Penn State gets killer sanctions

I'm not sure what to think anymore. It would have been nice if New England had been stripped of their Super Bowl titles after they were caught CHEATING!!!!!! There is inconsistency in sports, bias, and selective outrage. Most of the commentarys I've heard in the past 2 days are saying that the punishment isn't big enough. I didn't realize how many Penn State haters there are in the world. These are sad times in happy valley. I'm just numb over this.

 

This is not justice. The people who were involved in this are in jail, dead or fired. These sanctions just hurt a bunch of innocent people who had nothing to do with the crimes or the cover up. The NCAA did this as a CYA manuever. How does punishing the current football players serve any positive purpose? They didn't do it. Go after the individual people who were involved and lock them up.

 

Sorry Biz,
But this does hurt the current players. Are you kidding me? The players on the current roster wanted to play football at PSU.They came there with the intention of winning a Big Ten title and hopefully a national title...That is now gone!!

What are they to do?

Lets say player 1 wants to transfer to VT. this year. VT says....Sorry all our scholarships are filled.Cant accept you. Whats he to do???

The NCAA is GREAT at punishing schools AFTER the fact!!

Who does this hurt? ...THE CURRENT PLAYERS!! What did these kids have to do with what happened 15 years ago?.....

And now THEY have to pay for it!!

BS.....

 

I don't know, it seems as if the really good players will have no problem finding another home. Other colleges have already begun openly recruiting PSU players:

http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-footba ... hips-silas

And as far as the lower level players who no one wants....well when the starting caliber players are all gone, its now their time to shine. Players who would have been buried on the depth chart are now going to have the opportunity to be starters at a D1 program. Albeit a wounded one, but this will open up opportunities for them. And it will also open up the starters scholarships as well. Once they are gone, players who are getting partial scholarships may end up with a full ride that they wouldn't have otherwise had.

Also from what Ive seen and heard, is that if a school who takes on a PSU player is at their limit, they will get an exemption for taking on that player. In other words, if they are at 85, they will be allowed to have 86 if that 86th is a PSU transfer.

 

Well I guess you could always construe it in some way to show some suffering, even if those who may suffer could currently be only 13 years old.

But IMO the NCAA went out of its way to limit the impact on current players. I mean if you want to count that they are involved in this turmoil as being impacted, then they are. But if thats the case, don't blame the NCAA, blame Sandusky, Paterno, Curly, Moe, and Larry. They are the one who protected Sandusky for over a decade.

That being said, I did see a good idea presented on FB earlier today. Those 40 scholarships that will not be going to the football team should be given academically. Don't know how easily this would be to do, but I think its a great idea.

 

The top notch programs are feeding off us..And how does that help us ? WHY would any kid want to stay at PSU??? The NCAA ****ED us!!!!

 

The NCAA didn't f**k*** you, Sandusky and all those who protected him f**k*** you.

 

Point made....Yes ..Sand...killed everything PSU stood for. As did Joe (and many others) for covering it up!!.....
But why should these kids coming onto campus pay for what these Aholes did? The NCAA loves to punish programs AFTER the fact...What did the kids in this years program do wrong???...

 

Like the ones that were molested.

 

All these kids who for all their life all they wanted to do was for to play for PSU....How does this help them??..And what did they have to do with this??..NOTHING!!!!!....Not fair!!!!

 

If the kids being caught up in the mess by being on the team is punishment, then I guess they are being punished. But the NCAA seems to be doing everything possible to not impact them in a negative way. As I said above, it could actually work to the benefit of quite a few players too.

And being caught up in this mess probably does suck for these kids. But this isn't the NCAA's fault. Even if the sanctions would have been in the form of a heavy fine to those who covered it up, just that fact alone would have been a distraction for current players. Even if NO sanctions were handed down, it would have been an issue all season long.

That being said, the NCAA HAD to do SOMETHING. And it HAD to be huge to serve as an example and deterrent to any future indiscretions by other schools.

Do I agree with it? I don't know. I guess I do. Its harsh. Really harsh. As was the crime. I think the penalty fits crime, so yes I agree. And it had to be the program and not the specific coaches. After all, it was the program that grew to the cult like status that allowed the whole thing to do down.

As far as vacating wins, its petty. IMO its a way to punish JoePa post humorously. Part of me says good for him, but part of me thinks its a bit too much because it is so petty, and even though it really doesn't mean anything. They still won those games. You cant change the past.

 

I've been reading this over and over as if Penn State is the only school where that could/does possibly happen. It's ridiculous to factor in that as a reason for some kind of punishment. You've got to be blind to see that it's not the case at Alabama, Florida, Auburn, Ohio State, Michigan, Nebraska, etc. I bet if you go to the other campuses now and interview janitors and general people around campus they would swear the same crap about fearing to lose jobs and thew head coach knowing everything that goes down in the building. The perception put in the Freeh report was one of a vindictive evil man who was the absolute ringleader of a pedophile cover-up group at Penn State (as if it was something he masterminded and steered for 14 years everyday seeking out informants to fire). As always the truth is not that black and white.

I do agree with you on everything else, especially the last point.

 

I don't think the its unique to PSU. And I don't think that the NCAA believes that either. Im sure that they're well aware of the issue and thats why they're so hard on Penn State. They're trying to reign it in at all schools. And by punishing PSU so hard, other schools will (hopefully) take note and keep a tighter check on their athletic (and football) programs so that what occurred at PSU doesn't happen again. The win at all costs attitude that allowed for the Sandusky cover up must be broken. Everywhere.

 

Just a little addition. I just checked the official fb pages for Penn State and Penn State Football and Penn State Football has about 70,000 more "likes" than Penn State University.

Thats saying something.

 

I think initially you'll see a defiant attitude from the football fans. So look for full stadiums for at least the first few home games. Once they start getting used to being abused by the full roster D-1A schools, it will drop off a bit. If they somehow manage to be competitive (story of the century worthy there) the defiant attitude will boil over to the next season and beyond. I have a feeling there's going to be some injuries and fatigue with the roster size the way it is.

 

Not to BUT what about the 40 kids in the next 4 years who will NOT have a chance to attend classes and play football at PSU.Thats 40 kids who may not get the chance to attend a Division 1 school.We are talking about kids who are right now freshmen in high school.What did they do to get their scholarship taken away??

 

Very well put Ray D!!!! You hit the nail on the head. Many of us had JoePa SO high on the proverbial pedestal that when this broke we all were like "No way is Joe involved in this." Than we find out he was. You are right it was devasting! The grandfather analogy is perfect!!

There is no way I can look at JoePa again WITHOUT thinking...."Why didnt you do more?"

All he did...all he gave.. will not be remembered...What he didnt do is what will be remembered..Is that right? I honestly dont know...JoePa did alot of good on that campus!!

The only analogy I cant think of is...."One ah **** wides out all your adaboys."

Sorry Joe...You had tons of adaboys...But that last "ah ****" REALLY hurt!!

 

Am I the only one confused by why the school was punished at all? Why did any of this happen?

1. Fire everyone that had any involvement whatsoever with the cover-up.
2. Press charges against anyone that had any involvement whatsoever with the cover-up.
3. Demand the students protesting in favor of Joe Paterno sign a document admitting they were being totally moronic douchebags.

What did the players, teachers, and students do? Why are they punishing innocent people for this? I'm not trying to make a point, I really don't know the answer. What is the other side of the story?

All I can think is that they're trying to create a deterrent ("If I don't report this child rape... I'll lose funding!") but I don't see how that works. Anyone willing to overlook child rape will not be worried about fines that could come if they're ever found out 12 years down the road. Supposing they're okay with blocking child rape out of their minds for some football wins and no bad publicity, wouldn't they still be more concerned with losing their job and going to jail than the possibility of their students being fined? Why would they care about their students anyway? They clearly don't have any empathy or priorities.

RayD, I liked your analogy, but to me it's like your grandfather was a serial killer, your parents were sewing their skins together (or whatever you said), and so the police went through YOUR whole neighborhood and smashed every TV, vase, and window in a 5 block radius. Yeah, there was a problem with the culture of placing negative PR about the mighty Penn State over child rape, but I just don't see how this helps. People should learn their lesson just from watching what happened unfold, and from the jail sentences that need to happen.

 

OK Im gonna say a few things that I know some wont like, but here it goes. First off, I dont think there are alot of Penn State "haters" like some think. There are, however, alot of "someone molesting kids and a bunch of people covering it up to save the universities reputation" haters. I lived in Arizona for quite a while and the majority of people there that had no connection to the school or a reason to hate penn st had nothing but respect and admiration for not only the university, but also for Joe Paterno. Penn st does not have this legion of haters nationwide that were just looking for any reason to bury the school. As a matter of fact, alot of people are still shocked that this happened there. Now, I am a die hard Ohio State fan, but I also was a big Penn St fan prior to them joining the big 10. After they joined i still cheered for them except when they played the Buckeyes. So just because Im a Buckeyes fan doesnt mean i hate penn st. That being said i know for a fact there were alot of penn st fans, probably most of you included, that were ready to bury Ohio St over tattoos and memorabilia. There was an out cry for a multiple year bowl ban and other sanctions, over tattoos. I understand our coach knew about it and said nothing, thats why he is no longer here along with most of the players responsible, yet the school and the current coach and players must suffer the punishment, same with USC. And I personally heard from many penn st fans that were ready to dance on the graves of Ohio St and Coach Tressel because they thought this whole tattoo "scandal" was soooo horrible. And when i used to tell them i bet the same thing goes on at penn st, the response I got was "no way, that would never happen under coach Paterno". My my now look, something much much worse went down. And now penn st fan is trying to convince the rest of the world that they shouldnt be punished, that this could happen anywhere? Really? Child molestation and a cover up happens everyday on college campuses? If the same thing that happened at penn st went down at Ohio St or michigan or pitt, you guys would be livid and demanding the football programs pay or be shut down. Im sorry this happened at penn st, im sorry this happened to Joe Pa, i feel bad for the school and the players, but something had to be done to the university. Again the way it works with any NCAA punishment is players and coaches that had nothing to do with the violation get punished. And you will NEVER EVER, EVER convice me that free tattoos, boosters giving money to players, or selling memorabilia for money was worse than what happened in Happy Valley. What penn st got was fair, and they will recover and move on. It was fair because coaches and higher ups knew and covered it up. Why is it unfair at penn st but fair and acceptable for other players at other schools to be punished for something they didnt do.

 

And BTW, I understand Ohio St did wrong, im not arguing they dont deserve punishment for what happened. It happened, deal with it, move on. Penn St must now do the same.

 

My first reaction was to think, "Man, Joe Paterno is looking up at all of this and wondering how this all happened." Then I read the Freeh report.

Sandusky was investigated in 1998. The DA decided against prosecuting. That's in III A-D of the Freeh report, pages 42-46 in the PDF file that I have.

I don't get any of this. It's not a sports-related issue, and as far as I know, the PA DOJ isn't doing anything about why Sandusky wasn't prosecuted in 1998, and they're probably the organization that should be most-heavily involved, not the NCAA.