OK, I know I already wrote about Jim Tressel and the Ohio State 5 once before, and before you read this you should review that story right here so you kind of know where I am coming from. To give you the "cliffs note" version of the story. Ohio State football players (starters, stars, and one regular sub) were busted by the NCAA before their bowl game for having sold THEIR own stuff that they had won, been given, and/or autographed to a tattoo shop where they received free/discounted tattoos and possibly been given a portion of the profits that the tattoo shop owner received when he sold their merchandise/signatures. To state my previous position on this, I think the NCAA is wrong on so many levels, including this one. Punishing student-athletes (yea I know the "student" part is debatable) for selling their OWN PROPERTY regardless of how they got it (unless they stole it) is wrong on every level, I do not see how selling your own property is harmful AT ALL to the NCAA, the institution, the student-athlete, or anybody else. The only repercussion that these kids should have is that they probably owe a few extra dollars to the IRS for unaccounted revenue (see Mom and Dad, I am using that accounting degree). The end result, the kids were allowed to play in the bowl game, and are suspended for the first 5 games of the 2011 season (they are all weak warm up games) and they have to pay back a small amount of cash to charity. Their Head Coach Jim Tressel who had found out about the NCAA violations and lied repeatedly to his bosses, the institution, the public, and most important of all the NCAA, was given a weak punishment by the school of a 2 game suspension and $250,000, yea I know its laughable. And again you can read my full reaction to that punishment right here.
Now the reason that I am writing about this again, is that this week the appeals by the players to reduce their suspensions was denied, so Jim Tressel was so upset about their denied appeal that he decided to ask for his own punishment to be raised to the same as the student-athletes. That's right, he has suspended himself for the first 5 games. Now I know what you all are probably thinking, "Wow, that's very honorable that he did that". Not quite.... When I was a kid my parents taught me that if I broke the rules I would be grounded. If I lied to them about breaking the rules, my punishment would be even worse than just breaking the rules and fessing up to it. Which I found out was true (when I got caught, just kidding Mom and Dad, not really). And if I lied 2-3-4 or more times to them and then compounded it by lying to my teachers, friends, family, boss, coworkers, anybody and everybody that would listen, then my punishment would be 10X worse, and this was just as a kid. So think of what my punishment would be if I lied repeatedly (at my paying job) to my boss, our corporate office, the people that work for me/my coworkers, and the governing organization that regulates us. I bet I would lose my job, or at least suffer a worse punishment than a small fine and a couple of days off. And to make matters even worse, this guy is the figurehead of a major institution, he is supposed to be setting the example for the hundred + young men that are entrusted to him every year to help them grow into respectable and honorable contributing members of society.
All of that....and he lied....repeatedly....to every person imaginable....This is one time when I will probably agree with whatever punishment the NCAA hands down (they are almost always way to harsh), but if anybody can jack up something as simple as this, it's the NCAA (seriously have I ever told you guys how much I hate them!!!).
No comments:
Post a Comment