NCAA Brings Down the Hammer

I have so much to say about this. Mainly, I want to address all the whiners out there, all the Paterno apologists, who believe St. Joe can do know wrong. This is what happens when you worship false idols. Like many others, I thought Paterno was infallible. I believed, like many others, that Penn State won the right way, that the program and its coach oozed integrity. But just like all men, including those involved in the scandal and cover-up, I am fallible, and I can be wrong about a lot of things. Anyway, I am not going to talk to the apologists because people like that will never listen, regardless of what anyone says. Paterno will always be their saint. I will speak only to the NCAA's punishment: $60,000,000.00 in fines, four year bowl ban, five years of probation, loss of multiple scholarships, and the big blow, vacating all wins from 1998-2011. Saint Joe is no longer the winning-est coach in college football history and no where near the top. Bravo, NCAA. I am pleasantly shocked at this level of integrity. I posted several days ago that the NCAA didn't have the backbone to levy the greatest punishment possible, the "death penalty." But this punishment is every bit as bad, if not worse. PSU is lucky to come out of this with the football program intact, but it will take years, maybe even decades to recover. The NCAA has even allowed for current PSU players to transfer, without penalty, and begin playing immediately at another school. Who wouldn't leave? I'll tell you who, those who wouldn't be able to start any where else. I am proud of the institution that has become little more than a joke to me and others over the last 10-15 years. The NCAA did something right, and with that, they sent a message to the rest of college athletics programs.

Some of the most ardent whiners out there are outraged that the NCAA would punish the students because they did nothing wrong. How are the students being punished? They are at PSU to get an education, not to major in seeing their football team play in a bowl game. As for the athletes, same thing, but if they do want more, something specifically out of football, then they are welcome to transfer. This punishment is completely necessary, and those who cannot see that  live in a delusional world where Paterno will always be a saint. Beware false idols.