Rumor Mill Chews Up Herschel Sims

Photo Attribution: US Presswire

It’s the end of May. Baseball missed the postseason, so did golf, there’s no basketball recruiting going on, and football is still 100 days away. You know what all that adds up to? Sordid claims! Unsubstantiated rumors! Trouble abound!

Except that it looks like this rumor might be true and, if so, OSU will be one running back short come kickoff against Savannah State in September.

The (alleged) story goes something like this: Herschel Sims took money from teammate Jeremiah Tshimanga – over $500 but under $2,000 – without Tshimanga knowing it. Whether this was by jacking his debit card and going to the ATM or signing his name to a check for cash, I have no idea. But this rumor seems to have become a bit more than an Orange Power crack-thread gone wild.

Can I confirm it? No. Is something going to come out about Sims before the end of the week? Yes. Will any of us remember and/or care about this when Desmond Roland is taking third team snaps at RB in the fall? Probably not.

And that’s kind of the point, isn’t it? If this is true, I hate it for Sims. He had a crap upbringing and seemed well on his way, despite an early-season Twitter snafu with the coaching staff last year. But OSU will roll on and a couple of four or five-star RBs later, nobody will even remember who Sims was.

Don’t believe me?

What’s Dexter Pratt doing these days?
What about William Cole?
Beau Johnson, anybody?

But that’s the way the system is designed – we talk with revelry about the players who brought us joyous moments and enhanced our fandom, and we sneer and roll our eyes at the ones who didn’t.

For somebody who was abused as a six-year old, Sims has made quite the life for himself. I just hope we remember that these guys are more than digital pawns careening around for the pleasure of others. They live real lives and do stupid (and good) things, much like the rest of us.

So let this be a lesson not only to the players – that they are given everything and only expected to not screw it up. But also to the fans – that we’re rooting for and following real human beings here. I think that’s pretty easy to forget sometimes.