Their scholarships have been cut from 25 to 15. But players may transfer to other schools.

I was glad to hear Mark Emmert say that players who chose to transfer could play immediately as long as they were eligible. I wish they really were about students and academics first and not just a money making mill though. Even if some athletes are only in college to be scouted professionally, they should at least require speech and communication classes. ESPN has far too many analysts who make me cringe when they open their mouths and butcher cliches, etc.

All of this is unnecessary IMO.

All of this is unnecessary IMO.

Why do u feel this way? Just curious? Do you think Penn State should have suffered no penalties?

My feeling on the situation is the same as everyone else's... it was disgusting and wrong, but all of this extra stuff is honestly them trying to placate the public and they don't want to be accused of going to easy on them.

Why are they invalidating 14 years of wins? They are not just taking it away from Joe Paterno but from the players that worked their ass off for those wins. What Sandusky did has nothing to do with what happened on the field. Taking down Joe Paterno's stuff was unnecessary as well. I haven't followed this case detail by detail but I do know I read he did tell someone higher up than him and they did nothing.

As for the scholarships and pro bowl game penalties that is just too much. Why punish players who weren't even there for this? Just fire the people involved and keep it moving. Justice was served with the pervert being sent to prison all of the rest is just extra.

Taking down Joe Paterno's stuff was unnecessary as well. I haven't followed this case detail by detail but I do know I read he did tell someone higher up than him and they did nothing.

No that statue needed to go. He knew what was happening since 1997 and he did nothing to stop it. He never went to the police. He never filed a report. He never did anything. He said he didn't do anything because he felt Sandusky should be treated humanely and that he should be dealt with internally and so he let Sandusky continue to rape boys because he didn't want bad publicity. That is disgusting. At the very least that Statue needed to be taken down/demolished. He was complicit. He knew it was happening and he concealed it. I'm still sickened by all the people sticking up for him and saying it wasn't his fault and calling him a hero when he let his players be sexually abused, molested and raped by one of their coaches. He was not a hero and that family is just as wrong for sticking up for him, saying it wasn't his fault and that he should have gone further. No [!@#$%^&*] of course he should have fought harder for those kids! But he did not and his legacy deserves to be completely demolished. He is the worst kind of person and he deserves no idolation or respect.

Edited July 23, 201213 yr by Skin

Taking away sports scholarships is a pretty typical penalty for infringements by Universities so that's no surprise. Many schools who have found to have had a variety of violations a lot less visible have had the scholarship penalty instituted.

It may seem harsh and granted some of it might seem extreme, but I think they are tying to send a message that none of these universities are above scrutiny. College sports is no longer used to enrich ones education as it once was, but as a huge money makers for the universities, not a whole lot diff than the pros iMO. They should be held to the same standards everyone else is. JMO of course.

Edited July 23, 201213 yr by JaneAusten

No that statue needed to go. He knew what was happening since 1997 and he did nothing to stop it. He never went to the police. He never filed a report. He never did anything. He said he didn't do anything because he felt Sandusky should be treated humanely and that he should be dealt with internally and so he let Sandusky continue to rape boys because he didn't want bad publicity. That is disgusting. At the very least that Statue needed to be taken down/demolished. He was complicit. He knew it was happening and he concealed it. I'm still sickened by all the people sticking up for him and saying it wasn't his fault and calling him a hero when he let his players be sexually abused, molested and raped by one of their coaches. He was not a hero and that family is just as wrong for sticking up for him, saying it wasn't his fault and that he should have gone further. No [!@#$%^&*] of course he should have fought harder for those kids! But he did not and his legacy deserves to be completely demolished. He is the worst kind of person and he deserves no idolation or respect.

Oh wow. I didn't know he said anything like that. I will admit I haven't followed this closely but I do agree that everything about this is all kinds of wrong. I just don't like how these penalties affect people who had nothing to do with this and how players who achieved those wins now are being told they do not count because one of their pervert coaches was molesting children.

Jane, I don't follow college sports (I prefer professional) so I had no idea what typical penalties were so it might sound harsher to me than it actually is.

I haven't followed this case detail by detail but I do know I read he did tell someone higher up than him and they did nothing.

This pretty much says it all.

Oh wow. I didn't know he said anything like that. I will admit I haven't followed this closely but I do agree that everything about this is all kinds of wrong. I just don't like how these penalties affect people who had nothing to do with this and how players who achieved those wins now are being told they do not count because one of their pervert coaches was molesting children.

I suggest that you read the grand jury presentment, reports on the Sandusky trial, and the Freeh report to fully understand the repulsive sickening immoral behavior and cover up that occurred at Penn State. This is not a topic on which to have an uninformed opinion.

As for the cry that people not at fault being effected by the penalties, the only sympathy I have is for those young boys who were sexually molested. Penn State got better than it deserved. There is something pathologically wrong with the culture at Penn State. Since football, money, and prestige is all Penn State cares about, this is exactly what it should lose.

Edited July 23, 201213 yr by Ann_SS

I just saw a real idiot named Bomani Jones on Around The Horn who said the NCAA was dead wrong in imposing the sanctions on Penn State. He said they should have kept their noses out of it. When he was questioned by Woody Hayes, his response was "I don't care what yall think". Which made me tweet him "I wonder if you would say that to the victim's families?"

I just saw a real idiot named Bomani Jones on Around The Horn who said the NCAA was dead wrong in imposing the sanctions on Penn State. He said they should have kept their noses out of it. When he was questioned by Woody Hayes, his response was "I don't care what yall think". Which made me tweet him "I wonder if you would say that to the victim's families?"

Did he say that on ATH?

Oops I clearly misread what you wrote because you already said he was on there. I missed their discussion on Penn State.

Edited July 24, 201213 yr by Wales2004

I wonder do.folks remember why the Clery Act was passed by congress. Our institutions have a tendency to want to hush up things that would tarnish them. Jeanne Clery was the Lehigh student who was murdered sleeping in her dorm. It was discovered after the university covered up/did not make the study body aware of violent crimes on canvas that led up to her murder.

I'm unfamiliar with the Clery Act.

One of the many things that troubles me about this is hearing the apologists say that we still don't know the whole story. I am not sure what they think can be said about Joe Paterno's generosity that would make him less culpable. His family's statements boether me the most because their real concern is his legacy and they tend to throw in the victims as more of an afterthought. As awful as it may be to them to see the reputation of the man they loved so much tarnished, they need to deal with the fact that this is not about them or him, it's about the victims.

It's really sad to hear the victims mentioned as though they were some sort of inconvenience as if this is their doing. I read that the sculptor of his statue said it wasn't right that the statue be removed just because Joe Paterno made a mistake. I thought a mistake was something you did unintentionally. He was fully aware of what he was doing and he was only sorry he didn't do enough after it was exposed. I don't see how that was a mistake.

The real question regarding the NCAA is whether they have the authority to impose the sanctions they did since this is something new for them. I doubt that Penn State will challenge them on this.

Unfortunately, the entire team suffers for the actions of a few when it comes to sanctions but I don't see how they rectify that. Usually the sanctions are because of athletes and those athletes are usually long gone and the NCAA cannot do anything about them. The players that are still around are the ones to pay. The thought process seems to be that there should have been institutional control and students are generally never going to all be in control of that.

The Paterno family's concern is also protecting the money and perks that it squeezed out of the Board of Trustees for Paterno's final contract.

All this concern about athletes rings false. They can all transfer to other schools, get scholarships, and play immediately so what exactly is the problem? They are supposed to be STUDENT athletes. They are SUPPOSEDLY going to school for an education, not to play football. They still keep their scholarships, get an education, and play football if they stay at Penn State. With the exception of maybe one or two, none of them are going to the NFL anyway.

Bomani Jones sounded like a fool on ATH.