From the Bench

Ohio State Still Sitting on Stolen Monopoly Money

Robert Shields

Three weeks ago, I wrote about the need for Ohio State to forfeit its victory over Arkansas in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, and since that time new information has come to light that makes Ohio State look like even bigger cheaters.

So I still want the win over Ohio State.

Sure, on that day, the Buckeyes beat the Razorbacks on the scoreboard. But it was ill gotten gains for the team from the Big Ten, as has now been proven beyond doubt.

I am also glad to see Bobby Petrino change his tune about wanting to be declared the winner of that game. Like any coach, he said all the right things about how he wanted to play Ohio State’s best. Many fans echoed that sentiment. I never did.

You should never be allowed to play ineligible players, and make no mistake these players were ineligible.

Even just two weeks ago, a host on Drive Time Sports said that he doubted any fans would want to take a victory that way. I would, primarily because Ohio State and Jim Tressel knew what they were doing and how they were going to steal it.

Petrino now says that he didn’t “understand how they let those guys play.”

“Those guys” would be the paid players of Ohio State. I railed against it then and still do to this day. I even appreciated the recent quote from UA Athletic Director Jeff Long (you can insert his big glossy title here if you want) and agree when he said, “I didn’t realize that was an option.” Who did?

Next time any coach or Program wants to suspend a player, wait until after the Alabama game and get the NCAA to impose the penalty on the Akron Zips the following week.

The NCAA has a chance now to correct this mistake, and that is to take the game away from Ohio State. Or as a bonus they can just go ahead and penalize Auburn instead.

The column written three weeks ago stating Ohio State should forfeit produced more responses than any column written in the last year. Many fans seem reticent about not wanting the victory because it was not earned on the field.

I contend that Ohio State did not earn it, either. It used a team that was not its team. It used players that should not have been eligible -- and would not have been if the NCAA had known that its coach was lying and that not only had players received expensive tattoos but also received vehicles at discounted prices.

Before the Sugar Bowl, some Hog fans clamored that they wanted to play the full contingent of Ohio State players so the Buckeyes fans could not claim later when the Hogs beat them that it wasn’t their real team. I now argue it never was their real team. The Hogs were supposed to play the Buckeyes, but instead they played a paid team like the New England Patriots.

I never agreed with that sentiment that “we want to play their full team.” Why? Do you like playing cheaters? When I was a kid, I got mad playing Monopoly when I found out the person who was the banker was stealing money. The moment you busted them, you knew you won the game with the infamous, “You cheated!” It was no small wonder that they had all the properties and money.

In this world, you don’t get to keep what you stole when you’re caught. Maybe the NCAA will see it differently, but you don’t help your school’s cause when you say you don’t want it. You should be demanding the NCAA to give you the victory (forfeit is the term) or at the very minimum Ohio State does not get to keep it (vacate is the term).

Further, I don’t think Alabama laments for one moment the national title that it won over Texas the previous season when Colt McCoy left the game. I am sure they never cried, “Stop the game, we want to play their best.”

Speaking of Alabama, the Hogs claim a victory over Alabama back in 1993 when Alabama won it 43-3 because they used one illegal player. I don’t hear anyone saying they want to give back that victory in the stat book even though that player could have sat out and the Crimson Tide still would have crushed the Hogs. The players for Ohio State that should have sat made a huge difference in the Sugar Bowl. It was those players that won the game for Ohio State.

I also never remember any Oklahoma Sooner fans back in 1978 yelling for the Hogs to go ahead and play all its players in the Orange Bowl because they didn’t want Arkansas to have an excuse when they lost. The Hogs did sit Ben Cowins (leading rusher), Donnie Bobo (best receiver) and Michael Forrest (back-up running back), which would have helped. The Hogs won the legendary game anyway. Lou Holtz was brave and made the right decision. All American Leotis Harris also tore ligaments and never played in the game for the Hogs.

Ohio State’s administration was cowardly and played their players anyway when any logical, moral, or ethical conclusion would lead you to sit those players. Instead, you want to reward them for their Machiavellian approach?

Some have said the NCAA may not make them vacate that game while vacating the rest of the games last season because the NCAA had struck a deal with Ohio State before the Sugar Bowl for those players to play. The NCAA issued that deal while being deceived, though. If the NCAA had known Tressel knew of the transgressions prior to the season and all these new allegations that had come to light, their decision may have been much different.

One can easily argue Ohio State should not have even been in the Sugar Bowl. They stole the place of another deserving team that played by the rules.

Ohio State needs to pack up the Sugar Bowl trophy today and drive it to Fayetteville because the only eligible team that day was Arkansas. The other team did not show. And it is wrong for anyone to condone their actions in saying they can keep it.

Ohio State is sitting on the stolen Monopoly money. It’s time to take it away from them. Don’t let cheaters prosper.

So you can go ahead and count the Sugar Bowl as a win for Arkansas, and Long can start writing that bonus check out to Petrino for winning a BCS bowl game.



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