The Canton Repository, Aug. 26

While it’s sometimes said the cover up is worse than the crime, it also can be said a half-hearted apology ends up most damaging of all.

Between (last) Wednesday evening and Friday afternoon, either someone shared that view with Ohio State University football coach Urban Meyer or he figured it out for himself.

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At the moment Meyer, one of Ohio’s most influential people, held the state’s (heck, much of the country’s) attention, he fumbled his opportunity to go beyond the stilted statement he was about to read and speak out strongly against domestic violence.

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The backlash against Meyer increased in volume Thursday and into Friday, far surpassing any scrutiny he has experienced for results on the field, where his Buckeyes have lost consecutive games only once in his six seasons. On Friday, he made sure his failure to tackle the subject of domestic abuse would not become his second losing streak, issuing through Ohio State the statement anti-violence advocates had hoped to hear Wednesday.

“My words and demeanor on Wednesday did not show how seriously I take relationship violence. I sincerely apologize,” Meyer’s statement read. “I was taught at a very young age that if I ever hit a woman, I would be kicked out of the house and never welcomed back. I have the same rule in my house and in the Football Program at Ohio State.

Online: https://bit.ly/2wrO1BE