On Tressel and the “blog problem”

Lots of dot coms and Ebays are abuzz in the Buckeye blogosphere about Tressel’s recent comments about the need to further Kremlinize (sic?) the Buckeye football program from outside observation.  For those unaware, Doug Lesmerises recently quoted Tressel as saying:

Speaking before practice Monday night, Tressel admitted he wants to keep information from leaking to opponents and was disappointed that news of Saturday’s closed scrimmage had been relayed on Internet message boards by donors and other guests allowed to attend.

“Some of our people brought in little blog sites [that said] ‘We saw this’ and ‘We saw that’ and ‘We saw this,’ ” Tressel said. “I guess you’re just trying to lower the percentage of that going on. Our coaches work hard on what we’re trying to prepare and would rather not have their thoughts and ideas and game plans out there kicked around until they get to showcase them.”

11W and The Buckeye Battle Cry already offered their two cents on the issue, and because they’re cool, I thought I’d follow.  I just gotsta be cool.  To summarize, both noted that their blogs — perhaps the two most popular Buckeye blogs out there — have done nothing to the kind.  Jeff at the BBC went further to say that should he be invited to observe practices, he (and presumably most bloggers) would more than follow standard operating procedures to the letter.  Perhaps bloggers could be as good as if not better at it than your regular sports journalist.

Of course, the first thing any Buckeye fan who runs a blog will draw attention to is Tressel’s admission that he follows the Buckeye blogs.  As a guy who (poorly) maintains one, my immediate reaction was something like “OMG Tressel might read Our Honor Defend OMGOMGOMGOMG”.  This might explain the one referral I got from the OhioStateBuckeyes.com mail server, which I’m guessing was a belated link regarding the Pryor BKAB feature (could be anyone in the organization, though).  Of course, because I only know of the three of us here and my parents as regular readers of OHD, I can only put our audience at 5.  I can presume no greater readership than that, so the Vest himself is not one of our readers.

To clarify further, Max still lives in Columbus for the moment and knows a few people close to the program, but doesn’t ask them anything.  In fact, he chips in with comments and advice on how I run things, but he’s far from the kind that posts regularly.  Further, Gabby and I live in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and could never disclose game preparations to our wide audience of 5 readers due to this logistical problem.  If it exists, it’s not here.  When I say that Sanzenbacher is the real deal, it’s not because of any inside information; it’s just knowing how hard Sanzenbacher had to work at Toledo Central Catholic to get his scholarship and knowing that he took that with him to Columbus.  I personally go out of my way not to get the attention of people currently involved with the program, since they have much, much better things to do.  It’s why I won’t even allow critical-to-the-point-of-inflammatory words of a player’s performance since we’re just a bunch of 9-to-5ers with not even a fraction of the coaching expertise as Tressel, Heacock, Bollman, et al.  Coaching is their obligation, not ours.  Instead, I do go out of my way to get the attention of some other people, namely Earle Bruce and Brian Baschnagel.  I’m weird like that.

The second thought that came to the forefront was that, if given the opportunity, we would be more than willing to obfuscate Buckeye intelligence with some Drudge Report-inspired false leads.  These immediately popped into mind:

• THE NEXT TOMMIE FRAZIER: Joe Bauserman featured in wishbone formation at camp… Developing…
• CHANGE OF PACE: Terrelle Pryor getting snaps on offense… at fullback… Developing…
• REPORTS: Boeckman benched, Brian Hartline at the helm of a new “Shot-Line Formation”… Developing…
• 3-3-5: Buckeyes feature 5 defensive backs in regular defensive rotation…
• MIXING IT UP: Heacock subs in 4-6 Defense for the Nickel package… Developing…
• BREAKING: Beanie leaves practice and team, will backpack around India… Developing…

Don’t rule this possibility out if he’s serious about the fact that people look to blogs for inside information.

Overall, though, I’m surprised it’s that big of a deal.  I’m probably the only one of the Big Ten Bloggers that has no sense of “we”.  I don’t have the identity of “blogger”, and I’m not particularly interested in blogging-related issues of freedom of inquiry and speech and all that.  I don’t look at myself as a blogger, more an obsessive workaholic with web design prowess, no social life, more social anxieties than you can shake a stick at, and an unhealthy obsession for his alma mater.  This leads me to writing long and rambling fluff pieces, not to be on the cutting edge of news or information.  I understand Tressel’s concern and if he shuts down practices for outside observation because of this anxiety, then more power to him.  I get my kicks more from the Buckeyes winning than I do from writing anything about them.  It could just be that this time of the year has the perfect blend of anxiousness for the season to begin with just enough dead air to make regular posting difficult.  Perhaps the flurry of interest in this quote stems from just that, rather than some kind of communal dismay that Tressel is, perhaps unnecessarily, upset with them.  Are people really bothered by Tressel’s quote? I only care about the end result¹.

Of course, when Tressel means “blog sites”, he might be referring to message boards… which is an entirely different animal…

1. though to be fair, because I took my education seriously, I expect student-athletes to do the same.

Go to Source