Penn State Punishment

We have all heard about the punishment given to Penn State this morning.  If you have not heard about it, well read all about here.  I do not plan on rehashing what was decided.  I just want to give you folks some of my thoughts and feelings about the subject.

Last week when I was at my mom’s house, she asked me what I thought should be the punishment.  I told her that I felt that the statue of Joe Paterno needed to be removed.  I also said that the school should receive a hefty punishment.  I did not think the death penalty was right though.  I felt that you could do something positive still.  My solution was to make all revenue from football (after paying for all the other sports) go to some kind of abused children fund for the next five years.  I felt that you would not be hurting the community by still having football and I had no clue how much money the program actually brings in each year.

Well it turns out that it is somewhere around $60 million (if I understood the press conference correctly).  I am actually annoyed that the NCAA is allowing them to break that up over five years ($12 million per year).  If they went with my idea, then the Big Ten would not need to exclude PSU from the bowl game revenue, since that money would be used for some charitable fund.

The rest of the punishment does not bother me at all.  Yes, I am sad that I will not be able to see Penn State play in a bowl game for a few years, but that is just a small price to pay for being a fan of university that stood by and did nothing while a man molested children.

That is one thing that will not change throughout this whole tragedy.  I will continue to be a Penn State fan.  I might not be as proud as I once was, but I will never stop loving my school.  However, that does not mean that I am one of the PSU fans who feels that Paterno did nothing wrong.  I will never see him as anything more than a coward, who only worried about his football program and not the well being of others.

I wish Bill O’Brien the best of luck on the upcoming season.  It is up to him to lead us into a new era.

Author: Ngewo

7 thoughts on “Penn State Punishment

  1. It doesn’t happen often, but I have to disagree with some of this. This purely is an act of the NCAA trying to prove it wears big boy pants now. No matter what the moral high ground may say, justice was not done. Only more pounds of flesh taken. None of this makes any of the victims be not so.

    I’m ok with the fines, and I’m obviously on board with the programs to which they will be assigned. I’m also with you in that they should let PSU go to a bowl and all the money they earn go to good and relevant causes. But seriously, some of that money needs to be given to the victims. Of course all of that revenue loss does hurt the other athletic programs, and the university as a whole. You thought *our* tuition was high? Heh. Let’s see about that.

    Vacating wins? Why 1998, when there was, at the time, no actual evidence of wrongdoing? Why not 2001, when there was? Why not 1966, when JoePa began his evil and cowardly reign? I understand that the NCAA does not want JoePa on top of the list, and they shouldn’t. But do you actually think any of the victims actually care about the wins? The only one this further shames is quite beyond shame’s reach right now, and it makes irrelevant all the players who played their hearts out to win these games. Did Larry Johnson actually rush for 2000+ yards in 2002? Why not vacate John Cappelletti’s Heisman, since who knows what was going on then? Do I get a refund for all the games I attended that apparently now didn’t happen? How about the Orange Bowl Champ merchandise that was apparently now never for sale?

    Basically these sanctions help no one and punish all who weren’t involved, past, present and future students, and the surrounding community included. Weird, I seem to remember passages from Exodus and Deuteronomy about punishing the children for the sins of the father. But, according to the NCAA, I might have to vacate that knowledge, too.

  2. P.S. Sorry for deleting a few comments, I am OCD about my words. That’s why I never post on my own blog.

  3. I agree that the 1998 starting point seems odd. However, does it really matter? Vacating wins only affects the record. Obviously the games were still played. LJ still rushed for 2000+ yards, I still got arrested for passing out on a bench outside the Saloon after the PSU victory over Nebraska. It is just ridiculous to say that those games never happened.

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