<p>“If there’s a hell, I hope Paterno and Sandusky and every other person who stood silent burn in it.”</p>
<p>I wish all they did was stand silent. They actively facilitated further criminal behavior, providing opportunity, location, access, money, and reputation. And they did it for a long time.</p>
<p>They supported sanduskys second mile charity full on as well. Ignoring wuld have been better than giving legitimacy to Sandusky with access and contacts and promoting Sandusky as so e sort of great guy.</p>
<p>The defense of paterno is beyond sad. He knew and he saw sanduskwith little boys all the time, yet somehow .vied with himself.</p>
<p>Questions…</p>
<p>1 - NCAA.
Can anyone cite the NCAA rule violationsn that arguably support the team’s suspension? I went to the website, and on quick scan, it seems the rules are a fee-based document. I’m having a difficult time reasoning how NCAA possesses jurisdiction over this conduct, which seems to me to have a tenuous nexus to the athletics activity NCAA governs. The only thing I can think of is knowingly or negligently allowing a team facility to be used for an unauthorized purpose, including an activity you knew or should have known was criminal or posed a risk to health and welfare (to be clear, I am making that up–I don’t know if that is a NCAA rule; I am simply trying to reason what type of rule might be applicable to these facts). </p>
<p>2 - Philosophical.
I am one of those who has always felt athletics is given improper emphasis at all levels of the US educational system. With that said, I don’t understand the justification for taking football away from a student body of 17-22 year olds who have nothing to do with these crimes. I get that the legendary PSU football program/spirit has created an emotionally bound community that extends far back in time and all around the globe. (I’m a proud UT alum and will forever bleed orange.) But setting alumni, townspeople and all those other “I heart PSU” folks aside, I imagine a current student as one of my own, and wonder, why does my innocent kid and peers have to suffer? And if their response is Blue Out, why attack it? And if a current football player has the courage and desire to represent PSU under these circumstances, why take the opportunity away? I think it will be tough and even demoralizing to be a PSU student in these times. If football is taken away, isn’t that like the proverbial last straw? What will rally them and inspire on-campus spirit and collegiality? </p>
<p>Thanks for any insight.</p>
<p>Kudos to the Freeh team and to Pulitzer Prize-winning Sara Ganim and the Patriot-News team for exposing these horrific crimes and causing all to account for their actions.</p>
<p>Some students are inspired by academics, social/political consciousness, the arts and friendships. Not attacking athletics, just saying there are other things that make a college experience special and inspire school spirit.</p>
<p>TXArtemis - completely agree with your thoughts.</p>
<p>[Joe</a> Paterno’s new legacy: Coach turned his back on helpless boys to protect himself and Sandusky - Yahoo! Sports](<a href=“Joe Paterno's new legacy: Coach turned his back on helpless boys to protect himself and Sandusky”>Joe Paterno's new legacy: Coach turned his back on helpless boys to protect himself and Sandusky)</p>
<p>As this article notes, if Penn State lost its football team forever, no one will lose the opportunity to play football. These are all players at the highest level, and if they weren’t playing for Penn State, they’d be playing somewhere else. No opportunities would be lost. And no, JoePa didn’t work miracles with them.</p>
<p>The same is not true for the lives of the Second Mile kids that Paterno sacrificed for 14 years, and, I suspect, all the kids who came before. </p>
<p>As for the rest at Penn State, the performance of the trustees following on what else we’ve learned suggests that the slogan “We are Penn State” is not one that should be on the lips of students and alums. That’s just the way it is. Your kid would already suffer, but it’s not because the football team disappeared.</p>
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<p>More importantly, the last victories of PSU should be removed and the record of most victories should be returned to Eddie Robinson with 408 victories.</p>
<p>most major NCAA sanctions are due to loss of institutional control. Typically this involves situations like recruiting violations or payment to players and the athletic department did not have enough oversight to know about or stop the issues. </p>
<p>In this case the athletic department certainly did not have enough oversight to stop the issues … the catch is the issue was not directly sports related. However if I was the head honcho of the NCAA I would make the case that the athletic department and universities undertook these activities to protect the image of the football program … and since a NCAA sport had a major influence in the situation then I’d push for sanctions. Frankly, even if I thought any NCAA imposed penalties would be overturned upon appeal or in court I’d still push for the penalties. This is probably the worst scandal in the history of college sports … and sports partially drove the situation … the NCAA needs to hammer PSU. </p>
<p>Of course YMMV.</p>
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<p>Well, the actions of a booster (Sherwood Blount) did cost plenty of students at SMU. Did they ever recover? </p>
<p>PS I like your position on the Burnt Orange! Still watch the Rose Bowl prowess of Vince. Perhaps the most one-sided performance by an athlete in NCAA football. And this comes from someone who followed Andrew Luck career for years and watched many of his games.</p>
<p>PPS Had Mack Brown and his staff engaged in the same behavior, I would support a multi-year ban of the Longhorns football team.</p>
<p>thanks for posting that article mini. very poignant commentary on the different opportunities of the victims vs. PSU athletes. </p>
<p>this has been something that has pained me, that these boys were vulnerable children who were tricked into thinking they were being given this amazing opportunity. I do see this as a class issue, these boys were seen as merely collateral damage, unimportant, disposable, invisible. this article made me tear up thinking about the psychological damage that was done.</p>
<p>Huge psychological damage and the tip of the iceberg. Very few survivors report, much less testify. The fact that some of this was witnessed in fairly public places must have made the victims think reporting was useless and maybe dangerous.</p>
<p>Too bad Paterno kicked the bucket before this came out. It would have been nice to see him taken to trial.</p>
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<p>If you are going to resort to that rationalization to justify not punishing the Penn State football program then you are never going to punish any programs or institutions no matter how serious their rule violations or how horrible their crimes. These wrongdoings are always committed in the past by people other than the 17-22 year olds who are currently enrolled. Sorry, but that’s simply how institutional punishments work. That some students won’t get to see the football games they wanted is a small price to pay for reigning in an arrogant and out of control program.</p>
<p>Everyone in a dorm is fined for damages only a few are responsible for. I don’t see how football is necessary for school pride or spirit.</p>
<p>yes, believet–I have wondered what the boy who was assaulted in the shower thought when McQueary saw him and he saw McQueary and he was then simply left with Sandusky. Psychologically he was led to believe there was nothing wrong with what was being done to him, he must have felt hopeless and helpless. I wonder if he’s alive, killed himself, or will ever come forward.</p>
<p>It’s especially difficult for boys to come forward because of homophobia. That’s lessening a bit, but not so much. These boys tend to think maybe they are gay if they “allowed” these things to happen. The power differential is so great. I feel for these young men.</p>
<p>It’s quite a shame that this had to happen. It’s an awful thing to happen to anybody regardless. As far as the current PSU football program, I would definitely give them the death penalty. All of the players are high level D1 players and can easily transfer to another university without having to sit out. The coaching staff, since they are all new, shouldn’t have much of a problem either. Nothing good can come out of the current situation for this football program. Until this situation blows over, which may take a decade or so, football shouldn’t be played.</p>
<p>TXArtemis, I think the main thing that the NCAA is looking at is “lack of institutional control.” These would be cases where an athletic program is running amok, disregarding the university’s rules and policies, with little or no consequence. I’m not sure that the Penn State situation fits this description though. It’s far worse than that. The football program didn’t harbor a predator against the wishes of the university. The football program harbored a predator with the full knowledge and assistance of the university. </p>
<p>One of the most telling – and damning – things in the Freeh Report is the case of “Janitor B,” one of several night janitors who witnessed Sandusky’s behavior over the years, and didn’t report it for fear of losing their jobs. “Football runs this university,” said Janitor B. That’s a pretty good working definition of lack of institutional control.</p>
<p>In reading PennLive news reports, people are convinced Sandusky had something on Joe Paterno, something big enough to silence him and give Sandusky free reign to do what he did. Grade fixing, recruiting violations? Sounds quite plausible.</p>
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<p>Not really. Blackmail doesn’t make any sense in this case, because everyone involved had the same goal: silence. Paterno didn’t want his program interfered with or his reputation besmirched. The university didn’t want the football cash cow to be threatened. And Sandusky wanted to continue hunting. Everyone got what they wanted, but only as long as nobody talked.</p>