Starting to turn on Terrelle Pryor.
They do, however, energetically blame quarterback Terrelle Pryor. <----Link ESPN.
One item not selling this week at College Traditions: authentic No. 2 jerseys ($150) in both red and white. That's the number Pryor wears.
I saw the signs on buckeye message boards on monday.
Terrelle himself flooded the market with game-worn, autographed jerseys. Every schmoe in Columbus has one. It drove prices down. I think Terrelle probably left his Econ 201 textbook under the couch in the basement at Fine Line.
(Wouldn't it be funny if they retired #2, out of shame rather than honor? Malcolm Jenkins would be righteously pissed off.)
That is if he didn't autograph it and try to trade it for more tats.
yea, I'm starting to turn on TP too. I just don't see his career panning out at Ohio State..
So, instead of burning couches in Columbus, will they be burning #2 jerseys?
they learned it form Cleveland, when lebron james left. Now they're gonna start burning all the #2 jerseys and red/gray sweatervests they see.
This kind of reminds me of what we did with Morgan Trent, or to a certain extent, Braylon Edwards for the "Lloyd Carr's UofM" comment. I like it much better when we can watch another fanbase eat their own.
Yeah, except Morgan Trent was a) not the reason that Michigan got in trouble and b) was only guilty of confirming what NCAA investigators found to be true, that Michigan spent too much time practicing.
Ray Small is probably a better parallel to Trent than what Pryor is.
True. I admit it's not a perfect comparison, but he was treated like he brought down ruin upon the program when all he did was speak his mind. I recall you being very defensive of all of the Trent-bashing that went on around here following his comments. I love what is going on at OSU and hope they get pummelled by the NCAA. I just found it interesting that people around here were bashing OSU players for continuing to support a coach, when that's what we were asking of our players a little over a year ago.
I was very defensive of Trent, mainly because people dismissed his five years of contributions to Michigan football for saying, "Yeah, Michigan's guilty of practicing too much" when Michigan was in fact guilty of practicing too much.
Sure, Morgan Trent was not the reason that Michigan was investigated by the NCAA.
Michael Rosenberg was the reason Michigan got investigated by the NCAA.
And once the NCAA did its investigation, what we found out was how truly miniscule, how arcane and how minor, some "major" violations can be.
And I know I didn't criticize Morgan Trent for any of his opinions, or anything he felt the nedd to report as fact. The reason that I wanted to go after Morgan Trent was because he asserted that Lloyd Carr said that Rich Rodriguez was demeaning Morgan's draft value. And that, according to Lloyd Carr, is a lie.
As to your observation about Trent being a five year contributor to Michigan, I just wish there had been a few more plays in that period where his contributions had been a bit more effective.
"I just wish there had been a few more plays in that period where his contributions had been a bit more effective."
I could say that about just about any player who didn't win a national championship - Mike Hart, Chad Henne, Jake Long, Leon Hall, etc. The list goes on and on. Morgan Trent wasn't perfect as a cornerback, but he's doing okay in the NFL. I know a lot of people around here like to take shots at his talent, but right now Trent's better than the beloved Donovan Warren.
The fact that he worked hard enough to go from being a wide receiver to playing cornerback in the NFL should be more important to us than, "Hey, this Rodriguez character cheated [which is true] and undermined my draft status [which may or may not be true]."
a Morgan Trent fan ("the guy who beat Ted Ginn Jr.")...
Until he started saying stupid shit that might be characterized as "Hey, this Rodriguez character cheated and undermined my draft status."
$150 seems a little rich, but it sure would be fun to wear come Thanksgiving weekend this fall!
BTW- Thanks for the info on his number, didn't realize he wore 2.
Not me...
Just sounded funny when we have discussed him and this stuff non stop for 3 years on this board.
I actually had a buckeye friend of mine say this today: "If I were a college athlete, I too would hope my coach wouldn't narc on me for doing that (selling memorabilia)." Yea. They don't know who to blame or for what reason.
The fanbase will scapegoat Pryor because they don't want to believe that everyone in the entire program is dirty. It's a lot more convenient if Pryor is the entire problem. Pryor's main crime here is being so arrogant and naive that he thought he didn't have to bother to hide what he was doing.
I'm sure it's a lot easier for Buckeye fans to pretend that there never was a problem until Pryor got there, and that Maurice Clarett was a "delusional liar" when he talked about the entire, corrupt system in 2004 (or whenever it was). They will ride the "poor Jim Tressel trusted Terelle Pyror and Pryor took him down" lie until it is proven to be incorrect beyond all reasonable doubt.
Lost in all of the hoopla was a very simple statement George Dohrmann made on the Dan Patrick Show yesterday:
"Yeah, there's more."
Pryor deserves what he is getting, but TSIO deserves what they will soon get even more.
and grabbing at anything to attempt to rationalize that Tressel was who they thought he was and NOT who he turned out to.
EXHIBIT A: Ramzy's 11W passion play yesterday.
Dohrmann mentioned something along those lines on the Scott Van Pelt Show as well (Linkage). He said they heard a ton of rumors, but they only wrote what they were very comfortable writing for fear of getting sued. There seems to be a lot more dirt out there that just lacks the concrete proof a major news outlet would require in order to report it.
If only the Freep would attack this story - history indicates their fact checking standards are on par with OSU's compliance department.
Yeah. Funny how that works out. All those players who traded memorabilia for tattoos before Pryor came to town and Tressel rigging raffles and sweeping booster controversy under the rug at YSU and Maurice Clarrett getting whatever the hell he wanted under Tressel's watch was all Pryor's fault too. It doesn't matter that Pryor wasn't even born yet for some of that stuff, it's still his fault.
Pryor is a tool, a jackass, an egomaniac, yes. But Tressel, Gee and Smith all allowed him get away with this stuff for 3 years and helped him cover everything up to the best of their ability.
I want nothing to do with "turning on Terrelle Pryor."
Yea....that could make an even bigger mess
That's ok, OSU has "hostesses" for that . . .
broken so many rules if he wasn't told over and over and over again that it was okay. It wont matter when the investigation moves further back to all the other kids the vest threw under the bus. When they start vacating wins from 2002 they won't be able to blame Pryor anymore.
I agree with all, but the scary thing here is that this is an immature kid who operated in a system that let this go on until it exploded.
Reason I say scary is that he's on the wrong side of a fanbase that has more than its share of fringe idiots. Herbstreit left the state for speaking his opinion. Writers at the school paper have been getting threats for a news story. This kid, whose crime was being sloppier than those before him, is about to get the downfall of the program heaped on his sholders.
Now let's see if "father-figure" Tress and OSU steps up and takes the rightful share blame. Pryor's only why they got caught. He's not a whistleblower or outsider bringing down the OSU machine. He was their marquee player as of a couple days ago - the face of the program facing suspension for violating minor NCAA rules. Now it's all changed. I don't like him. I'm glad he chose OSU. But I can't help but wonder if this kid understands what's about to happen here if someone doesn't step up.
The article was put together quickly to make a splash, but not much new substance there.
I am waiting for the following to come out, and I stick to my initial claims.
Drug dealing
Pay for play
Paid girls
Ginn Sr. paid off
The drug dealing was alluded to when players were given huge amounts of marijuana.
Pay for play was not mentioned at all.
Ginn Sr. was never mentioned.
Girls never mentioned.
I am convinced there is much more to this than has come out.
You were wrong SI didn't include what you thought were true by what some guy said from another guy
but provide 0 evidence.
Do you have anything to point to? Rumor? Source? Why are you "convinced" there is more?
If it's just a gut feeling, say so. That way we all know how much value to place on your statement.
As I said a few days ago that is A LOT of stuff to come from a starting point of cars, tats and (maybe) weed. While I hope at least half of your accusations could be true, I think you might be a little over the top when compared to what they will find.
but for folks to realize it they have to admit they were wrong. It's much easier to blame the kid than admit they were duped or bought into the vest meme.
I'd fire up one of those many fine automobiles and get the heck out of town. The OSU fans have some real wackos amongst them. If guys that have meant so much to the program, like Herbie and Spielman, get death threats for speaking their mind, I'd hate to think how they're going to treat a guy that really was instrumental in bringing down their program. I'd hightail it out of there myself.
But then again, I do have a valid driver's license, so that makes it easy for me . . . .
but the stage of the NCAA investigation is really early. More is going to come out. It probably won't be riveting stuff, but it will be damning.
The NCAA is going to camped out in Columbus for the next several years (ask any USC fan you meet!) performing interviews of coaches, admins, players and staff, as well as other witnesses, and reviewing tons of records and paperwork (more like the lack thereof).
All of this well after they perform a thorough cost audit of football equipment purchases the last 10 years reconciled against existing inventories, legitimate donations, and spoilage (lost, worn/damaged inventory, etc.). This will take only a few weeks to complete.
Assistant coaches, players and football staff are most certainly going to implicated in the final assessment by the NCAA.
I can't wait to see the final cost value on the rampant equipment "thefts" at a public institution like OSU, in a state with an $8 billion budget deficit. And for what? For the personal gain and adornment of multiple Buckeye players while receiving a complementary college education. That'll go over like a fart in church.
Is there really any proof that they accepted the complementary education? I mean, if it's only cars and tats...
Having read plenty of statements and tweets from former OSU players in the last few days, I can assure you, none of these individuals has accepted any type of education, free or otherwise.
In other words, you can lead a whore to culture, but you can't make her think . . . .
A lot of very, very good college quarterbacks fail to make the jump to the NFL. A franchise basically has to be willing to accept a 1st year of losing while their rookie QB gets up to NFL speed.
The lockout will make it especially tough for new QB's TP really would have benefited.from his senior year of college ball.
If he was smart, he'd go try out for the Argonauts. That pass happy league would be good for developing his game.
He'll never do that though, probably believes he's NFL ready.
Unless he gets his head straightened out, I doubt he'll ever start an NFL game.
I am going to take a different approach than I ever thought I would on Pryor, even in my own opinion. Like everyone has pointed out here the cheating whether it be cars or money or drugs or tats or who cares what else has been going on under Tressel well before he was even recruited. Now do I hate Pryor, yes. Do I think he was a spoiled brat in high school with his decision, yes. Was I all that bummed when he didn't pick Michigan, yes because I think elite talent is important but no because I would have struggled to like him. BUT, can someone here tell me what 18 year old kid who has been recruited since he was 15-16 by college coaches and has been loved and praised by every adult and "friend" in his community who isn't full of themselves? Jimmy Clausen was a prick, Lebron James definitely thought highly of himself, Tate Forcier let it get to his head, I was young but apparently everyone hated Kobe Bryant when he entered the NBA. I don't feel like continuing but its not too hard, if you need more evidence go look at how screwed up a lot of young kids in Hollywood get with all the fame and attention. The plain fact of the matter is there are a lot of kids who make bad decisions and let their ego swell up like a balloon. The difference with Pryor is, no one told him NO. No one at tosu ever said you can't break team rules, you can't sell your memorabilia, you can't borrow the car owners car for the weekend, ect. I truly feel bad for the kid in one respect, he only did what people told him was alright to do. Is he arrogant, of course he is, but I am not going to say he deserves to be blamed for doing what the beloved Tressel said he could do. I put this on everyone involved in their program but you can;t blame a kid for being arrogant and taking things when he doesn't have much money when everyone tells him its ok. I understand if people disagree with me on this but this is how I feel on this one particular Pryor topic.
That's a very good point. It's very true too. That's what happens when you get too much at a young age and you cant handle it all. Yes he should have made better decisions but to blame it all on Pryor is wrong. You can't just turn a blind eye to all the bad stuff that people were doing for him AND what he was doing that was bad...