Lack of style least of Tressel’s problems

Never trust a guy wearing a sweater vest, because he's probably either a clown or a con man. Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel has done a lot to make the sweater vest unpopular, but now he has bigger issues than a lack of style sense.

NCAA investigators are wise to Tressel's lies. He already has accepted a five-game suspension, if he still has his job next season.

ESPN analyst Beano Cook, who has misfired on several outlandish predictions over the years, could have been on target last week when he said Tressel is facing "major problems" and his time is almost up.

"Urban Meyer will be the coach at Ohio State in 2012. That was my prediction, and I stick by that prediction," Cook said. "He said when he was coaching Florida that there were only three schools he would ever coach at -- Michigan, Ohio State and Notre Dame.

"I think Brian Kelly is going to do the job at Notre Dame, and Michigan just hired a new coach (Brady Hoke), and I think this will be Tressel's last year."

Meyer, temporarily retired as a coach for the second time, has not commented. He's playing it close to the vest.

■ COOK'S QUOTE BOOK -- "You only have to bat a thousand at two things -- flying and heart transplants. Everything else you can go 4-for-5," Cook said in one of his more memorable quotes.

After then-Major League Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn offered lifetime baseball passes to returning hostages from Iran, Cook said, "Haven't they suffered enough?"

■ KNEE-JERK DECISION? -- Critics and cornerbacks like to pick on Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, but he has at least one big fan. Cutler recently got engaged to Kristin Cavallari, an actress from "Laguna Beach" and "The Hills."

Cutler and Cavallari started dating eight months ago. People.com reported Cutler proposed during a weekend trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

The rumor is after going down to a knee, Cutler felt something pop, so while Cavallari hit the dance floor Cutler sat on a bench and watched for the second half of the night.

■ THE X FACTOR -- Aiming to offer fans an alternative to the NFL, pro wrestling kingpin Vince McMahon hatched an entertaining plan for the XFL, which held its championship game on April 21, 2001, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Vittorio Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote a story recalling the one-and-done league's memorable moments.

The XFL's biggest star might have been running back/kick returner Rod Smart, who put the nickname "He Hate Me" on the back of his Las Vegas Outlaws jersey. The 34-year-old Smart, who went on to play four years in the NFL, is currently trying to cut it as an actor in Hollywood.

According to the story, McMahon lost about $40 million on the XFL gamble. It was an expensive lesson, and investors in the United Football League should have learned from it.

COMPILED BY MATT YOUMANS
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL