Insufficient and irrelevant
The NCAA goes light on Penn State:
The NCAA has hit Penn State with a $60 million sanction, a four-year football postseason ban and a vacation of all wins dating to 1998, the organization said Monday morning. The career record of Joe Paterno will reflect these vacated records, the NCAA said. Penn State must also reduce 10 initial and 20 total scholarships each year for a four-year period.This is a ridiculous penalty. The problem wasn't football-related cheating, so vacating the wins makes no sense. This is pure historical revisionism. The postseason ban won't matter because Penn State isn't going to compete for any of the serious bowls in the next four years, and while the scholarship limitation will hurt a little, the whole package falls well short of the four-year death penalty that was merited.
Labels: sports
81 Comments:
No, it's great. Punish the students for the things their dead coach did.
The NCAA can now never give out the death penalty. If they do they'd have to admit that the crime in which they give it out for is worse than covering up child molestation. Congratulations to the NCAA for showing the world they are not only spineless, but also shortsighted and stupid.
Of course they went light on Penn State. There is too much money involved not to. In four years, you'll hear the accolades of how Penn State has recovered from its dark years and how great they are for coming back into the fold.
I should have been in marketing and not software development. But then again, I have a conscience.
I'm kind of stupid so maybe I don't understand. How does taking away wins from students who worked hard for them make reparation for anything? And how is preventing current students from entering the championship anywhere near justified?
To me it makes no sense. Instead, find all the guilty parties and demand they be removed from the university.
How 'bout a shout out to ol Bobby Bowden, the winningest dadgum Div. I football coach ever!
Penn state has an endowment of 1.8bn...pretty sure that 60mm isn't going to hurt them at all...
Every school on penn state's schedule this year should refuse to play them
The NCAA just issued sanctions in a situation where it had no jurisdiction. How the hell is that Penn State getting off light?
How did the ncaa not have jurisdiction over the football program at penn state?
The NCAA can now never give out the death penalty. If they do they'd have to admit that the crime in which they give it out for is worse than covering up child molestation. Congratulations to the NCAA for showing the world they are not only spineless, but also shortsighted and stupid.
Forget the death penalty. The NCAA won't even be able to give out a four year bowl ban in the future.
Big State U: "Four year ban? Come on! Are you saying what we did is as bad as Penn State"?
SNAP apparently agrees with Vox:
Catholic priest victims: NCCA too light on Penn State
If Penn State is going gay why not make them play on pink astroturf and have pink locker rooms. Throw in a pink administration bldg and they're set. New school colors could be hot pink and clear tears.
Actually that makes Eddie Robinson (Grambling State) as the Div I coach with the most wins. Heard on the radio this AM that they were lobbying the NCAA (via an attorney) to vacate Paterno's wins so they could get the top spot again. Grambling is denying they had anything to do with this petition (the A.D. stated he had no knowledge and the school wasn't involved)...but congrats nonetheless Grambling - on top again!
This comment has been removed by the author.
In two years, the penalities will be cut.
To many connected, to much money involved.
Quote from cherub's Revenge: Forget the death penalty. The NCAA won't even be able to give out a four year bowl ban in the future.
Thought the same thing. Apparently the death penalty is the harshest penalty the NCAA can institute, invoked only 5 times. The two most prominent programs (Kentucky basketball - 52-53), and SMU football (87 / 88) involved points shaving and paying players respectively.
So...I guess covering child rape isn't as bad as shaving points or paying players. Perhaps if information is uncovered that players were being paid to not tell - then the death penalty could be administered.
I want this evil clown off the tv, all the networks are covering his live hearing.
Earlier today, our morning radio sports talk show was hinting the very insinuation of the obvious, the pedophiles roam (rule) in more places than just one isolated event.
I haven't looked it up recently, but IIRC the death penalty can only be handed out if you commit a major violation while on probation. If true, Penn State simply wasn't eligible.
Penn State pays 60 million. Who gets that money? I'll bet it doesn't go directly to Sandusky's victims but to NCAA officials. That's some strong pimp hand.
According to Yahoo!:
"The $60 million fine, which Emmert said equaled one year of gross revenue from the football team, will be used to establish an endowment to help child sexual abuse victims."
> Penn State pays 60 million. Who gets that money?
From ESPN: The NCAA issued severe sanctions against Penn State's football program on Monday ... issuing a four-year bowl ban, reducing scholarships, orderingordering the program to pay $60 million for the prevention of child sex abuse and victim assistance...
Why not force PS to not honor the contract and monies and services going to Paternos family?How about firing and jailling the sorry excuse for a man that saw a little boy being raped and walked away "scared"? What exactly do you have to do worse then this to get the death penalty from them?
The lesson to be learned here is:
Don't put up statues of people that are still alive.
I agree with the NCAA: Penn State did a horrible job running a youth foster care program.
Except that Penn State is not in the business of running youth foster care programs; Penn State is in the business of running a multi-million dollar football empire. Driven men working 80 hours a week have a hard time accepting that an influential homosexual has nested an elaborate plot for gaining access to adolescent and teen youths in their midst. Given the career rewards at stake for so many people, they will actively or passively ignore it. This is like asking Microsoft's top executives to keep a close eye on the IT program for "at-risk youth" started by some retired poobah who happens to be a real snazzy dresser. They're not motivated to do it; in a practical sense, they can't do it; so they won't do it.
The NCAA and everybody else wants to spin this as a failing of the football program to deflect from the root hazard: allowing homosexuals access to easily manipulated, physically weaker adolescents and teens.
I'm pretty sure they were thinking of the other 11 Big 10 schools and the tons of fans alumni when they did this. I'm real torn on this. It seems like we are simply a society too happy to see tons of hardships and penalties fall on other people. The people who caused this are now dead, in prison, or soon will be in prison. Others on the fringe have no job and will find it hard to get gainful employment.
The only people being punished now are PA taxpayers, loyal fans, and student athletes who had nothing to do with this. Why should this matter to people thousands of miles away? They will get sued enough. But it's so much fun to debate death penalties and ending programs and such on tv....
And anyone here who knows me, knows I am a Louisiana boy living in TN so I could care less about PSU. Just stinks a bit to me. Everyone is judge and executioner for everything now.
There were four players on the wall behind Paterno, not directly connected to his statue. They removed them as well.
Does anyone know if they represented any former players for PSU? (I notice they had numbered jerseys on).
There is no way to punish PSU without punishing (directly or indirectly) the students and athletes there.
The most guilty individuals should be punished individually, but their failure was in their *professional* capacities, so the institution must be punished also. And thus the students are hurt because they unknowingly chose made a bad choice of where to attend.
Life ain't fair!!!!!
> Don't put up statues of people that are still alive.
Or name things after them. :( At least Byrd is dead now.
"... the whole package falls well short of the four-year death penalty that was merited."
Amen.
Unhappy Valley: "Does anyone know if they represented any former players for PSU? (I notice they had numbered jerseys on)."
Two of them do, according to this:
#22- John Capaletti
#43- Adam Taliaferro
The other two, #82 and #86, were National Championship teams.
A Law Enforcement person with trial experience in these matters told me last week that Penn State is "done". The civil charges will all have to be paid in full, no one will get less and a lot of them won't even be victims. In fact I met Sandusky a few times in the 90s and am looking for DNA as we speak. I think he molested me.
I respectfully disagree, which I believe is a first for me here. The scholarships won't hurt a little, they will hurt A LOT; 65 scholarship players compared to 85 all your opponents are fielding puts you at a huge competitive disadvantage. On top of that, few, if any 3 or 4 star rated athletes will even give a cursory glance at PSU for quite a while to come, due to the bowl ban and heavy sanctions just levied against the program.
A four year death penalty would have been insanely harsh, as it would have merely extended Sandusky's now infamous legacy of brutally destructive behavior on even more innocent people. This includes current students, players, small business owners in the area that heavily rely on sales garnered on home weekend games, etc. Friends of ours (Bucknell grads, I might add), own a business in State College in which 1/3 of their yearly revenue is generated by PSU home games alone. In essence, you would be doing even more harm in the form of collateral damage than what has already been done, which is of benefit to nobody.
For those who fiercely believe that PSU got off easy, I can assure you that they have just been utterly blasted back to the stone age. They might have received a 4 year bowl ban but don't expect to see PSU actually field a team good enough to play in one until 2020 or so. I predict PSU won't be relevant again in college football until 2025 and that's with some good luck on their side (solid coaching hires, smart administration in place, sound recruiting, etc.)
As Chris Fowler opined this morning on ESPN, Penn State might not ever field a typical Penn State program we're all accustomed to again in our lifetimes. I tend to agree.
as it would have merely extended Sandusky's now infamous legacy of brutally destructive behavior on even more innocent people.
That's the point. When powerful people at a school cover up great evil then the whole school and community pays. It is punishment and determent.
As Chris Fowler opined this morning on ESPN, Penn State might not ever field a typical Penn State program we're all accustomed to again in our lifetimes. I tend to agree.
If the most powerful men in your football program cover up child rape then the fact that you ever get to play football again is fortunate.
Exactly would crime against humanity perpetrated by the people in charge deserves the athletic death penalty if this does not?
This comment has been removed by the author.
"Except that Penn State is not in the business of running youth foster care programs; Penn State is in the business of running a multi-million dollar football empire."
That's funny, I thought it was suppose to be a school.
The powerful people involved have either already been punished or soon will be. We're talking a select few individuals here, not a wide reaching web of PSU faculty involved (that I'm aware of).
Ironically, a 1-2 year death penalty would have been a more lenient punishment than what PSU just received, as they would have received their harsh medicine in one dose compared to the slow, constant injection they'll be subject to over the years to come.
The powerful people involved have either already been punished or soon will be. We're talking a select few individuals here, not a wide reaching web of PSU faculty involved (that I'm aware of).
This is such a moronic argument. It's like saying we can't punish the banksters because Ted in the mailroom will lose his job and grandma's JP Morgan stock will tank. And besides the old CEO already resigned.
Ironically, a 1-2 year death penalty would have been a more lenient punishment than what PSU just received, as they would have received their harsh medicine in one dose compared to the slow, constant injection they'll be subject to over the years to come.
Uh huh, like that slow painful death of 10-2 USC last year. Three 8 win seasons over the next 6 for PSU. Maybe one losing season mixed in. Back to a bowl their first year eligible, and Happy Valley sellouts for every home game to infinity.
Probably their disgusting alumni will set new fundraising records next year like they did this year. Yeah, just brutal.
That's funny, I thought it was suppose to be a school.
Granted, it's supposed to be a university, which I wouldn't call a "school"; certainly not in the classical sense of an institution where presumed fully competent adults pay scholars for lectures in the arts and sciences.
Unless you are prepared to ban collegiate athletics (not that I'd object), the horse left that barn long ago.
The banksters were never punished to begin with, whereas the one's responsible at PSU have already been punished through death or life in prison, or about to be (Spanier, Shultz and Curley are facing many years in prison). We're not talking simple resignation here and retiring to your 14k sf house in The Hamptons.
USC's punishment wasn't anywhere near as harsh, as they only lost 10 scholarships per year with a two year bowl ban. On top of that, PSU's program isn't in the same stratosphere as USC's, plus the sex abuse scandal will plague them for years to come. No way PSU wins 8 games three times over the next six years and in fact they'll most likely have a losing record this year alone, which is the best team they'll field for many years to come.
BTW, which NCAA rule, specifically, did the Penn State football program violate? I'm sure there there's some catch-all provision they can wave around whenever they decide to do so. And I'm equally sure there's no rule against hiring homosexual football coaches and going along with their schemes to help "at-risk youth" (i.e., pederast feeding ground).
This is all deflection away from the root hazard.
Lack of institutional control, anti gnostic
...whereas the one's responsible at PSU have already been punished through death or life in prison, or about to be (Spanier, Shultz and Curley are facing many years in prison).
Again, and I think you're purposefully deflecting from the point, if the management of a company commits gross crimes, why are you exempting the company from liquidation just because those executives are going to prison?
Your heart bleeds purple peanut butter for some store owner in State College and some thug running back from Philly, but old Ted in the mail room at ABC Megacorp, and the diner across the street where employees get lunch, well screw them, eh? What's up with that?
What makes PSU so special they shouldn't suffer the fate of institutional disbanding for conspiracy among executives to commit major crimes?
Aviator4,
Answer the question: Exactly would crime against humanity perpetrated by the people in charge deserves the athletic death penalty if this does not?
Answer: no because the program itself didn't violate any NCAA rules. This was a purely moral failing by Sandusky and the people who knew what he was up to. Penn State did exactly what its students, players and alums wanted it to do: run a successful football program. For the NCAA to get in high dudgeon about a matter for the State is, again, a deliberate deflection from the root hazard.
Lack of institutional control, anti gnostic
IOW, the NCAA doesn't want stand-alone athletic departments because that would violate its prime directive of amateurism (ha ha). As far as that goes, I don't see where that rule was violated. This is a tort and criminal matter for the State. The NCAA is just posturing because nobody wants to acknowledge we shouldn't allow homosexuals access to adolescents and teens.
It also occurs to me the NCAA doesn't want anybody looking too closely at its own anachronistic existence and role in cartelizing college negroball for the benefit of the NBA and the NFL. So this is a convenient moral crusade.
Cherub---screw the employees (Ted) and those affiliated (diner across the street)? I've never intimated as such previously and not sure where you pulled that from. If top brass of a company commits crimes, ideally you want to send them to jail while still preserving the company if feasible. It certainly has been accomplished myriad times previously.
JartStar---I'm not in favor of the NCAA being involved in criminal matters such as this to begin with, hence my position here. In fact, there are no NCAA bylaws that even remotely touch this matter. This is unprecedented territory for the NCAA, as Emmert readily admitted this morning, as they've never persecuted a school for personal criminal behavior previously. This opens up a giant Pandora's box from this point forward and, considering that the NCAA is judge, jury and executioner to begin with, this certainly is a road that other member institutions are not looking forward to traveling.
If top brass of a company commits crimes, ideally you want to send them to jail while still preserving the company if feasible.
What? They're acting as representatives of the ownership. Ownership picked them. Ownership should get hammered. This "ideally" is certainly your own baby.
This is unprecedented territory for the NCAA...
Well no effing shit. And the point is what? Yeah, it's not going to be everyday where you deal with three big wigs in a big time football program conspiring to cover for a forcible buggerer of children covering two decades. But what? When it comes up defer?
Another non-point by you.
persecuted
Ok, seriously, just get bent.
castricv,
My wife is a Louisiana girl, living in Colorado (with me), so we don't care about PSU, either. But the point should be that there are some things that are not tolerated in a society. There are some things where the ground is plowed under and salt is sown.
This is one of those things where that line has been crossed.
The Anti-Gnostic
You said, "Answer: no because the program itself didn't violate any NCAA rules. This was a purely moral failing by Sandusky and the people who knew what he was up to. Penn State did exactly what its students, players and alums wanted it to do: run a successful football program. For the NCAA to get in high dudgeon about a matter for the State is, again, a deliberate deflection from the root hazard."
C'mon. Surely there are clauses about moral turpitude. If "[doing] exactly what its students, etc... wanted it to do," then why have rules? Why not turn it into anarchy?
No, doing what its supporters "wanted it to do" does not trump right and wrong. Intent without regard to consequences or means is the sign of decadent thinking.
Why PSU didn't get the death penalty:
Ultimately, Penn State's willingness to take its medicine – commissioning, accepting and making public the damaging Freeh Commission report, and accepting massive NCAA penalties without due process – helped save the school from a complete shutdown of football for a season or longer, Emmert said.
vox uh no..according to regs the death penalty is only for those systems that continue to offend during ongoing major sanctions. since penn state wasn't under sanctions the death penalty doesn't apply....yet
A few years from now when pedophile rights are fully recognized, the history books will look back on this episode of NCAA action as barbaric intolerance of the first order.
Emmert - CFR member
Freeh - FBI director who sent in troop guns a'blazin in Waco
These are men used to having unlimited power and know how to expand it. Soon, ALL athletic programs will be run directly by the NCAA. And it will be EXPENSIVE for the taxpayer. That's why the NCAA stuck their nose where it doesn't belong, so we sports fans will get used to it. I fully expect the NCAA to start firing coaches for 'lack of institutional control' within the next year or two. Mark my words, it will happen somewhere.
I am completely bewildered by so many peoples absolute frothing-at-the-mouth fanaticism when it comes to sports and sport related matters.
Penn State officials covered up the systematic raping of boys. The victims will live with the devastation for the rest of their lives, possibly involving the issue of sexual orientation.
To express hand-wringing concern about about a "football program" in light of the atrocity that took place is appalling.
I hope the vaunted Penn State football program meets its complete demise. Let the poor beleaguered fans find a new team to root for.
I'm with Anti-Gnostic on this one. Seems like many innocents are being punished under the "We have to do SOMETHING!™" mantra. Why not confiscate the gross earnings of all Penn State alums in the NFL for the past 20 years?
The NCAA is supposed to protect the integrity of amateur collegiate atletics. (Yeah..I know.) I'm reasonably sure that very few in Happy Valley had any idea what Sandusky was up to ....while the number of people who know, or suspect of NCAA type violations at, say, THE U., runs into the tens of thousands, if not more.
Punish Sandusky and those who covered for him. Punish them harshly. Don't punish those who were not involved and had no reason to suspect......
C'mon. Surely there are clauses about moral turpitude.
Okay. Show them to me.
If "[doing] exactly what its students, etc... wanted it to do," then why have rules? Why not turn it into anarchy?
The NCAA has many, many rules governing football programs. I'm open to being proved wrong, but so far nobody has told me which ones the Penn State football program violated. There have only been tortious and criminal acts by Sandusky, Paterno and others. Those are matters for the State to redress in its courts. The NCAA is just a private, rule-making body. If Penn State flipped them off, said it wouldn't pay a dime, and created a Jerry Sandusky memorial scholarship fund it would only mean they couldn't find anybody to play them--but only so long as other teams still want to be in the NCAA.
There are some things where the ground is plowed under and salt is sown.
You are right, JR, but no one had the cojones to say Happy Valley delenda est and make it stick.
To express hand-wringing concern about about a "football program" in light of the atrocity that took place is appalling.
There are a number of such atrocities involving churches of all denominations every single year. Should they be plowed into salted earth?
US Marines rape 14-year olds in Okinawa. Disband the Corps?
Doctoral candidate James Holmes killed 12 people in cold blood. What do we do with the University of Colorado?
> BTW, which NCAA rule, specifically, did the Penn State football program violate?
There's almost certainly a clause in there about not breaking federal, state, or local laws in the process of running your program. Then, as already noted, there's that pesky "institutional control" thing.
> ...because the program itself didn't violate any NCAA rules.
See above.
> As far as that goes, I don't see where that rule was violated.
I'd think the school failing to report a crime by someone associated with the program is sort of lack of institutional control, by definition.
> Okay. Show them to me.
You should know better than to ask others to do your home work here.
Look, I realize that there is nuance and ambiguity to this Penn State issue but in my mind this concern over a football program is comparable to fretting over whether the "Batman Massacre" will effect ticket sales.
I thought the penalty a little harsh. $60 million for who exactly - and for what? But thankfully all the knuckle-dragging mouth-breathers who wanted to destroy Penn state are disappointed. Of course, they were just concerned about the Children. Its not like they hated College Football and all those awful white males who seem to be over-represented in the coaching ranks.
"There's almost certainly a clause in there about not breaking federal, state, or local laws in the process of running your program. Then, as already noted, there's that pesky "institutional control" thing."
So why don't they issue the death penalty to football programs that year-after-year import violent, retarded, dopers, rapists, armed robbers and murderers into the community?
Is that equally not exercising "institutional control"?
BTW, since Vox deals in reality, could we do something about the hysterical drama queens on this issue? What happened wasn't AN ATROCITY!! Joe Paterno did not turn a blind eye to CHILD RAPE!!! Penn State didn't protect CHILD RAPISTS!!! Why don't you emotionally deranged loonies read the Freeh report and try to think, instead of emote.
Joe Paterno turned me into a Newt!
I truly don't care about Penn State football or college football in general. If college students want to stage athletic events, they can rent a field and buy insurance and equipment and practice facilities on their own dime. To equate the NCAA--a purely private, contractual body--with God's Holy Justice is downright comical. The NCAA only survives because of intense lobbying by vested interests to avoid government oversight and because it fellates the NBA and NFL by cartelizing college negroball. And, yet again, it is a useful distraction from the root hazard: homosexual access to young males.
I could have told you for nothing that big-time college football programs are structurally incapable of running foster care charities and you wouldn't have to hire Louis Freeh. This is like blaming the Marine Corps because some of its recruits rape 14-year old Okinawans.
"Amateurship" is a concept that helps to keep the insane amounts of advertising money exclusively on the hands of the school's administration, which creates the perverse incentive that puts the football program above all else.
It could have been drug traffic (yeah, the War on Drugs is stupid, but is an example), money laundering, or even murder, the old men worried about their money and their "legacy" would have done the same.
I didn't realize there were so many nerds and envious college professors on Vox's blog. Still upset that the Jocks get all the girls? Still mad that white guy they call Coach makes 3 times what you do, and he doesn't even have a PHD? Angry that the workers & peasants are following football instead of the revolution? Join the Penn State Lynch mob, its good for what ails you.
I didn't realize there were so many nerds and envious college professors on Vox's blog. Still upset that the Jocks get all the girls? Still mad that white guy they call Coach makes 3 times what you do, and he doesn't even have a PHD? Angry that the workers & peasants are following football instead of the revolution? Join the Penn State Lynch mob, its good for what ails you.
Do you really think this is what passes for dialectic? If you're going to resort to rhetoric, you might at least try making it effective. What you fail to understand is that the reason the death penalty is the appropriate sanction is because the primary reason for the cover-up was to protect the image of the football program.
No university president or athletic director would ever again risk such a cover-up if the first thing they thought was "admitting this might be bad, but at least we won't end up like Penn State".
The NCAA managed to turn this crisis from tragic to pathetic. Historical revisionism, indeed! Does this mean the hundreds of victories that thousands of people witnessed with their own eyes didn't occur? What about the metal plate in Adam Taliaferro's head - does that suddenly not exist? Only academics could come up with such a solution - though one could imagine Obama or Hitlary trying to build on it. You know what - I think that Napoleon fellow was a bit crass - he was course and doesn't fit society's current standards of political correctness at all! As of this moment, the NCAA is voiding his victory at Austerlitz! Yep. Never happened. Erase it from the history books. Replace it with a story about some strong, independent native american womyn.
Meanwhile, 50,000 kids who were in grade school when this happened are now going to have their college experience made more dour, less enjoyable. The way university bureaucraps like it. Congratulations -we've just created a whole new group of victims! What's that, you say? The gay pedophile who actually committed the crime of buggery is now in jail for the rest of his life? The other two lackeys are headed to trial, and the coach is dead? Nah, not enough! Let's ruin more kids lives! Meanwhile, the group primarily tasked with oversight over such matters - the Board of Trustees that functioned like a well-oiled rubber stamp - has seen only a few departures. The Governor should ask for all their heads.
Paterno worshippers seem to have an omnipresence on all the Internet articles that deal with this case.
Either that or there's a lot of paid trolls around. Their quality has been decreasing.
The DP for PSU would have killed non-revenue (as in all women's) sports. IMO, the NCAA decision was probably overreach, but if they were going to impose sanctions anyway I would have added the stipulation that the fine must be paid by private donation or maybe from football revenue only.
The Big Ten (or whatever) hit PSU with additional penalties, including a loss in bowl revenue sharing.
Predators go where prey is. The only surprise to me would be if this didn't happen at more AD's. There're certainly enough rumors flying around women's sports programs.
What you fail to understand is that the reason the death penalty is the appropriate sanction is because the primary reason for the cover-up was to protect the image of the football program.
The cover-up was Sandusky's buddies sticking their heads in the sand and hoping his "problem" would go away while they concentrated on working 80 hours a week living their dream of college football. To make this an issue of institutional accountability waters down the moral culpability of these individuals. It conveniently shifts the debate away from any consideration of sodomy as a toxic social phenomenon. It also allows the NCAA to avoid consideration of its own uneconomic, unprincipled existence. "Lack of institutional control," the only clause anybody seems able to come up with, becomes a vague, elastic concept applicable to everything from payola to locker room prayers.
This is not a "Penn State football" problem. This is a sodomy problem.
"the whole package falls well short of the four-year death penalty that was merited."
But Vox surely you know that the death penalty is reserves for those programs who commit the heinous crime of becoming good enough to challenge the status quo in football while committing the same violations that every other school is doing (yes I'm talking SMU). Minor violations like covering up pedophiliac rape pale in comparison with the outrage of becoming as good as Texas too quickly.
"...vacating the wins makes no sense."
I agree.
What is the logic in vacating the wins? Did those players get superpowers from being molested and therefore get unfair advantage over the opponent or WTF?
Rhetorical question. I know the logic. It is that of "We have to appear as if we're doing SOMETHING. It doesn't need to make sense as long as we can point out that we're doing something."
This comment has been removed by the author.
What you fail to understand is that the reason the death penalty is the appropriate sanction is because the primary reason for the cover-up was to protect the image of the football program.
I think the conviction of the several men involved along with the tarnishing of the Paterno's reputation is more than enough to prevent further cover-ups. And frankly, I doubt there are many child abuse cases in College Football being 'covered up'. And while extreme punishment has a deterrent effect, people usually engage in cover-ups because they don't think they'll be caught.
Unfortunately, the lesson here is to keep your mouth shut.
The assistant coach who witnessed Sandusky in the locker room has had his career and reputation ruined. He will never be employed as a coach again.
He did "the right thing" and nothing but the right thing. The fallout from him doing so was killing his reputation, the reputation of his school, and his coach. If he kept his mouth shut, none of this would have happened.
There is only one bad guy here: Sandusky. Everyone else was destroyed in a witch hunt to find someone to blame. Sandusky is to blame, and no one else.
In the future witnesses will be even more afraid to "do the right thing" because of the fallout.
(Don't give me any crap about how the assistant coach should have beat up Sandusky. Sandusky is a big guy, an outstanding athlete and was only 56 at the time, well able to take care of himself.)
He did "the right thing" and nothing but the right thing.
Did he? Even after reading the Freeh report its difficult to understand EXACTLY what he saw in the locker room and what EXACTLY he told Paterno and the AD's. According to GJ testimony he saw anal sex going on, but he admits he didn't tell Paterno that or the ADs. To them in 2001 he gave a vague and fuzzy description of "inappropriate touching". If he really saw child/sandusky sex going on it was his job to report it to the police - not Paterno. In fact, it was his job to break it up, not just slam the locker door.
(Don't give me any crap about how the assistant coach should have beat up Sandusky. Sandusky is a big guy, an outstanding athlete and was only 56 at the time, well able to take care of himself.)
Yeah, because Mike McQueary isn't an outstanding, younger athlete or anything like that, who broke school records in the Citrus Bowl. McQueary could have given Sandusky a swirly with one hand behind his back. Sandusky was big, old and slow and only used to manhandling children at that point.
There isn't only one bad guy. There's the bad guy and his handlers. You can't deny that. A dude doesn't get to helm his own personal slave ring without, you know...the ring.
Post a Comment
NO ANONYMOUS COMMENTS. Anonymous comments will be deleted.
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home