Topic: Penn State Scandal

[KJP]

The Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education are conducting investigations into Penn State, as well. More to come on that.

You referring to this?

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/department-education-could-bigger-threat-penn-state-ncaa-203019718--ncaaf.html

[natininja]

Bottom line is, a precedent has been set and people will think twice now before overlooking child (sex) abuse. This has ramifications beyond the NCAA.

Children (and adults who were once children) will be saved a lot of torment because of these harsh penalties.

Too bad the Catholic Church will likely never get its comeuppance for far worse, and more systematic, complicity than Paterno and PSU ever committed.

[KJP]

Too bad the Catholic Church will likely never get its comeuppance for far worse, and more systematic, complicity than Paterno and PSU ever committed.

No, but many of its souls probably will.

[Clevelander17]

I see it a little differently...I don't think that the NCAA's actions were really about child abuse, it was more about letting other institutions know that a coach and a program can never be allowed to become bigger than the school.
 
The Big Ten also dropped sanctions on PSU today, basically saying that they won't receive any bowl shares (about $13 million) over the next four seasons.  That money will go to a children's defense fund as well.

[natininja]

^ BS. If you want to be cynical but realistic, the NCAA and B1G wanted to clear their own names by making it clear they would not tolerate this behavior. They see the blame creeping up the chain of command and they aren't willing to accept any criticism.

[Gordon Bombay]

Just read the details of the punishment and it seems harsh.

I haven't seem someone at Penn State get screwed this hard since Sandusky was on campus.

[mrnyc]

not quite far enough yet, they need to take this paternos name off the library or whatever campus bldg that is too. yeah the psu prez said they were not going to do that, but they seriously need to reconsider and take his name off it.  its disgusting to leave it.

[gottaplan]

^why is it disgusting to leave it?  Is the man's entire legacy trash over this scandal?  Is his entire career null & void because of this?  Didn't he donate millions of his salary to fund the library and other buildings on campus?    Taking down statues and removing his name from buildings is not going to remove Paterno's legacy from Penn State.  Despite this scandal, JoePa had a positive impact on thousands of young men who played for him and Penn State has largely been a scandal free program.

[KJP]

Your statement reminds me of former Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott's infamous quote: "Hitler was good in the beginning, but he went a little too far."

Joe Paterno ignored warnings while his friend brutalized children for 14 years (and there's evidence that Sandusky actually started in the 1970s). Raping children is worse than murder.

[Loretto]

Yep, Joe sure did ignore things when he forwarded the situation to his administrative superiors who then created a paper trail of their [lack] of handling it. 

[KJP]

Yep, Joe sure did ignore things when he forwarded the situation to his administrative superiors who then created a paper trail of their [lack] of handling it. 

Source?

[natininja]

They emailed each other about how they would wait-see and the one guy said he was worried that might turn out to be problematic, even though he agreed it's what they would do. Basically they agreed to protect sandusky.

That doesn't let JoePa off the hook though. It wasn't a professional responsibility to see to it that Sandusky was held responsible by his superiors. This want a matter where protocol would be to handle it internally. Anyone with knowledge of the situation had an obligation to go to higher authority than the school administration to see to it that these kids were protected. In this situation, the school administrators were not the proper authority for JoePa to appeal to, in fact they were not authorities at all in that they had no real power over Sandusky's behavior. It was not school rules being broken but civil laws. JoePa passed the buck and pretended to have clean hands.

[Loretto]

They emailed each other about how they would wait-see and the one guy said he was worried that might turn out to be problematic, even though he agreed it's what they would do. Basically they agreed to protect sandusky.

@KJP The above is a paraphrasing of the Freeh Report and what I was referencing.

The Freeh Report hasn't dissuaded me from my hypothesis that Paterno's title of head coach was a farce where those putting it on forgot they owed everyone involved to be manning the strings and pulling levers behind the curtain.

[mrnyc]

osu should be hard at work poaching any decent psu player since they are all now free to leave. particularly any ohio players.

[Hts121]

I see it a little differently...I don't think that the NCAA's actions were really about child abuse, it was more about letting other institutions know that a coach and a program can never be allowed to become bigger than the school.

Yep.  That's how I took it.  The current NCAA leadership was sending a clear message that the "good ole days" and the "old boys networks" are over..... the era people nostagically look back upon as a "better time in history" won't repeat itself.  The Powers That Be at these powerhouse schools will be held accountable.  No one is above the law.  If the hammer can come down on JoePa, it can drop on anybody

[AJ93]

^why is it disgusting to leave it?  Is the man's entire legacy trash over this scandal?  Is his entire career null & void because of this?  Didn't he donate millions of his salary to fund the library and other buildings on campus?    Taking down statues and removing his name from buildings is not going to remove Paterno's legacy from Penn State.  Despite this scandal, JoePa had a positive impact on thousands of young men who played for him and Penn State has largely been a scandal free program.

Yes. It is. But let's make this fair. How many boys were raped by Jerry Sandusky AFTER 'Joe-pa' (and can we lose the cuddly grampa nickname for this jerk?) had the ability to stop him, but elected to try and protect his program instead (and yes, he was involved in that decision making process, as  documented in the Freeh report). Why don't we ask them how they feel about protecting Paterno's legacy?

Well, son, your life has been irreversibly damaged by what occurred to you, but Coach sure did help a lot of other kids. What do you say we let bygones be bygones?

Paterno's name should not be on any honorarium associated with the school, because, quite frankly, his legacy and Sandusky's are forever entwined.

[Clevelander17]

I see it a little differently...I don't think that the NCAA's actions were really about child abuse, it was more about letting other institutions know that a coach and a program can never be allowed to become bigger than the school.

Yep.  That's how I took it.  The current NCAA leadership was sending a clear message that the "good ole days" and the "old boys networks" are over..... the era people nostagically look back upon as a "better time in history" won't repeat itself.  The Powers That Be at these powerhouse schools will be held accountable.  No one is above the law.  If the hammer can come down on JoePa, it can drop on anybody

I just hope it's consistently enforced.  There are a lot of schools in a certain part of the country where a similar type of culture putting football above all else is rampant.

[gottaplan]

Brent Musberger getting choked up on PTI while talking about Paterno's legacy and the future of the program...  he seems to think it was a rush decision by the NCAA

[eurokie]

Brent Musberger getting choked up on PTI while talking about Paterno's legacy and the future of the program...  he seems to think it was a rush decision by the NCAA

I saw that, and just lost any and all respect for Musberger, which was palpable. Anyone who can defend kiddie fiddlers needs to be thrown under the bus. When there's a scandal, adjust your paradigm, don't just reassert what you thought of everyone and everything. That's insanity, making the same mistake more than necessary.