The repercussions for Penn State

(Mark Emmert, President of the NCAA, left)
 

Pretty brutal, but very deserved. Fine of $60 million, which is the revenue the athletic department generates from the football program on an annual basis. Postseason ban for four years. No bowls for four years. Loss of 20 scholarships per year for the next four years. So the max they can have in each of the next four years is 65 per year. This isn’t the death penalty because there weren’t any previous improprieties. But it’s the next level of punishment. Almost as bad. Some could consider it as bad.

The present Penn State administration is doing the honorable thing by letting present players on the team, and incoming freshmen, out of their scholarships. I was impressed by that. It’s President Spanier, AD Curley and Joe Paterno who were the main villains, though I’m sure there were more people involved.

As for Paterno, his legacy is ruined forever as it should be. Despite the facade Paterno portrayed to the public of being this kind, decent, honorable man, he was the complete opposite. He was all about winning, nothing else mattered. He would have you beaten up if you got in his way of winning football games, going to bowls, winning national championships and cementing his legacy, which was the most important thing to him. Just an outlaw, egomaniac really. He did some things that looked like he was a decent guy like giving quite a bit of money to the library at Penn State. But that was a mirage. It was all about his image and his legacy. He wanted fame; nothing else. He wanted to be glorified as Diety. There are some coaches who are in it only for themselves. I know all coaches want to win a national championship, but some genuinely care about their players. Paterno was genuinely concerned about cementing his name as the greatest coach of all time. Penn State is paying the price for his cutthroat personality. He was just simply a bad person. What decent human being would let that happen with Sandusky? Somebody who  is an animal to his core. A deranved guy. Paterno was not mentally off, he just had no morals. Nothing would get in the way of his winning games and championships and cementing his legacy. The funny thing about it was he not was much of a coach the last 15 years–the program was going downhill–but he refused to give up the reins to a more with it, progressive guy. He was a dinosaur as a coach and he wasn’t very effective in the last 15 really 20 years. Maybe that’s what led him to letting this Sandusky thing go out of control. Desperation to win games. Kind of sad really.

Penn State is paying the price for what two animals orchestrated. One by abusing young boys; Sandusky should get the death penalty in my opinion. That may sound harsh to some, but what kind of guy ruins double digit boys’ lives and abused them sexually? It’s not human. It’s anarchaic, animalistic. His actions were outrageous and should not be tolerated in a civilized society. I think you take it the  eye for an eye approach. Let him pay the ultimate price for his actions. He doesn’t deserve to live. And Paterno let that go? What kind of decent person would let that happen? The answer is no decent person would let that happen. I know the guy’s gone now, but his memory lives in infamy like a terrorist’s would. Paterno was no good. It’s as simple as that. He’s really pretty lucky he passed away because he may have faced some jail time himself and some lawsuits which would have bankrupted him and his family. His family is probably going to pay the price financially. The thing is I don’t know if Paterno made it to Heaven. He could be below ground right now, not above it. We all know where Sandusky’s heading. There’s no debate there.

I feel bad for the good Penn State people who do the right thing and are good, decent people. I know there are plenty of  those people in the Penn State nation. Penn State is a solid school academically and there are plenty of good citizens who are there and who have graduated from Penn State. It’s a shame two pigs and a couple of others had to ruin the football program for the whole Penn State nation. They deserve better. But much more importantly, those young boy, who are now young men, deserved better. Maybe they have found peace now or can find peace some day.