Author Topic: College Football Fans -- What Do You Make of the Ohio State/Meyer Situation?  (Read 1912 times)

ReadySetMillionaire

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I graduated from Ohio State for both undergrad and law school, so my opinion should probably county for very little. 

Anyway, my opinion is this: if Meyer followed protocol, and Powell PD came back and didn't arrest/charge, and there's no evidence Meyer had more intimate knowledge than what's already been reported, he should come back without any suspension.  If he failed to report, and covered up for a domestic abuser, he should be gone.

You're free to disagree, obviously, and I welcome other viewpoints.

I have, however, observed that there is a gigantic distinction between the media coverage and people I talk to. I'm not a #fakenews guy at all, but the media seems overwhelmingly against Meyer at this point, and scared to report the other side in fear of victim shaming/blaming.

When I talk to people in real life, including Michigan and Virginia and Penn State and whatever alums, they just don't understand how all this goes back on Meyer.  The general consensus seems to be, "Apply this to real life. If my co-worker is a shithead in his personal life, and I report it to HR, they do nothing, and then he does something dumb again in three years, am I supposed to get fired for it?"

Just wondering what the general opinions are here, especially since this is a pretty rational community.  Although college football obviously makes people irrational, so who knows.

Fireball

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I'm not a #fakenews guy at all, but the media seems overwhelmingly against Meyer at this point, and scared to report the other side in fear of victim shaming/blaming.

He lied to the media regarding what he knew about the abuse and is now trying to say he not only knew about it, but also reported it to the appropriate people at the university. It doesn't really line up and the media smells blood in the water. They're not going to paint a pretty picture of him(and rightly so in my opinion).

ReadySetMillionaire

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I disagree wholeheartedly with your comparison to a regular job/company. When talking about football headcoaches, specially those in major universities/teams, they pretty much run the whole thing. Instead of comparing me going to HR to complain about a co-worker, when you talk about Meyer, he was the CEO, CFO, President and board of directors all wrapped in one.  Not a real comparison.

As far as Meyer, I highly doubt he didn't know what was going on considering his wife was friends with Courtney Smith and according to Smith, she told Ms. Meyers everything.

Urban Meyers was a punk ass who decided not to comfront the abuser and get help for the victim. He valued money and wins over the safety of a human being. He's a scumbag and I hope he's fired.
I think this is what it all comes down to -- why did Meyer keep this guy on staff (or as you say it, confront the abuser)?  I just can't defend it.

Based on what we know (if allegations are true), Meyer heard about it, reported it up the food chain, and never did anything further.  I agree with other attorneys that actually contacting Courtney would be tampering, so I'm okay with that.  But I just don't get why this happens and you don't push him out the door.

Whether that's a terminable offense, I don't know. 

bwall

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Whether that's a terminable offense, I don't know.

Anything is a terminable offense if you want it to be.

Organizations can justify very bad behavior if they so choose. What kind of behavior does Ohio State want to be associated with?

The phrase 'Justice must be done and must be seen to be done.' comes to mind although it might not be apropos.

fasteddie911

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This is an interesting psychological and human behavior issue.  I think there's a term for it that escapes me, but those close to a situation (fans, insiders, etc.) have a different perspective than outsiders, yet when the insider becomes the outsider they forget what it was like and have that outsider perspective. Those close to the situation maybe have some bias, but may also have more or better knowledge, read the facts more carefully, etc.  While outsiders skim the facts, don't think critically, or consider other angles, hang on to headlines and just come from a different place.  It's even worse when its when outsiders really don't like the person/thing for whatever reason (success, personality, etc.) and are looking to hate it more.  I'm in healthcare and I see this all the time. We can blame the news these days, while not fake news per se, certainly news is often sensationalized, misleading and can develop a picture/story to lead readers a certain direction.  We can't forget that journalist and media have their motives as well; clicks, drama and readership creates money and recognition. Personally, I'm indifferent to the whole OSU thing.  The best we can do is realize this behavioral effect whenever we read/hear something happening, question and think critically about things instead of taking things at face value or jumping to immediate conclusions.
« Last Edit: August 22, 2018, 10:58:38 AM by fasteddie911 »

Jrr85

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I graduated from Ohio State for both undergrad and law school, so my opinion should probably county for very little. 

Anyway, my opinion is this: if Meyer followed protocol, and Powell PD came back and didn't arrest/charge, and there's no evidence Meyer had more intimate knowledge than what's already been reported, he should come back without any suspension.  If he failed to report, and covered up for a domestic abuser, he should be gone.

You're free to disagree, obviously, and I welcome other viewpoints.

I have, however, observed that there is a gigantic distinction between the media coverage and people I talk to. I'm not a #fakenews guy at all, but the media seems overwhelmingly against Meyer at this point, and scared to report the other side in fear of victim shaming/blaming.

When I talk to people in real life, including Michigan and Virginia and Penn State and whatever alums, they just don't understand how all this goes back on Meyer.  The general consensus seems to be, "Apply this to real life. If my co-worker is a shithead in his personal life, and I report it to HR, they do nothing, and then he does something dumb again in three years, am I supposed to get fired for it?"

Just wondering what the general opinions are here, especially since this is a pretty rational community.  Although college football obviously makes people irrational, so who knows.


I disagree wholeheartedly with your comparison to a regular job/company. When talking about football headcoaches, specially those in major universities/teams, they pretty much run the whole thing. Instead of comparing me going to HR to complain about a co-worker, when you talk about Meyer, he was the CEO, CFO, President and board of directors all wrapped in one.  Not a real comparison.

As far as Meyer, I highly doubt he didn't know what was going on considering his wife was friends with Courtney Smith and according to Smith, she told Ms. Meyers everything.

Urban Meyers was a punk ass who decided not to confront the abuser and get help for the victim. He valued money and wins over the safety of a human being. He's a scumbag and I hope he's fired.

He didn't value money and wins.  It's not like Smith was some savant.  He was a completely replaceable position coach.  Meyer was possibly loyal to a fault or possibly he just didn't view it as his role to be fact finder for the issues when police had been notified.  Or possibly Meyers just thought Smith's wife was crazy and believed Smith when he said she made up the allegations. 

If Meyers had just been worried about money and wins, he would have fired Smith at the first hint of trouble. 


ReadySetMillionaire

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My other interesting observation with this -- the bias fallacy is heavily, heavily present in these types of debates.

Multiple Ohio State outlets were reporting very important details, but they were dismissed based on the source.  "You're an Ohio State fan, therefore what you're saying isn't reasonable."  It's an ad hominem attack that doesn't address the facts, and it was prevalent throughout this entire ordeal.