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Cardale Jones: from Twitter infamy to B1G title game QB

On Oct. 6, 2012, it would have been nearly impossible to believe that freshman quarterback Cardale Jones would be the starter for Ohio State in a Big Ten Championship Game.

That day, Jones was suspended for Ohio State’s game against Nebraska after sending a tweet that read, “Why should we have to go to class if we came here to play FOOTBALL, we ain’t come to play SCHOOL, classes are POINTLESS.”

Jones, now a redshirt sophomore, will make the first start of his career on Saturday against Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship, after starter J.T. Barrett fractured his ankle in the fourth quarter of last week’s win against Michigan.

Although it was over two years ago, Jones continues to be most well-known for that ill-advised tweet, something that goes to show the power of social media, said Patrick Maks, beat writer for Eleven Warriors.

“Anything you tweet, even if you have a private account, it doesn’t matter because someone could take a screenshot and tweet it from their public account,” said Maks. “I mean, nothing you share on social media is ever private and it’s pretty much always there, that’s why it’s social media.”

The Ohio State Student Athlete Social Media Policy reflects this, saying, “Student-athletes should understand that participating in athletics at The Ohio State University is a privilege and not a right. Therefore, student-athletes have no right to expect privacy in what they post on social media.”

Maks believes that Jones’ mistake has helped other student athletes be smarter about what they post.

“You can’t be a normal 18-to-22-year old kid in this day in age, not, at least, on social media,” Maks said. “You have to be really by the book. And I think what Cardale’s tweet serves as a lesson in a lot of ways is you can’t really just tweet whatever comes to mind because people are watching you. You’re constantly under a microscope.”

“And I think with that, you see a lot of players have gotten smarter about Twitter,” he continued.

As to whether Jones can get away from being known for that tweet, Maks is unsure.

“I don’t think Cardale’s ever going to be able to outrun that tweet, but I think he’s done a pretty solid job of not acting quite as brash on Twitter,” Maks said of Jones, who opened a new Twitter account in July after deleting his old one in the aftermath of his infamous tweet.

Kyle Fullmer, a fourth-year in psychology, however, said that a good performance in the Big Ten Championship would go a long way in helping people forget about the tweet.

“That’s what I certainly hope for at least,” said Fullmer. “But I think if he does a good job at that game, then yes…that tweet’s definitely going to get brushed aside. There’s still going to be some people who will try to remember it, but if he does well tomorrow, people are going to remember him for his successful athletic history.”

Although Maks thinks that the tweet will likely always follow Jones, the public perception of him may begin to change if he leads Ohio State to a victory in the Big Ten Championship.

“If you’re Cardale Jones, you’re kind of at a juncture where the only way to overcome that tweet, and how that kind of has shaped your legacy, is to create a new legacy for yourself,” said Maks.

“He’s never going to outrun that tweet,” Maks continued. “But at the same time, if he leads Ohio State to the Big Ten Championship in such a crazy week it’s been for them in a lot of different ways, I think people are going to start remembering Cardale for the kid who stepped up when his number was called in a really frantic situation.”

Cuban’s “red flag” idea met with uncertainty at OSU

In a recent Rolling Stone interview, Mark Cuban proposed that professional sports teams should be more proactive about “red flagging” college athletes with possible character issues in order to prevent future problems once they turn pro.

Some people at Ohio State, however, are unsure if this would help to completely alleviate the problem.

In the wake of the recent controversies surrounding athletes such as Ray Rice, who was released
by the Baltimore Ravens after video surfaced of him punching his then-fiancée in an elevator,
and Adrian Peterson, who is currently suspended by the NFL after pleading no contest to child
abuse charges, Cuban is one of the many people who have attempted to come up with solutions
to prevent these kinds of issues from reoccurring.

Christopher Spartz, basketball recruiting coordinator at OSU, said he feels like the evaluation process already in place is quite thorough.

“I know that the combines, the interviews that are done with football, as well as the basketball,
are pretty extensive,” Spartz said. “The amount of people that these NBA teams are reaching out
to—not all of these people have anything to gain from these kids going pro.”

Spartz added that the coaching staff meets with professional evaluators to go over not just a
players’ performance, but their character as well.

“It’s not only our reputation, but it’s the university’s; it’s the well-being of the kids that we’ve
helped raise over the past x-amount of years that they spend here,” he said. “So, our opinions,
when asked, are as honest as possible.”

A similar comprehensive evaluation is also conducted on a high school level, according to
Spartz.

“Most of these kids are winners, so what we’re doing is we’re evaluating whether they’re the
best fit for Ohio State and whether the best fit for the other guys who are already here on
campus,” Spartz said. “And are they coachable?”

Tim Moody, sports editor for The Lantern, said that although it could put schools in a position to
reveal a lot of personal information about a player, Cuban’s concerns are valid.

“He does make a good point…that it would help their pro careers because you do see way too
many people get to the NFL or the NBA or whatever sport they’re playing and just flame out
because of off-the-field issues,” Moody said.

But even without red flags raised by a player’s college, most teams already have a good idea
about a player’s issues off the field after their evaluations, he continued.

In some cases, however, like that of Rice, it’s harder to determine character issues, Moody said.

“I don’t know that he has necessarily had red flags in college,” he said. “He’s been, up until this
year suddenly, kind of a model citizen off the field from what everyone knew.”

Spartz also wondered how any issue with Rice could have been previously detected, citing the
fact that Rice is a one-time offender.

“Was it a character flaw in the past?” Spartz pondered. “I don’t know. I really don’t know.”

Ultimately, Moody believes that if being more proactive about red-flagging athletes helps them
down the road, then colleges should take on that responsibility.

“I think…colleges should be doing anything they can to allow their players to have a shot at the
next level,” Moody said. “So if it was proven that, yeah, red-flagging these kids gives them a
chance at a longer, better pro career, then yeah, I think they should do it.”

President Mansoor vows to do more to fight Islamic State

By: Matt Wilkes

October 22, 2014

President Pete Mansoor acknowledged that he underestimated the strength of the Islamic State group and more will be done to combat them moving forward.

The president said he has advised the National Security Council and the Pentagon to come up with alternate plans to destroy ISIS.

“Although our air campaign has, to date, helped to blunt ISIL offensives in northern Syria and Iraq, I realize that more must be done to roll back the group and continue the hard work of destroying it,” said Mansoor.

Mansoor delivered this message at a press conference held at the Journalism Building at the Ohio State University on Tuesday.

Despite the president’s acknowledgement that a better plan needs to be enacted, he has no plans to send ground troops to Iraq to fight the Islamic State.

“First, let me just say that Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has come out publicly and stated that he does not want US ground combat forces in Iraq,” said Mansoor. “Even if I felt that they were necessary to degrade and ultimately to destroy ISIL, they wouldn’t be welcome on the ground.”

“Our policy is to help train and advise the Iraqi and Kurdish forces and that they will provide the boots on the ground needed to help degrade, roll back ISIL in Iraq,” Mansoor continued. “And ultimately we will be working with free Syrian forces to destroy ISIL in Syria.”

The president also discussed his plan to prevent American citizens from supporting the Islamic State, saying that the United States will not allow its own citizens to join such a brutal terrorist group.

 

Students Hit Jackpot With D-Tix Lottery

The D-Tix lottery has been effective in eliminating the long lines that came with the first-come, first-served system.

The D-Tix lottery has been effective in eliminating the long lines that came with the first-come, first-served system.

The convenience of the new D-Tix lottery system has earned the program good reviews from Ohio State students, thus far.

Launched June 1, the new system allows students to register online to be entered in a lottery draw for tickets to special and high-demand events, replacing the former first-come, first-served method, which was plagued inconvenient ticket-release times and lines that took hours to get through.

Samantha Morey and Carolyn Gavin, both second-years, said that they like the lottery because having class made it impossible for them to get tickets to a Miley Cyrus concert last year.

“Plus, you don’t have to wait in line,” Morey added.

This was echoed by Discount Ticket Program Coordinator Megan Lyon, who said that the lottery system has been much more accommodating to those students with hectic schedules, which was a primary reason for the switch.

“The new lottery system offers students more convenience by allowing them to sign up online during the two-day registration period,” Lyon said.

Lyon added that the transition to the lottery system has gone smoothly.

“The vast majority of students seem to accept and approve of the new system,” she said.