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Commentary: Vest in jest: ‘Tosh.0’ ridicules Ohio State

bradley.321@osu.edu

Published: Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Updated: Saturday, June 16, 2012 01:06

tosh

Photo courtesy of Comedy Central

On Tuesday night, Daniel Tosh appeared on his weekly comedy show wearing former head coach Jim Tressel's signature attire: the sweater vest.

Tosh opened his show, "Tosh.0," by welcoming everyone to the special episode.

"Welcome to Tosh.Ohio State. You wanted the best? You got the vest," Tosh said.

Tosh wore different OSU shirts throughout the show including an OSU T-shirt, an OSU sweatshirt and a windbreaker. He made a few jokes about the university, including an obligatory tattoo joke, but otherwise just spent the entire show in the sweater vest.

"Welcome back Buckeyes," Tosh said. "If everyone in here can keep their traps shut, you will all receive free tattoos."

The show itself was no different than any other "Tosh.0" episode. In fact, it was incredibly underwhelming. There were no OSU-related videos as part of his show. He had little to no material about OSU, other than welcoming people back from commercial breaks. And that's the problem.

The mere sight of OSU apparel and the sweater vest on a national level is comedy. Yes, he made a sexual innuendo about dotting the "i" and a joke about the football team's scandal. Other than a few one-liners, nothing was different.

How big of a problem does the university have if the brand itself is laughable?

If someone left this campus wearing an OSU shirt, does that call for public ridicule? On my trip to Nebraska to cover the football game, I was walking down the street in neutral attire, and the man next to me was wearing a No. 2 OSU jersey. A Nebraska fan yelled from across the street, "Hey No. 2, let me see your free tattoos."

Did I find it creative? No. Did I find it funny? No.

But the rest of the world does. The rest of the world was laughing alongside that one Nebraska fan.

Tosh wore several different OSU outfits like it was normal for him, and I'm sure that Nebraska fan somewhere was laughing, along with the rest of the world.

Tressel and the football team have turned this university into the punchline of a bad joke.

While the football team continues to take the blow from its own transgressions, the rest of the university is hit with the shrapnel. I'm not going as far as saying the value of my degree has gone down because of the actions of one group of students at the university — that would be ignorant.

You used to be able to tell people with pride that you attended The Ohio State University. It used to mean something. However, the pride and the prestige that accompanied that title, has now been reduced simply to comedian fodder.

Thank you, football team. We appreciate it.

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Sat Nov 26 2011 21:33

Not only are you taking it seriously but you are ignorantly placing more emphasis on Ohio's troubles as a huge focus of Toshs comedy which you dean unsuccessful, youre missing something. Every season his attire is themed. This season hes wearing sports apparel. Ohio state happened to be one weeks, Texas was another's, and so on.

Fri Nov 4 2011 01:22

Gee, talk about a tempest in a teapot. It's Tosh.0. I kind of get why people are touchy about ESPN's coverage of OSU but Daniel Tosh poking a little fun really isn't a big deal. Like Sarah said, there are still a lot of reasons to be proud of the university and most people get that. I'm 11 years out of undergrad and thanks to my degree from OSU and my graduate alma mater, Illinois, I not only have stayed employed in this recession but have been moving up. Big Ten schools are strong academically and everyone knows it.

Thu Oct 27 2011 11:45

GEE AND SMITH BOTH NEED TO GO!!!

Wed Oct 26 2011 03:37

The problem at OSU is not the players or coaches, but the NCAA itself. Does anybody for a moment believe that OSU is recruiting players by offering them discounted tattoos or special deals on cars? No. OSU has had no unfair advantage on the field, which after all is what these rules are supposed to be all about.

While the NCAA's one-size-fits-all, zero tolerance policy may be well-intentioned, this practice of suspending players and firing coaches for infractions which don't actually hurt anyone does more harm than good.

Wed Oct 26 2011 00:49

You said Pryor is the worst thing to happen to Ohio State? Give me a break! As an alumnus and graduate in the Class of 98, we all salivated over him and the tattoo artists when we won. Give me a break and so many turned a blind eye. Why? Because the football program carries everything else in this college. The one thing that has been lacking is integrity and for those of you saying he hurt us, you are bandwagon jumping hypocrites. Bottom line was winning and when we got caught, it is all Pryor's fault. He is the smartest one, he went to the NFL, sat out his season and wasn't playing the first year anyway. Millions of dollars for setting around and you act like you have integrity. If its a spade, you can call it black. Gee and Smith are the biggest embarrassments and so are the people that act like they didn't know. Guess what? When we get the sanctions from the NCAA - and we will, there will be no Big Ten championship game to play for. And for those of you which don't like my opinion, i can be reached at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease here in Columbus. just walk in and look for all the Woody Hayes pictures with he and I on my wall.

Tue Oct 25 2011 21:52

Gordopn Gee must be the Neville Chamberlain of college sports. Any decent college president would have immediately demanded Jim Tressel's resignation, instead he sought cover behind Gene Smith and put his foot in hi s mouth. Nothing like a compliant college prez who will not challenge the status quo, even when the reputation of the university is at stake.

Mon Oct 24 2011 20:28

Really Thomas Bradley? So a handful of players make bad decisions and you lump that into the entire football team? What are you majoring in, how to not discern between individuals and groups?

Suck it up, any major university currently in the top 5 have had blemishes in their past. You know what changes that? Winning. And you can be sure that for the same reason Ohio State was put on the map, THE FOOTBALL TEAM, Ohio State will win again and the tattoo scandal will fade with the victories.

Mon Oct 24 2011 12:08

Whether it's the football team, the basketball team, a president, a student or a teacher. They all represent the school in different ways. On the national stage, Tressel blatantly lied to the NCAA on violations. That representation of the university will cast over the public view of the university for some time. Someone you respected and looked up to turned out to be shady. The same when Rich Rod was at Michigan and didn't track training hours on the players..sheds a bad light on the university. So I say suck it up and deal with it till it passes over.

Sat Oct 22 2011 22:13

somebody took the episode of tosh.0 a too seriously...as a student, when i saw the preview of Tosh wearing the vest, I was looking forward to the episode. of course I wanted him to do a skit about the Buckeyes. but the episode was still funny without it. and no one should expect him to do a segment about OSU just because he's wearing the vest. its a little self centered. Tosh was just making light of a recent subject that's been all over the sports world. just check out ESPN, they blast Ohio State daily. with how many games the football program has won in the past decade, everyone is just taking their shots at the university while they still can. its just something to deal with. but I still couldn't be more proud to be a Buckeye

Fri Oct 21 2011 00:47

That football team brought a lot of pride to the university too, which you soon forget. Only a few people really look down on the entire university because of the scandal.
"I have a (whatever degree you want) from OSU" still means the exact same.

Thu Oct 20 2011 20:10

Tosh; suck on a lemon toad

Thu Oct 20 2011 14:48

OSU attire is not laughable, you were in Nebraska, of course they are going to make jokes. If nebraska fans were in columbus im pretty sure there would be some creative lines to yell at Nebraska fans too. Now im just waiting for the NCAA to crack down on all of the schools around the country who did the same thing but got away with it.

Thu Oct 20 2011 10:46

The scandals are not the beginning of ridicule for The Ohio State University. As an 85 Alum and living mostly outside of Ohio since my graduation, I have seen the Ohio State "brand" decrease in value, not because of scandal, but because of the overvalue placed upon OSU Football, the threatening, in-your-face tones of Buckeye Nation fans, and the sense of entitlement and strut developing among our athletes. While football scandals don't detract from my engineering degree received so long ago, maybe this is the opportunity to dial-back on the attitude and once again put our sports into perspective. Ohio State is the best, not because of football, but because of the people.

Thu Oct 20 2011 10:11

If you cannot be proud of your university for reasons other than the football team, you are just as sad person. I understand that the football team embarrassed "the university" as a whole, but what the team does, does not define the rest of the university. I would like to see more of a division between the athletics and the academics. This is still an upstanding university with a lot to be proud of.

Thu Oct 20 2011 09:08

Ignorant......really? That sounds so ignorant.

Thu Oct 20 2011 08:12

He admitted one episode ago (regarding celebrities) that if you're not mentioned, it's because you're not relevant. Same goes for the season's worth of college attire. We're relevant, which is why he wore it. With or without scandal, OSU would have been worn.

Thu Oct 20 2011 07:22

If you think that your degree lost its value because of stupid college kids made a mistake then give it back and shut up about it! You didnt get your degree from the football team but from the university and you should be proud of it always. Ohio state is not the only college with problematic college kids. People will always make gun of that. People will hire you because you are educated not becsuse if a football team. BE PROUD OF YOUR UNIVERSITY!

Thu Oct 20 2011 05:51

Pryor...the worst thing to happen to Ohio State, except maybe Clarett. :(

Thu Oct 20 2011 05:33

Good opinion. As an alum I am tired of the immediate negative responses I get about the University, based solely on the football team's scandals, when I mention I went to Ohio State. I used to love CFB all the way back to watching the likes of Chris Spielman & Keith Byers. Now I couldn't care less about the Buckeyes and actually yes the value of your degree (not your education, your degree) has gone down. Because the brand that is tOSU has been tarnished to millions outside of Ohio.

Thu Oct 20 2011 01:55

Have you been watching at all this season�� He wears a diffrnet schools stuff in each episode. Was the eposide where he wore Miami attire a joke?

I was hoping he would wear our stuff since he was doing the academic wear this season. To look at this any further either means you don't watch the show (which is obvious by the way) or you take whats going on here way to seriously.

Relax

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