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**hack** · November 9, 2011, 08:22 PM

That's cause you compared.

**Dr. Strangelove** · November 9, 2011, 08:28 PM

Originally posted by hack View Post

That's cause you compared.

So you agree that the crimes aren't remotely comparable?

**hack** · November 9, 2011, 08:38 PM

Yes. Also, interesting that you used the word ``crimes''.

**entropy** · November 9, 2011, 08:39 PM

dsl.. are you slipping?

**Dr. Strangelove** · November 9, 2011, 08:46 PM

I would have used the word crimes in " " for Tressel but that would obviously minimize the magnitude of what Sandusky did.

Tressel committed no crimes. He broke the rules of a game. Anyone who gets hopping mad when I say that and says I'm downplaying what Tressel did makes my point for me: you clearly have placed sports on a level of life far, far higher than it deserves.

The NCAA will ultimately have absolutely no input in what's going on at Penn State. Their bylaws have nothing that deals with actual crimes. That tells me that the NCAA, in the end, is not concerned with what really matters in life. Its sole concern is promoting a false image that competition in college sports is fair and balanced. It's not, never has been, and never will be.

**hack** · November 9, 2011, 08:52 PM

So true. Another point -- none of us who post here have the capability to prosecute anyone at PSU either, so therefore all of us are purveyors of a falsehood. We feel empty inside.

**Dr. Strangelove** · November 9, 2011, 08:55 PM

Michigan Men lack souls. We are taught this in our Buckeye schools. That may contribute to the empty feeling

**Jeff Buchanan** · November 9, 2011, 08:59 PM

We ought to be thinking beyond the stink that is Spanier, Curley, McCleary and Paterno. These are men, no different in their values and moral clarity than Bernie Madoff, Ken Lay, jim tressel or the long list of ordinary men who made stupendously bad choices based on a value system that is hard for most of us to comprehend.

There is much that is good and honorable in college football. Most of all, CFB should be about the players, their experiences getting ready to play and then playing on Saturdays. That is still out there. There will always be evil men but one can lose sight of all that is good by allowing ourselves to extinguish that good in a sea of perceptions created by those in the press that wish to shape them for purposes that are not always well intentioned.

This is a good read if you haven't seen it yet:

The Lost Season: Counterpoint | mgoblog

http://mgoblog.com/diaries/lost-season-counterpoint

On Twitter earlier this evening, somebody made note of something they'd read earlier this year that seemed relevant once again. "2011: The Lost Season". When first made, the statement was tongue in cheek, impilying that so many schools had pending NCAA investigations that the entire season would be lost to eliminated records. Years from now, people would look at the college record books and wonder, "Why didn't anyone play football in 2011?" In the wake of the PSU Sexual Abuse scandal, the phrase had taken on new meaning for the tweeter. To him, the scandals had amassed and amassed and reached a point where the 2011 season is better forgotten. The missing season is now a season in which the sport itself has gone missing, buried in a mess of too many lies. Too much hurt. Too much distrust and too much heartache. The season has spent too much time beneath a cloak wielding a dagger to be trusted. I can't argue that point. Even though Michigan seems to have done everything right, I can't stand the abuse of young men willing to work hard and play harder, week in and week out by not following the rules, making illicit deals, or worse. It belittles the game to the point it's almsot easier to simply forget the year and hope another one like it never comes along. Right now, it hurts to be a fan of the system that creates and fosters these situations. We are very small but essential cogs in a very large machine that has corrupted its purpose. Something once as pure and simple as providing young men an opportunity to grow academically and cheer them on while they grow athletically has become very dark and sinister. It is ruled by money, unearned success and criminal behavior. And we are a part of it. It would feel a lot better to forget the whole season and pretend we support something much more pure, much more wonderful and idellyc. Right now, that's not the truth, but it would be easier. It would be easier by far to declare this a lost season. But to do such a thing would be to do a huge diservice to the very reason we are fans in the first place. At the heart of this broken, vile, soot-spewing machine lies the same power sources as there ever has been. Driven only by the desire for an education and the chance to play just a little bit longer, the young men at the heart of the game take the field every Saturday for joy and opportunity. Oh, some have pro-careers in mind. Some are less innocent than others, but it doesn't really matter. Not one is playing for position, wealth or illicit opportunity. Not one is playing because someone offered them a contract, or agreed to ignore and hide some wrongdoing on their part. They are playing because the NCAA told them they could earn a free education, develop themselves and maybe market themselves to football's next level, simply because they showed an apittude for it. And that, that is pure. A bit business-esque, perhaps. And certianly theres money to be made there. We can even argue about how that money is distributed, and what is fair. It doesn't matter, really. There is no cloak and no darkness when the students take the field. They are playing for their university, and their university is educating them, and at that moment, nothing else needs enter the picture. At that moment, the machine is working. At that moment, everything is laid bare. There is no cloak and no dagger. Two-Thousand-Eleven is a dark, dark season for college football. There have been misdeeds of every kind, and mistrust is present at every level. But so long as those young men run out of the tunnel to play for Michigan, and so long as we sing The Victors to support THEM, there will be an element of pure in a sea of filth. This is not a lost season, because we still sing the national anthem and cheer the kickoff.

**hack** · November 9, 2011, 09:11 PM

Originally posted by Dr. Strangelove View Post

Michigan Men lack souls. We are taught this in our Buckeye schools. That may contribute to the empty feeling

Schools? Are you sure you don't mean holding pens?

**Dr. Strangelove** · November 9, 2011, 09:55 PM

Penn State BOT is about to hold a press conference. JoePa may be about to be let go

**hack** · November 9, 2011, 10:01 PM

Good call, Jeff. That's nicer than the mainstream stuff. Sportswriters seem to love nothing more than the chance to write beyond their normal scope. We're about to get an avalanche of reminders that some things are just more important than sports...

**Dr. Strangelove** · November 9, 2011, 10:15 PM

Paterno is fired. Tom Bradley will be interim coach.

**whodean** · November 9, 2011, 10:19 PM

Paterno has been fired Wednesday night, Graham Spanier (President) too

Assistant coach Tom Bradley has been named interim coach.

**Jeff Buchanan** · November 9, 2011, 10:29 PM

This is good ....... hate it for JoePa's football legacy. He did more good than what is reflected in his statement ...."I wish I had done more." You're right Joe, you should have. That's the way it is. You'll be remembered as protecting a child molester. You can forget about being remembered as the winningest coach in CFB history.

Glad to see there are some honorable men who saw the stink on the plate and stepped up. I like it. Good for PSU's BOT.

I really hope PSU, the institution, gets by this. There is lot of good there.

**Dr. Strangelove** · November 9, 2011, 10:41 PM

Flip on CNN. Students are swarming the administration building

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