by Anzalone's father are understandable, but are misguided anger. It is impossible for the coaching staff to follow the kids 24/7 while they are on a visit, or to control who they interact with on social networks.
I also disagree with the fellow who said this answers why Lewis Neal decommitted? I have read up on this BDubsTriviaGuru over the past few days and have not seen any evidence of interaction between he and Lewis Neal. Guru had contact with Mike Heuerman, Alex Anzalone, and Joey Bosa on the evening of Saturday, April 21. On Sunday, April 22, he met at Chipotle for lunch with two signed OSU players (Tyvis Powell and someone else).
This guy had no affiliation with Ohio State, he's just some guy. This is not an Ohio State or Urban Meyer problem. I totally understand that Alex's father is upset about what happened, but Alex chose to follow this guy on Twitter, he chose to meet with him at BW3 or where ever, he chose to take a photograph with him, and he chose to retweet these "motivational quotes", and there was not a darn thing that Urban Meyer, Luke Fickell, or anybody else at OSU could have done about it.
I agree. But I think the OP was arguing that something was amiss even before this event, at least concerning the recruitment of Neal.
Why is this creep so close to the program, or at least many of its players/recruits? Something doesn't seem right, and I'm guessing he is giving them improper benefits. Why else would OSU send out the warning today?
BDubsTriviaGuru is a guy on Twitter literally sending out hundreds of tweets a day to players, coaches, and recruits. Some players, coaches, etc., responded to him and retweeted his stuff every day. He arranged to meet with recruits on his own doing and they apparently agreed to meet him.
OSU Compliance received a tip about this, looked into the situation, and discovered his dirty past.
If Waugh was providing improper benefits, I'm not sure how it reflects negatively on Ohio State since the person is not enrolled at Ohio State, OSU didn't have knowledge, and they took immediate remedial action onces discovered that there may be an issue.
You guys ran a dirty program for a decade and then decided to hire Urban Meyer. Sorry if most people don't take everything OSU claims at face value
We ran a dirty program for 2010/11. But yeah, decade sounds much better.
Say "Hi!"
Clarett was kicked off the team and Troy Smith was suspended for two games. Two players being punished for their actions in 10 years is far from dirty.
Except for all those guys who got the program on probation.
Funny how the best players always seem to be getting something down there. A rational mind might see a pattern that had formed. And not really think they were the "only guys"' and it had somehow magically just started in 2010.
You're making my point? Those players that got us on probation acted seperately from the team in 2010 and managed to get themselves suspended for 5 games each. Where is the "decade of cheating" meme coming from? Show me the proof?
This goes here. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=1919059
I'm sure there's no truth to any of this. I'll still never fully understand how OSU fans blindly support and love Tressel. He was as dirty as they get.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2010/10/ohio-...
He could be a convicted serial killer and as long as he was still 8-1 against Michigan they'd love him.
Clarett got kicked off the team, you're making my point for me. Santonio Holmes was never busted for anything, allegations are just that--allegations. Prove to me that he did anything wrong, I'll wait.
On whether Waugh is a "booster". OSU has already put out a statement saying he isn't, implying that he is not a season ticket holder and has never donated money. Michigan's definition of a "booster" seems more stringent than even that.
The NCAA broadly defines a "booster" as an individual, agency, entity or organization who is known by an institution to:
The fact that ohio has so quickly and adamantly stated that this guy is not a booster only makes it seem more suspicious that he actually is.
that last part makes him a booster, no?
Ohio has had long standing systemic issues with boosters and fans who get way too close to the program. Ohio stonewalled the NCAA investigation and took a slap on the wrist, but never really addressed the problems at the heart of the matter. People like AD Gene Smith who say it is not a systemic issue and try to avoid making any difficult change are responsible. On the plus side, they get predators like Edward Rife, Dennis Talbott, Bobby DeGeronimo, & Jack Maxton Chevy who provide some illegal benefit to the program. On the negative side, these other types of predators get access and something like this eventually happens.
Yes, it is a problem everywhere. Just today, Adam Taliaferro was elected to the PSU Board of Trustees with the highest vote total although he has no qualification to make those kind of decisions about an academic institution. How in the world PSU learned nothing from the the Sandusky scandal about football worship is beyond me.
You'll hear no argument from me that Gene Smith needs to go, but it's very frustrating to see some blasting Ohio State for this. The recruits go on their visit, generally go to dinner with some coaches, and then they're off on their own. The staff can't be watching them or then posting people outside their hotel to make sure they stay in there for the duration of the evening.
You are correct about it being impossible to control every person a recruit might come into contact with. However, it doesn't sound like the whole story has come out about the Anzalone decommitment, so we really don't know if the coaching staff deserves some blame.
If you've read anything about Meyer from his time at Florida, he's shown a lack of character multiple times.
using your defense that they aren't responsible for supervising minors there on recruiting visits. That surely won't play well with parents.
My understanding is that current players are given that task while acting as hosts. I imagine that many of those players do what their own hosts had done. At some schools, that means visiting boosters. We went through that here with basketball. I don't think anyone should be surprised if that's going on at OSU.
It's one thing to say you can't keep an eye on kids 24/7, and that's true of all the kids on the team, but we're not talking about kids on the team. We're talking about recruits there to visit for a day or two.
How hard is it to keep track of a couple kids for 2 days?
If OSU can't make sure a kid on a 2 day visit doesn't get into trouble, how are you supposed to entrust them to handle said kid for 4 years.
Please, what was OSU supposed to do? Hey, no, you can't go to Chipolte! Or go outside the gates of Ohio Stadium after the spring game! Come on.
The quotes from the Anzalones seem to indicate that this was just (as the OP suggests) the last straw, and that there were serious concerns before this latest crap (which I agree isn't an OSU thing, it's just a thing that happened at OSU).
<blockquote>This is not an Ohio State problem. The quotes by Anzalone's father are understandable, but are misguided anger. It is impossible for the coaching staff to follow the kids 24/7 while they are on a visit, or to control who they interact with on social networks. </blockquote>
I'm not expert on recruiting, but I would think having at least someone on the staff accompany recruits at all times would be standard. I mean, these are high school juniors after all. You don't just dump a 16 y/o on a college campus, tell them to have fun, and hope for the best.
Do they sit outside their hotel in an SUV with tinted windows? At some point OSU representatives and recruits part ways.
Are you implying the picture was taken after the kids snuck out fo their hotel rooms? There's nothing I've seen to suggest that
So, did you hear the one about the completely irrational Buckeye fans that everybody points to in order to summarize their fanbase as having their own heads up their asses? Oh you didn't? You probably had Hang on Sloopy turned up too loud to notice.
As in when recruits decommit?
I have read up on this BDubsTriviaGuru over the past few days and have not seen any evidence of interaction between he and Lewis Neal.
That makes it worse for OSU, IMO. I don't really fault them for how they appear to have handled the Waugh thing so far. They can't be expected to do a background check on every schlub who tweets their recruits. They handled it in about as timely a fashion as they could've.
But you add what Neal said to the other stuff the Anzalones said and you start smelling something rotten. If it was a couple of recruits getting weirded out and decommitting because of just this one guy, OSU could do some damage control there, maybe even bring those guys back into the fold. Something else has turned those guys off the school entirely. Meeting a sex offender shouldn't be enough to do that.
Nope, the Neal interview seems to be proof that something else is wrong.
There are a lot of funny things which occurred and I'll try to map out the ones on my mind, but I don't think that this reaches Ohio State recruits that committed before the Spring game..
There's no doubt that Bosa, Anzalone, and Heuerman really hit it off on the weekend of OSU's Spring Game. Word from the recruitniks over at 11w was that all three were all Buckeye. Bosa, Neal, and Anzalone all committed shortly after the game. Then, something happened. I don't pretend to know what, but Heuerman had a sudden "change of heart" and decided to commit to ND, despite spending the previous weekend actually recruiting FOR Ohio State.
Then, Lewis Neal decommits. I personally think that his "personal" reasoning has more to do with his grandmother than it does issues with the TriviaGuru, but I suppose anything is possible. His grandmother (she raised him) wants him to stay close to home in N.C.
Then word comes out about the TriviaGuru. Then, people start to draw the lines about what exactly he did when he returned to Columbus for the Spring Game. I didn't think Neal was linked, but this picture below me may have proved me wrong.
Then, Anzalone decommits. Alex from 11w says that this is 100% about the BDubsTriviaGuru. Then, reports come out of Anzalone's hometown newspaper that it was the "nail in the coffin." Choose to believe who you want, but my take is that there were some things that went down on the evening of April 21 that should not have.
I just hope that Bosa doesn't follow suit.
I agree with your take. This is total speculation, but I'm guessing what happened is the recruits had a great time, probably too good a time. Now the stuff comes out about this tosuguru guy and parents and coaches start asking questions about what happened that visit and some details emerge that probably don't cast osu in a good light to the parents and maybe mean possibly rules violations for the school, and the recruits start backing off or decomitting and maybe the coaches start backing off too.
Neal may end up being a red herring in all this, but I gotta think stuff like this tends to get around so it wouldn't shock me if his decommit wasn't at least partially related either.
Remember, Ohio State is on probation. Wouldn't you take extra steps and due dilligence to make sure that "stuff doesn't go down"?
You already know that the spotlight is on you. You already know that Meyer has a reputation for lax discipline for star athletes. You already know that there is the perception that he is bringing SEC recruiting tactics to the Big Ten.
How in the world do you leave anything to chance? Even if you don't actually care, you at least try to keep the spotlight off of your shenanigans.
I used to think Ohio State was just corrupt. Now I think they are dumb and corrupt.
Is that Neal?
From Ohio football roster
How does this happen?
There are a lot of people here who would love to get their picture taken with, say, Denard. How many of you actually have? What, hypothetically, would you have to be doing to get this kind of access repeatedly with what seems to be damn near everyone they were recruiting? (ok, i'm exaggerating, but this is not a random one-off LOOK, WOW, IT'S SO-AND-SO SOMEBODY TAKE MY PICTURE QUICK!)
Maybe I don't hang out with the right crowd, but this is weird to me.
Clearly you've never been to an Ohio State football game. The players come out of the dressing room and meet with fans/family after games, especially spring games. It's right by the busses, and it's far from uncomon. Anybody can stand there. If a player wants to take a picture or sign something for a fan, he can, if he wants to get on the bus and not go outside the gates, he can do that too.
If you want to seriously engage with a rival fan base, don't be condescending. Even IF you made a good point you are "clearly" coming off like a dick in every one of your posts.
Edit...I read further, and take back the sentiment you're always condescending..just several posts In this thread.
1. A mom posting at 1:50 a.m. So.Cal. time
2. Calling another poster a "dick" which my wife might do, but isn't commonly seen by women on the interwebs
3. You are associated with the brewing arts
4. Pliny the Elder is appropriate to this story: "With man, most of his misfortunes are occasioned by man."
5. Patiently educating a buckeye in social graces.
I'm not going to be a dick if you know what you're talking about. If you say something that is incorrect and act like you know what you're talking about, you deserve to be called out on it, regardless of your fandom.
And no, I've never been to a football game in Columbus.
I guess it's not that I don't hang out with the right crowd, it's that I don't hang out with the wrong crowd.
I don't like that guy's face. He's all titled head, smiley, and weird.
Hey, Mr. Rogers was a good man! You chose the avatar, anyway.
No problem Magnum, I'll finish Fred's idea: something about that guy's aura screams pedophile.
and you see his picture, doesn't it seem so obvious?
Just a strange coincidence...
/Head in the sand
Sounds like there could be even more coming and itt's not going to be good. More violations? This after Gene Smith says OSU is "too big to fail". Insane.
I understand the stigma associated with sexual predators, but this particular creeper got in trouble for possessing photographs of minors. How does this worsen the situation? Chances are, the predator/man isn't trying to get photographs of the athletes. He is probably just a stalker-type fan. As a parent, a sexual predator (especially of this variety) on campus means that I don't want to send my children there. The case is much different if we're dealing with a 17 year old who is almost an adult. It's a ridiculous cop out to call this guy simply a sexual predator when he is actually being attacked for stalkerish behavior that some of our own fans exhibit.
urban meyer= sandusky lite?
Dude... I hate Urban. I think he's as slimy a coach as you could get. I think he mistreats his family. But nobody is Sandusky lite. Boo on you.
Just, no.
No.
You sit in the box, one week, and you feel shame.
Second best sports movie ever, after Major League.
Bull Durham and Caddyshack are up there.
I just bought myself an all-expenses paid trip to Bolivia.
Damn, now I can't post threads. My fault.
Do we even know what the deal is with the sexual predator anyway? Unless I missed something, all it said is that he had to register for being in possession of porn involving minors. Disgusting? Yes. But many of you seem to be making too many unwarranted assumptions from this information. Porn involving minors could mean all manner of things. All of you seem to assume that this means little boys, which it may not. Also, as far as I’m aware, he never acted on it. It is perfectly possible for this guy to be a sports fan along with his sexual deviancy. Plenty of non sexual predators contact recruits for non sexual reasons- some of you do. This was an unfortunate event, but you shouldn’t read into it so much without more information. I am not defending sexual predators, I’m just saying that we should avoid coming to premature conclusions.Furthermore, the suggestion that this reflects on Urban Meyer as a person or the kind of program he runs is insane. I’m actually very disappointed by the response this incident has received from some of you. Anzalone didn’t give a concrete reason for his decommitment. Don’t put word in his mouth, that’s unfair to him.
At no point did I claim otherwise.
If you're 17 and have a titpic of your 17-year-old high school girlfriend, that's possesion of child pornography. Obviously that's not what this creepo did, he had pictures of underage people engaging in sex acts, which is disgusting and horrible and he should be in jail, not out on probation. But not everyone who is busted for that crime is actually a pervert, if so, 90% of high schoolers are sex offenders, fwiw.
And 70% percent of statistics are made up on the spot.
It's 60% of statistics I think, and you missed the point.
I think the 70% is made up as well. It appears you missed the point
Can I be condescending to this guy? Please?
Sixty percent of the time, it works every time . . .
Hahahaha what did I say that was wrong? Or illogical? Next time you want to come off as smarter than everyone else because you went to the Harvard of the West, make sure you type with correct puncuation. Clown.
http://dailyindependent.com/local/x1192766628/Man-pleads-guilty-to-child-porn-charges
The KSP’s Electronic Crimes Unit plumbed the hard drive of Waugh’s computer and found he had attempted to erase some of the images but that they were still there, [Boyd Commonwealth’s Attorney David Justice] said. Investigators also found evidence to indicate there was “no doubt” that Waugh had downloaded the pictures intentionally, he said.
The images were all of boys younger than 16, Justice said.
Thank you, I was unaware of this fact. However, these recruits are older than that. Also, I still stand by my other comments.
Is there any chance that Anzalone could end up as a Spartan?
I read in the comments on 11W that the O-Zone reported the creep was plying the recruits with free booze and wings at BW3 where said creep works.
1. Free food - NCAA violation.
2. Free booze to underage kids - NCAA violation and illegal.
3. Add in the fact the guy is a pedo and well WHERE THE HELL WERE THE ADULTS?
NIce job Urbz, Geno and Redenbacher. Nice job.
I also have a feeling compliance only woke up after something wrong went down with one of the kids.
If claims 1 & 2 are true, Gene Smith needs to be out on his ass by Monday. IF they're true.
Wish Tressel was still there too. The longer Gee & Smith are there, the better for Hoke and Michigan.
Great pub for BW3. /s
I've never been, but am tired of the stupid ads.
It's disturbing that a registered sex offender has this kind of access to recruits during university visits, but I think people need to settle down a little about these recruits being in "danger" of a short fat little 31-year-old who looked at kiddy porn. I think it's more likely that Anzalone and others have been getting what they know to be improper benefits from toads like this and it's made them feel dirty.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Urban Meyer and his laisse-faire, flashy, Pete-Carroll-like approach to college coaching is a perfect fit for OSU. And, yes, shit like this story is a symptom of that approach. Kids who are simply looking for a ticket to the NFL will go to OSU under Meyer. Solid character kids who also happen to be excellent football players will come to Michigan under Hoke. There is a qualitative different betweent the schools and the football programs. Hoke's genuine, low-profile, team-first approach is perfect for Michigan.
Yes, good point. These aren't 9 year old boys. These are stellar athletes a year or two away from audulthood. They were not threatned by this pudgy middle aged man. They could beat the crap out of him if they felt they needed to. They did not de-commit soley because he was hanging around on their recruiting visit. There is something else going on here.
Athletes that were *allegedly* being given free booze. I am 270 and pretty athletic still. At one point a few years back, I overdrank and a 140 lb friend of mine tied me to a bar stool. I was unable to do much to defend myself.
I'm not claiming this as fact, but it is a possibility.
Woah woah woah!!!! Middle aged???!!! I just turned 33, don't make me feel any older than I already feel.
It sure is interesting though the erie similarity between Anzalone and Neal decommiting. It must be something big because I don't think a random sexual predator would cause someone to decommit. There must be something going in Columbus that those two recruits didn't find right.
I figure it'd be something these 17 year old recruits saw by the older players and/or the adults. Ive heard that some programs often set up free sex for the recruits...and the only way I can see them objecting and being turned off is if they set them up with "minors", say, 17 year old girls. A guy like Neal could be mature enough to see that the older players and/or adults aren't protecting the minors in this regard. This is totally unfounded but it would be consistent to what both Neal and Anzalone had said. Think about it...it had to be something that breached their morals... and if I recall, Meyer had two girls 'mistakenly' be in Denard's room on the Florida recruiting trip...now, say they were the same age as the recruit.....a mature recruit could see how wrong this is, as they are minors. This will eventually come out.... and if I could bet I'd say that this is what it is.
That can't be, can it?
Then in 2003, a campus newspaper's investigation into Arizona State's all-female recruiting group revealed that members routinely supplied underage recruits with wild parties, alcohol and occasionally sex while serving as hostesses.
The Sun Devils coach and athletic director at the time essentially admitted that they knew very little about how the group worked—and that was the way they liked it.
The team may have been responsible for the recruits' well-being while on campus, yet once they turned them over to these other students the kids were no longer in their jurisdiction. The hostesses were never given orders about what to do—remember the trust?—but they were also never told what not to do. One of the group members told the paper that the hostesses were never given guidance about what constituted a recruiting violation. After all, if they knew what the rules were, then the girls might have to follow them.
You can guess who the athletic director was at the time, or you can click this link and read the money quote.
You'd think this would be enough to keep the kids on campus for the duration of the visit instead of heading out to BW3 for some improper benefits from a kind of creepy dude, but I guess they want to make sure they see the full range of services the community has to offer.
No contracts, no rules, no written performance reviews.
I'm serious about this. The Ohio booster community was tired of Geiger trying (often in vain) to get things done the right way so they brought in somebody who was explicitly committed to lack of oversight to run the show.
It's the same reason Tressel replaced Bruce. Bruce was no angel but he had a habit of metaphorically (and probably literally) extending his middle finger in the direction of boosters who thought they were, or should be, in charge of the program. Tressel had made it pretty clear during his time at YSU that this was not his M.O.
I didn't think it was possible for a Michigan fan to forget John Cooper.
If I could downvote myself, I would. Need sleep badly; my brain seems to be fried this morning.
It was Cooper replacing Bruce I was thinking of--I was told independently by two Ohio alums in a position to know, one a former player, that the problem with Bruce was less his results on the field than his attitude toward boosters and in particular toward a couple of incidents that they didn't want to go into in detail (I didn't even know what they were referring to, and still don't) but indicated with wink/smile/etc. They both acknowledged that Bruce was a "hell of a coach" to quote one of them, but there was a sense that as long as he was there the program was being held back.
It wasn't hard to figure out in general what they were saying, even in the complete absence of details. That tension in the community over just how hard the regulatory and ethical envelopes of competition should be pushed, or simply ignored, has never gone away--I suppose it's in every program but they seem to have an especially bad case of it. Each of the changes, Bruce -> Cooper, Cooper-> Tressel, Geiger* -> Smith, was a victory for the whatever-it-takes faction, but the other group has always been around, even if powerless.
My thought at the time, probably based on what I knew about Cooper's history, was that this was about steroid use. I didn't even think about recruiting issues until much later.
*Yes, I know Geiger retired and no, I don't think he was forced out. I do think that dealing with this stuff wore him down and probably hastened his retirement, but mostly it's a question of who was chosen to replace him and why.
on this. Note, they also invented a new position at OSU when Geno was hired so that his wife could have a job. When she retired in 2010, he got a pay boost, pretty much equal to what her salary had been. Million smackers a year to just look the other way and be shocked at things.
Where there is smoke there's fire. Nobody should be all that shocked that there are "things just not right" going on at OSU. From Urban's exit at florida and prompt return, to the bare cupboard he left behind, to the recruiting practices that managed to piss off everyone in conference (except seemingly Hoke), to that article (sporting news?) blasting his circle of trust, we should be expecting shady stuff to come out. A lot of people said it and it rings true now, he may not have been the correct, conservative post-scandal pick. He's got a ton of upside, and a ton of downside too.
Big Ten does it a lot different from the SEC. I hope he is kept honest by the rest of the conference and the media.
Comment on potential OSU violations. I read that Jeff Heuerman may have introduced his brother, Anzalone and Bosa to this guy because he thought he was a "cool guy." If that's true, let's ignore the incredible bad judge of character Heuerman is for a second. Nobody I knew during college would meet a random 31 year old guy and feel compelled to introduce the guy to his brother. Add that to the rumors that the pedo was providing drinks (illegal and a violation) and food (a violation) to the three recruits and you have to ask questions.
I would be very worried that he had been providing Jeff Heuerman and (very likely - I can't imagine that he focuses on just one kid on the team) other players with food and drinks when they went to BWW. If so, that looks like it may be a significant amount of additional violations coming OSU's way. Now, with the way the NCAA has treated OSU in the past, I doubt anything comes of this or that there is even much of an investigation. I obviously don't even know if this is true - it's all speculation - but based on what I've read about this story, I'd be concerned if I was OSU today.
This guy ended up being a pedophile, but to say that Heuerman is a "bad judge of character" for that (if what you read is even true...) is going off the deep end a little bit. Whenever I've read about something like this coming to light, the most common comment from people that were interviewed is, "No one had any idea. We're shocked." He's a kid, not a human lie detector. It's not like he did an in-depth investigation into his past and come to the conclusion that this was a squeaky clean guy.
I see your point, but if I were a 17 or 18 year old I probably wouldn't want to hang out with a 31 year old guy that offered me a beer. Chances are said 31 year old has some issues.
True, I'd just describe it as being naive rather than being an incredibly bad judge of character.
If I were a random kid yeah, it'd be creepy, but I'm sure high profile athletes get it all the time.
In defense of my original statement (about Heuerman being a bad judge of character) - I will note that I am not talking about a junior in high school. I was speaking about his older brother Jeff who is a sophomore and therefore 20 years old. In addition, if everything about him introducing his brother and the two other prospects to this guy because the pedophile provided them with free drinks and food is true, the kid isn't just a bad judge of character - he's an idiot. He lived through tatgate, he knows ohio is on probation, he must have been told hundreds of times to not take things for free - yet not only does he know this guy provides free stuff to football players, he takes three high profile recruits there so that they can get in on the action. Just seems idiotic. Again, who knows what is true in this story - I'm thinking the truth is not going to come out here - so all this could be false rumors from 11warriors.
Who knows how many current players' pockets he's in with freebies. Now those who host visits have a place to "show recruits a good time" and continue to take him up on it. Hence, he has access to players, recruits for photos, twitter, etc.
It's not out of the realm of possibility that a recruit or two "went along with it" while there, but didn't feel good about the situation they were "put in" (c'mon how many visitors are gonna be man enough to say, "No thanks, I'll just stay back here in the dorm" at 17 &18??).
Or, someone (a concerned fan who puts 2 & 2 together out one night at BWW's) notifies compliance, who leans on Urb, players, recruits. Now Dad is pissed that his son is about to be cast in poor light (underage drinking, benefits, etc) and yoinks there kid, claiming the school should know what's going on under it's noses.
Just saying, potential could be huge even without the pedo thing, just fuel on the fire.
a concerned fan who puts 2 & 2 together out one night at BWW's
If more Ohio fans would take this attitude they wouldn't be in the position they're in. How many people knew about Rife, about Talbott, about DiGeronimo, and did nothing? There was a guy on the OSU scout board who put up posts with details about Talbott just as the story was breaking, many (maybe all) of them accurate as things turned out, and every one of them was quickly moderated away as baseless speculation.
At some point the community has to at least try to police itself.
Now that smartphones are so prevalent, I'd expect Ohio fans to be much better equipped to put 2 and 2 together.
they don't find adding 2+2 any easier using a smart phones calculator than just using their fingers like they always have.
Mathematically challenged, but not dumb. Turning in a Buckeye player or recruit is not a smart move in Columbus. Just ask all the people who received death threats during the Tressel investigation.
Really not surprised recruits and their parents would be disgusted with things there.
Who knows what the hell else could be going on there,
How much free time alone do recruits have during a visit? During an official visit, if it matters? Are they escorted most or all of the time by a representative (even if it's just a student or player or recruiting hostess or whatnot)?
The ohio athletic department just released a statement about the pedophile. It's on 11W front page, but I can't find an original link to it.
It might as well say "Dear NCAA, THERE IS NOTHING TO SEE HERE!"
Among other things, it states that this guy is "not a booster." I think they might need to look up the NCAA's definition of a booster.
.
Between the "not a booster" statement and the email reminding students of ncaa rules on accepting benefits, it sure sounds like Ohio is circling the wagons over something shady that happened during the spring game visit.
As always. *Sigh*
Why don't they get it over with and just move to the SEC already? Ohio is adjacent to Kentucky and as far south as Missouri. They could make the case that they are a geographic fit.
They certainly are a cultural fit.
To the Ohio fans here: thanks for keeping things civil, and I hope most of us will reciprocate in kind. Obviously, I'll disagree with 99% of what you say and I won't shed too many tears if this mushrooms into something horribly for your program, but I do think OSU's compliance dept. acted properly here and it's too soon to say if this is another proverbial tip of the iceberg. If this more shenanigans, at least it'll have the net effect of getting Gene Smith outta there, which I think both sides can all agree shoulda happened ages ago. (does he have naked pictures of Myles Brand?)
I am disappointed by the fans who've made this a pogrom against Anzalone's parents - the main concern at this point is just hoping that the kids won't feel any really bad after-effects from this, no matter where they wind up - they are still HS kids, let's not forget (albeit ones that could break me in half)
I'm sure Henne would help a fellow player out, regardless of school.
I am trying with every fiber of my being not to compare Urban Meyer's rocky start with RR's rough start at Michigan.
But man it's hard. Meyer is rapidly using up his goodwill at Ohio State. Situations like this don't help. Even some of the most head-in-the-sand Buckeye fans are starting to ask themselves "Are we sure that this is the path we want to head down?"
Don't be fooled with how they respond to us, they don't like having to constantly be on the defensive about their AD and coaching staff. It wears you down.
Throw in a few unexpected losses in the fall and you have a volitile mix on your hands. In RR's case, he was never able to recover from it.
Not saying that it will happen to Meyer . . . he is not RR, and Ohio State is not Michigan. But you hate to start off on a bad foot and have reduced your margin of error before any games are even played.
Does this mean you want Ohio State and Urban Meyer to succeed?
Not a single Ohio fan with a brain is blaming this on Urban Meyer.
EDIT: Har, har, har they don't exist!
Once again and OSU sleaze story just happens to "break" on a Friday afternoon -- the slowest media day of the week. Nice try, Gene.
I think the fact that Anzalone's father is so upset, means either his son was put in harms way or was allowed to participate in something that could have put him in harms way. Regardless of what it is, I think it's something more than just the creepy pedo dude being allowed such ease of access to players.
I'm not sure what OSU can do here, honestly. A random dude wants his picture taken with a recruit. It happens regularly - people on this blog have notably posted their photos with Michigan recruits (the guy with McGary at the ND game comes to mind). Well, how does the kid, or the chaperone know the guys history? They don't have photos of sex offenders committed to memory. There's also the following facts:
- Being a sex offender doesn't make him gay (ie, he may have no attraction to these players)
- Asking for a photograph is perfectly legal, even for a sex offender
I just don't see how this is controllable.
I hate when I have to agree with Chitown. So I won't. :-)
I wonder if what "turned off" anzalone wasn't so much who he was meeting as the when and where he was meeting them. I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't more about the culture of corruption down in columbus and urban's "close your eyes free for all" approach to recruit entertainment.
I think (allegedly) the problem was more or less along the lines of, somehow they ended up at an establishment where the guy worked (a B-dubs), and he served them free food and beer.
Granted, it could happen anywhere, but it didn't. It happened at OSU, again.
I'm not saying they should be penalized, but this would be (sort of) akin to Hoke coming in last year, and failing to log a few weeks worth of practice time.
You just went through this gigantic, embarrassing ordeal involving shady people outside the program giving athletes improper benefits that made your compliance office look like a joke, and you let something similar to it happen again?
Well, they were mostly accused of lying about it and covering it up. The improper benefits issue would haven been resolved with player suspensions, not a show cause penalty and a bowl ban.
It should be noted that, by announcing this occurred in a written statement, they have done the precise opposite of what got them in trouble.
If the stuff about him providing free food and beer is true, which so far is only alleged through a message board post, so, yeah..., I think you can make a case for why this is a big deal and for why it isn't.
For:
1. OSU is on probation (this is the element from which any argument that this is a big deal flows)
2. It was improper benefits given to athletes by non-OSU actors in Columbus that lay at the origins of the recent sanctions. It was improper benefits to Posey and Herron that represented the straw that broke the camel's back, that led the NCAA to impose the failure to monitor charge.
3. This incident allegedly involved free alcohol to minors.
4. This incident occurred on a recruiting trip, where the expected level of supervision should be higher. It occurred in the presence of current OSU student-athletes.
Against:
1. What is this, maybe $80 in improper benefits? The previous matters were in the thousands.
2. The guy involved in the Posey/Herron case was a registered booster who had donated money and long employed and interacted with OSU athletes. This guy was never on OSU's radar because his history with their athletes was very brief and his identity may well have been unknown to the AD.
3. The incident occurred off campus, at a non-sanctioned event.
I think it comes down to the question of how much probation changes the standards of supervision. In any other case, OSU would get the benefit of the doubt by reporting so quickly and because of the piddling amounts of money involved (perhaps the alcohol would raise eyebrows at the NCAA). But being on probation, for a related pattern of incidents (calling them "similar" probably goes too far) may mean that OSU forfeits benefit of the doubt.
*Again, we don't even know if he got them the free food and beer, so all of this is based on conjecture.
Yeah, OSU can't be blamed for the photo or for him meeting the players.
If the stuff about OSU players taking recruits to his place of work, so he could provide free food and beer to recruits on a campus visit is true, however, then they may be in pretty deep trouble, given OSU's probationary status. On the one hand, it's pretty small change impermissible benefits. On the other, it goes to half of the reason OSU's on probation (the half that's not about Tressel lying).
I don't know if the NCAA regards the principle of the violation or the monetary value of the violation paramount when evaluating a potential violation for a team on probation.
My two cents that probably aren't even worth that:
I don't think Anzalone's dad holds OSU responsible for the fact that this guy is a creep, and he's said as much in the ESPN article. The problem is that OSU evidently didn't give the visit any structure to make sure the kids were having a good time without the chance of getting into trouble. That's not an OSU specific problem whatsoever.
It makes sense though. If I'm a parent, send my kid off to a campus on a recruiting visit, and hear later on that he spent his night out on the town being offered drinks by a pedophile, I'd probably flip out.
Maybe OSU is using shady recruiting tactics in there somewhere, but I don't think there's any indication of that in this story.
I and most everyone else who went to freshman orientation got blackout drunk or nearly so on our last night, but none of us were athletes. Kids will be kids, but I get the feeling the Urban encourages 'the girls' to show them 'a good time'.
What gives you that feeling, precisely?
His admins in Florida did that for him.
I know you have taken some heat in this thread, but I do like that you bring a "devil's advocate" point of view to the table. Here are my thoughts (even if they are unpopular and are deemed worthy of being negged).
Just my 2 cents.
Read Three & Out. Denards trip to Florida while Urb was there should give you some insight.
or better yet, just tell us the ultra-summarized Cliff Note version. I mean, that is why I'm reading this thread. I want scandalous details.
I haven't read it, so someone correct me if I'm wrong. I believe the rumor was that there was a girl or couple of girls waiting for Denard is his hotel room when he visited Florida as a recruit.
Correct Mr R Kelly. Of course "I don't see nothing wrong..."
Could the larger issue be that Neal and Anzalone received improper benefits while on their recruiting trip? And felt it was sanctioned by OSU?
Following what OSU just went through, that would make me think twice about my committment after talking to Grandma or Dad.
how events like this are controllable at any university, unless you beefed up your security significantly, which would pretty much ruin convenience and the experience for fans.
I also don't see how Ohio staff could have known or prevented this.
Something else happened.
Yes, I'm notmsure this incident with Waugh is enough to reach scandal. I understand the visceral initial negative reaction (and maybe that's what caused the decommit), but under more scrutiny, it's not a tremendous deal. He either had other reasons for dropping out that aren't established, or he's still in the visceral reaction stage.
I'd like to see one of the parents sing like a canary. I can understand why they wouldn't want to but I'd like to hear their full story, not the tongue biting stuff.
Won't happen bc the kid likely accepted whatever benefits, so it's a two way street. Plus, they don't want to be blackballed by other schools for ratting out a school.
Too much press already on this story, he'll just find another school where he can start fresh. The dad probably realized he went a little overboard on the OSU staff and was just throwing them a bone in the media (ESPN story). He still probably has concerns about OSU overall.
1. Nutella is delicious
2. I wonder if Anzalone's reaction had to do with some preceived "fag" stigma, or whatever. Though such things are far less acceptable in the general public, I don't think it's a stretch with football's machismo culture or with a potential high school peer group. There might even be some pressure from the kid's community or family along these lines. All this speculation is to say that even if the child predator wasn't a real threat to the kids, being associated with him might've caused enough of a stigma in relevant peer groups for the kid and family to want to part ways with OSU. It could also mean that there really wasn't much more than child predator interaction.
3. But I don't think the evidence thus far makes the the child predator to be more than an overzealous fan. The predator apparently had pornography on his computer of boys less than 16. Assuming that explains the range of his wayward tastes, these football recruits aren't a likely target for him. (Though, if they were, I think they were at risk. I don't buy the 'athelete beat down' arguments when there's free alcohol involved.)
Purely conjecture, but as I read the father's statements, I felt there was some other action that happened on the recruitment vist that didn't sit well with the father at all, and most likely grew more unsettling for his son. If I had to guess, it might just be rather simple, like a party that included easy access for drinking, possibly girls or the like. The situation with the pedophile/twitter/stalker sums it up but from a different perspective.
If I'm sending my son for a vist - official or unofficial - I expect
With all of the above said, we all assume this happens in many/most universtiy visits. It doesn't mean that it happens at all. It also doesn't mean that all kids want that type of attention, party, or visit. While Alex choose OSU, he might have thought more about the experience and talked with his dad about it - and his dad gave him some sound advice.
Michigan, I believe, does this right. They focus on the university, academics, and a family atmosphere. That is what all the recruits are commenting on. I think it helps us stand apart from the average recruiting visit and makes the players (who commit) feel that they are going some place where they will grow. Parents love it, obviously. And I know there are parties and what not at UM also, but I do think our recruiting emphasis is different.
nothing has been proven yet but if this story develops legs, then ohio may have to change its name to tsou (the sex offender university)
He's saying that he doesn't like the lack of supervision it suggests. I don't think this helps Meyer's rep one bit; in fact, it suggests continuity between the new and old coach, between the atmosphere that prevailed at UF and the one he's establishing at OSU. Time will tell whether this meme catches on or is indeed based in ongoing facts, but for now. . . good for us and bad for OSU.
...but if Mr. Anzalone was really interested in a safe place for his son then he should have done his homework the first time around and realized that it wasn't right.
A. Players have allowed to be renegade for over a decade.
B. Ohio repeatedly denies most or all of wrongdoing, thumbs nose at media and NCAA.
C. Ohio gets slap on wrist from NCAA.
D. Ohio proudly states that they won't take a step back.
E. Ohio hires Urban Meyer, whose last stop ended with renegade players all over the place.
I mean, come on. If you're really wanting a "right place" for your son, I don't see how you would ever even consider Ohio. If you don't care about ethics, and all you care about is doing whatever it takes to win and get to the league, then, yeah, Ohio is a solid choice.
If you remove from consideration players who were "born and bred" for each school, and then consider players who could have gone anywhere they wanted in the country, think about the type of player that decides Ohio, Michigan, USC, Alabama, etc. are the best fit for them.
The change in tone from the candid Reading news interview to the cautious ESPN interview may be due to the fact that the latter was written later. While some argue that the change occurred because the father just had time to compose himself, another possibility is that something else happened in the interim. Do you believe it implausible that someone connected to OSU contacted Anzalone's father in the interim? If so, is it implausible that they did anything more than just apologize? Think about it.
Hard to know. It's just as likely, if not more, that the dad spoke to ESPN first but ESPN took longer to publish the article; in the interim, perhaps, the dad's anger grew. This scenario would be consistent with the son's statements. First he said he would still consider OSU. Later, in a tweet, he said OSU was out of the picture. Overall, I got the sense that both father and son initially tried to be diplomatic but eventually spilled the beans.
Or perhaps the father's sudden change in disposition reflected his desire to avoid blowback against his son.
I HOPE THIS KILLS THEM.
This whole thing is.... Creepy
Guy on ND site who is from Anzalones home town says he heard that there were Coke and Strippers ant the OSU party he went to and that he just isn't that kind of kid. The pedophile thing was just the tipping point
They've been a Pepsi campus since forever.
------------
Seriously, can you post a link to this or is it behind a paywall? I'd like to read it for myself to see how credible it seems. On its face it fits a lot of the story, like the father allegedly telling the son to separate himself from Ohio "because you don't want the NCAA to think you were being influenced by this...."
Can't post it sorry
If this is true, how in the F'ing world when you are on probation do you let even the slightest possibility of this kind of thing happening? These are recruits under your care and supervision. That makes it your job to, you know, care and supervise.
was interesting to say the least...
