Jerry Sandusky and PSU - Page 37

On July 24 2012 11:47 zev318 wrote:


dont really care about college football, everything they have done today only punishes the students athletes. i dont see one thing being done about the people who covered it up (as of yet), that's what my comment is really about.

On July 25 2012 03:16 gh0st wrote:
Morally, I think the punishment is the right thing to do. I'm just skeptical whether the NCAA really had the authority to do it...

On July 25 2012 04:18 OuchyDathurts wrote:
I'm curious where the $60million is going to end up going. I haven't heard. But the logical choice to me would be giving it to some sexual assault victims charity. It'd go a long way to helping a lot of people I'm sure. May as well try and do some right with this whole thing.

On July 25 2012 03:16 gh0st wrote:
The Freeh report includes internal e-mails between PSU admins following the 2001 incident, which McQueary reported to Paterno. Officials probably obtained those documents during the investigation, which would lead back to him. It's also possible McQueary went to investigators directly.

As for the NCAA sanctions, I can't find anything in the NCAA bylaws that authorizes this sort of punishment. Not only are the purported "violations" razor thin (the letter to PSU cites the "ethical conduct" section, which really has nothing to do with child abuse if you read it), but the way the NCAA handed down the punishment went totally outside the normal process for infractions. That said, PSU decided to take it, so I guess that's moot.

Morally, I think the punishment is the right thing to do. I'm just skeptical whether the NCAA really had the authority to do it...

On July 25 2012 04:18 OuchyDathurts wrote:
I'm curious where the $60million is going to end up going. I haven't heard. But the logical choice to me would be giving it to some sexual assault victims charity. It'd go a long way to helping a lot of people I'm sure. May as well try and do some right with this whole thing.

On July 25 2012 04:26 NicolBolas wrote:


So let me get this straight. You're saying that, in order to have the mandate to hand down this punishment, the NCAA has to explicitly state:

1: Don't rape children.

2: Don't cover up for other people raping children.

That's... an interesting way to think about it. One would think that these would be common sense and assumed.

And technically, the NCAA doesn't allege that PSU broke any rules; this wasn't handed down by the usual NCAA resolution system. This was essentially a decree from the highest levels of the NCAA saying that "these are now the rules that PSU operates under within the NCAA." The NCAA makes those rules, and therefore they are well within their rights to change them.

Also, as I understand, the sanctions were negotiated between the NCAA and PSU. Basically, the NCAA wanted to institute the "death penalty" (which again, they are well within their rights to do, as they sanction collegiate sports activity), and PSU argued them down to this.

On July 25 2012 04:41 Jerubaal wrote:


You seem to be having trouble grasping the objection. The NCAA is not The Grand Universal Arbiter of Everything. They are not enforcers of the law. They are an organization that federates universities for the purpose of athletic competition. That is their purview. In fact, they have 0 power if PSU decides to simply withdraw from the NCAA, but they won't because they get too much money from it.

The laws broken had nothing to do with NCAA competition and it was incidental that the people involved were involved in an NCAA sport. This is much more like the NFL's policy of fining and suspending for anything that goes on their lives regardless of its connection to the sport.

Of course, the NCAA could have- they didn't- make a justification based on an institutional aspect, but that would be like Blizzard banning you because you downloaded music illegally on the same computer you play Starcraft.

A punishment like this should have been handed down from The State of Pennsylvania or their Education Board. Or, hey, we can even get the DoEducation to blackmail them because they're good at that. The NCAA did it because they wanted to look tough and because people don't care/are ignorant. That people were even looking to the NCAA for a response is just a testament to the stupidity of college sports at the moment.

On July 25 2012 04:29 BloodNinja wrote:


I thought it was stated that the $60 million was going to charities that the victims of child abuse. Im not sure if that is 100% accurate but I was pretty sure I had heard the money was going to charities at one point.

On July 25 2012 04:41 Jerubaal wrote:

You seem to be having trouble grasping the objection. The NCAA is not The Grand Universal Arbiter of Everything. They are not enforcers of the law. They are an organization that federates universities for the purpose of athletic competition. That is their purview. In fact, they have 0 power if PSU decides to simply withdraw from the NCAA, but they won't because they get too much money from it.

The laws broken had nothing to do with NCAA competition and it was incidental that the people involved were involved in an NCAA sport. This is much more like the NFL's policy of fining and suspending for anything that goes on their lives regardless of its connection to the sport.

On July 25 2012 04:56 RJGooner wrote:


This is correct. The NCAA WAY overstepped their boundaries here, it is not their prerogative to deal with criminal matters such as this one, and they aren't equipped to do it even if it was in their mandate. All these sanctions do is open up a massive Pandora's box.

The NCAA, as the post above has noted, is there to ensure that schools maintain an equal playing field. The reason they gave SMU the death penalty was because they paid players to come to the school and thus obtained an unfair advantage over others.

The NCAA just sent the wrong message on this one. PSU's football program itself did nothing wrong and did not violate any NCAA rules. In fact, PSU's program was one of the most highly regarded in the country, not only because it was successful but also because the players graduated. For the NCAA to step in here and basically destroy the football program with one fell swoop is just wrong. It won't send any messages about the "football first" culture to any other schools I'll tell you that much. Alabama, Texas, Michigan, all those schools will continue to place heavy emphasis on football just like they always have.

On July 25 2012 05:05 NicolBolas wrote:


Actually, what was done very much did have to do with NCAA competition.

The reason the NCAA got involved wasn't just because a coach raped children. It's because coaches covered it up. It's because PSU covered it up. It's because other people covered it up.

And why did the cover-up happen? Because college football at PSU is serious business, and those people wouldn't allow their college football program to be harmed. On PSU, the college football program, and Pantero's legacy in particular, is God. And you can't let God be hurt by something like that, so they hid it. If the same thing had happened at Joe Rinkydink University, with a head coach that has a losing record, the cover up would almost certainly never have happened in the first place.

So if there were no NCAA competition to begin with, there likely wouldn't have been a cover up. Thus, NCAA competition is very much involved.

The purpose in handing this down is for the NCAA to wake up universities everywhere and remind them that college football is never that important. It is to punish them for promoting a culture that allowed such a crime to go unpunished for over a decade.