NY Times Annihilates NCAA and Penn State - Must Read

[BSpringsteen]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/17/opinion/a-just-penalty-for-penn-state.html

Articles like this are going to force the NCAA's hand.

Big Time.

From the article:


It would be hard to imagine a more frivolous violation of the rules — or one that could do less harm to the integrity of college sports. What’s more, Caltech turned itself in after a new athletic director realized that the practice of shopping for classes probably violated N.C.A.A. rules. Yet the punishment imposed on the school was severe: three years of probation, a postseason ban in a dozen sports, the erasure of wins and individual records that were gained with ineligible athletes, and more. Indeed, Caltech was cited for “a lack of institutional control,â€￾ which is pretty much the worst thing you can be accused of in N.C.A.A.-speak.

 

[tweeterhawk]

True dat.

But is the NCAA willing to kill its fatted calf, aka Penn State football?

We shall see.

 

[hawkfan33]

Sounds like Caltech needs to get its **** together.

 

[ThunderHawk]

only the N.C.A.A. can impose the so-called death penalty, forcing Penn State to shut down its football program for a period of time. Yes, it would make a mess of television schedules, not to mention the rest of Penn State’s athletic teams — which rely on the revenue that football generates — but it’s the only way to send the right message. That message is this: no university should ever be as beholden to its football program as Penn State was. At other big-time sports schools, there are all kinds of daily hypocrisies that people avert their eyes from in the name of college football or men’s basketball. Sadly, we accept these hypocrisies as the price to be paid for the money college sports generates and the entertainment it provides.
But at Penn State, football was of such overweening importance — and Paterno was such a godlike figure — that a sexual predator was allowed to roam free because of his association with football. A janitor spots Sandusky in the shower with a boy but is afraid to say anything because crossing Paterno “would have been like going against the president of the United States.” Sandusky uses the lure of the football program to attract his victims. Paterno and others in the Penn State chain of command, in Freeh’s words, “repeatedly concealed critical facts relating to Sandusky’s child abuse” — to avoid bad publicity for the football program. A great university sold its soul to its football team.
As regular readers know, I don’t have much faith in the N.C.A.A. It has congealed into a bureaucracy that cares only about enforcing its rules, no matter how silly or retrograde. But here is a chance to put its money where its mouth is. The N.C.A.A. proclaims that part of its mission is to “integrate athletics into higher education.” If it really believes that, it will impose the death penalty on Penn State, to send a signal that no school should put football above its own integrity.
Anything less than that will send another signal entirely. Namely, that in the eyes of the N.C.A.A., what happened at Penn State is no worse than what happened at Caltech.

That's been my logic all along.

 

[eveningnewsteam]

Self imposed death penalty would be the only way Penn State will ever gain any sort of respect again.

 

[ThunderHawk]

Self imposed death penalty would be the only way Penn State will ever gain any sort of respect again.

Dan Patrick said that he was at a Starbucks, saw a guy with a Penn State bumper sticker on his car, and asked him what kind of reaction said sticker was garnering.

"everybody is flipping me off" was the reply.

 

[BergHawk7]

Self imposed death penalty would be the only way Penn State will ever gain any sort of respect again.

Dan Patrick said that he was at a Starbucks, saw a guy with a Penn State bumper sticker on his car, and asked him what kind of reaction said sticker was garnering."everybody is flipping me off=" was the reply.

=

Its crazy, penn st. Has turned into the muslems/taliban of college football. Almost 9/11 effect, what I mean is, americans looks at the group, and even though not all muslems are terrorists, we all associate them with that group. Pretty crazy.

 

[hawkfan33]

=

Its crazy, penn st. Has turned into the muslems/taliban of college football. Almost 9/11 effect, what I mean is, americans looks at the group, and even though not all muslems are terrorists, we all associate them with that group. Pretty crazy.

There's lots and lots of dumb Americans out there.

 

[superfan12]

That was a great article. Now if the NCAA will do anything.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Has public pressure ever squeezed the NCAA into doing anything before in regards to punishments? It seems like a no brainer if PSU and B1G don't then daddys got to put the hammer down. However with so much money at stake to be lost.....

 

[FML]

PSU really needs to jump in front of this and punish itself to save some face and reduce any upcoming and bigger penalties.

 

[thetrza]

At CalTech they don't call it cheating, they call it "trying".

 

[CAARHawk]

California schools just get hammered by the NCAA.

 

[JHHawk]

I still doubt that Emmert will go beyond a bowl ban,and scholly reduction.
If he went the death penalty route, PSU might sue,and they would have a case,imo.
Maybe if the NCAA came in and did their own investigation,in a year they might levy penalties.
He knows that if he opens this pandora's box, it will mean that every time a school has a legal scandal of any ilk, the NCAA will have to get involved. Marquette BB is next, for shielding bb players from a police rape investigation beyond campus police.
It will call into question whether campus police are considered real police. Spanier is contesting the findings of the Freeh report. Is Emmert going to jump right in with penalties before the trials? I doubt it.

 

[ChosenChildren]

Penn State needs to be electricuted. Death penalty. It is time.

NCAA: Drop the hammer, dudes, or forever be labeled as a bunch of cowards

 

[metahawk]

Sounds like Caltech needs to get its **** together.

This is a travesty. Judgements were based on incomplete information. Many of the people involved were not even interviewed but judged to have certain motivations. Conclusions were drawn from brief emails. Judgements based on those involved at the time of the alleged violations with what we know now isn't fair to them, and not the path to the full truth.

There is not enough space here to refute each point. To do so isn't necessary, anyway. Caltech has a rich tradition and history. I proudly downloaded their website iPhone App and will continue to use it even though I have no reason to. It's a good App dammit. I will be attempting to use it while rooting for my beloved Beavers at the big water polo match next month. WE ARE. CALTECH. (beavers).

 

[KansasHawkeye]

= Its crazy, penn st. Has turned into the muslems/taliban of college football. Almost 9/11 effect, what I mean is, americans looks at the group, and even though not all muslems are terrorists, we all associate them with that group. Pretty crazy.

There's lots and lots of dumb Americans out there.

Thank God for the stupid people, for they make me appear to be smart.

 

[CAARHawk]

Yunno, the more you think about it, PSU actually didn't have a lack of institutional control. On th contrary, they had extreme control. They were able to keep an amazing amount of people quiet and keep law enforcement from prosecuting a clearly obvious child molester, even when they heard him basically admit his actions.

They had employees fearing for their jobs, protected employees that kept their mouths shut and fired the ones that didn't.

Sounds like control to me.

 

[eshsstorm]

If i was a player at penn state I would rather get out of that place and transfer without having to sit out better than postseason ban.

 

[SmokeTownHawk]

"Several years ago after the University of Vermont goalie (one of them) reported hazing, the University took a remarkable action, it shut down the UVM hockey team for that season."


Thing is Groovy UV ain't the revenue darling that is Penn State football.