By Zack Meisel (TheLantern.com) -

The Ohio State football program is quickly becoming a joke, and it’s not just those in the state up north laughing. It’s the rest of the college football world.

During spring practices of years past, the media met with players of a different position each day after practice. It allowed us to give Buckeye Nation a look at position battles and players eyeing breakout seasons.

This year, the media are relegated to a half-hour of practice once or twice a week, with the athletic department conducting most of the player interviews, distributing the propaganda in video form on its website.

In other words, the media get shortchanged because of the ongoing NCAA investigation.

The football program screws up; the media get punished.

And when the media lose access, the fans lose access.

Coach Jim Tressel isn’t allowed to talk about the ongoing investigation. Surely, some reporters would push the envelope at each interview.

But to avoid having to repeat the phrase, “I can’t discuss an ongoing investigation,” or, “No comment,” on occasion, the athletic department opted to strip the media of their privilege to cover OSU football.

So, the media are left to take their minimal moments of observation and turn them into analysis to whet the preseason appetite of hundreds of thousands of Buckeyes fans…..

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