As the events surrounding the Ohio State football program and Jim Tressel have amplified this week, it’s been tough to watch and listen.  Maybe you’ve felt the same way.  None of us ever want to see a program and/or a person we root for and admire fall from their position.

What happened at OSU goes on in pretty much every big-time college sports program in the country.  People want to associate themselves with success and winning, so they look for ways to feel like part of the team.  Many times, that leads to an ethical crossroads involving money or other material goods that college students aren’t prepared to navigate…especially in a society where we entitle talented athletes. 

As someone who supervises and employs college students, I can tell you first-hand that even if you have a close, mentoring relationship with the students, they will make mistakes.  Thinking you can control all of that is foolish.  You’ve got to border your leadership in prayer, and even then, problems may arise.  Holding them accountable for those mistakes is not easy, but necessary. 

My biggest disappointment in this whole OSU mess is that Coach Tressel wasn’t given the chance to make things right…to go through the punishment handed down and build the program back to respectability.  From an imaging perspective, that apparently was too much for Ohio State to endure.  In my mind, all the good things Jim Tressel has done beyond just coaching earned him that opportunity.  Former Buckeye All-American Chris Spielman made a very insightful comment Monday when he wondered aloud why the university didn’t allow their coach to do this very thing.  Letting Coach Tressel demonstrate accountability to his young men might have been one of the greatest learning experiences they would have received.  But now we’ll never know.  Hopefully Coach Fickell can do his part to see that through.

This situation has reminded me once again that while I love watching and being a fan of OSU football, big-time college and professional sports are still a form of entertainment, and something that I can’t allow to become a “false God”…something that distracts or keeps me from things more important in my life, like my relationship with Christ and my family.

“…Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.” -I Corinthians 8:6 (NIV)

-Joe