I'm not saying Urban Meyer was lying, exactly — though in the past he has been known to be ... uh ... less than forthright.

So when Meyer responded to reports that he was going to be the next Ohio State football coach by saying that he had "not been offered any job nor is there a deal in place," I didn't exactly believe him.

I did believe there was no deal on paper. I understood Ohio State didn't want the buzz about the former University of Florida coach to distract the Buckeyes from focusing on playing Michigan. I understood the need for plausible denial.

I also understand how these things are done.

I believe the reports that there's been contact between Ohio State and Meyer. I believe money — perhaps in round figures — has been mentioned.

No, I'm not saying Urban Meyer was lying, exactly. I am saying I expect him to be wearing red in Columbus, Ohio, within days.


I'm not saying Syracuse head basketball coach Jim Boeheim has his head so deeply in the sand he's half way to Beijing. I am saying that for a savvy, 67-year-old man who's been around the block, he's a bit naïve.

Boeheim's longtime assistant Bernie Fine has been accused by two men of molesting them when they were ball boys. Boeheim's response was to dismiss the charges as "patently false." He called them "a pack of a thousand lies."

Perhaps they are, but Boeheim doesn't know that — as he later conceded, saying, "I really don't have any facts."

Boeheim's known Fine for half a century, and can't conceive that the man he knows would commit such an act. Well, longtime friends and admirers of Jerry Sandusky couldn't conceive of him doing what he's charged with doing either.

I'm sure the same has been said of any number of teachers, clerics and family members who have been convicted of sexual abuse.

It's one thing to say you don't believe something occurred; it's another to say it couldn't have.


Speaking of Sandusky, this week brought more allegations of sexual abuse against the former Penn State defensive coordinator.

Sandusky attorney Joseph Amendola insisted that his client couldn't have committed the most serious of the charges — repeated sexual contact at his home — because he was never alone with the boys in his home.

Not didn't; couldn't. Here we go again.

"This was a house. And the house was filled with people," Amendola told ABC News. "And Jerry, by the way, had six adopted kids and three foster kids."

Gosh, that's wonderful, Joseph — and Jerry, by the way, now stands accused by the son of one of those adopted kids.

Statistics indicate that more than 30 percent of the perpetrators of sexual abuse are family members; just where does Amendola think these crimes take place?

I'm not saying Amendola is being disingenuous, exactly; I am saying he's being a criminal-defense lawyer.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.