Here are a couple of conspiratorial gems from the complaint that the State of PA has just filed against the NCAA.
"In the weeks following the NCAA's gutting of the Penn State football program, at least ten Penn State football players transferred from Penn State, taking advantage of the NCAA's sanction that allowed them to play immediately for competing schools. At least five football recruits severed their commitments to Penn State. Like children looting a newly broken pinata, competing colleges and universities promptly snapped up the newly available football players, strengthening their own football programs at the expense of the one the NCAA had conspired to decimate" (paragraph 60).
"The NCAA, its member colleges and universities, and particularly, the competitor colleges and universities engaged in this collective assault on Penn State for the purpose of enhancing their own public image at the expense of a competitor. The NCAA and its member colleges and universities engaged in this activity in an effort to cripple Penn State's ability to maintain a nationally renowned football program that is a centerpiece of campus life and community support, and thereby" (paragraph 67).
I added the italics.
The brief is here.
I would like to see the punishment reduced, it was never the right thing to do.
"You'll be proud of our young people in the classroom, in the community, and most especially in 310 days in Ann Arbor, Michigan on the football field."
The brief has some compelling arguments, but everyone-is-out-to-get-me attitude that surfaces doesn't help.
@ "BUCKI_1033"...based on what? How was it never the right thing to do? (And please, don't give a faulty/lazy reply about how: "it's not fair to the players who had nothing to do with this". We get that. That poor rationale has been covered already and debunked. It's not about that.) The program benefited from a deceitful decade-plus long cover-up. The punishments did not go far enough! This wasn't improper benefits...it was young boys being raped! in the locker room, followed up by a calculated cover-up by coaches and others in power, to protect the program. Let's not forget that. And, many in that PSU bubble around State College STILL don't "get it! If PSU had any real spine, dignity, or decency - they would've self-imposed very harsh sanctions. Too late now.
+ 1,000
"You win with people." - Woody Hayes
How did they benefit necessarily?
Greg Jennings "I put my team on my back"
I'll gladly answer that question, DOWNTHESIDELINE12...
I strongly believe the PSU Football program benefited from covering up the rapes. How could they not? They also gained a competitive advantage down the line, or maybe the better word is sustained. They sustained the same strong, nationally-respected football program they had going, due to this cover-up.
The football program gained a competitive advantage as a direct result of these calculated, 14-year cover-ups. There is no way PSU would have consistently received the same caliber of recruits had this come out a decade or so ago, whether they would've had penalties or not. This all means less wins, less exposure, less big bowl games, & ultimately less $. Also, tickets sales would likely not have been the same, and merchandise sales may have plummeted.
* PSU sold itself on the Joe Pa brand of "old school", "success with honor", and how they did things the right away, etc.; whatever other BS they pedaled. This is all another reason why they covered this up - b/c Joe was PSU. When people thought Penn State they immediately though Joe Pa. And vice versa. Covering Joe's reputation helped the school succeed. Any innocent bystanders suffering because of a the penalties, (i.e.: fans, alumni, players, ticket vendors) are just collateral damage. That’s how it works. Tough for them. It may have not been fair to the innocent bystanders at SMU in the 80s, but hell - that was just improper benefits. What happened at PSU was sooo much worse, and yes - it was directly related to the football program, because all along it was about protecting the football program, (and the school, the athletic dept., the reputations, and jobs)...but mostly about that football program.
There's just no way PSU would have sustained the same success as a program had this come out earlier. How did they not benefit? UrbanWoodrow is right on with this.
"You win with people." - Woody Hayes
Wow screw penn st protecting child molesters. They got what they deserved imo
O'Deez330
stark county football
i dont see a problem with the punishment they got. joe pa and a few college officials knew what was going on, as i see it they were just protecting joe pa so he could get the all time wins record.
I think it was Baylor basketball that had three kids murder another and the coached tried to help cover it up and the NCAA did nothing. I think they should have waited to pass judgement, Sandusky wasn't even convicted when the NCAA punished penn state. What if Sandusky got off or it ended differently would the NCAA take back their punishment. They went above and acted before the law. I didn't know the NCAA was above the judicial system in this country. I think there are a lot of people who want to pass judgement and punishment on to penn state so they feel like a hero. People should let the law do its job first. There is a huge problem in this country with "guilty until proven innocent" and that's what the NCAA did, punished PSU before the conviction of Sandusky.
Wherever you are, there you be!
I get where you're going with this, but comparing the Baylor and Penn State situations is apples vs. oranges times ten. Baylor didn't cover it up for over a decade for one. And, it wasn't even a proven cover-up in Waco...at least not anything in the same realm when compared to the calculated, systemic cover-up at PSU. It was one person...not many kids. Plus - did you see the Costas interview with 'Dusky? Come on --- he sealed his fate there. If anyone thought he could maybe still be innocent after that interview - they'd need a reality check.
p.s. - maybe it's just me, but I'm sick of hearing about how it's so "bad for the Big Ten Conference", in regards to the Penn State plight and the possibility of Bill O'Brien leaving. I love the game of football and care about it just as much as everyone else on here - but I'm not going to put the program responsible for THE worst scandal/cover-up in the history of sports ahead of the integrity of the conference or the legacy of those poor rape victims. Who cares if the B1G may be a shade weaker if their butt-chinned leader defects. That's what the B1G deserves for keeping them in the conference post scandal. Let those arrogant phonies break off and go Independant or to the Big East - which is where they should've been all along. Outside of 2 or 3 great seasons in the past 20 years - Penn State had been pretty average in football since joining the Big Ten. Their basketball team is a joke, too. No loss.
I personally will enjoy watching the Pennsylvania legislature take the NCAA down a notch. They think they are all powerful and i am quite frankly sick of it.
PSU is reaping what it sowed by not doing anything about Sandusky. The bowl ban is temporary. The sanctions are temporary. The football team is still playing games. The damage caused by the administration's insanity, ignorance and callousness will never be fixed because now they're a running joke that nobody takes seriously, which is terrible considering what a fine academic institution PSU is. Having that dark cloud forever hanging over your heads is not something i would EVER want. Whatever intregity, respect and righteousness that school had is gone. It will never get it back. Destroying innocence and covering it up will do that.
"Sherman ran an option play right through the south" - Greatest.Civil.War.Analogy.Ever