Yeah, I laughed, too. But there’s a certain sad logic in play that’s hard to dismiss completely:
Tressel was hit with a five-year, show-cause penalty for covering up rules violations, using ineligible players and lying to the NCAA. Show-cause penalties are supposed to be poison. Why would Kentucky go anywhere near him?
Tressel’s penalty is not as severe as, say, former Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl’s. Tressel is allowed to recruit. He is allowed to hire a staff. He is required to sit out five weeks of meetings, practices and games before he can coach, and he cannot coach a bowl game in his first year — but these are trifles for the likes of Kentucky.
The Wildcats are the long-standing doormat of the mighty Southeastern Conference. They are 12-23 in three years under Phillips. They are 1-9 this season. They are not going to a bowl game anytime soon.
Tressel is presumably willing to accept seven-figure paychecks. He has a resume that includes four Division I-AA titles, three appearances and one victory in the BCS national championship game, an Ohio State record of 94-22 (.810), six Big Ten titles and a 5-4 bowl record. Is there another man out there better qualified to make Kentucky respectable?
And vice versa.
Sure, it’s perverse in a way. But I bet you’d find some well-heeled backers of UK football who would sign on to it in a heartbeat.
How many tattoo parlors can there be in Lexington, anyway?
Get The Picture 
Kentucky would have nothing to lose especially on those 1st year penalties. You would also have him for at least 5-7 years. If I were a Kentucky fan I’d want him given the situation.
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Jim Tressel isn’t close to the snake that Jim Calipari is, just sayin. And personally speaking I’d guess the guy learned his lesson. He comes across as a fairly decent guy. Yes he turned the other way and knew about the free tattoos and then covered it up. But Kentucky could do A LOT worse.
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My thoughts exactly — if Kentucky will hire a known sleaze like Calipari, they might not blink twice at taking Tressel on. He’s certainly less slimy than Petrino, though that may be splitting hairs.
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Read about Tressel’s history at Youngstown and you may think differently.
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I thought that was an interesting question Senator.
Apparently 18. Who knew? I was surprised by the quantity.
Lexington may already have the necessary infrastructure in place for Mr. Tressel.
http://www.yellowpages.com/lexington-ky/tattoo-shops
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I think you are way low on that number. Plenty of tattoo parlors would avoid any association with yellowpages. Plus, there are always a good 8-10 flybynight, possibly unlicensed parlors operating in a city of that size at any given time.
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It ain’t the tattoo, it’s the Mary Jane you pick up there.
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Where are these places you speak of in ATL?
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My reply is to the subject of J T and disparities at tOSU, not about tattoo parlors in general. If the questions are for me, the presence of mj sales were well published in the initial investigation at Ohio.
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Who are you, who are so wise in the ways of tattoo parlors?
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Yeah, talk to me!
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a duck!
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very small rocks…
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Ok, but………..are sweater vests even LEGAL in Kentucky?
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sweater vests are very popular with Horse people
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Whoa…Sweater vest are useful when playing Polo. The arms must be free. I own a bunch of them.
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Yeah, the arms have to be free, but I don’t recall seeing sweater vests when they play Water Polo. Jus’ sayin’.
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I adore Polo. It is the most beautiful sport. Better than Horse Racing.
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And Jack Russel Terriers!
😉
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David Cutcliffe is the most likely candidate at UK.
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I don’t think he leaves Duke for UK. Sure, same situation – football coach at a basketball powerhouse, but with one difference – UK has higher expectations than Duke for their football program. Most would even say unreasonably high expectations. Fill up a 70k seat stadium. Start beating Tennessee consistently. Go to bowl games year in and year out. At Duke, he can win 5 to 6 games a season and have a monument built to him on campus when he decides to retire in the next 5 years. I also don’t think Cutcliffe’s health issues will allow him to go back into the cauldron that is SEC football.
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If Cutcliffe were to move to any job I would expect it to be in Knoxville. He has a lot of fan/booster support in their network. The health issue is all that stands in the way, and that has been a few years ago. If TN were to make a move, and I think they will, Cut would be a popular candidate and might be the most affordable one for the Vols.
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Cut has left Knoxvegas twice. He ain’t coming back . Turn the page. I am close to the same age as Cutcliffe and was recently probed about coming back to a company I once help start that was spun off to SunTrust. My first response was: Now why would I want to do that?
So I’ll ask you…. why would Cut want to do that? UT is in shambles, mattresses are still smoldering, diminished recruiting base, AD is in disrepair. Over budget? No institutional fortitude. Fan base turning on each other. Law suits……Hell they are just a giant cluster F**K! Why does Cut want to come back and sort out all that folly?
I don’t know. You tell me.
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Down boy. I didn’t say he was coming back, I said he would be a very popular, competent, affordable hire. Given the silliness that currently reflects the TN rumor board, he would be near the top of the list for me. Granted his age and health situation are drawbacks but they need someone that can show immediate results and Cut has the contacts to hit the ground running. With the recruiting problems that TN always faces, another few years of being 4th in the East and playing in minor bowls can spiral them even further downward. Pretty critical hire, imo. Cut would be in my “realistic” top 5.
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I beg your pardon sir. The whole Tennessee fail has grown stale with me.
It is our turn to make a family trip to the Knoxville area for turkey and dressing with family. I am not looking forward to it. Why? Because they will all be very dour and I have no patience for that.
In addition, I also have been relegated to the sidelines per our annual Georgia vs. Gtech thanksgiving day family touch football game. Yes we have family on that side of the hedge as well. It was something my bride and sons have foisted upon me. (my orthopedist didn’t help).
So. Two of the things I enjoy each year 1.spanking my hillbilly cousins and 2 Spanking my in laws ……I now have to have a laid back approach toward.
I have been benched so to speak . Ain’t enjoying it much. I hope you will excuse any boorish behavior from me for the next couple of weeks.
Thanks.
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You do carry a heavy cross my man. Nah, screw that laid back crap, kick ’em in the ballz while they are hurting. Both of them have always been quick to turn the knife on us.
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If this logic about why it would be worth it for Kentucky to take the plunge and tempt the NCAA holds true, though, why would it not also hold true at Tennessee, Arkansas, or potentially Auburn in a year? If you’re Jim Tressel, why go to Kentucky when you might be able to convince another better program to take you on?
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Hopefully he is smart enough to hold out for Auburn. They probably already have him in their sights.
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Good Gawd, that is genius … Cheatypants McSweatervest at Abuurn! A screenwriter could not brew up better.
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And Kentuckys only real shot is to recruit Ohio–just not enough good HS Football in state
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I think tosu had been dirty for years before Tressel arrived, he just player along and didn’t rock their boat. He would be a very good hire for Kentucky imo. His contacts in that area of the country are still current enough to benefit the Wildcats in recruiting. Tressel had done well at at Youngstown State before drowning in the cesspool of tosu.
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+1 Mac
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He had several NCAA infractions at Youngstown State. The vest comes off as nice, but he has a clear history of skirting the rules. His QB was given a carand 10k by a booster at YSt, guess who introduced the QB to said booster? Tressel is dirty, he’s always been dirty, the Sweater Vest is simply a ruse. There’s were several instances at Ohio, Troy Smith was given money by a booster, he had an 8 year history of violations that weren’t the accidently Ass Calling a recruit. TatGate was simply to large to cover up.
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He created a fairly pungent cesspool, all of his own making, there at YSU. That is where Maurice Clarett learned the streets.
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Whose transgressions were also swept under the rug.
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Mac just cut to the quick. There were so many mj tests begging from a team that picked up gobs of smoke at the tattoo parlors yet they didn’t have people testing positive all over the place. Think they found a way to fool the test? Not when you already lost 30 IQ points by picking it up publically and flaunting the “free” tattoos. I said it then and will repeat: tOSU got away with so much stuff that the tip of the iceberg looked big to us all, but there was no due diligence given in any investigation concerning the laissez-faire setup that had been going on for years.
You don’t clean sleaze with a new job. You ask him to fess up, compare it to statements of athletes who knew the program and if most coincide, you then know what you are working with (not so at the present time).
‘Course ,with Petrino, you might want him to undergo a short-arm inspection.
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