First, as regards the "violations", they're no big deal to me personally. A player wants to sell his souvenier gold pants, let him sell them. Land of the Free and all that, am I right?! Tressel didn't report that players had gotten free tattoos. It's not exactly Reggie Bush-esque benefits. Where do you draw the line? Ian Johnson at Boise State couldn't sell his beanie hats that he'd knitted himself. Dillon Baxter can't take a golf cart ride across campus with a fellow student. Does Evan Frosch have to pay me back for the shots I bought him last summer? Maybe TCU should self report that?!
As far as I'm concerned, it's all a load of nonsense.
HOWEVER, in saying that, there is nothing that p.isses me off more than hypocrisy. The NCAA and its random-punishment-generator is a joke. They get outraged about things once they become public, but turn a blind eye when they don't think it will come out.
Dez Bryant lied about a non-violation and was made an example of, and robbed of his final season. Jim Tressel lies about actual violations and he's... banned for two games, and (GASP) not allowed to coach the spring games?!
Wasn't a big part of the Reggie Bush case that the coaches "should have known" about the violations? Here, not only did the coaches know, but they bare-face lied about it.
Tressel, the man who just wrote "Life Promises for Success: Promises from God on achieving your best" signed a compliance certificate last fall confirming that he had told them everything they needed to know. What a (I'm going to get Banned if I do not EDIT this Immediately)ing hypocrite!
Cam Newton, Jim Tressel, the Ohio State five were all too valuable to the NCAA to actually punish. Dez Bryant is a big enough name, but not from a traditionally powerful program - perfect guy to make an example of.
So I guess my issue isn't really with the violations. It's with Tressel and his "holier than thou" persona saying that the players had let the university down, yada, yada, yada, and the whole time he knew about it and said nothing. And with the NCAA for their random, inconsistent punishments for their archaic, nonsensical rules. The whole thing's a joke.
