The Nature Of The Beast!

"Just doing what he was allowed to do"

To land the most coveted recruit in the country there are certain things that must be done in order to secure him. Most importantly it’s going to cost you to get that type of talent because he could go anywhere and play. More often than not it’s not your beautiful campus or athletic facility that lands a kid like that. It comes down to what are you willing to do for he and his family. Why, because they’ve got all of the power.
The school, it’s booster and alumni want to win at all costs and kid of that caliber will help them do that. There are millions of dollars at stake if the program goes on to play in national title games or BCS bowls. According to Sports Illustrated in March 2007, Ohio State makes more than 100 million a year from it’s athletic program with the vast majority of it coming from football. The highly recruited are probably told from the day they signed the letter of intent that they could do or have whatever they want. It’s always been that way.

So why are people acting brand new when it comes out that the face of the program has driven more than 8 vehicles in three years. When he’s been given free reign of the equipment room to take shoulder pads, jerseys and helmets to autograph for fans to make money etc. I’ll bet that he hasn’t paid for anything in Columbus since he arrived on campus three years ago and everybody knows it.

Now all of a sudden he’s being blamed for Jim Tressel’s down fall. I’ve even heard guys say that he cost Rich Rodriguez his job at Michigan. Last I checked Pryor didn’t talk to the NCAA for Tressel or play defense for the Wolverines.

What kills me is that people are treating Terrelle Pryor like a criminal. He didn’t go to the dealership and steal the cars. He didn’t break into the equipment room at gun point and take the shoulder pads and helmets. He didn’t go the mall and steal clothes. People gave him whatever he wanted because they felt obligated. He’s the money maker and they know he’s being taken advantage of so let’s pacify him until he goes pro. That’s how it is on big time campuses. Now that it’s blown up in the university’s face everybody is upset with him.

He’s just the baby that was allowed to streak naked in the street and throw his food on the floor at dinner and no one blinked. He was the 800 pound gorilla in the room that everyone ignored. Buckeye fans had no problem with him living the fast life as long as they were winning Big Ten Titles etc. Not one adult in the athletic department pulled his coat tail, not Tressel, the A.D., the President or anyone in the compliance department said a word for three years. He just ran down the street with his butt out and everyone look the other way.

"Pryor in his latest whip!"

Now that the ship is going down it’s all Terrelle Pryor’s fault. Like he was some masked lunatic terrorizing Columbus. I wrote an article a few weeks ago entitled "It's Alive" about how the media and public create the monster and then become upset when it’s takes over.

I keep hearing the talk show hosts saying that Pryor was this entitled jerk. Let me ask you this, who created the entitlement around him? Not the kid! It was the media and other adults telling him how great he was while at the same time wearing his jersey and giving him money and cars etc.

Who’s ultimately to blame here, Pryor or the University? Both! But please remember that Terrelle operated like the adults allowed him to. Should he have known better? Sure! But how many kids between the ages of 18-22 will say no if everything has just been handed to him. If you allow your kid to run loose long enough he’ll eventually run out into the street and get hit. In my opinion, the least they could’ve done is provide the top money maker on campus a new car. Since he’s making the bookstore a fortune in #2 jersey sales and isn‘t getting a dime of it.

Holla At Ya Boy!!

Jay Graves