I don't really care about football, but I was reading about this today and was wondering about others opinions. Do you feel these sanctions are good, bad, harmful to those not involved, what? Article on the sanctions.
I don't think the NCAA has the right to hand out punishment related to civil/federal crimes (as opposed to NCAA violations relating to recruiting) nor do I think their institution is set up in such a way that they can rightfully "set precedent." It's always been that they could punish based on broken bylaws, not carve new punishment as it goes along. Even though the $60 million fine is going toward organization supporting child abuse, Penn State is already going to get hit by civil lawsuits from the victims of sexual abuse (as they rightfully should). I really think something like that should have been left to civil courts. As far as how the punishment is logical, I really wish they would have given Penn State a multiple-year death penalty. If anyone needed it, it was clearly them..let them sit back for a few years and realize that sports/recreation should never take priority over innocent lives being ruined. This way they get to continue with their football program and continue in the delusions that led them to this mess... In the end I won't lose much sleep over it or try terribly hard to cry fowl over the NCAA acting like a civil court - the uppermost officials at PSU essentially harbored a violent pedophile for at least 14 years (maybe more), effectively showing no remorse for the victims involved. That's as evil as you can get, imo, and while it's regrettable that people having nothing to do with the crimes (the community and students) will be hurt by these penalties, the institution was clearly going to have to take major penalties at some point and be held accountable for the evil that happened on its grounds.
Please clarify: PSU is a university - right? In the UK, most students at university are 18+ - adults in other words. How did this man get access to children? DO the universities sponsor youth programmes? I fins it difficult to believe that he managed to get away with it for so long - I read that he had been seen abusing guys in the showers. How did that go unreported? Whilst I agree with you that it isn't the job of the sports' authority to impose fines, if there is nothing in place to make them pay for their gross negligence, then I think it's good that they have been fined. What's the betting that PSU appeal?:bang:
Went unreported b/c the head coach was treated like a god and told them not to. Coaches of good athletic college teams are really powerful here. I totally approve of this, that shit is totally immoral.
The assistant football coach was an unrepentant pedophile who created a charity specifically to allow him access to young boys. He took said young boys, nearly all of whom were without fathers and from underprivileged backgrounds, to football games, or to work out or "wrestle" with him. Much of this occurred in the Penn State locker rooms. He'd have them shower with him, even if they didn't work out enough to get sweaty. He was caught having anal sex with a kid of about 10 in 1998, and then again in 2001. The head coach and the athletic director and college president all conspired not to report the incidents to the police, in violation of Federal law. The assistant coach was forcibly retired after the first incident, but still was allowed to bring kids to the locker room. The assistant coach was convicted of 42 counts of sexual abuse of minors after a half-dozen of his victims, now adults, testified. He adamantly denied any of it, in spite of voluminous evidence. A report Penn State commissioned showed there was a culture of secrecy and silence, and this, in part, is why the NCAA acted as it did.
My mom is an alumni. I feel sad about the whole thing because she used to love talking about her experiences and JoePa, but now its all tainted and gone to hell. Sanctions are deserved of course though. Worst scandle in college sports history by far.
Those are a lot of questions to really long story and deep scandal, but I'll briefly try to answer... Yes, it is a public university in the state of Pennsylvania. Most students are 18+. The man, Jerry Sandusky, was deeply involved in the community and was well known for helping young, underprivileged children better themselves and their families. He had a charity for this, and used it along with his position as assistant football coach to gain private access to children. I know universities do, but I'm not sure about Sandusky's charity. How it went unreported is a really long story..I'll provide a few links if you'd like to read deep into it. There will be civil lawsuits levied against the university by the victims of Sandusky, that I can assure you. The men directly involved in the cover-up have either passed away or will be in jail for some time. Sandusky will die in prison. Here's a few links if you really want to go terribly in-depth with it: Grand Testimony of the victims of Jerry Sandusky: Penn State Sex Crime Grand Jury Testimony The Freeh Report, a university-paid report by former FBI director Louis Freeh regarding how the crimes of Jerry Sandusky were able to continue for so long: The Freeh Report on Pennsylvania State University | Judge Louis Freeh investigation on PSU An overview of the scandal: Penn State child sex abuse scandal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I think the NCAA was totally in the right in issuing these sanctions. The NCAA is an organization with a reputation just like any other, and as such, it has the right to give its own punishment to its constituent athletic programs. The fine seems like it's pushing the NCAA's authority a little bit, but extreme circumstances call for extreme actions.
Thanks for the info: The crimes are staggering! I eally just don't understand how anyone could have turned a blind eye to this - it's just to awful to think that people allowed him to get away with it, or conspired to keep it hidden.:tantrum:
The thing that might be hard to understand is just how ridiculously over-the-top people in this country are about sports, particularly college sports. Penn State U. was effectively run by its football program. All the academics and everything else took a back seat. Football players could get away with practically anything, including rape, without fear of any meaningful retribution for their actions, simply because the football coach controlled all disciplinary actions, and wouldn't allow anything to tarnish the reputation of his program. This behavior and attitude permeated the entire culture and community of the school. Sadly, even in spite of all the incontrovertible evidence, there are still some people who are convinced that their beloved football coach Paterno didn't do anything wrong by covering things up and lying, and it's all just over-the-top and everyone should just let it go and move on. Unbelievable how badly people can get their priorities out of order.
It has to happen. And thank God it did - people need to know that nothing should ever take priority over someone's life. They covered it up. It's clear as day they did it, just so the school football program could continue strong. And for what? It backfired to an extreme level in their faces. Federal laws were broken. Lives were ruined. Reputations broken down. Titles taken away. Hell, they actually removed the statue of Joe Paterno this morning and hauled it away. And for what? Because they wanted the glory of saying they had one of the best football teams in the nation. Such a thing should not go unpunished. The nation needs to know doing such a thing is unacceptable.
I support the decisions. the college and the football department covered up and were accomplices to child rape. There has to be consequences that send the message to all colleges and sports departments that the price you pay for allowing crap like this to happen in the pursuit of protecting the criminals within the program will be severe.
I support the decisions made. The university covered up a ton of child sex abuse. I feel bad for the current players there because they were not at the university when most of the allegations were made. I'm glad that the NCAA gave those players an opportunity to transfer without penalties.
What I find most disturbing about the whole affair is that, in the area I live, the majority of the people in this area defend the actions they took. It's horrible to me that our culture is so wrapped up in the allure of sports that we ignore something as awful as this.
Yeah.. I know. I see it a little bit here in Ohio (even though I live in Ohio State Country). I just don't understand how people can think that what they did was right..
I feel like the sanctions are good. American college sports deserve to get kicked in the ass hard. There is a very strong rape culture that correlates with American football, even as close to me as Missoula.
You are going to have to provide some evidence when you say an activity that thousands of young men are involved in has a "rape culture".
I don't care if you did something as amazing as curing AIDS, cancer, and heart disease all in one shot. The instant you either perpetrate or enable pedophilia, your legacy and life accomplishments are headed straight down the crapper, guaranteed.
To spur a little more drama into this subject, how does everyone feel about the removal of Joe Paterno's statue from the campus. Joe Paterno statue removed; NCAA to announce Penn State sanctions - latimes.com