When the news of Terrell Pryor and the Tattoo Five broke, many were pondering how such a thing could happen.  But at the first news of this scandal, many thought that the Tattoo Five would be punished and that would be it. End of story.  I mean, it’s not the first time athletes have gotten caught accepting illegal (by NCAA standards) benefits.

The Ohio State squad was expected to start star freshman Braxton Miller through the first five games of the season and get Pryor and co. back in time to save the season.  But when more and more news of Jim Tressel got out, it was evident that Ohio State was on the decline. At least for this season.  Before all of this, the Big Ten announced that there would be two divisions within the conference.  The Legends Conference would include Northwestern, Michigan State, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa. Michigan State and Nebraska were the headliners here.  The Leaders Conference would contain Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin. The two top teams were supposed to be Ohio State and Wisconsin.

But with several things now happening, it seems that Wisconsin is benefiting from the Ohio State scandal.  Now, many are declaring Wisconsin the front runner to win the Leaders conference. But that’s not all.  Reports have surfaced that top QB transfer Russell Wilson may be headed to Wisconsin, and the decision may come soon.  With QB being the biggest question mark, landing Wilson would put the Badgers over Ohio State.  The former NC State QB is a proven passer (albeit some accuracy question marks) who has adequate scrambling ability.

While he won’t be as perfect for the system as Scott Tolzien was, he is certainly a notch above the QBs on the current depth chart.  Another recent story involving a recruiting battle also serves to show how Wisconsin is benefiting from Ohio State’s fall.  Kyle Dodson, a four star offensive lineman for the class of 2012 according to Rivals.com, recently committed to the Badgers over the Buckeyes.  Dodson was quoted as saying, “It was hard turning down Ohio State.”

In translation, what he’s saying is that “I liked Ohio State but was scared off a little by all the recent things happening.”  The Badgers have never been a recruiting powerhouse but in their first five commitments of the 2012 class, four of them are four star recruits according to Rivals.  The last time Wisconsin had four or more 4-star recruits was the class of 2009 in which they had five overall.  With the recent investigations against Ohio State and things looking upward for Wisconsin, it seems as though Wisconsin is going to get another shot at the Big Ten title.

Tennessee has turned to Missouri State’s Cuonzo Martin to stabilize a basketball program facing NCAA sanctions following recruiting violations by former coach Bruce Pearl.  Tennessee announced Sunday it had hired the 39-year-old Martin as the Vols’ 18th head coach. A press conference to introduce Martin was scheduled for Monday.  Martin takes over at Tennessee without knowing what kind of sanctions the school may face next season. School officials will go before the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions on June 10-11, with final word on their punishment likely not coming until the fall.  Cuonzo Martine is a cancer survivor and has a personal back story that makes him an interesting figure, turning around a Missouri State program from worst to first makes him well equipped to lead Tennessee.

Veteran left-hander Mike Hampton retired Saturday, ending a 16-year big league career after giving up on a bid to earn a roster spot with the Arizona Diamondbacks.  The oft-injured Hampton was 148-115 with a 4.06 ERA in 419 games, including 355 starts.  He began his career with Seattle in 1993 and played for the Houston Astros, New York Mets, Colorado Rockies, Atlanta Braves and Diamondbacks.  He led the National League with 22 wins in 1999 while with Houston. But the two-time All-Star had just 10 wins in the past five seasons.  Hampton had elbow surgery in 2005 and 2007, and rotator cuff surgery in 2009. He signed a minor-league contract with Arizona last August.  There was a time when Mike Hampton was one of the best pitchers in the game; he won’t be a hall of famer.

Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel forwarded emails to Terrelle Pryor’s mentor that accused the star quarterback of selling memorabilia to a man under federal investigation, the Columbus Dispatch reported Friday.  Tressel will sit out the first five games next season and was fined $250,000 by the University for failing to notify the school about emails he received last April involving two players and questionable activities involving the sale of memorabilia.  Tressel did not share those emails with Ohio State staff or the NCAA.  Tressel’s future is uncertain at this point, he lied to his boss and Ohio State officials, but what may save him is he didn’t lie to the NCAA.  At this point regardless of on the field success or how much of a “stand up” guy he is supposed to be Jim Tressel needs to be fired over this; who knows what else he is hiding.

The truth is the schools make millions off of these players, and the NCAA considers a scholarship equivalent exchange.  In some cases they may be correct; a kid going to Southwest Missouri State should feel happy that they are getting their schooling paid for.  Southwest Missouri State is not a powerhouse or BCS conference school in football, so no one cares.  But if you are a star player at a major BCS school, you have made millions of dollars for that school, and you watch fans walk around with your jersey number on and you don’t get a dime.  Percentages of the jersey sales alone could cover the cost of the scholarship they are given more than likely.

Then you have these coaches making millions of dollars (once again none to the players), and they will do ANYTHING to get enough wins for that big contract or to keep their job.  Look at the situations with Urban Meyer, Rich Rodriguez, and Jim Tressel over the past year; the theme with these coaches was the pressure to win, and they turned the other way or risked personal safety because of the big business that is college football.  There is hardly a major university that has not been touched by a scandal or questions of unethical behavior (by NCAA standards) over the past two years.

It all comes back to one question because as we have seen the NCAA is not going to change their rules to be more sensible anytime soon, and people are not going to stop “cheating” anytime soon either.  That question is what coaches face everyday, is it more important to do the right thing and be ethical or win football games?  No matter who the coach is they need the best players they can get to win a championship, the whole argument about a good coach can take almost any group and make them champions is overrated.  In college football especially you need material, look at all the teams that have won national titles over the last 10 years their rosters were loaded with four and five star players.

That is why the incident with Ohio State coach Jim Tressel is not surprising at all, Lawyer Christopher Cicero (a former Ohio State Football Player) sent Tressel an email warning him about his players being mixed up with a person who was under investigation for drug trafficking.  These players were selling him memorabilia, and eventually were caught and given 5 game suspensions.  Now Tressel faces suspension, and it’s because he had to make a decision does he risk tanking his season, or does he keep it quiet and hope to win a national championship?  That’s the question every coach has to ask themselves, and at major colleges and universities they are going to take the money unless the NCAA makes some changes.

Ohio State Head coach Jim Tressel was suspended by the school for the first two games of next season because he failed to report information he received in an email regarding the sale of Ohio State memorabilia to a drug dealer.  Those players involved were all suspended for the first five games of next season, and this further adds to the limited possibility of Ohio State winning a National Championship next season.  Tressel and the Buckeyes may face more sanctions as the NCAA is going to look into the incident, and they have the ability to add on more games or other punishments however they see fit.

Orlando Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy got into a war of words with NBA commissioner David Stern when Van Gundy made comments related to Dwight Howard being suspended for getting his 16^th technical foul.  Stern went personal with his retort saying that Van Gundy was “fraying” because his team was not performing well, and he spoke to the ownership of the Orlando Magic to get Van Gundy silenced.  This is juvenile behavior for David Stern, and highlights one of the main problems with the NBA it’s commissioner, why would he even respond there are more important things than worry about some comments from a coach.  It’s no wonder the product in the NBA has declined in recent years, and they are more than likely headed for a work stoppage as well.

The NCAA tournament field is set and Duke, Pitt, Ohio State, and Kansas all received #1 seeds. As usual the field has teams who were left out that had a good case as to why they should have gotten in, but there is no doubt that Duke deserved it after beating North Carolina in the ACC tournament title game.  All of the other teams that received top seeds deserved it as well, no one can argue with those teams getting top seeds.  After all the controversy BYU ended up with a #3 seed, and North Carolina ended up with a #2 seed after winning the ACC regular season title.  The early money is on Ohio State to win it all, but there are at least 10 teams in the field that have a realistic shot of winning it all.

The Milwaukee Bucks were embarrassed by the Boston Celtics on Sunday losing 87 – 56, and setting franchise record lows for fewest points scored. They also scored the fifth lowest point total in the shot clock era, it was a dismal performance all around as they only had one player in double figures and that was exactly 10 points.  They Bucks only scored nine points in the first quarter, and never had more than 20 points in a quarter for the entire game, and the team only shot 31.4% from the field and 21.4% from three point land.  Put this in perspective Ray Allen had 17 points for the entire game which was more than the Bucks scored in any one quarter except the fourth where they scored 18.

On September 11th, 2010 the Miami Hurricanes will fly into Columbus to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes.  This is going to be one of the toughest tests of the season, as Ohio State has been one of the top programs in College Football over the last eight years.  I would say a lot of that has to do with playing in the Big Ten which is a weakened conference up until last season, but Miami as always can match Ohio State athlete for athlete and should be able to win this game.

This game is about revenge. Ohio State stole a National Championship from Miami in 2002 and now the Hurricanes will have a chance to right that wrong.  This game is not for a National Championship this time, but the loser of this game is going to have an early blow to its National Title hopes for 2010.  Had it not been for a horrible pass interference penalty on what should have been the last play of the game, the Hurricanes would have won back-to-back National Titles and Jim Tressel would still have none.  Look at the video below to relive the moment and judge for yourself.

The Buckeyes are going to be strong; they are losing four starters on defense and two starters on offense and handled a high-powered Oregon offense in the Rose Bowl.  The Hurricanes are a balanced team by boasting a high-powered offense and a solid defense. The keys to victory will be simple: force Terrelle Pryor to throw the football, and shut down any semblance of a running game.

I know people will say that Pryor threw the ball against Oregon, but everyone knows that the Ducks do not play any defense.  The Hurricanes secondary is good enough to shut down the passing game of Ohio State, and I believe the Hurricanes will rise to the occasion.  All the pundits will count the Hurricanes out, and I am sure most will predict an Ohio State victory. Those spots are where this team plays best. The Hurricanes will win a hard fought close game in the horse shoe.

Final Score: Miami – 20 Ohio State – 17