McBin, I missed your post until OCF bumped it last night. Why should it matter who I am? Why should making numerous posts over the years about OU athletes and coaches having legal troubles signify some sinister or self-serving agenda? Those aren't the only posts I make, by any stretch. I buy tickets and go to the games, have two degrees from this fine university and would like to see successful and well-rounded basketball and football programs. Ones that don't contribute unduly to an atmosphere of misconduct in a town I truly adore and am raising my family in.
It doesn't really matter who you are. Correct. But it does make a lot of sense when you can put a real name with a post name, especially in your case. You get an understanding of why a particular person is skewing a situation a certain direction, and if it should be ignored or not.
Let me give you a few examples.
If OhioCatFan says bond buying by the Fed is bad news and not working, I'll probably just shrug it off and go about my business. But if I turn on the TV, and Bernanke is worrying whether it is having its desired effect, I'll take that information differently.
When a poster from North Dakota reads the box scores and gives an opinion on who should be getting more playing time, be the starting QB, etc, you take it in stride. But if you know the poster happens to be an athlete, family member, teammate, or other person involved with one of the teams, versus a reporter that is really trying to figure out who the right guy for the job is - you can gain an extra perspective. Or know when to blow someone's opinion off because they are only interested in the player and not the team.
Just like when an alleged situation like you're alluding to happens, it could be downplayed by a coach, or athlete, (because as you mentioned no crime was committed) while a sensationalistic writer may try to make an alleged action be the primary focus.
I could go on and on the whys and why not's of figuring out who is who. But it either interests you or it doesn't. Ohio University is a place I love. OU athletics are what I love watching in some of my spare time. I have a lot of great friends due to the ballgames in Athens, and socializing before, during, and after games down there. And on this board too. In the past you pretty much made it a personal goal to drag OU athletics through the mud IMO, something which I didn't particularly appreciate. (others on here do it to a different extent and I take exception to them as well) So it was interesting to me why someone would go to all that trouble to point out trouble (or in this case alleged, unproven trouble) in OU athletics.
ben