Comments on: Penn State gets fined, postseason ban, scholarship reduction

By: richm2256a

richm2256a — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 02:04:58 +0000

chiefagc5675 says:Jul 23, 2012 8:53 PM

I didn’t need any confirmation that Americans are the dumbest people on the planet- BUT THANK YOU FOR THOSE POSTING AGAINST PSU- this decision was to protect repugnants- from the Governor on down to all the Second Mile repugnant sponsors. Second Mile was not mentioned in the sentence- it’s as bad as the death sentence – Penn State will be out of college football for 10 years- not one player was involved and we have to take Freeh’s republican (liar) word that Paterno was involved. In 1998 the police and the county prosecutor passed on charging Sandusky with his crimes- now that Paterno is dead- you’re blaming him. What’s amazing to me is the number of people who were abused by adults and said nothing about their accuser but are now piling on Paterno as though he were their abuser. Get counseling losers- it was your problem- not Paternos.
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Wow……. just Wow.

This has got to be the most ignorant statement I have ever read.

By: chiefagc5675

chiefagc5675 — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 00:53:04 +0000

By: sasquash20

sasquash20 — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 18:53:23 +0000

should have been the death penalty for at least 14 years. This NCAA issued penalty is an absolute joke!

By: sasquash20

sasquash20 — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 18:40:33 +0000

This is a joke! Only 60 million dollars???????They just anounced that they received over 205 million in donations alone this past year. Oh probation for 5 years that is real tough. NCAA is a bigger joke then PSU! Way to take Joe’s wins away, What the hell does that do? What a joke!!

By: theuglitruth

theuglitruth — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 17:37:27 +0000

We will not see a national champion out of the Big 10 for 10 years simply because the entire conference was weakened. The strength of schedule argument will keep the entire conference out of any chances.

By: burkartsj

burkartsj — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 17:36:33 +0000

The punishment is too lenient…the punishment is too strict…the NCAA did right…the NCAA did wrong…the “death penalty” should have been given… and blah blah blah.

The fact of the matter is that the NCAA does not have the power or authority to do anything to a college football program. They pretty much lost their teeth when the the Supreme Court decided in the late 80′s that the individual conferences could negotiate there own TV deals (individual conferences currently negotiate there own TV deals, run the BCS, and all of the bowls independent of anything the NCAA does). Sure, we see the NCAA establish sanctions all the time for recruiting and rules violations but the football conferences allow the NCAA to do this because they need the NCAA to preserve the amateur status of the game (so they don’t have to adequately compensate players or pay disability for those injured, a subject for another time). The point is that the NCAA doesn’t do anything to a football program that the schools/conferences don’t agree to.

In this case the Big Ten has a brand to protect, so they’re willing to allow the sanctions on Penn State. But they would never sanction a death penalty; there is way to much money at stake. If Penn State didn’t submit to the sanctions the Big Ten would probably expel them and then they would be in a world of hurt. They could field a team but who would they play?

So, ultimately this is a punishment that the NCAA, Big Ten, and Penn State agreed was “fair”. Everyone out there screaming for due process and saying that the NCAA really took it to Penn State needs to realize that Penn State (the institution, not the fans) is consenting to all of this. Personally, I think the sanctions are fairly lenient. $60M is light when you consider what there program makes. Wins vacated? OK, I guess it changes the tally of wins in some book, but those games happened and the college made money on all of those wins that are now vacated. Scholarships? The program will probably go through a rough patch over the next 5-8 years but it will keep making money and sooner or later it will be back to business-as-usual.

By: phillyfrank

phillyfrank — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 17:22:38 +0000

@Jimmy53: Your comments have been courteous, so let me just say that I wasn’t making an argument–I was making a ridiculous statement to show the torch and pitchfork crowd how easy it is to jump to conclusions and adopt a scorched earth policy without having all the facts. You have to admit, there’s been a lot of that since this story first broke. Also, you wrote, “PSU has an opportunity to show the country how to build a program the right way and become a wonderful example to other programs nation wide.” I sincerely hope that comes to pass.

By: eagles512

eagles512 — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 17:05:57 +0000

The NCAA continues to be a joke. To make judgement off of ONE MANs investigation is a laughable. If the trials were finished and guilt was proven, THEN hit them hard. But to do it now is ridiculous. Not to mention everyone involved is gone. So a freshman now will never play in a bowl when him and his coaching staff had nothing to do with anything. And using criminal acts to punish a team sets up a precedent. What’s next? A coach that gets a DUI or beats his wife will now result in his team getting a bowl ban? As usual, the NCAA fails.

By: robert3645789

robert3645789 — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 17:05:53 +0000

Hopefully this punishment will have an impact beyond Penn State in reinforcing the fundamental missions of higher education institutions; education and the value of such. If highly successful multimillion dollar college athletic programs is the key the survival of our educational institutions……we are 4th down and 35 to go in the education game.

I would propose that public educational institutions eliminate the ‘separate’ revenue, operational income/expense/decision-making status that athletic departments have at most major universities. That would be a good first step in slowing down this runaway train that college athletics has become.

By: dthomas74

dthomas74 — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 17:02:08 +0000

I am confused by the comments of “this has nothing to do with football”. Generally speaking it is true that this issue isn’t relevent to college football per se. However, this issue has EVERYTHING to do with PSU football. Joe Paterno and others allowed a suspected child predator to use the football facilities unsupervised. They allowed him to promote his inside abuse of children partly through the PSU football program. When they no longer suspected but knew this was happening, they continued to cover the issue up.

I feel the NCAA acted appropriately in every manner. They protected the students and players while issuing punishment. To have given the death penalty, in my opinion would not have been the best alternative. Now PSU will have to rebuild its program while everyone watches and know why. Humbling.

Unfortunately, in most aspects of life those who have power and abuse that power often take innocent people down with them when they can no longer hold onto that power. It isn’t fair, but in no way could there not have been serious consequences for the actions that were taking place within the PSU football program.

By: tgabbo

tgabbo — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 16:53:10 +0000

phillyfrank says: Jul 23, 2012 12:40 PM

OK, I’ll play…

“With the amount of money Penn State football made for the NCAA, and as important as PSU was to their program, you mean to tell me that the NCAA didn’t know what was going on at Penn State??!?!?! The NCAA did nothing to stop it, so they should be disbanded!”

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Penn St football makes the NCAA less than 1%

By: jimmy53

jimmy53 — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 16:47:28 +0000

phillyfrank:

“(See what I did there?)”–

Yes we see that you made an argument that makes no logical sense and holds no water. Well done.

By: myopinionisrighterthanyours

myopinionisrighterthanyours — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 16:43:31 +0000

willhnic says:
Jul 23, 2012 10:52 AM
I know many of you will not only disagree…but may even attack me for saying this. Wow…$60,000,000 fine. I don’t think PSU should even be punished or fined. The school itself didn’t do anything.

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Exactly the point. The school did NOTHING, while it should have done something.

By: lakepoinsett

lakepoinsett — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 16:41:13 +0000

That’s what happens when you have a gutless Administration!

By: phillyfrank

phillyfrank — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 16:40:51 +0000

OK, I’ll play…

(See what I did there?)

By: badintent

badintent — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 16:38:55 +0000

The fine is chump change for the school over the long term. The fine should have been $25 million a year for 4-5 years.This way the femheads can’t scream about the massive cut backs in their women sports programs that have ALWAYS been paid for by the football $$$$. Watch for their lawsuits on top of the real victims. The NCAA should have award the fine $$ directly to the victims, not some trump up programs that have little or nothing to do with the 12 children that Jerry attacked. Typical political correctness BS from left wing academic rose glasses.

By: john6v54

john6v54 — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 16:25:05 +0000

Too bad the NCAA can’t take away the millions of dollars, private suite, and other perks given to the paterno family after joe negotiated his retirement package. Any money going to that family is dirty money. Disgusting.

By: tgabbo

tgabbo — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 16:23:22 +0000

Philly, I was ok with the vacating wins thing. It was the penalty for Penn St deciding that wins were more important than people. If they did come out ages ago, they would have lost recruits/money through bad publicity. Why do you think they covered it up in the first place?

By: phillyphan83

phillyphan83 — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 16:16:48 +0000

wow, so all you people saying its not enough…what is enough for you? because I’m pretty sure no matter what the punishment was, you fools would still say not enough. the only thing I had a problem with is vacating the wins. molesting boys during youth camps in the summer has absolutely nothing to do with winning on Saturdays in the fall. and please don’t try to tell me psu won because of sandusky on the sideline, that’s laughable.

By: thetooloftools

thetooloftools — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 16:08:31 +0000

NOT ENOUGH !

By: jimmy53

jimmy53 — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 15:56:07 +0000

willhnic- I’m confused by your comment, PSU is a non-profit organization.

By: pistolpete0903

pistolpete0903 — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 15:51:50 +0000

It was a given that the penalties would be on the equivalent order of the death penalty. Everyone could see it coming.

For all those who think that the sanctions affect the current students/athletes, it’s not like as if they are being expelled from school or so. And the point of the magnitude of sanctions is to (hopefully) act as a deterrent to other universities.

To say that enrollment at PSU would be affected by the sanctions is downright ridiculous. I hope people see the difference between Penn State (as an academic institute) and penn State (as a football program).
Another difference to note is between paterno as a football coach and as a person. He is arguably a good coach, can’t say the same about him as a human. A great talent doesn’t maketh a great man!!

By: willhnic

willhnic — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 15:48:25 +0000

You kind of made my point 32maniac. They are to be blamed…not the entire institution. Normally, I would agree in a real company situation. However, this is a symptom of education being a for-profit institution. You will always have corruption in for-profit areas. All in all…its just a bad situation. Innocent people get hurt…from the corruption or from punishment of the corruption. In my opinion…that’s not justice…that is the blind leading the blind. No one wins here.

By: brutusbuckeye2011

brutusbuckeye2011 — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 15:45:46 +0000

This may be good news for Miami fans. I doubt that the NCAA will impose harsher sanctions on the U as they did to PSU.

By: jimmy53

jimmy53 — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 15:42:59 +0000

It’s not about hate, it’s not about tearing down an icon, it’s about taking punitive measures in hopes that this PSU-style culture does not hide tragedies such as this at other schools. This was an institutional problem–the institution is PSU–PSU got penalized. These denial-ists (I won’t call them apologists, because most of them don’t apologize–they deny and attempt to force their delusions upon others) are a perfect example of the issues that the NCAA is trying to address.

For those who think no rules were broken—SEE ARTCLE 2.4 AND BYLAW 10.1 OF THE NCAA CONSTITUTION.

For those who think this will destroy the university–according to a friend in the admissions department at PSU, enrollment is at an all-time high due to in-state students rallying around their university. I truly hope this is accurate and continues. PSU has an opportunity to show the country how to build a program the right way and become a wonderful example to other programs nation wide.

By: tgabbo

tgabbo — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 15:37:34 +0000

Cattrax and brewcrew, how would you propose to set precedent and make sure others don’t do this in the future if you only penalize those responsible? You would suggest that the school gets a slap on the wrist? There will be no funds or anything left to disperse when the civil case got finished. At minimum, you have the president, coach, and AD know/cover up for 14 years. They all should have reported it ages ago. What’s worse is that they still attempted to cover it up at the initial proceedings last year, even after they were busted. Had Paterno lived, there might be perjury charges against him.

As for the other people left at Penn State, sure they are picking up the pieces emotionally. However, all the athletes can transfer out. The good ones will always find a spot. Even if they stay, it still means they play every weekend. That has not been affected at all. And they still keep their scholarships. They are student athletes, not athlete students. They will still sell out practically every home game. The staffs and facility personnel will still get paid. That’s the whole point of the penalty.

PS- If you can’t believe a comprehensive report from the ex-head of CIA, that might be a problem.

By: av8tor130

av8tor130 — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 15:37:09 +0000

Here is the new slogan for Penn State
Penn State– The New Home of Jerry’s Kids!!!!!

By: crazyfootballfun

crazyfootballfun — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 15:36:36 +0000

The students and athletes at Penn State are innocent and I feel badly for them. However, they have a choice and can go to another school. There are innocent people who are affected every time there is a crime. A parent who goes to jail leaves his children and spouse behind to face all kinds of problems that are not their fault. Sadly, criminals do not think about how their actions will hurt innocent victims. I applaud the NCAA’s punishment. I don’t hate Penn State but the actions of powerful people in the Penn State program caused innocent kids to suffer needlessly. They protected a pedophile for the sake of their power, their program. Additional boys were destroyed! How can anyone think Penn State should not have the hammer thrown at them. They can rebuild….can these boys rebuild their lives??

By: jcarne9014

jcarne9014 — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 15:32:22 +0000

@cattrax13 – I am a graduate of Penn State…1982. No one loves the place more than I do and I will never forget the thrill I felt whenever I was lucky enough to see JoePa on campus. That said, HE was the one that could have ended this nightmare way back when with a 30 second phone call. As much as I hate to say it, taking down the statue was proper and the sanctions are probably justified.

By: aminahyaquin

aminahyaquin — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 15:29:26 +0000

The biggest concern that I have other than what i expressed above is that there is a belief expressed in many comments on this board that the size and success of the football program is why the abuse was not curtailed. WRONG!
Denial and disbelief that it occurred is one main reason, and that itself is a sickness common to institutions as small as a family and as large as any corporate group.
Fear of consequences, that is also a factor in reporting and responding to allegations of abuse and assault. This over the top, insitutionally injurious approach, is not going to do much to encourage people to come forward without fear of consequences, for it the “punishment” demonizes innocents.
In fact , the sheer scope of punishment here may make it MORE likely cover-ups occur…and the usual instances in institutions like prisons is to minimize the problems, throw one guy to the wolves and never let the truth of how many were involved ever hit daylight. Which amy or may not have happened here, but surely happened at the prison where i whistle blew.
People need to know that child sexual assault, especially of the lonely isolated or previously wounded kids, is an epidemic in our culture. It occurs in institutions large and small and is likely occurring in multitudes of sports programs around the country.
What makes this case diffeent from many is that so many victims came forward and so did some staff.
So what is needed and necessary is networks of support that make it possible for people to report and to substantiate abuse while at the same time discouraging false reports.
This is tyhe kind of thing the NCAA could have modelled, by providing its own internal structure to field reports , or at the least, to provide training to train program trainers to deter abuse and assault.
I think we need to be careful not to push winners into the losers column and feel we have solved a social problem that is much bigger and broader than any one program or school, or coach or pervert predator.