According to Yahoo! Sports, QB Terrelle Pryor, RB Daniel Herron, WR DeVier Posey, OL Mike Adams and DE Solomon Thomas will be suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season. All five must repay anywhere from $1,000-$2,500 to a charity for the improper benefits they are deemed to have received. LB Jordan Whiting must sit out the first game of 2011. His sanctions are not as severe as the others because his benefits were "discounted" due to his stature as a Buckeye player.Pryor, Herron, Posey, Adams and Thomas are accused of selling different forms of memorabilia (awards, gits and apparel) in return for receiving improper benefits. One of which was tattoos for autographs. Yahoo! also states that Pryor has denied the allegations in a tweet, but the tweet has since been removed.
With that out of the way, here's where I have difficulty in accepting this.
First, why the first five games of 2011? I understand the "findings" are severe. But why hold off? Oh, there's no way the NCAA would want the Buckeyes to be short-handed going into the Sugar Bowl against Arkansas. Who would watch? In other words, ratings = $$$$$! The NCAA will profit on a higher rating versus taking these guys off the field at the Superdome. Lame. Completely lame.
Second, the NCAA stated Ohio State had not properly advised its players on this matter. From NCAA.com:
The decision from the NCAA student-athlete reinstatement staff does not include a withholding condition for the Allstate Sugar Bowl. The withholding condition was suspended and the student-athletes will be eligible to play in the bowl game Jan. 4 based on several factors. These include the acknowledgment the student-athletes did not receive adequate rules education during the time period the violations occurred, [Kevin] Lennon said.Lennon is the NCAA vice president of academic and membership affairs. This quote goes along, to an extent, with my first point, too.
While OSU athletic director Gene Smith agreed with this fact, I have a hard time believing that head coach Jim Tressel and his staff would overlook such a thing. It's simply not in their blood. Something smells here.
Finally, again, the NCAA. The complete and utter futility of the body as a whole. So, Reggie Bush's parents can have a house and the whole program is deemed as rogue. Probation and scholarship reductions are attached as penalties due to "lack of institutional control". Six Buckeyes, count 'em, six, are found to have received improper benefits and that program as a whole is not even slapped on the wrist. Granted, there is a significant difference between a home and tattoos. Six on one in any contest is unfair to the one.
Jeremiah Masoli plead out of a deal where he was accused of stealing laptops from an Oregon fraternity. What did that get him? Ducks head coach Chip Kelly booted him from the team, but Masoli transferred to Ole Miss and played...this season. In other words, the words inconsistent and NCAA go hand in hand. There is no form of consistency from the NCAA in doling out punishment.But here's what really sticks in my crawl. With all the stories out there about student-athletes being suspended for various "infractions", why would these players put not only their own eligibility in peril, but that of the team? Why jeopardize your entire team for your own personal selfishness?
And that's exactly what it is, selfishness. Get mine and the others will have to deal with possible consequences even though I created the problems.
Yep. It is a "me" thing.
