What is the real story behind ESPN's maltreatment of Ohio State, specifically its football program? Certainly there has to be more to it than refusal to turn over internal emails dealing with students. Certainly there has to be more to it than kids who sold their own property? There are plenty of schools, from the SEC even, who have demolished recruiting rules and yet continue unscathed in the good graces of the so-called world wide leader. Why Ohio State

To be sure, I probably have a degree of hyper-sensitivity to this issue, but I cannot imagine that my small degree of hyper-sensitivity blinds me to the truth. Yesterday is just one more in a long line of snubs and shrugs thrown to OSU by ESPN. Rating recruiting classes is a lot like drinking water with no glass, but when each of the major services rank OSU above the SEC's finest, ESPN has the opportunity to bury the hatchet. Instead, they chose to essentially turn a cold shoulder to the Buckeyes.

When you think about the irony of the situation ESPN finds itself in this case it boggles the mind. ESPN makes cash from the Buckeyes. Boatloads of it. Ohio State is the premier program in an elite conference. Ordinarily, you might have to get the watchdogs out just to make sure the network isn't slurping the program. But not in this case. This is hard for me to fathom.

In light of ESPN's dreadfulness, here's a little anthology by the staff at deadspin.com.