Ohio State Football Players Upset With OSU Paper For Doing Its Job

By: Ben Axelrod (SportsGrid.com) — Sometimes 18-to-22-year-old student athletes have trouble believing their hometown paper would ever report anything negative about them or their team. But when that hometown paper is the same one affiliated with the university that they play for? Well, that can bring on downright shock.

That was the case today, when Ohio State’s student paper, The Lantern, reported a story in which former OSU receiver Ray Small, who played for the Buckeyes from 2006-2009, told the paper that not only did he sell his memorabilia and receive discounts on cars from Jack Maxton Chevrolet while playing at OSU, but so did many of his teammates.

“They have a lot (of dirt) on everybody,” Small said, “cause everybody was doing it.”

The Columbus Dispatch reported on May 7 that OSU was currently investigating over 50 transactions between Maxton’s dealership and OSU athletes.

While it may seem like a no-brainer for a young reporter to report that a former OSU player told him that players breaking the rules is a common practice under coach Jim Tressel, apparently some people have other ideas, like OSU tight end Jake Stoneburner, who took umbrage with his school’s paper via his Twitter page.

“Man our own school paper is trying to screw us over. The Lantern and it’s writer are not cool in my book. #getouttahere”

Stoneburner wasn’t alone in criticizing a reporter for reporting, as fellow OSU tight end Reid Fragel joined in on taking shots at the school paper.

“How can you bash your own university? It’s time The Lantern gets a new staff”

At least one player, however, decided not to take shots at The Lantern, but instead disputed the accuracy of Small’s words, as center Mike Brewster tweeted that what Small told the paper was false.