Enough With The Judgments Of Pryor, His OSU Pals

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Money hasn't really grown much on the Wise family tree over the years. While we've been rich in laughter and happiness, we've long been broke in the bank accounts.

Mom worked hard to get me the proper spoils for when I became the first of her children to graduate from college. Among the gifts was an expensive Cartier watch for which she started saving the very day I left the nest. Good thing it took me six years to finish school.

And in the days since my graduation, I've encountered a few tough stretches myself. Working in news will do that to you. And trust me; I've thought about the price of that watch more than a few times, especially with the ease of eBay and the convenience of Craigslist. But I've always kept it and I still have it tucked away in my secret little drawer when I'm not putting on a nice suit that requires a fancy watch. Which is to say I rarely wear it and could therefore make a pretty penny off it if there was no emotional attachment.

But youngsters like Terrelle Pryor, Dan Herron and a few other Ohio State juniors did sell some of what we would consider their prized possessions. So we call those guys immature and selfish for not recognizing the sentimental value of championship rings or gold pants, the latter honor being the symbol jewelry that Ohio State players earn when the Buckeyes beat hated Big Ten rival Michigan. Is such a gift something to be cherished? Of course. But are the coveted gold pants hard to come by these days in Columbus? Hardly.

When Tiger Woods made his awkward first public comments after his private life became oh-so public, he said he'd "felt entitled." And writers feigned surprise in order to make more out of that admission than was truly there. But the reality is that the sports world is loaded with bullet-proof young men whose sense of entitlement began at an early age after the first accusation of theft, cheating in school or slapping a girl around. Our culture caters to these kids, and as long as they perform under the lights every Friday, the behaviors are tolerated with boys-will-be-boys discipline.

And then we put on our best stunned face when we hear that a self-obsessed 21-year-old athlete has used poor judgment and done something we insist we'd never do. Pryor's high school football coach said Pryor sold his wares to raise money for his family. Sure that could be hooey, but haven't we heard endless stories of elite athletes who come from poor families? White, middle-class writers tell most of them, in fact, and yet, white, middle-class writers blast the kids for trying to make a few extra bucks because the NCAA system that white, middle-class writers routinely ridicule doesn't allow them to have side jobs in the first place.

This is hardly a defense of Pryor or his Ohio State teammates. Rules are in place, as ridiculous as they often are in the NCAA, and they must be followed. OSU has a compliance department — one of the nation's largest, in fact — and athletes in Columbus are indeed aware of what's legal and what's not, regardless of what Gene Smith might tell you. Five games seems steep, sure, but both the individuals and the overall program must suffer as a result of the foolish behavior of a few.

Forgive me, though, if I'm not as judgmental as you are about the skewed judgment of a handful of broke, young kids. I don't feel sorry for any of them, but I seem to remember using poor judgment a time or two myself. It's called being young, making mistakes, figuring things out. Everybody has regrets, and Pryor and his buddies will have to chalk this one away in the lesson-learned-the-hard-way file. In fact, I bet they already have.

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They should have to sit out the Sugar Bowl...............oh wait the rating would suck, the NCAA does not want that. GO BUCK$