Terrelle Pryor, Mike Adams, Boom Herron, DeVier Posey, Solomon Thomas, and a couple of other players, including the Bobby DiGeronimo issue, broke the rules when they accepted tattoos and/or cash in exchange for memorabilia.  Jim Tressel then proceeded to essentially cover for these players by not taking the proper steps in ensuring that they were disciplined, and lied to the NCAA about having knowledge of these events.  On top of all that, Gene Smith, the director of all athletics at Ohio State mishandled this situation at nearly every step in the road.  He consistently downplayed the issues, did not take proper steps to gather all information and report it, and most certainly did not do an acceptable job of self-imposing punishments.  For instance, he had a golden opportunity to give OSU a bowl ban THIS year, with a team that was already struggling, yet decided to accept an invitation to the Gator Bowl for his 6-6 team.  It’s anyone’s guess as to whether or not that would have appeased the NCAA and taken the place of the 2012 bowl ban, but it was definitely worth the shot.

That said, in no way am I suggesting that your blame should be dealt with in any way other than angry/grumpy updates to your own Facebook and Twitter accounts, but if you are mad, then make sure it’s at least focused where it should be.  The NCAA did its job and handed OSU a punishment for its misdeeds.  I just hope that the actions, or lackthereof, of some of these people don’t continue to affect the current players any more than they already have.

Follow me on Twitter @AJBorland

House Calls

If you are a Buckeye fan you’ve probably uttered the phrase, “my favorite teams are the Buckeyes and whoever is playing Michigan” at least when it comes to watching football on Saturdays.  However if you’re like me I like to keep my eye on the Buckeyes in the NFL and take great pride when they succeed and do great things.  So, as the NFL season goes a long you can keep track of where your favorite Buckeyes are in the NFL by checking out our player tracker here at Scarlet and Game, and we will also take a look back at the beginning of each week and look for any notable performances from the players that once dawned the scarlet and gray.

Ted Ginn Jr. (WR/KR) San Francisco 49ers

It is amazing how much expectations can influence our perceptions of just how good players are in the NFL.  Ted Gin Jr. is drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft and you would be hard pressed to find an NFL expert or personnel person that doesn’t think that he has been a disappointment.  So much so that earlier in the week he took a pay cut because he was expected to be such a non factor in the 49ers plans as a wide receiver.  Then in the span of less than a minute Ginn completely took over the game against the Seattle Seahawks and delivered a kick return for 102 yards and a punt  55 yards both for touchdowns.  Ginn was the cooler and finished the fight, game over.  If the Dolphins hadn’t jumped the gun on Ginn and taken him probably a round and a half too early people would be praising Ginn as a speedster with upside and coaches need to find ways to get the ball in his hands more on offense.  Instead, when asked about Ginn after the game on Sunday, Seattle’s coach Pete Carroll said “we didn’t even think he was going to play today.” (more…)