How Firm Thy Friendship, Ohio?

Once again, I am glad I am living on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  I hear talk of the beach and how bad the weather has been. Sometimes I hear talk about theoretical framework, but I tend to tune that out. I don't hear any talk of Tressel, Ohio State, or shame.

First, I am going to bore my faithful three readers with a delightful anecdote. Picture it: Columbus. Oct. 25th, 2008. The Horseshoe. A Deck. First quarter of the OSU/PSU game...
 A few of my girl friends and I were enjoying the game, cheering on Buckeyes. In front of us stood two twenty-something dudes wearing blue and white. Yeah, a couple of Penn State fans chose to watch the game from the middle of lion's den. Behind us stood (I use this term loosely) some of Ohio State's less-than-finest. They were shouting some unsportsmanlike comments at the Penn State fans. The boys in front of us didn't react, but they did look nervous. Perhaps they had made a bad decision? Not even halfway through the first quarter and the locals were restless. Sensing their uneasiness, my friend, B., turned to the inebriated Buckeyes behind us and asked them to refrain from the unsportsmanlike language. They turned their anger towards her. I prepared myself to jump in, but then this conversation happened.

B: Hey! What would your mother think if she heard you say these things?
Boy: My mom's a bitch! I don't care! *high fives bro*
B: Ok... Well, what would Coach Tressel think? *quizzical eyebrow*
Boy: Oh....
B: Would he say what you said was "classy"?
Boy: No. Not really....
B: Ok. Well let's keep it classy... for coach.
The boys immediately apologized the PSU fans and later were too drunk to noticed we had lost. They were too busy talking to the Penn State fans. TRUE STORY.

That's what Coach Tressel meant to the community. He is more than just a football coach. He was the image of classiness and sportsmanship. At some point at every single party, there was a toast to the man in The Vest.

Ever since Tresselgate broke a few days ago, I have changed my feelings about 17.6 times: denial, rage, embarrassment, rage again, hope, shame, sadness, rage again, melancholy, numbness, malaise, etc.
To say I was/am upset is a gross understatement. I was/am pissed. Pissed at Jim. Pissed at the players. Pissed at the media. Pissed at non-Buckeyes. Pissed at Buckeyes. Pissed at myself.

I kept holding out hope, that this was huge misunderstanding. Jim Tressel would never do something like that. He is a stand-up guy. He has integrity. He has class. He wrote a book about winning at life (not in the Charlie Sheen way) for, pete's sake! He is slow to anger. When he is angry, he doesn't shout. He maintains class under pressure...


I will never know what was going through his head when he received those emails. I won't pretend to ever know. No one will ever know. To speculate is wrong. Was it pressure to win? Was it paternal instinct for a few stupid kids? Was it just a "rational" decision? Some odd combination? Did he have a really good burger at Thurman's and just forget about the whole ordeal? No one except Jim Tressel will know what went through his head the moment he opened his email account and the months that followed.
What would you do? What would I do? I could bore you with story about my days as games supervisor at Cedar Point (Short story:  I let a friend get away with not shaving because I was short staffed and got in trouble).  It doesn't matter. We weren't there. Who is to say what we would ever do in a situation? We just don't know.

What's done is done. He made a mistake. He should be punished. Yes, his (and the program's) image is tarnished (for now). BUT we should not punish him because of his air of integrity prior to this scandal. He should be punished for his offense. He is human, thus fallible. We have to remember this. His punishment should only be based on precedented cases, not based on our feelings towards him a person. If we are harder on him because he is a "good guy," should we take it easy on the "bad guys" because that's what we expected from them? The shame and disappointment are already added into any punishment for the "good guys." Objectivity is key.

I am not calling for his resignation. I think those who do are blowing this out of proportion. Unless he is found to have helped set up Pryor's paypal, he does not deserve to be fired. After all, in the grand scheme of things he did NOT: hurt someone, sexually harass anyone, or pay to recruit players. He lied to protect a few dumb kids who sold things they believed belonged to them. It's bad. He should do his time for the crime, and then we should all move on and learn a lesson about this.

I believe that people (fellow Buckeyes) are especially angry because of the way information travels this day and age. Non-Buckeyes have been gloating on Facebook for the past couple days. They feel vindicated that the Great Jim Tressel has been taken down a peg. It hurts a lot. It sucks. It's embarrassing. But remember back when Woody punched a kid on television? There was no Facebook or Twitter. It sucked, but his legacy has remained mostly intact. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame just five years later. Am I saying we should build a "Jim's" in the Union next to "Woody's"? Not exactly. All I am saying is that we shouldn't turn coat or call for his head on a pike as soon as something embarrassing happens. Let's take a breath and wait to see how everything turns out.

Time and change will surely show... How firm thy friendship, Ohio?...