The views expressed in this post by JJ do not necessarily reflect the views and position of this blog and it's creator. However, in the interest of fairness, and in the spirit of creating dialog, I'm posting JJ's anti-Buckeye post. (Who's blog is this anyway? JJ's been more inspired to write than I have been lately. I do feel a short retort coming on.) So without further delay, let the bashing begin.
How Ohio State Fans Made Me Dislike Ohio State Football
First let me apologize for lumping all Ohio State fans into the same category. I do realize that this is a very general accusation of all their fans but for the sake of my argument it is necessary, and mostly accurate. Mostly.
Blasphemy! Yep, what I’m about to write below is going to be blasphemy for those of you who believe in the God that is Ohio State football. I was born in Ohio, grew up in Ohio, and now I even live just outside of Columbus (even lived IN Columbus for 3 years after college). I grew up in the Cincinnati area going to UC football games. I went to Wright State University which has no football team, keeping my love of UC football alive. In fact, I’ve always lived in Ohio my whole life and I’m about to admit something that may get me run out of the state and forced to live in Nashville with the other OSU refugees; I don’t like OSU football.
Now I didn’t always feel this way. In fact, I used to really be into OSU football and get excited for their games so this is a new feeling. I have many friends that are either fans or went to the school. I’ve tailgated at OSU games and gone to games in person and had a great time. But I woke up recently with a change of heart. Pretty much like when you’re dating someone and you wake up one day, look at them, and think “why the hell am I committed to you? You don’t love me back, you’re getting uglier as you age, your family is insane and think you can walk on water, your dad is not an honest man, and your grandpa looks like the sickly love child of Orville Redenbacher and Eleanor Roosevelt and acts like Mr. Belding fawning all over Zack Morris.”
Blasphemy! Heretic! Devil!
Let me explain how I’ve come to this feeling about OSU football. It is all about you, the OSU fans. You’re the reason I don’t like OSU football anymore. You’re the reason that I take pleasure in an OSU loss or a new scandal. Frankly, I love to see the anguish on your faces, the stammering and scrambling for excuses, the Reverend Camping like end of the world predictions with each unnecessary loss, the contemplation of suicide when anything negative is said in the media (although not the Columbus media with their 365 day a week lovefest. Do I need a front sports page OSU football related story every day of every year? NO.)
The Tat Five scandal is the straw that broke the proverbial OSU Camel’s back for me. Not the fact that college football players didn’t care enough about their awards for winning football game and sold their stuff for money for tats, cars, whatever. I don’t really care about that. Players do that same thing, or worse, probably every day anyway (doesn’t make it right though). It wasn’t even Jim Tressell failing (forgetting?) to turn in all his emails about the selling of memorabilia to his bosses or the compliance office. Or even the ludicrous press conference where G. Gordon Screech Gee joked (hopefully) that he “hoped that he (Tressell aka Zack Morris) wouldn’t fire me”. Was that embarrassing for a leader to act that way? Sure. But did it bring out my dislike of OSU football? Close, but were still not there yet. Actually, I do want to take back something. I want to take back my comparison of Jim Tressell and Gordon Gee’s relationship to that of Mr. Belding and Zack Morris. That’s really unfair. It is more along the lines of the relationship of the football coach and the Dean in “Revenge of the Nerds”.
So if it is not the conduct of OSU’s players, coaches, and administrators on or off the field what is the problem? Why do I dislike OSU football now? How are the fans involved? Here it is; your unrealistic view of anything having to do with the OSU football team.
You constantly defend the program even when there are concrete facts showing the players, coaches, administrators have done wrong. You use ridiculous excuses like “everyone does it”, “players do worse”, “What about Auburn”, “What about USC”, “The media is treating us unfair”, and “there is an agenda against OSU”. You also have unrealistic expectations of winning a National Championship every year. You are NOT going to win or challenge for a national championship every year. That is just real life, which I understand you have trouble understanding. Not even when super scandals where players are being given things by agents (Miami, USC) did those schools win a NC every year. They were good for a period of time but I don’t seem to remember back to back to back to back to back to back to back National Championships for those teams.
This latest scandal has undisputable evidence of players breaking NCAA rules, the coach knowing about it, hiding it, lying to the NCAA and OSU about knowing about the rule breaking. There is no defense for this for a rational person. Your beloved players and coaches made mistakes. It is time to accept that fact there will be penalties from the NCAA and long term tarnishing of the image of OSU and Jim Tressell. In the court of public opinion OSU and JT are going to be guilty at every whisper of wrong doing in the immediate future. This may be slightly unfair but this is the reality of the situation OSU has brought upon itself. The media didn’t do this. The blood is on the hands of OSU players and coaches who broke the rules. If an SEC school did this the OSU fans would be leading the charge to have all rule breakers publicly drawn and quartered. Look deep inside your heart; you know this to be true.
Is it too much to say “we screwed up and we deserve what’s coming to us” instead of “ESPN has an agenda to ruin us” you know, because OSU is a super power in football that garners big ratings so a company that lives by ratings would want to completely destroy a program so they don’t have to cover them anymore and lose ratings? Does that make sense to you? Quit playing with that darn buckeye necklace and pay attention to what I’m writing here! If OSU wasn’t such a successful program with a coach dedicated to truth, justice, and the American way this wouldn’t be as big of a story. If you’re a success in life when you do wrong it is going to be a bigger story with the public. Take a look at OJ Simpson; people get murdered all the time but because OJ was a successful athlete and actor it was a national story up to, through, and after the trial. If you don’t like the media and public scrutiny you can do two things:
- Do don’t anything wrong
- Start losing games because no one cares about losers (right Michigan?)
There is great documentary on HBO right now called “Too Big to Fail”. You OSU fans may want to check it out.
You know, it is okay to have a rebuilding year every now and again and take 2-3 losses. No, you shouldn’t react and want to fire your coach who has had a winning season every year he has coached there, 1 NC, 2 Runner Ups, and has beaten Michigan approximately 99 times (fact check) in a row. I don’t care that most of the Big Ten would be lucky to make a dent in the MAC, you’re still not going to go undefeated every stinkin’ year. These are kids/young men playing a game. They will make mistakes. Highly recruited players will be busts. People will get hurt. It happens in real life (I know you guys hate the thought of reality but lets try to grasp that concept). Go into a season for once hoping for the best but understanding that you may have a whole new offense or defense starting and that you probably won’t be in the NC game. Just because you have 5 star recruits or guys that were backups and got to practice against the starters the previous season doesn’t mean they will step right in and become All Americans. Most kids, like a pot of chili, need time to season before becoming good.
My last point about how OSU fans made me dislike OSU football deals with your supposed allegiance to “real” OSU players. You know, the real Buckeyes like Terrell Pryor and the tat five. Not the fake Buckeyes like Kirk Herbstreit, Ray Small, Maurice Clarett, or anyone else that has publicly accused OSU of rule breaking activities or has unjustly criticized the saintly head coach or players. I definitely feel that Terrell Pryor is a real Buckeye and a great ambassador for the team. He is the greatest dual threat QB since Tecmo Super Bowl’s QB Eagles (aka Randal Cunningham). He exhibits great leadership by displaying support for money launderer and dog executioner/federal felon Michael Vick both on his eye black and post game interviews with the national TV media. Or the way that he breaks NCAA rules by selling memorabilia that he has earned for victories with his teammates where they have spent countless hours practicing, watching film, and battling on Saturdays to achieve. Yep, that is a real Buckeye deserving of praise other than that fake Buckeye Kirk Herbstreit.
What’s that Herbstreit guy ever done anyway? He never beat an SEC school in a BCS bowl game. How many times did he beat Michigan during his 4 years at OSU? Never forget that he grew up in Ohio and publicly supports all Ohio amateur and pro teams. He has the audacity to speak negatively about OSU’s actual wrong doings during his job in media as a TV commentator on ESPN (you know the massive media outlet that’s mission statement is the destruction of OSU’s football team). How dare he think his school should act better by not breaking the rules and not having the coach report it when they find out? HOW DARE YOU SIR! As soon as he was hired at ESPN it was evident that he severed his ties to OSU and started immediately talking bad about them. He has no respect for his alma mater. If only he would show up on camera with his entire family decked out in OSU gear at some point in his career. Maybe that would help his image with OSU fans. Nope, well then, let’s constantly harass him and his family to the point they need to move from Columbus to Nashville. That’ll show that fake Buckeye. Didn’t real Buckeye Chris Spielman say negative things recently about this scandal? Where does he live these days? Well, I guess it is okay for him since he has only said the bad thing once and doesn’t work for ESPN full time. Who the hell runs their ex-players and public supporters of the team out of town? Oh yeah, OSU “fans”.
The bottom line with my attitude change is that the fans make enjoying OSU football impossible. From ridiculous performance expectations, to unfair treatment of “fake” Buckeyes, to the defense of breaking rules it has turned me away from being a fan. I wish the team the best but I will always take great pleasure now in the pain of the fans of Buckeye nation. Your whining, crying, and thoughts of suicide for all the injustices done to OSU provides greater entertainment to me now more than any football win. With each allegation, loss, or negativity uttered toward OSU I look forward to reading each comment or hearing each defense from my friends so I can laugh like a madman looking at his own reflection. Listen OSU fans, I get that your love for your school and football team. Nothing wrong with that. Your inability to live in reality and accept that your team can screw up or not win a National Championship or even that there is no media conspiracy to ruin your team are the problems. Also the Bataan Death March from the stadium, bars, or TV screens after a loss is a bit on the dramatic side. Get over it, were not talking life or death here. Join the real world and things won’t seem so bad.
***Editor's Note***
Yes, Buckeye fans can be obnoxious. Fans in general tend to be, especially for larger fan bases of highly successful teams. That goes for any sport, college or pro. Fans typically lack any reasonable sense of objectivity, especially when your team is "under attack".
That said, much of what JJ says is fair criticism. The whole idea of "fake" or "real" Buckeyes is nuts. The idea that somehow a multi-million dollar business, where the key employees are unpaid, and is supported by an entire community (the good and the bad), is somehow not going to have shady dealings going on around it is naive. We all know it's going on. That doesn't excuse it.
I've already done one post on TatGate, and I'm not going to rehash my position on that. What I will say is that this can't be the only shady thing that's gone down under JT's regime. We (Buckeye fans) all know that the Clarrett situation could've blown up and resulted in sanctions, but didn't. We all know that the "squeaky clean" image of JT rings a bit hollow. The "Aw Shucks" act is a little tired. Gordon Gee and the AD should be ashamed of the way they've handled themselves. But all of this, and probably more, is self-inflicted. We should acknowledge that.
The criticism of ESPN is actually kind funny to me. They were late to the party. It was Yahoo that broke the story. ESPN only jumped on when it benefited them to do so. As JJ said, tearing OSU down would kill game ratings. Why would they want that, until it became the big story?
That said, I don't care for or about Herbie. The problem with that situation is that you can't have it both ways. You can't be a homer, and not be labeled a homer. I think he did the best job he could, but there were many times that it seemed his criticisms were leveled more to appease the national public opinion than anything. He couldn't be seen to be defending the program, so I think that made the criticism harder to take for Buckeye nation. That does not in any way justify the personal attacks on he or his family. That kind of crap ass behavior is never acceptable. It's sports at the end of the day, and there's no reason to run a solid citizen out of town (although there were some other rumors about taxes and a house burning down not to mention he'd run out of tail to chase...to be fair, none of us know the whole story).
The one part of this that I take a little issue with is the expectations on the field. I think I know where JJ was going with this, and I'll acknowledge that there's a difference between having a National Championship as the goal every season and actually thinking you're going to WIN a National Championship every season. I see nothing, and I mean nothing, wrong with having a NC as the goal every season. It's what the Pittsburgh Steelers do in the NFL. They may not get to the Super Bowl every year, but they think they CAN, and prepare with that goal in mind.
The reality is that OSU is the biggest and most successful program in the North. It's the only one that perennially competes with the South, Texas and the West Coast. Yes, the Big Ten* isn't the deepest conference, and without a championship game, the string of Big Ten* Championships* is like holding the Intercontinental Belt in the old WWF. Still, they've been to 3 NC games since 2002, and are always going to be one of the top 3 choices of the BCS selection committee because of the way the fan base travels and the television ratings they draw. Hating on that is like me hating on the Steelers. It's just jealousy.
Now I acknowledge that there are those amongst us that may actually irrationally think we're going to win it every year. There may be those amongst us that don't think JT did it, or did anything wrong by doing it. There may be those that actually believe Herbie is the anti-Christ and deserves to have his house burned down. I can't and won't defend any of them.
But I will also say that there have been plenty in Buckeye nation to criticize TP and JT for their work on the field, who've done a 180 regarding the off-field issues. Like Herbie, you can't have it both ways.......
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