05/31 (Tressel Quits) Quickie

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The Sports Illustrated article is all well and good -- the new info was the expanded scope of the tchotchkes-for-tatts thing -- but the Jim Tressel story remains incredibly simple:

He lied.

He lied to his school. He lied to the NCAA. He could get away with the former, mostly because the AD and president are so derelict. But the latter did him in.

It is a Quickie essential: It is always the cover-up and rarely the crime, never more on display than here. Jim Tressel lied -- repeatedly -- and when the truth was revealed, it cost him his job.

Tressel was finished as soon as it turned out he misled the NCAA about the proverbial "what did he know and when did he know it." (Answers: "Everything" and "very early.")

The lying was enough to take down any coach, no matter how celebrated. The fact that Tressel held himself up as some sort of moral vanguard among college coaches compounds his problems.

The swag-for-tattoos story isn't even that big of a deal -- have to imagine this is pretty prevalent across college football and basketball.

What IS a big deal is that Tressel lied, misled and deceived -- intentionally and repeatedly.

That is why he resigned in disgrace. That is why the NCAA will hammer Ohio State and the coach himself.

Terrelle Pryor and the players didn't do this to Tressel. The tattoo parlor workers didn't do this to Tressel. The NCAA didn't do this to Tressel. The media didn't do this to Tressel.

He did it to himself when he tried to cover all this up -- not just repeatedly to the school and NCAA, but when he did everything possible to ensure he would take the field with would-be ineligible players, denying other teams' players and fans a fair game.

He sanctimoniously portrayed himself as better than that. He wasn't.

More:

*NBA Finals Game 1 tonight: Heat in 7.
*Who's next for Ohio State? Urban Meyer.
*MLB Storyline of the Day: Jo-Jo Reyes wins!
*NCAA LAX: Congrats to UVA.
*FIFA: Even more corrupt than Ohio State.
*Weekend recap: The Indy 500 finish was the best possible scenario for open-wheel in the US.

-- D.S.