I wasn’t the most angelic child in the world. I was mean to my sister, fought with my brother, spilled paint on the carpet, tried to run away from home (more than once), threw plenty of tantrums, and frequently talked back to my parents. I got punished…often. As bad as some of my deeds were, the discipline was always worse when I tried to lie. I wasn’t very good at lying, and I had established such a bad track record of bending the truth, that my level of credibility was almost zero. My sister took great pleasure in turning me in to the proper authorities, and it took me way too long to realize I was only making it worse on myself when I tried to hide the truth.
But lying was always easy, and it just felt right at the time. It sure seemed better than admitting anything. These days, there are plenty of prominent sports figures who are finding out the hard way that lying only makes things worse.
Just ask Jim Tressel. The Ohio State football coach, who portrayed a squeaky clean schoolboy image with his sweater vest and tie, resigned this week after lying to the NCAA about his knowledge of his players receiving improper benefits. Last year, Tressel was alerted to the fact that several of his players had received tattoos in exchange for Ohio State apparel and memorabilia, a clear violation of NCAA rules. Instead of informing his athletic director or anyone else in the athletic department, Tressel kept quiet. In September 2010, he signed a compliance form saying he had no knowledge of any violations. When Ohio State began its own investigation, emails were uncovered which indicated Tressel did indeed have knowledge of his players behavior. Even though the school handed Tressel a five-game suspension and a $250,000 fine, the mounting pressure from the public and the media led to Tressel’s resignation on Tuesday. If Tressel had exposed his players’ transgressions from the start, Ohio State may have been slapped with violations and suspensions, but its unlikely Tressel’s job would have been in jeopardy. A lie is the reason Tressel is unemployed, and the NCAA doesn’t take kindly to lying.