Ray Small: Becoming a better man

A brief non-Badger excursion ...

During the Ohio State-USC game I heard a funny quote from Buckeye wide receiver Ray Small, who took a recruiting visit to Los Angeles before committing to Jim Tressel.

• "Here at Ohio State, they teach you to be a better man," Small said. "There, it's just all about football."

Funny stuff, right? That quote was on my mind when I read today that Small had been suspended for repeated violations of team rules.

Guess Tressel's got some work to do on this guy.

Even better is Small's dad is squawking that the punishment doesn't fit the crime, that Ray is guilty of nothing more than missing or being late for classes, and the occasional parking ticket. What college kid hasn't? If the Cardinal had suspended editors for those kind of transgressions, What's on Tapp would have had a short shelf life.

But Mr. Small is peeved because of what some of the other naughty Buckeyes have been up to:

• Ken Small cited several other recent legal transgressions by Ohio State players and compared them to the minor problems his son has had. One player a year ago was arrested for propositioning a female police officer posing as a prostitute. At least two players have been arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Guess Tressel's got some more work to do.

By no means is this an inference that the Wisconsin football program is squeaky clean. I am fully aware of some Badgers' deplorable behavior. Recently, Lance Smith and Booker Stanley come to mind. While I don't condone this sort of behavior, I also understand that if you have a group of 120 college kids, athletes or not, some of them are going to do stupid stuff ... although I personally never knew anyone busted for soliciting a female police officer posing as a prostitute. At least not that I know of.

But what's funny is how Ohio State tries to cultivate this holier-than-thou, pious attitude about things, embodied by Small's quote comparing Ohio State to USC.

Let's face it, it's all about football at USC, Ohio State, just about any big-time college football program. Just admit it.