Boykins Blasts Cavs Once Again
March 10, 2011The Browns Set to Work Out Cam Newton
March 10, 2011I’m sure Ohio State University President Gordon Gee is a brilliant man. You don’t become the President of a major University without brain power. But even the smartest people can say the dumbest things sometimes.
When asked if he considered firing Football Coach Jim Tressel in the wake of the Tattoo-gate cover up scandal, Gee responded rather flippantly.
“No,” Gee said. “Are you kidding me? … I’m just hoping the coach doesn’t dismiss me.”
Now is it not the time for jokes, bow tie*. This isn’t a Comedy Central Roast. This is a cover up orchestrated by your once bulletproof coach that has given your University a big black eye. It was bad enough when the players were caught, it became worse when the Head Coach lied to the NCAA about his knowledge of the situation. The email trail proved he was aware of what was going on, and buried it to keep five of his better players eligible.
Yet, at a time when the NCAA is now looking at the University’s flagship program under a microscope, Gee makes an ill-timed joke making light of the situation.
Not smart.
Look, I’m not here to say Tressel should be fired. Everyone cheats. One of Jim Rome’s favorite phrases is “if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying, and its only cheating if you get caught.” But if you are caught, one would expect the schools Athletic Director and President to act accordingly. While OSU AD Gene Smith was picture perfect in the way he handled the debacle of a press conference two nights ago, Gee came off like a buffoon at the worst possible time.
Thanks to the Tressel cover up, there is no chance that the five players who are suspended for the first five games of the upcoming season will win their appeals. If there was even a shred of a chance, it officially was squashed with Gee’s remark. Oh, and Tressel’s University imposed two-game suspension? Not that the NCAA was going to uphold that to begin with, but there is now zero chance that suspension stays at two games. It is essentially a lock to be longer.
The President of the University has to know better than to try and be a stand-up comedian in a situation like this. With all eyes on the University for all the wrong reasons, Gee had to be all business.
Instead, he tried to be Chris Rock. It didn’t work.
*The Wire reference
14 Comments
Pretty sure there were only two players named in those emails, not five.
Isn’t it time to think how the NCAA can change its (dumb) rules?
so you dont believe the federal investigation part too… why is every one so negative… to me this is a petty, and blown out of proportion,he did what he was advised too. it ended up being the wrong thing but hindsight is 20-20.. In the Vest I Trust.
Gee has admitted publicly that he makes gaffes all the time. He was trying to be funny, it was ill-timed. He probably realized he shouldn’t have said it the moment it came out of his mouth.
“Look, I’m not here to say Tressel should be fired. Everyone cheats. One of Jim Rome’s favorite phrases is ‘if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying, and its only cheating if you get caught.'”
For casual sophistry, I come to WFNY.
On a deep level, everyone (including Tressel, Gee, and most members of the media, despite their mock furor) know that the situation is absurd.
For unpaid cogs in a billion-dollar inudstry to get a tattoo discount? To sell their own belongings for a few hundred dollars?
Until this unpaid NCAA system ends, I can only hope the players can figure out how to make more meaninful amounts of money without getting caught…
This has to make you wonder how many other things he knew about over the years and didn’t act on.
^ Referring to Tressel
@5toledo: jimkanicki likes this.
Ohio State better hope the NCAA doesn’t have anyone like Brother Mouzone on its payroll that they can send to Columbus
Because if they do, Tressel will be reduced to picking up Harpers and The New Republic at the campus store within a week.
@10titus: jimkanicki likes this.*
*ok, i’m done with this meme.
Has Orville gotten off his knees yet after servicing Tressel?
I’m not an OSU fan per se, I like them casually because they’re from Ohio. I am hesitant to use this opportunity to suddenly dislike the NCAA, because it seems like homerism, but almost every single recent scandal has been brought about by draconian regulations, and/or mishandled magnificently.
The Reggie Bush thing was stupid. The Derrick Rose thing was stupid. Both had no reason to be in college other than to get pro, Bush was a target for sleazeballs, and in Rose’s case the one guy who should have been culpable, Calipari, got off with nothing. Meanwhile, Cam Newton’s family actively solicits a contract, and the NCAA is suddenly impotent. Professional athletics and education are ridiculous bedfellows. Of all things, higher education got affiliated with lower professional sports, and now they have to pretend that the two are symbiotic.
Gordon Gee is a grade A moron. I am endlessly thankful that he and his stupid bowties left my alma mater. Now, every year we thank him for his service by setting up some porta potties in his honor.
Sucks that OSU got stuck with him…