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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Penn State faces $60m fine over ex-coach sex scandal |
| 2012-07-24 |
| [Iran Press TV] US National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has fined Penn State University 60 million dollars in connection with a sex abuse scandal committed by long-serving football coach Jerry Sandusky. It's a state university, which means the money comes out of the pockets of Pennsylvania taxpayers... The university, a famous US football school, also loses all victories from 1998-2001 and will face a four-year ban from competing for honors. I can see the four-year ban, maybe kinda sorta, but I don't see what's served by "unwinning" 13 years worth of games that the athletes won, as far as anyone can tell, fair and square. I know of a lawyer who was arrested for attempting to "liase" with a 13-year-old girl. Nobody's called for any cases he won to be reversed. If it was a garbage man they wouldn't be bringing everybody's garbage back. US college sport authorities said the punishments are "corrective and punitive". Punitive, certainly, but I'm not sure how it punishes Jerry Sandusky. Sandusky faced 52 criminal counts that he sexually abused 10 boys over 15 years, allegations he has denied. His arrest and the fallout led to departures of longtime football coach Joe Paterno and the university president. Neither Paterno nor that university president abused the boys. The fact that Paterno "preferred not to notice" Sandusky's antics doesn't negate the fact that he was a winning coach. For that matter, it doesn't make Sandusky into other than a winning assistant coach. Sandusky's a dirtbag and Paterno decided to be a moral coward, but the football players played the games honestly. "Football will never again be placed ahead of educating, nurturing and protecting young people," NCAA President Mark Emmert was quoted as saying. Penn State is a football school but it's anything but a degree mill. "This case is obviously incredibly unprecedented in every aspect of it, as are these actions that we're taking today," he said. "Unprecedented" isn't the same thing as "appropriate." The sex scandal has sullied the squeaky clean image of Penn State's former head football coach Paterno, who died in January, months before the resolution of the case. Paterno had won more college football games in his long career at Penn State than any other head coach in university sport. Which had nothing to do with any criminal activity... A university-commissioned investigation, led by FBI, concluded in July that Paterno and several other brass hats at Penn State remained tight-lipped for years about accusations against Sandusky. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #10 Neither Paterno nor that university president abused the boys. I couldn't disagree more. They were co-conspirators who knew exactly what was going on and did nothing as Sandusky ruined life after life. They covered for him. To save the reputation of their Mecca. Joe Pa knew exactly what was going on but could ignore it until the indictment. Then he had to confront the horror he had tolerate. And it killed him, not cancer. I look forward to Graham's time in the slammer. I hope he gets the same sentence as Jerry. Maybe they could get adjoining cells. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2012-07-24 21:10 |
| #9 While Penn State is supported by the commonwealth, so are Pitt, and Temple. Penn State is an independent school, not owned by the state as are Slippery Rock, Lock Haven, Kutztown and the other schools in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. Graham Spanier and Joe Paterno frequently flipped the bird to the governor, legislature and people of Pennsylvania. Penn State had a Cornell Plan. It may now be on hold. The money will not come from the taxpayers. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2012-07-24 21:03 |
| #8 Penalties are grossly insufficient, being less harsh than those levied for getting caught paying athletes (which everyone does, in some way.) |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2012-07-24 20:31 |
| #7 Many we are paid not to fully birth. Others become sex slaves. The larger, and more fit become gladiators. The crowds pay well and roar. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2012-07-24 19:41 |
| #6 Somebody in the Penn State community was quoted the other day, objecting to the pillorying of Paterno, saying that "Paterno didn't do it to protect Sandusky, he did it to protect the school he loved." It in this case being: sacrificing children on the altar of the football program. The speaker obviously doesn't grasp the concept that a child's safety is more important than the damn football program. I agree with Fred that the NCAA is hypocritical in a lot of ways anyhow. Since Paterno is dead, it's a lot easier to blast his memory than to deal with a living person. That said, the university and community's mindless idolatry of the football program allowed this horror to happen. Penn State deserves every bit of the sanctions and opprobrium it's getting. Maybe that will help people like the person I quoted above realize the depth of the horror that he's trying to excuse. |
| Posted by: mom 2012-07-24 19:27 |
| #5 As an observation, what keeps PA from telling the NCAA to go pound sand, mothballing its athletics department for anything other than students who also enjoy athletics, and panning out for, say, five years or so, competing in events outside of the NCAA, and focusing on acedemics? Contractual obligations with the Big Ten Conference, radio & television networks, sponsors, coaches & staff (who'd lose their paychecks), etc. They'd also have a tough time meeting their nearly $20M/year ongoing debt service obligation. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2012-07-24 17:11 |
| #4 Being a State sponsered university and all. Yes it was noted that no state funds will be used to pay the fine, and it was also noted that the university's monies are fungible. As an observation, what keeps PA from telling the NCAA to go pound sand, mothballing its athletics department for anything other than students who also enjoy athletics, and panning out for, say, five years or so, competing in events outside of the NCAA, and focusing on acedemics? Somebody noted that the fine amounts to only one year revenue from the football department, roughly. That is pre-scandal revenue, sure there will be boosters and die-hards, but who is going to buy their son a jersey now? |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2012-07-24 13:36 |
| #3 ..ah, yes, the 1984 Memory Hole. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2012-07-24 09:10 |
| #2 removing those wins also removes Joe Paterno from the ranks of "Winningest Coaches". It was punitive against the Coach more than anything else |
| Posted by: Frank G 2012-07-24 08:20 |
| #1 And the $ 60 million dollars in boodle will be distributed ....to the NCAA to establish new, highly paid NCAA staff monitoring positions and legal staff. We at the NCAA (who know best) feel that these measures along with the meaningless toppling of the Paterno bronze statue and the "unwinning" of games will cleanse our collective embarrasment and provide |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2012-07-24 03:53 |