Nurse the Hate: Hate Ohio State Football

Well it certainly was a shock to see that Jim Tressel had to resign in shame. Who could have possibly seen that coming? I have long maintained that Ohio State is the most corrupt football program in the nation (see Nurse the Hate 3/24/2007), and may be more corrupt than the Mexican National Government. Yet, everyone ignored all the evidence right in front of their face. These guys have always been filthy, but throw a sweater vest on it, and it’s all wholesome good fun! It has been that way since the beginning. Seriously, how many classes do you think Maurice Clarett attended when OSU won the National Championship? A conversation that was never had at OSU: “Man, I hope the football team wins the Fiesta Bowl. I just don’t know if Maurice has his head in the game. With all the work we have been doing in HIST 770 in study group, I just don’t think football is a priority for him.”

I have no doubt in my mind that 95% of all NCAA Division I football is strictly a pay-to-play machine. A guy I knew that lived next door to Pete Johnson (ex-Buckeye and Pro Bowl RB for the Bengals) and said that Pete maintained he took a pay cut when he left OSU and went to the NFL. Heck, this was in the early 70s before every school had multi million dollar TV contracts to maximize. Can you imagine how much Terrell Pryor got paid to go to Ohio State? Where did the money come from to pay for that Nissan 300Z he drove to the Tressel resignation meeting in? He probably is pulling 20 hours a week in the library filing books, or maybe he washes dishes in the freshman cafeteria. Maybe he’s got a part time gig at Chipotle?

Why even single out Ohio State in this? Because they bungled the cover up, that’s why. Every single team is doing it. USC and Reggie Bush finally got busted when no one could offer a reasonable explanation on why his lower income family was living in a big house on the beach. The USC Football team parking lot had better cars than the Dallas Cowboys lot. Guys at Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, etc. have all recently said they got paid. They are ALL being paid in creative off the books ways. Can you imagine the nonsense going on at Miami Fl or Florida U? When I worked for the Browns Radio Network, the rumor was a Florida “student” the Browns drafted couldn’t even read. When that guy got busted for weed at a party, the word was that he couldn’t sign his name on the police paperwork so he made an “X” for his name. I don’t know if that is true, but I also haven’t read any novels from this guy either.

I went to Kent State in the Eighties, at that time proud owners of the worst Division I sports program in the country. We lost in everything. Nobody went to games. It didn’t matter. Still, they threw money at it like everyone else. The shooting guard was in my Anthropology class. He parked his shiny new 280Z illegally in a faculty spot almost in the lobby of the building. It was insane. It looked like a car dealer had abandoned a sports car on the sidewalk. This guy showed up once every couple of weeks in expensive clothes and looked perplexed. He somehow passed the class although I don't recall ever seeing him take a note. You think Terrell Pryor is sweating his Sociology final? Hell, I knew a girl that was a tutor at the University of Cincinnati during the Bob Huggins reign. It was a tough gig to help one of the basketball players study for his History of Western Civilization final when the kid couldn’t read.


Why not end the façade and just pay these guys? They are generating a kazillion dollars for the university in exchange for an “education”. Well, that would be a lousy trade even if they did go to class. Those “students” are employees of the university plain and simple. OSU generated $52 million from the football program last year. A degree from Ohio State will cost between $45,000 and $110,000. Seems to me everyone is getting rich except the young men that risk having their knees destroyed. How much would you pay Pryor for what he brings to the table for the $200 million he was part of generating in the four years he played? Seems to me, it would be more than a car, some weed, and tattoos. The whole thing is ridiculous. The players get paid what they can scam. The coach wears a sweater vest so he seems virtuous and legit. That’s probably what really pissed everyone off. That sense of righteousness that Tressel and OSU football lorded over everyone. That nonsense talk of “doing the right thing even when it was hard”.

Just like everywhere else, it only matters if you win or lose. Why keep pretending? Bring in some hardcore convicts like Pitt. I’m talking guys that aren’t even allowed to mingle with the regular student body because they are so violent, dangerous and unpredictable. Run it unflinchingly like an NFL team, cutting guys loose the second they become expendable. Wheel off the 19 year old with the broken back and cut him a check after you kick him out of the barbed wire encased “Football Housing” because he can’t walk. Let’s go for it! OH! IO!