"Paterno followed protocol." "Joe told who he was supposed to tell." "You can't blame Joe Pa." This is what I have heard on loop from Penn State students, alumni, and fans. I am sick of it. For years I have heard about the righteous Joe Paterno and how he expects his players to be model citizens. They have to be better than average. Well apparently Joe doesn't really believe that. Yes he took the necessary step of telling his bosses, and that is all he did. When they didn't follow up, Joe should have done the right thing and called the police. Not covered for his friend, like an immature high schooler.
This is not underage drinking or trading jerseys for tattoos or paying student athletes. This is a real crime with real victims. This is a legitimate permanent black eye on the university and Paterno. This is such a horrible situation that it will lead to the end of Paterno's coaching career, according to the New York Times. This is potentially bad enough that everyone will forget the national championships and all the wins, they will only remember the disappointing end to his career.
What is really going to rock the university is something they have never experienced before, the national media. There has always been the Happy Valley local media to follow Penn State and they have been smart enough to only write about football. There has always been problems with Penn State athletes, but the locals just swept it under the rug. They realized that any negative stories about the university would get them excommunicated from Happy Valley. Now everyone writing about this story is not worried about that. The national media isn't going to hand Penn State a get out of jail free card. They are concerned with readers and ratings, and the only way to get those are by digging deeper. This is not the end of this story, I have a feeling the worst is yet to come.
We have all heard about the legal side of this and who from Penn State is going to be fired, but I am more intrigued by the next step. The next step is what is the NCAA going to do? They have to do something. This makes one of their proudest universities look like the White House during Nixon's Presidency. This is far worse than any scandal to ever hit collegiate athletics before. They lose their mind over victimless play-for-pay scandals, how can they possibly sit idle when we know a coach used football facilities to solicit young boys? The highest powers at the university knew about it and did nothing. What penalty does Penn State deserve? It has to be more than probabtion, more than a fine, and more than suspensions. In reality Penn State deserves to lose their football program. I understand that is an extreme punishment, but what is another option. This is the most heinous offense in NCAA history, that we know of. The punishment must match that. Remember it involves actual criminal acts and cover ups by all the top football personnel at the university.
Here is a list of a few other scandals involving college athletics. Tell me how any of these are worse, please.
SMU - During the 70's and 80's the school gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to athletes. They were the first and last football program to be given the "death penalty".
Miami (FL) - It is common knowledge that the U has paid its football players since the 80's. Nevin Shapiro recently made it into national headlines.
Duke - Three lacrosse players were falsely accused of rape by a stripper in 2006.
Georgia - The basketball coach in 2002 had his son (a professor) give players easy exams so they could play.
Colorado - Provided prostitutes, alcohol, and drugs to prospective recruits in the early 2000's.
UCLA - Obtained handicapped parking passes for 19 players that were perfectly healthy. Easily the strangest crime a university has committed.
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