a rivalry taken too far....

ok, so eveni agree that the rivalry was taken too far....

In the doghouse
Carr upset about dogs sniffing Wolverines players at Horseshoe
Posted: Wednesday November 24, 2004 1:57PM; Updated: Wednesday November 24, 2004
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- The intense rivalry between Ohio State and Michigan has gone to the dogs -- bomb-sniffing ones.

Michigan coach Lloyd Carr is upset that Ohio State subjected the Wolverines' players and coaches to searches by drug and bomb-sniffing dogs upon their arrival at Ohio Stadium on Saturday.Carr vented about the search to reporters on Monday and said he wants the Big Ten commissioner to look into what he called harassment by OSU fans who watched police dogs taking a whiff of every player and their personal belongings.

"If it's going to be the greatest rivalry in college athletics, which so many of us believe it is, then I don't think it is too much to say, 'Let's have great respect for each other. Let's treat each other like we would want to be treated,"' Carr said. "I guarantee you that the athletic director at Ohio State doesn't want his son treated the way that they treated our players."

A message left Wednesday at the Big Ten office in Park Ridge, Ill., was not immediately returned.OSU athletic director Andy Geiger, OSU assistant chief of police Richard Amweg and sports information director Steve Snapp all contend Michigan was subjected to the same search as other opponents who played in Ohio Stadium this year."This is all controlled by homeland security. Every team that comes in is checked," Snapp said Wednesday. "Every team was absolutely checked. Penn State was also checked by dogs because like Michigan, they got there late."

Penn State and the other three OSU visiting opponents _ Marshall, Wisconsin and Indiana -- told The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer on Tuesday that their players weren't searched by dogs upon exiting their team bus.Brian Siegrist, assistant director of sports information at Penn State, said Wednesday that players were not sniffed by dogs but equipment from the team truck was before the team arrived at the field.

Marshall University said its locker room was sniffed by dogs but that players breezed into Ohio Stadium on game day.Other teams were searched "they just didn't know it," Geiger said. "They were searched at their hotel. What happened in this case was, Michigan was late, and therefore it was sniffed and searched at the stadium."

Carr said an Ohio State police officer told him the athletic department was behind the sniffing."He said, 'Coach, I want you to know that we were only following orders and they were not the orders given us by our superiors.' I said, 'Well, who decided it then?' He said, 'The athletic department,"' Carr said.Snapp denied that the athletic department had anything to do with the smell test."Our own team is checked in a similar fashion every game so it's not out of the ordinary," Snapp said.

Amweg said the decision to use dogs was made by the Ohio State Department of Public Safety. "It was not a mandate of either state or federal homeland security," he said.

Ohio State won the game 37-21, upsetting the No. 7-ranked Wolverines.

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