Oh, woe is him

So.

Big Ten commish Jim Delany moans, “If only we knew then what we knew now,” the conference would have handled the suspension of five Ohio State Buckeyes differently.

Well, yes. If they had known that Jim Tressel — the most prominent and successful of their coaches — was a blatant liar, and that that fact would come to light, and that the NCAA would be positioning itself to come down on the Buckeyes program like the Wrath of God, then sure, I imagine they WOULD have done something different.

But, in fact, they HAD enough knowledge to do something different. The knowledge that five players had violated NCAA rules should have been enough for the conference to refuse to support OSU's request to delay suspending the five until this season.

Of course, that stand for integrity would have cost the Buckeyes the services of 5 key players in the Sugar Bowl, which would have cost interest in the game and — more importantly — money. Money, not knowledge, is the reason the conference didn’t act with more propriety.

Delany can spare us the “Oh, if we only knew …”