The targets of the latest rants, threats and other verbal diarrhea, are Bradley Roby and Philly Brown. The problem with the assault on any player, let alone these two, is that they give everything for their school, for the duration of their stay, and actually have something at stake, beyond a rooting interest. These are the guys who go to spring practice, hours of film study, then endure a brutal schedule each year, all while balancing school, social obligations, and the glaring white hot spotlight of playing for one of the largest universities, with The largest fan base, in the country. Some of you will read this and think, 'So what? It comes with the territory. AND they get a "free" education'. Or, more profoundly, 'If they don't like it, go play for someone else. They're just spoiled anyway'. Well, I have news for you, "Superfan", when you have one of your players state that they are "ashamed to have played for y'all", the line has officially been crossed, and there's no longer anything 'free' about that education you all so eloquently like to orate about, ad nauseam. That, and they will eventually go elsewhere.
Do these mental giants, walking billboards of mediocrity, realize there are 2 very major elements to bringing these prized recruits to our fine school? The first of which, and most importantly, is the list of current and former players, who have crossed the threshold of the locker room doors and onto the stadium grass. I'm pretty sure you're not getting a ringing endorsement from a guy who is being called soft, or un-dedicated, or another undeserved target of death threats who, say it isn't so, muffed a punt, after hauling in 8 very important catches for over 100 yards. A secondary element, also of the utmost importance, is the new age, 'Fan Base Factor'. It takes literally 5 seconds to put something out in a social media setting, to a bunch of your peers, or potential team mates, saying, "Don't ever make the same mistake I made." Think that's not real? Take a good hard look at the plethora of commit reversals all over the country. What Einstein and his band of misfit, PBR guzzling, brothers fail to grasp, is, that with one tweet, or post, they can literally undo what took a staff of university paid coaches, months, if not years, to achieve. The following is from my Facebook post, regarding an article which brought all of this nonsense to light, some of which may be reiterating what I've already written, but bears repeating in this age of chronic mental midgetry.
A few things need to be pointed out here: 1) This is not unique to OSU. The vocal majority make the headlines, and unless you've been to the "big house" and been pelted by marshmallows filled with pennies, you know not of what you speak. 2) These people are not fans. Fans are the people who grow up rooting for their team, live and die with them, and feel empathy toward the players, when things are not going their way, especially in the case of a classy kid, and awesome receiver, like Philly. 3) Good remarks, or support in negative times, are not newsworthy. Instead we are fed doses of the negative nonsense, which is nearly as irresponsible. Face it, would you have looked at this page if the contents didn't look like an absolute train wreck? Unfortunately, what these morons do, is make the work of the coaching staff that much more difficult, in trying to recruit these top-flight players. In all honesty, as much as I love my home state university, I don't know that I would ever want my child to play there; and that's a crying shame...
My plea to these 2 fine players, and any others who may face this reprehensible behavior, or become targets of these demeaning, bigoted, ignorant threats, is to take it at face value and ask yourself if a real fan would truly react this way. The short answer is, 'No'. Emphatically, and without apology...NO. We are behind our team, and our guys, 100% in every situation; good or bad. We celebrate with you when you win, and hurt when you lose, but never to the level of you all, who dedicate so much of your lives to the success of our great football team. Thank you for all that you do, and from all of us in Buckeye Nation, congratulations on another tremendous year.
How firm thy friendship,
Scott
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