Gene Smith’s spit list started out with seven names.
It included the six Buckeyes football players who violated NCAA rules by trading memorabilia items for cash and tattoos, and Edward Rife, the tattoo parlor owner with whom the transactions were made.
At a December news conference announcing the violations, Smith, the Ohio State athletic director, first declared the program did not have a systematic problem with compliance. Give Smith credit: once he makes an argument, he sticks to it, even when it becomes harder and harder to believe.
While Smith’s case has lost credibility, his spit list continues to grow.
A prominent name was added in March, that of Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel, who admitted he knew of the violations the previous April but did not come forward.
When…
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