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[Dr. Strangelove]

http://www.thenation.com/blog/169002/why-ncaas-sanctions-penn-state-are-just-dead-wrong

[Tony G]

Commentary NCAA offers losing solution

An empty Penn State stadium would have done more than sanctions imposed


Updated: July 24, 2012, 12:58 PM ET
By Tim Keown | ESPN.com

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Bill O'Brien Vows To Fight For Penn State

Penn State coach Bill O'Brien talks to Ivan Maisel about the NCAA sanctions following the Jerry Sandusky scandal.Tags: Bill O'Brien, Penn State Coach, Ivan Maisel, Jerry Sandusky Scandal, Penn State Scandal

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• Gould: 'Tough Time To Be A Penn Stater'

There's only one honest way to look at the punishments slapped on Penn State: The NCAA set out to create a losing program, and it went about the task systematically, with all the subtlety of a watermelon being tossed from the back of a moving pickup.

Forget NCAA president Mark Emmert's talk of "reform." This wasn't reform; this was after-the-fact, frontier-style revenge. Jerry Sandusky and Penn State embarrassed and disgusted the hell out of the NCAA, the Big Ten and just about everybody who ever uttered the phrase "success with honor" within a 200-mile radius of Happy Valley. A whole bunch of someones had to pay for this, and the NCAA decided it would start with the legacy of Joe Paterno (already shredded) and knock down the rest of the dominoes from there.

It would have been neater and more humane to have imposed a one-year death penalty on the Penn State program-- and that's exactly why the NCAA didn't do it. The entities in the corner offices in Indianapolis wanted to make Penn State suffer, and the best way to do that is to take a machete to scholarships, declare amnesty for the current players, and then sit back and cackle into the sleeve of their suit coats.

[+] EnlargeAP Photo/Gene J. PuskarPenn State could have closed the stadium last fall. The NCAA could have closed it this year.


It's like taping a bird's wings to its sides and then calling the cat over to have a look.
Emmert's main thesis, near as I could tell, centered on his remarks about certain programs becoming "too big to fail." The only way this happens is for programs to win, as Paterno's did at a remarkable rate. As a result, people like Paterno become the kind of false gods who compel otherwise-sane people to erect statues to living people. (Like the Baseball Hall of Fame, there should be a five-year waiting period after retirement when it comes to statues.)
And so the problem, at its core, is the winning that distorted values and created a culture that allowed Sandusky to rape children. Repeatedly. We get that. Punishments, severe punishments, were in order. But there is something inherently hypocritical about responding to a problem created by winning by imposing sanctions intended to create losing. Why not just kill it off for a year? If you don't want to look out onto the field during an important game and see the Penn State uniform -- and all the sad emotions it presently invokes -- then put them aside for a year and let Bill O'Brien and his guys get their acts together in private.
Because here's the thing: You can't tell us the problem is with the idolatry that comes from winning and then make decisions that are based solely on the importance of wins and losses. What the NCAA did was tell Penn State it was going to lose, and lose for a good long while, and suffer while doing it, as a punishment for allowing winning to become so important it overshadowed basic human dignity.
The NCAA officially legislated that Penn State become a losing program as a means of de-emphasizing the culture created by winning. But when the penalties focus on wins -- taking away Paterno's from the past and Bill O'Brien's for the future -- doesn't that simply reinforce the importance of winning?
Emmert said the NCAA's decision is intended to ensure that "football will never be put ahead of educating, nurturing and protecting young people." And so, to make doubly sure, Emmert and crew turned Penn State into San Jose State for the foreseeable future. There's an obvious question here -- does anybody really think a situation of similar heinousness would have happened again without the NCAA's intervention? But more than that, Emmert missed a chance to do something important. He missed the opportunity to say this isn't about winning and losing; it's about dignity, and morals, and having the fortitude to make a statement that doesn't serve to glorify the person making it.
I wrote back in November that Penn State should have forfeited the Nebraska game after the allegations about Sandusky broke and Paterno was fired. They should have taken a step back as a means of telling the world that the university was taking this seriously, and the best idea for all involved was to let it sit for a week while everybody digests. Had they done that, would Monday's announcement have been different? Would the university have been seen as more sensitive, understanding? And if the Freeh report hadn't disclosed that Paterno negotiated a more lucrative contract for himself and his family as the scandal was playing out -- one of the more unsavory aspects of the report -- would the NCAA have decided against using the bunker buster on JoePa's legacy?

There's no doubt the NCAA needed to do something drastic, original and meaningful. It needed to do something that indicated it understood who was innocent, who was guilty and who was victimized. It needed to go outside its normal routine and make a statement that was neither self-serving nor vindictive, something that took into account the shame and conviction that followed Sandusky. If framed properly, a one-year death penalty -- call it an opportunity to regroup and recuperate -- could have worked. Instead, the NCAA fell back on tradition: an utter lack of imagination, with a side of vindictiveness, and a resolution vague enough to be no kind of resolution at all.

[entropy]

By Adam Rittenberg | ESPN.com

The NCAA is clearing the way for Penn State players or recruits to head elsewhere if they want to do so, and all the details are spelled out here.

For starters, any current Nittany Lion player who wishes to transfer during the 2012-13 academic year may do so and be eligible immediately, even if he makes the move during the football season (as long as he's admitted and academically eligible). The deadline for players to make the move and not face eligibility consequences is the start of preseason practice in 2013.

Here's what the NCAA says about the process of transferring and contact with other schools:

Permission-to-contact rules are suspended. Penn State cannot restrict in any way a student-athlete from pursuing a possible transfer. Student-athletes must simply inform Penn State of their interest in discussing transfer options with other schools. Before communicating with student-athletes, interested schools also must inform Penn State of their intention to open discussions with the student-athlete.


The NCAA also suspended off-campus and telephone recruiting rules from now until Aug. 27, the first day of classes at Penn State.

As NCAA officials stated Monday, any recruits who signed with Penn State in February can be released from their national letters of intent and can compete immediately elsewhere as long as they're admitted and academically eligible. These recruits also can take official visits during the 2012-13 academic year even if they used all their officials before signing with Penn State.

The "clock" for official visits will be reset at this time. The post-high school limits of five total visits to Division I institutions and one visit per institution continue to apply; however, student-athletes may begin taking such visits immediately.


The NCAA also confirms that team can exceed their scholarship limits by adding Penn State players for 2012-13 as long as "it reduces such limits proportionately in the 2013-14 academic year. For example, if one student-athlete transfers to a Division I school already at the legislated limits of 25 initial counters and 85 overall counters for 2012-13, the school will be limited to 24 initial counters and 84 overall counters in 2013-14."

And finally, a school already facing scholarship limits because of NCAA infractions, such as Ohio State or USC, may add a Penn State player as long as it doesn't exceed the limits specified in its infractions ruling. So USC can add Penn State running back Silas Redd as long as it doesn't exceed its NCAA-mandated scholarship limit of 75.

Basically, the NCAA is making it as easy as possible for Penn State players and incoming recruits to make moves.

[entropy]

[Dr. Strangelove]

I guess Emmert was on Outside the Lines tonight. I missed it but I hear Bob Ley actually went after him pretty good. Even put up on the screen this quote from Emmert while Chancellor at LSU

[Tony G]

Emmert's segment is available on the main PSU story on the ESPN site.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:8197154

He admits that the Death Penalty was among the punishments heavily discussed and intimates that it wouldn't have just been the DP.

He also says they had the option to use the Freeh report or conduct a traditional investigation and process "with an unknown outcome". I find this statement disturbing. It shows a distinct lack of faith in the process to address this issue.

[iam416]

For Emmert, who rakes in $1.6M, to talk about the "culture" of CFB is just unfathomable. His salary and, hell, the existence of the NCAA is directly related to the "culture" of CFB (and college sports) -- the fucking passion and love; living and dying with your team on Saturday -- that shit -- that's what makes fucking winning so important. And if winning weren't important; if it didn't matter -- there would be no need for a watchdog b/c no one would really cheat and, more importantly, no one would really care.

Fuck him. And the NCAA.

[hack]

Fuck him? After what he did for you? Add ``ungrateful'' to the list of negative attributes of Golden Bobcats.

[iam416]

I'm not a masochist, so I owe no gratitude to Emmert.

[entropy]

I hope this stuff isn't true...

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=145&f=3154&t=9173237

my opinion.. it is not, since we haven't heard it. But didn't know what others have read..

[entropy]

[THE_WIZARD_]

"Fuck the NCAA" might be the only intelligent thing Talent has uttered the last week kor so...maybe ever...

[hack]

Well I hope Emmert remembers this ingratitude when you need him next. It won't be long now, given the corruption in your core.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Look...we all know that the NCAA is as hypocritical organization as there is out there. They hammered PSU because they were losing relevance for a long time. After the Auburn, tOSU and USC scandals recently where they were criticized for not putting down the hammer enough by many...they had to make a statement. Also, since the BCS was formed where they pretty much just stood by and watched...had they slapped PSU's hand here then when were they EVER going to show relevance?

I have long advocated that the top 64 football programs just need to tell the NCAA to go fuck themselves and create their own "alliance". The NCAA cares about the NCAA. They don't care about the institutions...the players...the coaches or the fans. They do little to enhance the great sport of college football...they simply get in the way usually.

[entropy]

the NCAA hammerred PSU because PSU did the work for them. Don't do the work, and you won't get hammerred.