Yesterday the Joe Paterno statue was taken down, today the NCAA has all but taken down the Penn State football program, which he built.
“In the Penn State case, the results were perverse and unconscionable,” NCAA President Mark Emmert said.
“No price the NCAA can levy will repair the damage inflicted by Jerry Sandusky on his victims,” he said.
The penalties are harsh, but I believe they’re legitimate. What the Penn State leadership did can not be tolerated. I think Paterno was trying to protect his legacy, while Penn State president Graham Spanier, athletic director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz were trying to make sure the money kept coming in.
It’s ironic that if they had blown the whistle on Jerry Sandusky, Paterno’s legacy would have been preserved and the revenue would have continued to flow into the university.
Penn State is being fined $60 million dollars. They will lose 10 football scholarships per year. They will vacate all their wins from 1998 to 2011, plus they will be ineligible for post season play for four-years.
All current Penn State football players will be able to transfer out of the school immediately and play for other schools this year.
Vacating the wins will take away Joe Paterno’s place as the winningest coach in NCAA College Football history.
Again I agree with the punishment. The NCAA cannot allow schools to make these type of morally bankrupt decision.
At the same time, I think the NCAA is just as morally bankrupt as Penn State was because all the NCAA cares about is money. They make like they care so much about tradition and taking care of the student athletes, but if something threatens the money which would help the student-athletes, they will put protecting the money above protecting the student-athletes.
Again, I think the penalties against Penn State are warranted, but the culture of winning at all costs, which Emmert talked about isn’t about winning at all costs on the football field, it was about winning at all costs in order to make money.
Winning at all costs in order to make money is really what the NCAA is all about and it’s the reason that Spanier, Schultz and Curtley covered over the Sandusky sexual abuse. It’s ironic that Spanier was a main figure at the NCAA meetings. Spanier and Emmert were very hard on Ohio State and USC in previous sanction cases.
The NCAA is in place to make sure the big schools are able to continue bringing in the huge revenues.
Notice that the NFL is spending money and changing rules in order to deal with concussions of their players. We are all now aware that playing football has major risks when it comes to head injuries. The NFL is shortening the practices and limiting the hitting in order to protect the health of the players, but the NCAA has done nothing for college players.
Do see how egregious that is? They have done nothing to protect the young men who go out there and bash their brains inside those helmets.
Shouldn’t Emmert and the NCAA be focusing on the “concussion issue” which is affecting the lives of its players? He and the NCAA won’t even bring up the subject. They say they care a great deal for the welfare of their student athletes, but have failed to do anything to protect them from concussions.
They won’t even mention the issue. The players who go on the field are risking their future health, but the NCAA hasn’t even looked into it at all.
The reason they’re not looking into the issue is because it could get in the way of the billions of dollars of revenue and that was the same motivation for looking the other way as Jerry Sandusky raped youngsters.
“The Love Of Money Is The Root Of All Evil”.
I think hiding, covering up this case had very little to do with $$$ from Penn State’s/Paterno side of things, I think it was more about how this would impact Paterno’s Legacy.. I believe Joe Pa was in Denial so much for so long that he blocked out this dark side out of him mind that his long time and close personal friend, his Top #1 Asst Coach for years and years and who many believed would one day be the successor of Paterno.. This failue to act was completely on Paterno who came to this decision that he could not acknowledge the rumours of Sandusky’s risky and inappropriate behavior towards young boys for it would be a mark, a huge blemish on Paterno’s high-morale character that he demanded of his players,coaches & staff his entire career.. To admit a cover-up or looking the other way was simply not acceptable to Paterno though he and the University could have easily done this in 1998 (as they joining the Big X) and definitely in 2002 after the shower incident was brought to his attention..Paterno could have cut th echord completely with Sandusky but simply chose not to protect his own morale character … A sad story about the fall of a legend who dies of guilt and shame and now will be most likley remebered for harboring and aiding and abbeted a Pedofile Monster under his watch…
Paul, this entire debacle, is entirely caused by the evil that is Sandusky, let’s not forget that, BUT, the cover-up, enabling, & turning of a blind eye towards it, was entirely rooted by $$$, greed, ego, & the saving of the face & brand of Paterno & their precious PSU, football program. It’s disgusting & they got EXACTLY what they deserve. THEY PUT THE PROTECTION OF THEIR PRECIOUS BRAND, THE ENABLING OF AN EVIL CHILD PREDATOR, & THE PREVENTION OF BAD PUBLICITY, AHEAD OF THE PROTECTION OF CHILD WELFARE, PERIOD!!!! HONESTLY, IMHO, they got off easy. They are LUCKY, that they didn’t get the death penalty, or have gotten the football program disbanded. I HOPE, this isn’t the end, & that the FBI thoroughly investigates this ALOT more, especially the Board of Trustees, The Second Mile, Governor Tom Corbett, The Second Miles contributions to him, & the disappearance of former prosecuting, DA Ray Gricar, because this has ALOT MORE tentacles to it. I hope this just doesn’t go away, because there is much more to uncover, just like I said back in January, when I said Paterno knew! Where are the disgusting, nauseating apologists, Charles Bowles, Andy Victory, George Remally & the rest of the PSU cultists at now?!? The thing that is still P!$$!NG me off, is NOBODY has shown 1 ounce of sympathy for the victims of the molestations. NOT THE MEDIA! NOT THE STUDENTS! NOR THE PSU ALUM! IT’S GUT WRENCHING NAUSEATING!!!! EVERYONE, in that Cult, stepford, environment, ARE STILL, making excuses, denials, living in delusions & blindly worshipping at the alter of their false God Paterno! THEY ARE DISGUSTING, & SHOULD BE ASHAMED TO BE CALLED HUMAN BEINGS!!!!! I SAW ON THE NEWS YESTERDAY, SOME @$$HOLE, PRAYING AT THE STATUE, WITH ROSERY BEEDS! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FREAKING KIDDING ME! This is the frame of mind, that these cultist, disgraces, have! For my Wife, who is 1 of the MOST positive people in the world (my Yang), to look me in the eyes, & say “She has no more faith in humanity,” something is wrong. I hope & pray, some way, somehow, the victims can get at least a shred of peace of mind, & some sense of normalcy, in their lives, because apparently, the PSU cultists, Alum, Trustees & Athletic program, are more concerned about their false God, saving PSU’s name & COVERING THEIR OWN @$$E$! I’LL SAY PRAYERS FOR ALL OF YOU, BECAUSE APPARENTLY PSU NEEDS A MASS EXORCISM! My heartfelt prayers go out to all of the victims. GOD BE WITH THEM.
I hear you DCAR and take no respsonsibility of the harm and lifelong damage that Sandusky has imposed on many a family and innocent kids.. You and I were hard on the entire Program from the get go when this story broke last fall and I still believe to this day that Paterno know he had a pedofile amonsgt his staff and friend but did not have the courage to do anthing permanent about it so I look at him as the face of the University who made that choice, not the Pres, not the AD or anyone else.. Paterno weaseled out of his most important action/decision of his lifetime and hold him as accountable as the monster pedophile sandusky himself….
AGREED 100%!!!
When the parents of the Movie Massacre were called the Mother said “you got the right one”.
She knew her son was nuts…
The man who would not allow him to join the shooting club knew he was nuts…
Are you going to punish them for not telling anybody???
Jerry Sandusky committed the crimes. Punish him and his child organization.
The NCAA has been abusing athletes for profit for almost 100 years.
You can’t go back in time and say that the victories were not won.
The NCAA if could have issued the death penalty.
Instead they choose to take 60 million dollars and hurt the current students at
the program.
His wife knew what he was doing, are you going to arrest her? She even testified that he was innocent.
Spit on a dead man’s grave. Put it all on Paterno. He’s dead. Let him take the fall.
Pitiful…
bsm, the point is that paterno put the program, its reputation above those kids. Last night on DNL the reporter Kern (i don’t remember first name) asked this question. if Mcqueary had come in and told paterno that sandusky the monster was doing that in the shower to HIS grand kid how would paterno have handled it differently. And the obvious answer is he would have gone balistic and not into protect the program mode…well the point is the victim is just as important as paternos grandkid. but patermo the most powerful man in happy valley didn’t go ballistic over the horrific act. he protected and shielded his program. disgraceful. stop defending paterno…his inaction and actually letting sandusky walk with a golden parachute and use of his attractive facilities to lure in even more victims.
i do feel bad for current players but the fact of the matter is that the football program was bigger than the university and more important than child victims