<p>The sanctions, as draconian as they are, do not address the root of the tragedy: the football culture. Leaving the program in place leaves the culture in place. </p>
<p>Ever since this scandal broke, right up to and including today, we’ve seen the circle-the-wagons mentality of the Penn State community. On the field, the Nitanny Lions will be a shadow of their former selves. But the stadium will be packed for every home game. The air will ring with shouts of “We are Penn State!” Adoration of the team will be every bit as fervent as it’s always been (yes, it’s possible to love a losing team); perhaps more so, as defiance is added to the mix: “We are Penn State,and you can’t make us not love our team!” “We are Penn State, and we will rise again!” “We are Penn State, and we will avenge JoePa!”</p>
<p>I don’t see the football culture diminishing one little bit from these sanctions; it may well intensify.</p>
<p>Do you really think the reaction would be any different at UT or Alabama or Michigan or Nebraska or anywhere else with a big college football program?</p>
<p>I’ve been doing my best to stay out of this argument…but I can’t let this one go! How can you say “so they would not be harmed”? Leaving your life, your friends, your classes, your ties, your teammates? That’s not easy - and yes, those that do transfer will be harmed!! It’s not as easy as some think to pack up, move and leave your old life!</p>
<p>I don’t think this was harsh enough… needed to take away more scholarships.</p>
<p>If you watched the 6pm (EST) episode of Sports Center, they had cameras on a group of PSU students who were watching the announcement at 9am. The students were in complete disbelief about what was done. I doubt they were in complete disbelief when they heard the highest ranking members of their school facilitated child rape. Priorities are still misplaced.</p>
<p>Seahorses- Your view would be a little different if your kid was a D1 athlete who built his or her life around a particular sport. I support the sanctions and hope the athletes find suitable teams, but it will definitely be a challenge for them. It’s a little more complicated tha going down to the Y and signing up for 3rd grade soccer.</p>
<p>I think we are still in the beginning stages of how this plays out. The Professor Emeritus started his business in the 1970s - how early did his closest associate know? How much money did his closest associate raise for Gricar’s re-election campaign in the late 1990s? Who paid for the Professor Emeritus’ child sex trafficking (which were also recruiting trips), and who signed the checks? What are the relationships between the closest associate’s actions in 2001 and his business dealings with supporters of Second Mile going on at the same time, and did those business dealings affect his actions? How much money was raised by the closest associate for the Attorney General’s (now Governor’s) re-election campaign, and did it slow down the investigation? How much money did each individual give to Second Mile after the 2001 incident, to be used by Sandusky for his extracurricular activities?</p>
<p>Why do the faculty not mind going to work in the Paterno Library?</p>
<p>Seriously, who gives a fat flying rat’s arse what Paterno’s idiotic family and biased alumni have to say? Let me tell you how 99.9% of America sees it for the Nittany idiot brigade: Joe Paterno was a lying sack of dung heap who we’ve scraped off the bottom off our collective heels. His legend is one of cover-ups, shame and power run amok. </p>
<p>Im glad they tore down the pagan statue, can we now shut the mouths of his offspring before they embarrass themselves any more than they palready have?</p>
<p>I, too, think this is the beginning. My momma used to say that once you lose your reputation, you can never get it back. The damage to Penn State is yet to be seen. We know what the NCAA sanctions are, but it will be impossible to measure who decides to not apply or not pursue athletics at Penn State. Application numbers were up this year, but there were lots of people who thought the powers could not have known what was going on ( and not do something about it). Time will tell.</p>
<p>Absolutely. Why would you even ask me such a question? One can love and support a team, and still be able to separate the right from the wrong. One can love to watch football and still find the absolute power some hold over college athletics to be abominable. One can look forward to Saturday’s afternoon and evenings and still decry recruiting violations and abusive practices. Do I need to go on? </p>
<p>I know a good number of people who were/are die-hard SMU fans and found the penalties imposed on their team totally justified. And they still have tears in the eye about what their program used to be. </p>
<p>One could hope that PSU suffers an even longer road to partial recovery! The scandalous USC got a slap on their wrist and are almost back. The loss of scholarships is a small hiccup only. Bandits like Pete C. and Bush simply moved to greener pastures. </p>
<p>PSU fanboys will be chanting just as hard in October; And remain oblivious to the world around them, or even believe they got screwed. They should be watching the former PSU players on television.</p>
<p>I don’t have a division I athlete, but I think it must be hard for people that don’t have kids in athletics to understand at that level these kids hope it is their career. For the most part they are smart enough to understand that it’s good to have a college degree since their career will be short. I have English, Environmental Studies and engineering majors so no horse in the game, but i don’t really see much difference between a Div. I athlete and a musical theater major…they both might not need their degree, but they are both using college as a means to the brass ring and the years in college to hone their skills. So ljrfrm whether you want to believe it or not, I am agreeing with you and I have been for 100 pages. The kids that are already sophomore and juniors are between a rock and a hard place through no fault of their own and the freshman have been thrown into a washing machine. I suspect if these were our kids, as parents we’d be tearing our hair out.</p>
<p>Applications were up at every major university this year. I think it sucks for all the students who wanted to attend PSU for an education, but it does hurt the school immensely and tarnishes the degree. </p>
<p>Whoever said its about to get worse is more than right - remember you still have civic suits and criminal cases to go, and we all know there are more victims out there. I find it humorous how alumni are all ticked off over the Freeh report when their own university launched it. There’s a reason the current administration waited less than an hour to agree to the sanctions…it’s called being GUILTY based on a proponderence of evidence.</p>
<p>How many of these students do you actually think know who Sandusky was? Or who any of these administrators? Very few of them.</p>
<p>Meanwhile Penn State is something that is very close to them. Those students ARE Penn State. That’s what they know. And it was being punished. It’s going to hurt and they are going to be in disbelief.</p>
<p>I couldn’t help but wonder if the quick agreement didn’t mean that they were grateful to put it to bed without further investigation…if the lack of “due process” decried by the faithful was actually a positive for people in a position to know more.</p>
<p>It made me wonder-how long had this been going on and just what more was known from WAY back?</p>
<p>Russell Wilson had little trouble adapting to his new team after his coach gave him the boot. Many will learn that PSU was not the only school for them.</p>