NCAA Drops Hammer
The dilemma of the Joe Paterno statue reached its conclusion Sunday morning just after dawn. The statue was no longer an honorable representation of a great coach; it would serve as a constant reminder of an elaborate, more-than-decade-old cover up of child sexual assault. Common sense persevered, thankfully. It was deconstructed, and we are left with the iconic image of the now infamous Joe Paterno being carried away. Penn State officials got this one right. Next up: the NCAA.
Much discussion has existed about the possibility of the NCAA levying penalties on the Penn State football program in the aftermath of the Sandusky case. Some argue the only way to handle this disaster is to let the proper legal authorities have their way with the university and the scandal’s key members, and that the NCAA should not meddle in such non-sports related issues. And why punish so many people for the crimes of only a few, especially when said crimes occurred away from football?
Until recently, I was on the fence on the issue. I considered all the innocent bystanders, and there will be many, that would be penalized from actions that occurred years ago, and actions they had zero knowledge of. I understood the effects of the possible sanctions and how long they could potentially bring down the university’s athletic department. I also wondered if the NCAA would be overstepping its authority. After all, what did all this have to do with the product on the field? It’s the National Collegiate Athletic Association. This wasn’t an athletic issue. It’s not like any of this gave the Nittany Lions an unfair on-field advantage. It had nothing to do with football.
Then I realized how wrong I was, how moronic that sounded. This is not just a legal issue. It’s about the university administration, the dictatorial culture of the program, and it is most definitely about football. All about football, actually. Why? The main catalyst for hiding years and years of child rape was to protect the squeaky clean facade of the football program, the football program Joe Paterno worked tirelessly to protect and uphold. And he was more than capable of single-handedly dictating the process following the first account in 1998. He had ultimate sovereignty in State College, Pennsylvania. He exercised it, too, all in the name of the football program. The entire coverup was football motivated. Every time, since he gained knowledge of Sandusky’s actions, Paterno sat down in living rooms of recruits to pitch the Penn State football program, he lied to them, and he lied to their parents. Paterno would often send letters to recruits claiming PSU as “the cleanest program in the country.” It was about his image, the program’s image, football revenue, and wins. The victims were not only an afterthought, but seemingly not even entered into the decision-making equation.
The NCAA reached their ruling, and they delivered the news Monday morning. In my opinion, their sanctions are justified.
Penalties levied by the NCAA:
It’s not the death penalty that many were speculating, but Penn State football had all their limbs lopped off. These sanctions could potentially set the Penn State football program back a decade or more. Revenue, recruiting, coaching, fan support, perception – everything will be greatly affected.
To the Penn State fans, students, alumni, and current football players, you got a raw deal. You’re upset, and rightfully so. You don’t deserve this, and you have my sympathy. Just remember something, though – the NCAA is not to blame here. Your university’s administration, and more directly, the man pictured above who is being so aptly cloaked and carried off to pasture is. He pulled the cloak over your eyes for over a decade, and many child sexual assault victims were the result – all because of college football.
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I’ll allow it.
12 years ago at 8:57 amNice job Dorn.
12 years ago at 9:39 amTFTC.
12 years ago at 7:33 pmBlackballed
12 years ago at 8:57 amBest description I’ve heard so far regarding the NCAA’s sanctions: “A rotten institution punishing institutional rot.”
12 years ago at 8:58 amYes, but I don’t think the NCAA’s standard institutional rot is child rape. Something had to be done here, to show that schools that cover up these kinds of things will be punished.
12 years ago at 9:02 amCompletely agree with you, just think that the NCAA is a fucking slimy organization in its own right. They’re creating an illusion that everything is getting better now thanks to these punishments–which, in all fairness, are completely deserved. But the NCAA isn’t really changing the culture of college football to deal with the problem of, quoting Emmert, programs that are “too big to fail.”
12 years ago at 9:36 amThe NCAA is a bunch of commie fucks. I thought this was America.
12 years ago at 11:54 amYes, this is America. When even our death row inmates know child molesters deserve to be shanked in a prison shower, it is clear that America as a whole does not put up with that shit.
12 years ago at 12:21 pmI would agree there, bornaBROg. These “too big to fail” programs are bad for the sport. They dilute the available talent pool because they do huge recruiting drives and then sideline good players that could be stars elsewhere in the league. Honestly, if it wouldn’t be such a fucking mess, I’d say we need a college draft, but because not every college athlete is going to go pro and, one would hope, also actually wants an education, that kind of system wouldn’t work.
12 years ago at 5:27 pmYeah it’s unbelievable how many kids think that a collegiate scholarship automatically translates into a multi-million dollar NFL deal. In a perfect world that draft idea would could potentially work wonders for players, conferences, and programs alike. Until then we’ll just continue to see three, four, and five star recruits fall victim to plateauing programs with too many options to know what to do with, while “bottom-tier” football programs and mid-majors compete for a share of the leftovers.
12 years ago at 10:56 amOf course, perhaps the draft wouldn’t be a bad idea. Instead of schools fighting over recruits with money, they’d fight over them with school, program and extracurricular quality. If they let the athletes actually have social lives and allowed then to join student orgs like greek life, it would make the players more well-rounded when they leave. But, that’s probably a pipe dream, because there is no way the NCAA could conduct a fair and balanced draft. It’s a hive of scum and villainy.
12 years ago at 9:35 pmThat was incredibly well said, at the end. Maybe now football won’t come first above the law. Maybe Nick Saban and his daughter will go to jail.
And maybe pigs will fly. But hey, who knows?
12 years ago at 8:58 amHe still has Satan on his side last time I checked.
12 years ago at 5:33 pmAgreed, well done.
12 years ago at 9:00 amAs a current psu student, this is a correct and fair analysis.
12 years ago at 9:00 amSure, Penn State is at a tremendous fault here. But seriously? It seems to me that the NCAA is just stomping on their throat. 60 million crushes all facets of the institution, especially those that had absolutely nothing to do with the terrible acts of 4 or so men. Current students, professors, fuck, even the common janitor at Penn State are fucked beyond necessity because of the ruling. I agree with the bowl bans, scholarships, and all that other shit, but to levy 60 mil from a school that is already up shit creek in civil court is a nasty way to treat one of NCAA’s most tradition-rooted schools. Sending a message is one thing, but destroying the fabric of a school is pretty fucked up, even though the acts of sandusky and paterno were sick.
12 years ago at 9:02 amFalse. That is one year of revenue from the football program. They cannot cut sports to pay for it. They also have the ability to pay $60 million over 5 years, which they will do, which is chump change.
12 years ago at 9:04 amI don’t see how they can generate 60mil in revenue from the football program with all these penalties.
12 years ago at 9:19 amAfter reading everything about the culture of that program and university, I am positive there will be at least 90,000 butts in the seats on Saturdays. Add in revenue from merchandise and whatever donations that come in specifically to pay off the fine, I’m convinced they’ll be OK. They’ll have to scale back on some costs for Football Marketing and recruiting as well. This is an athletic department with a $101 million budget. They can find ways to cut back on football expenses.
12 years ago at 9:33 amthey raised over 200 million from alumni in 2011-2012 since the scandal occurred. I think theyll be fine. If anything i would have increased the amount they have to pay
12 years ago at 10:03 am60M is not very much for university that runs students through it like tuition-paying cattle. The football program will suffer more because of the lost scholarships
12 years ago at 4:34 pmThank you and have nice day
12 years ago at 4:34 pmThey just got their butt peed in.
12 years ago at 9:03 amWell said. I think we will probably see law suits come up from students of the college for ruining things like kids pro football careers.
12 years ago at 9:03 amThey have the option of transferring with no penalty.
12 years ago at 9:16 am^
12 years ago at 9:20 am^^
12 years ago at 9:33 am^^^ Barely a month before the season begins. They can’t go anywhere and compete for a starting job. They can go to Holy Cross and play maybe but outside of schools like that there aren’t a whole lot of options.
12 years ago at 4:28 pmThey can transfer at the end of the season without penalty as well.
12 years ago at 8:03 pmI appreciated that the NCAA pointed out that athletics come after the primary point of college. It’s the National COLLEGIATE Athletics Program. One that is meant to bring athletics into college culture. Obviously they succeeded. But the culture is what needs a change for Penn State. They claim a clean culture and it’s what the NCAA is trying to give them now.
12 years ago at 9:03 am