In sports, the cover up tends to be worse than the crime

Jim Tressel probably wishes he could hit the reset button. 

He, like too many other egomaniacal sports giants, failed to adhere to one of the sports world’s most important edicts: If you’re suspected of foul play, just tell the truth. 

Instead of taking what would have likely amounted to a slap on the wrist, Tressel’s alter ego—The Vest—got in the way. The Vest was chasing a second national championship when he was notified that several key players, including star quarterback Terrelle Pryor, had sold their Big Ten Championship rings for tattoos. If he turned Pryor in, a chance to add to his mystique, his clout and his wallet would be jeopardized. 

Clearly, Tressel had a lot riding on the 2010 season. The 10-year coach probably felt that his perennial Big Ten contenders had a different gear. So his decision to hold onto the tattoo-related information that he received from Columbus lawyer Chris Cicero, a former Buckeye walk-on, is hardly surprising.

You aren’t going to win at a BCS power unless you have the requisite mix of ego, charisma and deception. It may be hyper-cynical, but it’s hard to believe that even someone with the supposed morals of The Vest could stay above the fray. 

While it seems perplexing at first glance, Tressel’s decision to bypass Ohio State officials (who could have ended his personal liability) and notify Pryor’s “mentor” Ted Sarniak makes sense.

The Vest thought he could get away with it. 

In an email to Sarniak explaining Cicero’s involvement, Tressel wrote, “This guy . . . has always looked out for us.”

As sketchy as Tressel’s actions seem in hindsight, he easily could have prevented the fate he now faces. Obviously, if he had contacted the NCAA and aided its investigation, he wouldn’t face administrative rebuke.

On the same level, Tressel should have just told everyone he knew what was going on when the initial December reports surfaced. While his players—including Pryor—were being heavily scrutinized prior to the Sugar Bowl and eventually given a five-game suspension, Tressel played dumb. He painted himself as the naive coach who was blissfully unaware of his players’ actions. 

To Ohio State backers, Tressel is a 21^st century John Wooden-like figure. He was supposed to be the leader of young men—a coach who preached honesty and integrity. The Vest could’ve easily saved some of his credibility by letting the public know what he knew back in December. He was just stuck in the web of lies he started spinning last April. 

In its indictment of Tressel, the NCAA said he “failed to deport himself… [with] honesty and integrity.” Ask how that worked out for Kelvin Sampson. Ask Bruce Pearl. 

The examples aren’t limited to just contemporary college coaches. Look across the sports landscape and you’ll find instances of the cover up being worse than the crime.

When Pete Rose bet on baseball while managing the Cincinnati Reds, he broke arguably the game’s biggest rule. In every clubhouse there is a clearly visible sign reminding players and coaches that betting is prohibited. Rose’s transgressions were certainly a huge deal, but if had he come clean immediately, he would be in Hall of Fame today. There’s no doubt. 

People were more offended by Rose’s dishonesty than the actual betting on baseball.  

Tressel currently faces the same dilemma. Sports fans are more outraged about being hoodwinked than the actual atmosphere that existed around Ohio State football. 

As his coaching future remains uncertain, The Vest has become another sports cautionary tale. Damage from his web of lies has exceeded that of the initial crime.

The NBA playoffs will be exciting, but a lockout looms

One of the most exciting NBA regular seasons in my lifetime just ended and the playoffs have opened with a bang, but it’s hard to ignore the writing on the wall.

We might not have NBA basketball next year. 

Even as other great storylines are unfolding across the playoff landscape, it’s hard to escape the overriding sense that this might be it for a while. 

Think about it. No Derrick Rose for a year. Miami’s polarizing ‘Big Three’ cut down at the height of its powers—not by injuries, but by labor strife. The Old Guard’s (Celtics, Lakers and Spurs) title windows forcibly shut by the powers that be. 

No matter what happens in the following months there are dark clouds looming on the horizon.  The momentum that has been created in the regular season--and that will certainly continue in the playoffs—could be halted by a potential lockout

It’s a shame for a league that seems to be on the precipice of another golden age. When Magic, Bird and Jordan (the first time) retired, the NBA entered a long transition period. Due to overexpansion, a diluted talent pool and an initial lack of a rookie pay scale, the league’s product suffered. 

From a talent standpoint, the NBA has finally reached the top of the mountain again. The competitiveness level was as high as it has been for two decades. That’s not to say the league doesn’t have problems it will need to iron out with the next collective bargaining agreement. 

The NBA, unfortunately, isn’t in a position like the NFL is with its current lockout. Essentially, the NFL is just trying to sort out a money distribution conflict (Should players get a bigger piece of the owner’s pie?), while the NBA truly has pressing, fundamental problems.

Questions need to be answered. Should owners institute a hard salary cap? What about shortening the length of guaranteed contracts? Is the Miami superpower model a good one for the NBA? Early indications show that Miami’s ‘Big Three’ has helped boost interest and revenue, but it’s going to be a difficult sell for small market franchises. 

That’s what’s going to make the Heat’s postseason run so fascinating. Their potential successes or failures could have long-term ramifications. Surely, if the ‘Big Three’ satiates our instant gratification society and brings the Larry O’Brien Trophy back to Biscayne Blvd. in its first season, there will be copycats. In fact, the Knicks must have been sold on Pat Riley’s blueprint already, as they’ve started to assemble the pieces for their version of the ‘Big Three.’ 

While Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh are supremely talented, there is no guarantee their collective gifts will be enough to get past the other title contenders. This spring, they’re attempting to prove you can win the whole thing with three all-stars and nine other guys with a pulse. 

If they do win a championship, it could increase the growing schism between big-market and small-market teams. 

There will be plenty of on-court excitement over the next few months, but as the playoffs progress the lockout will loom larger.

The Masters leaves us with more questions than answers

It seemed that The Masters was arriving at just the right time to give the 2011 golf season a sense of direction.

Surely, Augusta National would provide a test that could help answer some of our biggest questions. Was Phil Mickelson’s win in Houston a precursor to a fourth green jacket? Could Westwood or Donald breakthrough? What’s up with that Tiger guy?

In a sense, many felt The Masters would provide fans golf’s equivalent of a state of the union address. With Woods’ game in flux and a new crop of twenty-somethings trying to fill the power void, trying to handicap the 2011 Masters was a crapshoot.

Isn’t it fitting, then, that instead of getting some closure from the season’s first major, we just have more questions.

As the tournament progressed, it seemed the storylines emerging would satiate the golf community’s growing curiosity. Yet, when the dust settled and back-nine fireworks ceased, we got Charl Schwartzel. The unheralded South African played beautifully, but Sunday’s final round was a head-scratcher that left too many questions unanswered.

Is Tiger Woods back? : My generation grew up expecting three certainties in life: Death. Taxes. Tiger Woods. To see Tiger struggle so mightily this past year has been a shock to the senses. A leaky swing can be fixed, but shoddy confidence can’t. His trademark steely resolve was replaced by a striking lack of mojo. Perhaps Charlie Sheen stole all of his tiger blood. Given Tiger’s track record at Augusta National, there was certainly reason for optimism. This was the place he finished tied for fourth after a four-month, self-imposed exile from golf. 

On Friday, there was some pep in the step of the four-time Green Jacket winner. He hooked his approach to the par-4 18th around a few Georgia pines and converted the subsequent birdie putt to post a six-under 66. Woods needed to prove he could play this well in consecutive rounds. Almost on cue, he finished with a third-round-74 and it looked like it was Rory McIlroy’s to lose. In his traditional Sunday red, Tiger was Tiger again. He had his bite back. After a masterful approach to the par-5 eighth, Woods drained an eight-foot eagle putt for a share of the lead. A fist pump and a huge Augusta roar seemed to foreshadow a fifth Green Jacket. It wasn’t meant to be, though, as an uneven back-nine doomed him. Was his play a sign of things to come or just Augusta fool’s gold? Your guess is as good as mine.

With Woods struggling, would there be a passing of the torch? : In the past year, golf has been dominated by a youth movement. With old stars like Vijay Singh, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen fading, the slack has been picked up by golfers in their “roaring twenties.” Could one of these young guns cement himself as Tiger’s heir apparent? Rory McIlroy stormed to the lead with an impressive opening-round 65. The ninth-ranked player in the world became the second-youngest player in Masters history to hold a 54-hole lead. (Tiger Woods) The parallels didn’t end there. Woods was 21 when he won the 1997 Masters and had entered with two victories. McIlroy, also 21-years-old and with two worldwide victories, looked like he was fortifying his standing as golf’s next big thing. Then, it all came crashing down. With several players charging, McIlroy hit his tee shot at the 10th so far left, it might as well have been in Jacksonville. Game over.  Poor Rory was in the midst of a Greg Norman-esque collapse. With his face in his hands, he looked totally defeated. The lead he had held for 63 holes was lost and so was the possibility of being anointed “The Next Tiger.”

Not to take anything away from Schwartzel’s impressive performance, but his victory will be overshadowed by Tiger’s charge, Rory’s collapse and the questions that they left unanswered.

Paying athletes would help NCAA avoid full-fledged revolution

As the NCAA prepared for its crown jewel, The Final Four, it certainly heard the whispers that built into a collective roar as the week wore on. 

No, these weren’t celebratory cheers. They were cries for a revolution. With the whistle being blown on college sports’ corruption at a dizzying pace— from UConn’s improper benefits scandal to Auburn’s alleged pay-for-play system—the mainstream media’s dissatisfaction seems to be at an all-time high. 

While we probably don’t need to get our hypothetical pitchforks and torches ready, it’s time to force the NCAA’s hand. 

It’s time to pay big-time college athletes. The NCAA continues to try and hide behind the veil of amateurism, while it’s crystal clear that the organization is the epitome of big business. The business model, though, is clearly broken. It doesn’t make capitalistic sense that those that generate billions never see a penny. Instead, coaches and administrators have benefited financially from an antiquated system. 

Let’s get something clear. People tuned into the NCAA Tournament this year to watch players like Kemba Walker and Jimmer Fredette, not to see university presidents. 

Prized recruits enter a system where they are owned in perpetuity by the powers-that-be. Even after players have graduated and moved on to the next phases of life, the NCAA still can capitalize off of their careers.

With the advent of increased merchandising, video games and ever-expanding television coverage, college legends still remain financially valuable. 

We are constantly beaten over the head with the NCAA’s message that “most of its student-athletes will go pro in something other than sports.” Don’t you think there are some former college stars who could use a pittance of what the NCAA makes off of them.

That’s what makes Ed O’Bannon’s recent lawsuit intriguing. The former UCLA guard, who led the Bruins to the 1995 NCAA Championship, hopes to turn the tables and make it possible for post-career compensation.

Even if O’Bannon wins, it’s not enough. Current big-time athletes need to be fairly compensated for their play. It does not, however, make fiscal sense to pay all college athletes. At the risk of sounding elitist, Notre Dame’s national champion women’s soccer team does not generate as much money (or media attention) as the Fighting Irish football team.

It just isn’t fiscally responsible to pay everyone. Instead, The NCAA should institute a system that would equate to a network of paid internships. Powerhouses like Texas football and Duke basketball would get to use a sizeable chunk of its revenue to pay its “interns.” Small-sport athletes could still retain the current scholarship system. 

I know this seems like a radical shift, but it beats our current system. Right now, we have coaches like John Calipari, who essentially recruits semi-pros. They’re in one year and out the next, all at the financial benefit of their coach.

Calipari is like a pimp dressed in Armani. Over the past 20-plus years, Marcus Camby, Derrick Rose and John Wall have all turned tricks for him. Of course, Camby went around the current system, hooking up with an agent while at UMass. 

We should just cut out the middle man and accept that the old system is hypocritical. Sure, there are still those who believe in the myth of amateurism. They claim that paying players, and in turn stripping their amateur status, erases the sanctity of the student-athlete. That it could possibly lead to even more corruption. 

As a traditionalist, I’d like to share their sympathies, but it’s all a bunch of hypocrisy. For better or worse, television money has rendered amateurism to the likes of Santa Claus or Sasquatch. 

We know the NCAA is masquerading as big business, so it’s time for a better business model.

Hello World

Hey guys,

Although some IU friends have recently started blogs, I promise I'm not aimlessly jumping on the bandwagon. I see this as a place where I can put up some of the work I've done this semester and periodically post something new. I've never been one to put my stuff out in the open, but I want that to change. When I'm editing a story or a paper, I normally display personality ticks characteristic of a new empty nester. Before I can submit it, I have a hard time letting go and wonder if I could have done anything else to prepare it. As I'm preparing to wrap up my time at IU, I want my closest friends and family to check out what I do when I'm not yelling at the television or knocking things over.

As you know, I kinda like sports. Yeah, I know that's probably a bit of an understatement. I do hope to mix it up from time-to-time though. I may throw in the occasional pop culture post or music rant. It's all lethal, people.

Thanks for all of the support.

Sean