Thread: Penn State

I thought we had a topic on the PSU scandal, but couldn't find it. I don't know that I totally agree with punishing kids that are there today for crimes that were committed by people who are no longer associated with the university, but damn, the NCAA came down HARD. To me the following is the best part:

With the wins from 1998-2011 vacated, Paterno moves from 409 wins to 298, dropping him from first to 12th on the winningest NCAA football coach list. Penn State will also have six bowl wins and two conference championships erased.

Penn State Nittany Lions hit with $60 million fine, 4-year bowl ban, wins dating to 1998 - ESPN

I think it's a little trivial to punish everyone over this. I don't even support the fines. I would rather see everyone on the board at the time take 100% of the liabilities and go from there.

I guess the reasoning is that if this had been reported long ago ( 1998 ) then it would've avoided much of (all?) of the abuse that transpired, or at least that of Sandusky and Penn States' involvement. By failing in that very basic act of decency, that of protecting those incapable of protecting themselves, the school profited greatly as did Paterno and all connected to him. Thus one could argue that all of that success and largess attributed to the football program and due to the football program is forfeit.

That appears to be the route that the NCAA took. I can't say that I am upset or in disagreement with it. I was almost expecting the "death penalty" and would've been fine with that too. SMU got the "death penalty" over things that pale in comparison to this.

Those players who would like to go elsewhere can probably find another school to play at if that's their desire. Or they can simply learn that sport <> life and take that valuable lesson and apply it to something meaningful instead of 3-4 years of additional playtime.

That is the part I am most on board with. Joe didn't just overlook an animal in his program, he helped cover it up, mainly for this record.

Originally Posted by RAWRKITTY

Unless new evidence has come out since I last read up on it(which was right after JoePA died) then I really don't think he covered it up. He reported it. He assumed the people above him would take care of things the right way. He should have, but didn't, follow up on it. Sure that's not living up to his reputation...but it's what most people in his situation would do as well. And yes, I think that is very wrong, especially for someone of Joe's reputation and stature. I just think people are more outraged by what Joe did or didn't do than they are by the sick fuck actually sodomizing little boys, and that just blows my fucking mind.

For the record, yes I'm a Steelers fan, no I'm not a Penn State fan...I honestly couldn't give 2 shits about any college program.

And thats the last I'll post on it. I'm not going to get into a debate about it, especially in the sports forum.

Some updated reading material for you:

http://assets.espn.go.com/pdf/2012/0...essrelease.pdf

Report says Penn State Nittany Lions senior officials disregarded children's welfare - ESPN

The Freeh report spells out pretty clearly that it had been known since 1998 that Sandusky was a danger to children, however JoePa was worried about treating him, Sandusky, humanely. It goes on to spell out how the entire upper echilon of Pen State allowed this man to continue to use the facilities of Pen State to Groom his victims. In the end JoePa lied to a grand jury saying he knew nothing, then went behind the back of the board of trusties and negotiated a golden parachute for him and his family. All just as the story was breaking.

-H

PSU football establishment miserably failed both its students and the community by letting a known child predator use its grounds as a hunting ground for a decade. Why inflict such an obviously broken culture on new freshman football players? Let them find somewhere where a motto of "Success with Honor" might actually mean something.