DaytonDailyNews.com

Congratulations to Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel ... not for winning his 200th game as a head coach, or putting his school in position — again — to be a national championship contender.

Congratulations to Tressel for taking his team to Washington a day early so the players might visit and learn something about Seattle.

In the politically correct days under coaches Earle Bruce and John Cooper, since the passing of former coach Woody Hayes, practice and classes have been the only accepted endeavors.

Hayes' idea was to teach his players something beyond the playing field and classrooms.

When his teams visited Wisconsin, the coach often would take his players to visit the state capitol in Madison. When they went to Iowa, they would visit the home of President Hoover.

Lots of people didn't know Hoover was from Iowa, but Hayes did, and he once famously broke into a tour guide's remarks he thought were incomplete, leading the rest of the tour himself.

Ohio State players didn't lose any class time going to Seattle because classes had not yet started at OSU. In the future, there will be times when the Buckeyes visit sites they may want to explore — and learn something about — and will have to miss some formal classes to do so.

Let's hope they get the opportunity. Tressel brought back a good thing last week.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2157 or mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com.