We swear, we're going to bury this Ohio State scandal thing until the next gawking details/big headlines drop, which at the rate we're going will probably be, like, Friday. But first, we're going to gather some reaction from around the Internet now that Terrelle Pryor is officially an ex-Buckeye.
Some will concern the straight news of Pryor's departure. Some will be reaction to the accusations surfacing that Pryor accepted up to $40,000 for his signature. Just a heads up. Here we go.
First up is ESPN's Ivan Maisel.
It took little more than a week for Pryor to figure out, like his coach before him, that Ohio State had no place for him any longer. The quarterback abruptly announced through an attorney Tuesday that he would not compete in his senior season "in the best interests of my teammates."
If Pryor had demonstrated that type of selflessness before Tuesday, he wouldn't have needed to cast himself adrift from the shores of the Olentangy. Coach Jim Tressel wouldn't have ended his Ohio State career by trying to cover up the misdeeds of Pryor and his teammates.
You optimists out there might choose to believe Pryor has set aside the star mentality that he first brought to the national stage three years ago. Pryor didn't wait two months past signing day to choose Ohio State because he couldn't make up his mind. He waited because he could.
Win 31 games and two BCS bowls and you're a hero. Disgrace Ohio State and you're scrubbed from the empire. Pryor is effectively dead to Buckeye fans now. He isn't even polarizing anymore.
All he had to do was show restraint for four years in exchange for a lifetime of goodwill and guaranteed employment. It's an offer that anyone provided with competent mentoring should have gladly taken.
No one player is worth dishonoring what thousands of men have spent over a century building. No one player was worth compromising the program that Tressel had established over the past decade. At some point, Tressel himself somehow lost sight of that. Based on the number of proven and pending allegations against him, it's unclear if Pryor ever saw that at all.
Chris of Eleven Warriors on the SPORTSbyBROOKS report.
The article goes on to say Talbott, a professional photographer with work posted on SI and ESPN websites, was "ordered by Ohio State officials to completely disassociate himself from the program" sometime last football season. Feel free to start poking holes but how much smoke do you dismiss before you pull the alarm?
It's hard to stomach the notion that this investigation feels far from over.
Rob Oller of the Columbus Dispatch.
No question that in losing Pryor the program gets some needed clarity and closure - no more wondering if Pryor gets his job back at midseason - and a positive public relations bump. One more problem removed.
But regardless of whether Pryor is the killer whale some make him out to be, his presence on the field will be missed. Did he struggle with reading defenses? Yes. And his passing was too erratic. But he also made plays few others can. A former Big Ten coach recently told me the secret to success is having 80 percent of your players not lose the game so that the other 20 percent can win it. Pryor was among that 20 percent.
Unfortunately for Ohio State, he also was among the 5 percent or so capable of sinking the ship and swimming away from the wreckage. And he's still out there. Approach at your own risk.
Doug Lesmerises of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
As we've said before, anything alleged in a news story must be investigated and proven by the NCAA before it becomes a real issue for Ohio State. The world of tattoos which started this problem for Ohio State last December is an area where potentially the school may not have had expertise. While the compliance office talked to area restaurants and stores about not giving players extra benefits, it only added tattoo parlors to that list recently.
But Ohio State knows all about autographs and the seller's market and the problems they can create for a player and a program. Not having a handle on what may have been going on there would be tougher to explain away.