As an alum and attendee at several football games throughout the years, I have bellowed out these words with thousands of other enthralled fans in the stadium, cheering on our beloved Bucks.
Let’s face it, for those who love Buckeye football, watching the game at the stadium or on television is a Saturday-afternoon ritual in the fall.
For those who consider themselves experts in all things Ohio State, let’s look at the second stanza of “Carmen Ohio.”
Second stanza? Yes, there is even a third stanza to “Carmen Ohio” — not that the second or third stanzas are ever sung.
In the second stanza, there are a couple of lines that are worthy of our attention: “We should strive to keep thy name, Of fair repute and spotless fame.”
Unless you have removed yourself from all media sourcesfor many weeks, you know that Ohio State’s name has been tarnished by the actions of football coach Jim Tressel, a coach who prized honesty and integrity above winning. Or so it seemed.
However, as facts have surfaced and swirled over the coach’s poor decisions the past few months and come to a head in the last few days, it appears that honesty and integrity took a back seat to playing ineligible players, ineligible players that gave the team a greater chance to win games.
What happened was — pure and simple — a case of cheating. If a player is ineligible, he doesn’t play. Not even if he is the best or one of the most highly recruited players, ever.
As an alumnus, I am hurt by the actions of an adult in charge of impressionable athletes. The athletes are not blameless. What they did was wrong.
But I am more disappointed in an adult who should know better, an adult who assures parents that he is going to make men out of their sons and not just football players.
It is going to take a long time for Ohio State’s reputation to recover and be “Of fair repute and spotless fame.”
As a former high school women’s tennis coach, I know that there is pressure to win. I remember the flak I took when I played payers that were not always the best players.
These young women practiced just as hard and just as long as the top tier. I thought they had earned and deserved a chance to play when it counted on the varsity team. Not as a reserve, not a second stringer.
Most of the other coaches did not agree with me.
I took that stand almost 30 years ago, and I still believe in that philosophy for high school athletics.
I hope that Ohio State’s administration will do the right thing and replace Tressel.
I said to a friend that I would rather lose to Michigan than have a coach that does not teach young men the right way to win. And losing to Michigan is not something that I will ever enjoy.
Anne Deam is a retired teacher.
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