<p>Nrdsb4,</p>
<p>I wondered the same. PErhaps those “in the know” right now, perhaps are warding off future bombshells. As I think there is waaaay more to this entire fiasco then we have been told or will be told.</p>
<p>Pat Devlin got the boot from Paterno few years ago, went onto Joe Flacco’s Alma Mater and was drafted from new school to Miami this year. If he stayed at Penn never would have seen the field, would have been picking splinters instead of the NFL.</p>
<p>I apologize if this has been mentioned - hard to keep up. The cover of the July 30 Sports Illustrated has the headline “We Were Penn State” with the text an unprecedented failure of institutional integrity.</p>
<p>[Sports</a> Illustrated Cover: “We Were Penn State” - Four For Four - SB Nation Philly](<a href=“http://philly.sbnation.com/penn-st-nittany-lions/2012/7/23/3180093/sports-illustrated-cover-we-were-penn-state]Sports”>Sports Illustrated Cover: "We Were Penn State" - SB Nation Philly)</p>
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<p>The anguish those parents feel is NOTHING compared to that experienced by the families of children molested and betrayed by Penn State officials.</p>
<p>To offer an analogy, if a parent commits a crime and is sent to jail, innocent kids in the family typically experience collateral damage due to loss of income, shame, perhaps the need to relocate due to resulting economic strains or to be closer to family, etc. We as a society are not sending those kids to prison, and we are also not responsible for the collateral damage the kids experience due to the consequences of the parent’s illegal activities. Society tries to provide a safety net to ensure the children’s basic needs are met, but we are not responsible for mitigating or eliminating all negative impacts that stem from the parent’s imprisonment.</p>
<p>Likewise, the inconvenience and disappointments Penn State football players and fans are experiencing now ARE NOT THE NCAA’S FAULT. Penn State officials’ immoral actions caused and resulted in the sanctions that have been imposed. If parents and fans want to rail against someone for the hardships they are facing, it is Sandusky, Paterno, and university leaders they should be railing against.</p>
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<p>Not much different. I’ve said repeatedly on this thread that pretty much any of the big football and basketball factory schools is in danger of making the same mistake of putting the interests of the athletic program ahead of the interests of innocent people. Perhaps some of them already have and just haven’t been caught. </p>
<p>But two things stand out as different about the Penn State case: </p>
<p>The first is the over-the-top worship of Joe Paterno. Lots of successful teams have a beloved coach, but none of them gets the divine status that Joe did. The only one I’ve seen come close is John Wooden. </p>
<p>The second was the self-righteous belief by pretty much everyone at Penn State that they were somehow better than everyone else because they were students, alumni, or boosters of the school running both the cleanest and most successful major college football program in the history of the sport. Now, ironically up to their eye-balls in the biggest and foulest scandal in the history of the sport, many still can’t seem to let go of this self-delusion.</p>
<p>It’s the combination and persistence of these two myths that IMO makes it so hard for many Penn Staters to accept what is so obvious to so much of the rest of the country. Instead they blame everyone and anyone else, the Board, the “haters” who wanted the statue down, Louis Freeh, NCAA, …anybody. They indulge in in all sorts of sophistry, nit-picking, and willful misinterpretation of the Freeh report in a futile attempt to hang on to some last shred of the myths. Not many outside of Happy Valley are buying it.</p>
<p>Maybe I think building a life around a sport is maybe not the beat way.</p>
<p>It’s a game. Its fun.but it’s just a game.</p>
<p>To not be able to play a sport is disappointing but by no means a hardship.</p>
<p>Less the 4percent of college athletes go pro, so to think It’s gonna be a career is wishful at best.</p>
<p>Is a game. Pure and simple. A game. And the psu players will somehow get over the idea they are playing for a school that can’t go to a bowl game.</p>
<p>The players have all theirnlimbs, they weren’t raped, they can get an amazing education, they can somehow get through a couple of years.</p>
<p>Its just amazing how we are supposed to feel sorry for these players. Its a game. Worse things happen. They chose Penn state for its program, they will now livewith psu reputation.</p>
<p>Oh and momofthree, doesn’t what my kids do, they have enough class and inner strength and compassion to not think just one aspect of their lives define who they are.</p>
<p>coureur, very well said, especially the last 3 paragraphs.</p>
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What does that mean? That sounds way more chicken**** than the original comment.</p>
<p>There was a mention that college sports is more involved than signing your kid up for 3rd grade soccer. I remember the coaches from my kids’ third grade teams. They all acted as if their kids were on their way to the pros. A great many of them engaged in absolute unsportsmanlike behavior in order to win. It’s that part of sports that’s in question here. And it sounds like it never changes.</p>
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<p>Aren’t you talking about a pretty small percentage of college football players and an even smaller percentage of D1 athletes? I was a D1 athlete and I interacted with a lot more of them in all sports including football since we all shared the same study hall, athletic advisors, computer lab area, etc. For those who won’t go pro, it’s something to do in college and way to get your degree paid for – and yes a major time commitment, but I don’t think it’s like musical theater at all. Virtually all musical theater majors are planning on a musical theater career. Many D1 athletes are in sports where a pro career doesn’t actually exist. And even if you’re lucky enough to be in a sport where going pro is a possibility, like football, you have no guarantees. A pretty small percentage gets drafted, and you could get drafted and cut during training camp, and you could blow out your knee in your first season. Most of those football players should be planning other career options.</p>
<p>The truly elite athletes who are looking at being picked high in the draft and know they’ll likely have a football career are the minority, and likely can transfer anywhere they want.</p>
<p>this is a pretty good article about the players and their options … [Penn</a> State players face transfer choice after NCAA sanctions - Andy Staples - SI.com](<a href=“http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/andy_staples/07/23/penn-state-penalties/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t11_a0]Penn”>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/andy_staples/07/23/penn-state-penalties/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t11_a0)</p>
<p>3togo thanks for the link to Andy Staples SI.com article.
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<p>Reading comments by PSU students and supporter they seem to have no anger or hatred towards Curley, Schultz or Spanier. Even if you take Paterno out of the equation (he has reached deity status w/ them) the NCAA and Big Ten sanctions resulted from those men knowing for years about Sandusky molesting little boys and doing nothing to stop him. Instead of being outraged at them the Penn Staters are ready to hang Mark Emmert and Louis Freeh. Even Erickson and the BOT havent escaped their wrath. It is just amazing that Schultz, Curley and Spanier continue to get a pass. Why???</p>
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<p>A good question. </p>
<p>I wonder how many of the players might have known that Sandusky was a pervert. So far, the former players comments have all been to the contrary.</p>
<p>Spanier is now saying that he was abused as a child and trying to claim, in a letter to the Board of Trustees, that because of his childhood abuse, he would NEVER have turned his back on child molestation.</p>
<p>[Former</a> Penn State president Graham Spanier says he was abused as a child - NCAA Football - Sporting News](<a href=“http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2012-07-23/penn-state-ncaa-penalties-sanctions-president-graham-spanier-abused-as-child]Former”>http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2012-07-23/penn-state-ncaa-penalties-sanctions-president-graham-spanier-abused-as-child)</p>
<p>Two observations - </p>
<p>First, I think some of this mess may have been a result of having an 85 year old in charge of the football program. He was clearly out of touch with the current climate surrounding child abuse in the US.</p>
<p>Second, the NCAA sanctions may turn out to be a great deal for Penn State. There is a lot to be said for admitting guilt and accepting the penalty. Additional investigation could lead to even more disgusting revelations. Now PSU can state we admitted our guilt and took the NCAA penalties w/o complaint.</p>
<p>I am not really sure what sanctions would have been appropriate, perhaps none. I am sure that when Mark Emmert said that the NCAA’s goal is to ensure that " a culture where athletics become more important than education…" never exists again; well, if he would just say that under oath he could stand with Curley and Schultz in front of a judge, where he belongs.</p>
<p>The NCAA doesn’t care a whit about education, or victims of abuse; they exist to perpetuate a system whereby student athletes (revenue generating) and coaches are perceived to be, and generally are, above the law. In exchange, student athletes (generalization alert) in revenue generating sports (the only ones that matter) provide valuable services without compensation in exchange for admission to colleges and universities regardless of academic qualifications and scholarships to pursue “degrees” that they often don’t receive. </p>
<p>And John Calipari makes $6 Million and Nick Saban $4 million and Mark Emmert $2 million. Business is good when you don’t pay the help or income taxes.</p>
<p>EPTR,</p>
<p>I certainly hope the investigations will continue. If there are “even more disgusting” revelations I hope they come to light. Not sure there is any room left under the carpet for more victims. Been pretty crowded under there for the last 14 years.</p>
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I just wanted to add that I think cosmicfish is right about this with respect to whether Spanier could be convicted of a crime. (Paterno is dead, so it’s really a moot point as to him.) Note that Spanier wasn’t indicted for perjury when Shultz and Curley were, and he still hasn’t been indicted. We haven’t really heard his version of the story, and we also don’t know if there are other people who would corroborate his version. Personally, I have some doubts about whether Curley and Schultz will ever come to trial–after a few months, the public outrage will have been redirected to something else, and it may not be in the interests of the power players for there to be a trial with a bunch of messy testimony that could drag a bunch of other people into the case. Of course, that may happen anyway with civil trials.</p>
<p>Somebody asked whether some of these people could be charged with child endangerment. I don’t know–it would depend on what they knew, and what they did. I think it would be hard to prove. Of course, everything will be different if mini’s suspicions of conspiracy should turn out to be correct (and provable).</p>
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<p>[Paterno</a> loyalists call NCAA sanctions excessive - CNN.com](<a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/23/us/penn-state-reaction/index.html?hpt=hp_t2]Paterno”>http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/23/us/penn-state-reaction/index.html?hpt=hp_t2)</p>
<p>Unreal. I can only hope there are some regional Alumni Presidents out there who aren’t obsessed with football, but weren’t contacted or quoted. Reactions like these make Penn State look worse than any sanction could.</p>
<p>thanks for the link EPTR, I had posted earlier having read on another site that Spanier had reported his own physical abuse. From EPTR’s link;</p>
<p>“It is unfathomable and illogical to think that a respected family sociologist and family therapist, someone who personally experienced massive and persistent abuse as a child, someone who devoted a significant portion of his career to the welfare of children and youth … would have knowingly turned a blind eye to any report of child abuse or predatory sexual acts directed at children,” Spanier said in the letter.</p>
<p>he said he did not understand the 2001 shower incident observed by then-graduate assistant Mike McQueary was sexual.</p>
<p>I can’t believe he is maintaining that he didn’t know this was sexual. Sorry, but as president of the university it was his duty to fully understand what McQueary reported, and if there was any ambiguity it was HIS job to ask the questions to clarify. Also, kind of odd how in his own letter he describes himself in the third person. I’m a mental health professional and I’ve never heard of a family sociologist, anyone else?</p>
<p>Naturally, that’s sick. But it seems to be a common sentiment.</p>