I get that there was a coverup. I guess I just don't see how it warrants such attention, and demand for the team to vacate the previous season, for the coach to be fired and for the program to be significantly reprimanded (beyond what has already happened). Tressel and the players are already missing a sizable part of next year. I understand that the consequences for this can be significant, but I just don't see why it should be significant.
The whole thing strikes me as overblown, but I admit that I don't get it. Maybe I'm missing something. It's not like the coaches paid, or offered to pay players to play. The coaching staff didn't provide the memorabilia with the intent to help compensate the players.
To me, there's a difference between trying to circumvent NCAA rules to gain an unfair advantage through recruiting and what happened here. It's one thing for a team to offer to pay a player, or to have that conversation with a player's Father, or to knowingly allow agents to compensate players (a la Reggie Bush and USC). It's an entirely different thing (at least to me) to overlook players selling some of their own property. I agree, it's against the NCAA rules (whether it should be or not isn't the issue here, I get that it is a violation). I just don't see how it's such an egregious violation that it warrants more punishment than what has already been handed out. There's this outrage and demand for justice that I just don't get. Yes, there were some rules violations (however silly those violations are), but it seems to me that they've been met with a sufficient punishment. Honestly, I don't understand why it's a bigger deal, and maybe I'm missing something. Something seems amiss to me, and I'm trying to figure it out.
Sure, this will cost the OSU program, but I don't see why such an extreme price should be paid (or demanded) for what seems to be to be a relatively minor infraction.