Herbie just doesn't know when to stop. There are so many things wrong with this paragraph that I had to pick it apart:
"The Ohio State fan base blindly is supporting Ohio State and Jim Tressel," Herbstreit said Monday.
Maybe someone can remind him that included in the Ohio State fan base are:
1) one of the largest, if not the largest, student populations of any university campus in the U.S.
2) the largest alumni association of any major university
3) a majority of the population of the seventh largest state in the U.S., where there are no other major D-1 programs to root for
In sum, that's a lot of people. So yes, some are supporting Ohio State and Jim Tressel, but a whole lot aren't. He could've phrased it differently to say "A lot of OSU fans" or "It seems to me a majority of OSU fans", instead of bluntly saying "The OSU fan base", as if all Buckeye fans are united (and as this thread title also suggests).
"It's almost gotten to the point that he beats Michigan, he wins 10 games, he goes to BCS bowl games, they'll support him no matter what he does as far as the fan base."
1) That sentiment would probably be expressed by any fan base used to that kind of success. The difference is, the other 13 (or 14) coaches in trouble for lying to the NCAA and subsequently fired didn't have on-the-field success to outweigh their transgressions. Do you think if Urban Meyer were in trouble for exactly the same thing before the 2010 season, after winning 2 Natl Championships in 5 seasons, that Florida fans would be marching the streets and "they would have actually lined it up and had a firing squad and fired him"? Don't think so.
2) Jim Tressel doesn't just "go to" BCS bowl games. He's 5-3 and "wins" them 62.5% of the time he goes to them.
3) I love how he says "They'll support him no matter what he does." That means that JT could rape & murder a few people, punch a few opposing players when they come near him on the sidelines, shell out a few hundred grand to every one of his players, and run a highly sophisticated and violent Mexican drug cartel, and the ENTIRE OSU fan base would wink and ignore it all, if only he keeps winning on the field. That's right, OSU fans (all of them, btw) are so morally backwards and corrupt that they would still support him.
Kirk Herbstreit needs to get over himself.