The entire ESPN The Magazine series is up now. Here's the lead Clarett article. After reading it, I have to eat some of my previous words questioning the journalism of ESPN in my Buckeye fanaticism of the moment. Seems they've done quite a bit of journalism in the Maurice Clarett matter, and it paints a sympathetic portrait of Clarett as a victim of a system that seems to have catered to his enormous ego, and then turned him out when he took full advantage of their stroking of it. Clarett's goal was to get his side of the story out and ESPN has provided him with a vehicle. (sorry)
I'm not sure that this will have the desired effect of polishing up the tarnished Clarett reputation among NFL General Managers prior to the April Draft, but after reading it I expect that it might.
Those of us that have observed the chronic self-absorption of Maurice Clarett for three years of course, cannot buy all of this stuff without a healthy dose of skepticism, but it is a well written story that makes his case pretty persuasively, and also lays bare some of the problems with boosters and the coddling of athletes that exist within every major football program.
Coach Tressel is a part of that system, and his impressive record of increasing the graduation rate of the football program from a low of 16% under his predecessor to over 50% now, is tainted somewhat by the disclosure that at Ohio State a player can get as many as 10 credits toward graduation just for playing football, more than any other school offers.
This doesn't change my opinion of Clarett as a self-promoter, spotlight hound and demonstrable liar. His problems with coaches, authority figures, team concept, and self-control didn't start when he got to Ohio State, and they likely won't end there. But the clearing of the air by Clarett and ESPN, in an attempt to get his case on the record, shines light in some places that Ohio State, the NCAA, and hundreds of other schools would like to keep in the dark.
Another in the series is a piece about OSU transfer Sammy Maldonado. It's a nice human interest story about a guy who didn't play here for whatever reason, and had some success at Maryland, (though he has recently been suspended from the team there), but the most scandalous thing it says about OSU is a quote from a guy who accuses the school of having an easy academic program for certain athletes. I assume that doesn't include Craig Krenzel's molecular genetics curriculum.
There's a side piece featuring other OSU players who lost their academic eligibility or were dismissed for other reasons joining in the tell-all. And it reveals that Fred Stirrup, Curtis Crosby, LeAndre Boone and Marco Cooper, their sources for the story, are all still attending Ohio State. So it's not like the University that recruited them into the football program, and for whatever reasons has seen fit to eject them from it, has rejected them as students, ruined their lives or soured them on tOSU.
A short fourth piece in the series deals with Ohio State University's short response to the allegations. Here are some links to more on what Coach Jim Tressel and Athletic Director Andy Geiger had to say about the situation.
An opinion column by The Plain Dealer's Bud Shaw on Clarett's charges.
As usual, ESPN's Page 2 has an interesting take on the OSU-MoC flap.
Posted by dan at November 11, 2004 2:15 AM