Anyone who knows me, knows that I don't like Terrell Pryor. I haven't since day one. I always thought he was arrogant and self-absorbed. I've always thought he was trouble just waiting to happen. The current situation at OSU only validates my original assumptions.
Well, I woke up this morning to find out he is gone. My first reaction is ' don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out'. (This is one of my favorite Judyisms!) Of course my next reaction is what a coward. As much as I detest him, I am angry that he is walking away. He has created this maelstrom of chaos, and now he gets to walk away with little retribution. I know I'm contradicting myself, but I have mixed emotions about the whole situation.
First and foremost, Terrell Pryor is arrogant. He is the pebble in the ripple effect. His decisions to thumb his nose at the NCAA rules was the beginning of the end. I listened to an interview on the Fan 97.1 this morning. They interviewed one of Terrell's closest friends. When directly asked if he thought Terrell knew the rules, the friend responded with (and I'm paraphrasing), 'it doesn't matter if he did or not. Terrell does exactly what he wants without regards to rules and regulations. He knows that he's going to the pros regardless.' It's this attitude that helped bring down the Buckeye Nation. If I'm honest I do have to say that Terrell isn't solely responsible. He and Coach Tressel are 50/50 partners in this mess. Coach made the decision to sit on the evidence instead of report it. But Terrell's attitude put Coach in the situation to have to choose.
Secondly, Terrell Pryor is a coward. He gave his word at the beginning of this disaster that he would not leave the Ohio State University. He promised that he would return to the field after his 5 game suspension. He pledged his allegiance to his team and the fans. What does he do when the water gets hot? He releases a statement through his lawyer that he is leaving OSU. He doesn't have the guts to tell the Buckeye Nation himself. With the snap of his fingers, he's gone and moving on to the next phase of his life. He just gets to walk away from the mess he created. If this isn't the definition of coward, I don't know what is.
Thirdly, Terrell Pryor is not a man. One of the reasons he gave for leaving is his teammates. He says he doesn't want to hurt them. He feels staying will somehow be detrimental to the team. Really dude? It doesn't matter if you're on the team or not, you already have hurt them. Walking away won't erase what you've done. The sanctions will still come down on OSU and your teammates whether you are there or not. The only difference will be that they will suffer the consequences while you are trying to find your way into the NFL. A man would one not have put this friends in this situation to start with and two would never walk away and let the others pick up the pieces. I'm pretty sure there is some specific rules in the man code that addresses such treachery. His reputation has taken a huge hit.
Like I said, I have mixed emotions about him leaving. Of course now that he is gone, my beloved Buckeye Nation can begin the process of healing. We will face whatever sanctions the NCAA imposes on us with integrity and humility. We will learn, overcome and become stronger. We will hold our heads high. The same cannot necessarily be said for Terrell Pryor. He will have to live the rest of his life knowing that he walked away from a situation that he caused. He left others to deal with his wrong doings. I hope he can sleep at night. Having said that though, I do hope that someday Terrell Pryor will realize what he's done and be able to take responsibility for his actions. After all he is only 20 years old. Just like every one of us, we all have made huge mistakes in life. We learn from them and use those lessons to make us better. This situation will never go away for Terrell until he too can learn from what he did and use it to better himself. I look forward to that day when he can accept and whole heartedly apologize to what he has done.
Until then I will put my focus on Coach Fickell and the team. They have my total support this year and years to come. Good Luck!
Make Every Day Count.....
Denise
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