SPORTS WITH FONZ: WILL OSU GET "THE DEATH PENALTY" LIKE SMU DID IN THE 80'S?

As we all know, The Ohio StateUniversity is under some heavy heat right now.  This and that is being said about players excepting money, gifts, and other expenses.  As a result to all this, players have been suspended, and it even led to coach Jim Tressel stepping down.  For the last decade, the sports world has been under major scrutiny.  From players taking money, referees beting on games, and even the way universities recruit their players.  And this happens in Basketball, Baseball, and any other sport you can think of; examples Reggie Bush, O.J. Mayo, Tim Donaghy (referee), Pete Rose, and the Fab Five.  So don't be naive and think that OSU or college football are the only ones that has players being treated this way (Dry Snicthing?! lol).  Or even say that this generation of players has started this trend, because it's definitely become one.  OSU is just one of many who's been caught. 

To those who aren't familliar with SMU (Southern Methodist University) they were the best team in the early 80's.  Lead by two great running backs Eric Dickerson and Craig James better known as, "Pony Express".  This team was "The U" (Miami University) before "The U" became what they were in the late 80's and early 90's.  With a number one recruit in Eric Dickerson coming out of high-school, every team was at his front door with gifts.  Dickerson: "I've seen $50,000 dollars in a brief case offered to me".  And not to mention his brand new Pontiac Trans Am he was driving when he first arrived at the school.  "My grandmother bought that for me," Dickerson claims.  On the otherhand, Craig James, another top recruit coming in with Dickerson, was offered these same perks and receiving them.  Also David Stanley, an SMU linebacker in 1983 was paid to sign with the school and receiving subsequent payments during his playing days.  As a result of the investigation, it was discovered that in 1985 and 1986 the school had paid 13 players a total of $61,000 from a "slush fund" provided by a booster.  (WOW!!!!)

The two players (Craig and Dickerson) came up with a saying 'Pay-for-Play" scandal, which ended up earning the program the NCAA's "Death Penalty." The reason why it's named The Death Penalty is because SMU received a very harsh punishment for the scandal.  Penalties included the 1987 cancellation; the cancellation of all 1988 home games, the extension of existing probation to 1990, the extension of existing bowl game and live television bans in 1989, the loss of 55 new scholarships over four years, the concrete ban of nine boosters, a reduction in the number of assistant coaches the school was allowed to hire, and a ban on off-campus recruiting until 1988. 

It is 2011 and SMU is just now starting to bulid the program up from the Pay-for-Play scandal.  

The Fonz