# Should the statue come down



## Terry Devine (Mar 11, 2008)

I am a big time college football fan. I am curious as to what those of you who are not as fanatic about college sports think should happen to PSU in light of the findings of the Freeh report. Should the Football program be suspended, should buildings be razed, should the statue of Joe Pa be torn down?

Terry


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

sorry, i'm a football fan and want do want to comment :
first, don't penalize innocent athletes

FIRE, fine and/or prosecute EVERY bastard, living or dead, that had anything to do, directly OR indirectly, with turning a blind eye ignoring that pervert and CLEAN house ...TOP to BOTTOM

then move on 
i kinda thought that is what is still happening, or is it going to slow for your liking ??


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## Terry Devine (Mar 11, 2008)

I agree with you. Sandusky should be shot. There just was an article on ESPN about renovations to the Lasch building and what others thought should happen to PSU. I want to see what my friends here on the forum thought about it.


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

Terry Devine said:


> I agree with you. Sandusky should be shot. There just was an article on ESPN about renovations to the Lasch building and what others thought should happen to PSU. I want to see what my friends here on the forum thought about it.


Better yet CASTRATED with no anesthesia by the guys he fuked with.


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## Terry Devine (Mar 11, 2008)

then sent inside to be bred by Bubba !!!!!!!


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## Jim Engel (Nov 14, 2007)

*Not the place for it, but:*

The system is out of control and wallowing in corruption.

The problem:
These are not amateur athletes, they are professional athletes
being cheated out of their salary.

The solution:
The head football coach gets the same salary as the chair of the Math department. No exceptions, ups or extras.
Every time there is a NFL game, the NFL team cuts a check for $2000 to the school each player graduated from. If the Lions have four MSU guys on their squad for a game, they cut a check to MSU for $8000 to pay for the minor league system.
At each college game, they take 20 percent of the gate and TV money and divvy it up among the players.

coaches can not take sponsor money or any outside money, that all goes to the school.

This thread will likely be locked momentarily, but a little bit of reality never hurts


This is just phony damage control, in two years the statues of Paterno will still be there and all of the real corruption will still be business as usual.


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## Jesus Alvarez (Feb 6, 2009)

I've heard all the praise his former players and others have for Joe P. I'm sure he's changed the lives of many of his athletes over the years. But, therehow can anyone justify keeping a statue up of a man who knowingly allowed a pedophile to rape trouble young boys for 14 years? I think the later outweighs everything else.


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## Gerald Dunn (Sep 24, 2011)

he let it happen, take it down


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

finish a thorough investigation as to what he could have or should have known ... dead or not, there should be enuff evidence out there without his personal testimony and anyone with common sense would realize he would have obviously lied even if he knew anything; that's a no brainer

- if the evidence is overwhelming against him, there should be NO problem to tear it down and no fanfare when it is done; with a nice giant tarp covering the demo site top/bottom/all sides ...
- NOTHING needs to be "proven" except whether there was negligence and that sure seems to be obvious already 

.... neither will probably happen tho :-(
common sense is never commonplace anymore :-(


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## Jim Engel (Nov 14, 2007)

*Just like the priests*

You are always going to have problems with people, especially
where you draw in people that cannot marry or have a 
sexual outlet.


Just as the problem with the Catholic church is the bishops, cardinals 
and pope rather than the people and priests, the problem at Penn state
and with college football is not one pervert but all of the people who
cover it up, the coaches, administrators and higher ups.

Paterno should of and would of been retired years ago, but the
college president and leadership could not do it, he went over their
heads to the politicians who made Paterno dictator for life.


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## Jim Engel (Nov 14, 2007)

*The real problem is Vince Lombardi*

"Winning is not the most important thing,

it's the only thing."


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## jamie lind (Feb 19, 2009)

*panem et circenses*


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## kerry engels (Nov 7, 2010)

jamie lind said:


> *panem et circenses*


 
We are the Romans..........


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## Brad Trull (Apr 9, 2012)

Take it down; it will detract from what is going on the field. Hit them with the death Penalty for 1 season , give those players 1 yr extra of eligibility and let some tx if they so choose. Ironic that one of Penn States 2 National titles came at the misfortune of SMU :-s The others will get convicted of perjury , and will have a tough time ever finding any type of employment. The school will be crippled by civil suits and insurance overhead going forward. Just my 2 cents


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## Terry Devine (Mar 11, 2008)

jamie lind said:


> *panem et circenses*


So what do you think should happen to the statues that they built to these clowns and what should happen to the circus tents??????

Terry


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Take it down! 
Even if he won the Super Bowl every year with his college teams it doesn't take away what he did to those kids.
The "circus tent" obviously needs a good house cleaning. 
If it's concrete, grind it up. If it's bronze, make brass knuckles out of it and beat the crap out of the rest of them! JMHO of course! :twisted:


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## Terry Devine (Mar 11, 2008)

Bob,
Good to see that you are not getting emotionally charged with this thread LOL I agree with you.

Terry


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

They refuse to take it down. for the "student's and alumni's sakes"


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## Denise King (May 31, 2009)

I think this is an indication of just how badly our society is screwed up these days. Many people turned a blind eye to the knowledge that someone in their midst was molesting young children. To preserve the holy FOOTBALL program!!! That is incredibly sad for us all. Animals look out for and nurture their young..how did human beings go so far wrong?

And yes, I agree a slow and painful torture would be to good for Sandusky!!


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## Craig Snyder (May 7, 2012)

I'm not sure you should vilify the man (JoePa) and overlook his life's work. If you know anything about Penn State you know his influence has been huge in many other ways not related to just football. He was more than just football. I'm not excusing his overlooking or trying to brush this underthe carpet Sandusky's behavior. But I'm sure this was to him, almost the same as any of us finding out a close cousin or brother or sister was acccused of this type of behavior. You would experience many of the same steps as griefing. This included denial and anger. Acceptance is last, which may be long after key decisions were made.

I also object to all the focus on primarily a single man. JoePa was not the only one aware of this. Where was Second Mile in all of this? They had an investigation long before the shower incident yet Second Mile still allowed Sandusky acces to the kids. The social workers and the DA's office was involved then as well. 

Penn State had nothing to do with Sandusky meeting these kids and having access to the kids. But why aren't we crucifiynig Second Mile and their board of directors? 

I don't think penalizing students or current atheletes or the football program is appropriate. 
He wasn't a Penn State football coach at the time of any of the allegations.The abused kids didn't come through a Penn State program but via Second Mile that was a separate organiztion not run by Penn State. He was allowed access to the facilities basically as a respected retiree.

If Sanduskty was a Nobel prize winner who had free access to Penn State's campus and the same thing happenned involving the same President and the same decisions, I can't help but think we wouldn't have a tenth of the interest in this story. It's only because he was once involved in the football program and JoePa was involved instead of the head of the mathmatics department.

Extract your pound of flesh from the pincipals involved but lets go after some of these other people and organizations. Penn State is and will pay out millions to address this. At least three officials will probably be arrested and prosecuted and the fourth is dead. And I still come back to McQuery. If you are not finding fault with McQuery because he reported it ONLY to his supervisors, then JoePa should not be penalized any worse as he also reported it ONLY to his supervisors. Utlimately this came down to the President making the final call. 

I'm still shocked at how little I've heard about Second Mile. That organization is the one that allowed Sandusky access to the kids. Not Penn State. It wasn't a Penn State program or organization.

I'm also wondering at what point the level of punishment against Penn State the college exceeds what is reasonable. Punish the people involved yes, but many are calling for the destruction of an instuition. (I'm not talking about football here). This affects and punishes literally tens of thousands of people who had absolutly no connection with this. Some of these students were in diapers when it happenned. 

If your angry that football overshadowed rational thought, then lets go after all the other Division I schools as well. That is not strictly a Penn State issue. Have you ever been in Knoxville on a football weekend? Michigan? Almost any Texas university or even high school? Miami? etc.. etc..

Like it or not, if this happenned at another big football school, many of the same issues would have played out. But folks love to take down a successful program and especially a man who many viewed as highly ethical.

Craig


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## David Ruby (Jul 21, 2009)

Craig, I see your point. However, this will overshadow everything Joe Paterno has ever done. Forever. I do not think you get to have your statue left up no matter what you did when you still allowed this to happen. That is ANY program, whether I am a fan or not. The welfare of children trumps sports, and allowing this to happen even if you were not directly involved poisons everything good he has done. That is a bitter pill to swallow, however it has undermined every good thing Joe Paterno was known for.

As for Penn State, they should universally be ashamed to leave the statue up. It is a statue of a man who helped enable a child rapist, has been shown to be a liar, and if he were still alive would be facing charges of child endangerment, perjury, and conspiracy. It has also come to light that in the wake of finding out prosecutors were investigating Sandusky, Paterno actually had his contract renegotiated for a better contract and a richer retirement settlement. Nobody has said this flat out, however it is suspect that he planned his exit strategy with a contract bump once he realized something might actually happen with his former longtime assistant getting discovered. It looks really, really bad in hindsight.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/14/s...id-jerry-sandusky-inquiry.html?pagewanted=all

Does all that erase everything good Joe Paterno did? No. Does this sound like the type of person we should look up to and memorialize with a statue? Sorry, no. Absolutely not. He was a football coach, not Jesus Christ. He did some good things, yet ultimately let his assistant coach rape small boys, then lied about it to authorities and gave himself a pay increase when it was clear he was going to have to retire due to the pending controversy a look into Sandusky's case would bring. I do not see how we can celebrate somebody after that.

-Cheers


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## Craig Snyder (May 7, 2012)

My feeling however is that in an other scenario, JoePa would be considered a two-bit player in this whole sordid affair.

The focus would be and should be, on the organization that provides access to the children, which was Second Mile, not Penn State, and who knew of allegations long before Penn State ever did. And that is fact.

Craig


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

To me, it is not like finding out a close cousin is "accused" of doing it.

It would be like KNOWING your cousin was doing it for a minimum of 14-15 yrs, and doing nothing about it, and then trying to cover it up, when he was finally "accused".

This type of thing can occur in "families" for sure, but there is a moral standard in most "families" that of course is on a sliding scale.

Drug use/Drug sales" sure,happens alot.... molesting kids and raping people? not so much...


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## David Ruby (Jul 21, 2009)

Craig Snyder said:


> My feeling however is that in an other scenario, JoePa would be considered a two-bit player in this whole sordid affair.
> 
> The focus would be and should be, on the organization that provides access to the children, which was Second Mile, not Penn State, and who knew of allegations long before Penn State ever did. And that is fact.
> 
> Craig


JoePa was still a part of it.

As for Second Mile vs. Penn State? Both deserve to be focused on since they seemingly both knew. I fail to see how Penn State should come across any better considering how absolutely damning Freeh's findings are in this matter.

-Cheers


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## Craig Snyder (May 7, 2012)

Trust me. I'm not excusing the behavior of the officals of Penn State, Joe Pa or others involved.

I find it all deplorable.

But much worse happens every day in small and large towns all the time. Pick any area and you'll find a long list of known sexual predators. You can be assured there are many more not on the list. This is only news because of who and what is involved.

Lets put it this way. Lets say a particular dog trainer at a club was found guilty of doping only his personal dogs. Would it be right to ban all dogs that trained with the club from competition for a year and strip all dogs of the club of any previous awards, points or wins because the head trainer was doing something illegal? Even though none of the other members were guilty?

Cause penalizing the athletes on today's football team would be doing exactly that. Make the university pay. Award all the victims 10 million apiece or whatever. Make the officials pay. Make the trustees pay. That's fine. But not the current students and athletes. That is blantantly unfair. And keep in mind, every financial penalty and lawsuit assessed is basically being paid for by the taxpayer's and students since this is a public school and not a private universtiy. It is different than assessing a penatly against a private, money making corporation whosse focus is purely greed.

At a public institution the focus should be on trying to help the victims first, and second, make sure it can't happen again. Third should be prosecution of the those involved in the acts, and those in the coverup. 

If we go with the logic currently pursued, maybe Notre Dames football program should be shut down for a year. Surely some of those priests knew what was going in the church. Philly has had the first convictions of high level priests just recently. Maybe the Catholic schools in Philly should be banned from playing in the Philadelphia City Championships as punishment. Their cover up was to protect their reputation just as Penn State's was.

The last thing we should be tryingt to do is penalize and hurt more kids that have absolutely no involvement in this.

Craig


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

I dont know all the details not a huge sports fan.

But I say school pays, fire everyone that knew about it, charge criminally if possible. Hire new people, TEAR STATUE DOWN. and leave the football program and players alone...


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## Terry Devine (Mar 11, 2008)

Unfortunately with the way the NCAA operates, if they do hand down any sort of penalty it will affect the current and future students that are part of the football program. We have all heard about the Brian Bosworths' and the other athletes and coaches who have run afoul of the NCAA. The penalty imposed is always on the future players not on the ones that caused the problem. I do not know how the NCAA is going to come down on PSU or even if they will, but there have been rumors that they will hit them hard for lack of institutional control.

Terry


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

Joby Becker said:


> alot.... molesting kids and raping people? not so much...


Joby, it happens more often then you think. Every female friend I have ever had has said that they have been molested by someone as a child and at least 1/2 of the men I have known well has either had something inappropriate take place or been molested. Difference is, that most men won't freely talk about it because it typically is a same sex encounter.


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

I remember the image on TV of the statue of Sadam Hussein getting toppled in Bagdad. 

That is exactly how Paterno's should go. Tie on a truck bumper and drag it through the streets.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Terry Devine said:


> Bob,
> Good to see that you are not getting emotionally charged with this thread LOL I agree with you.
> 
> Terry


I was trying to be nice about it. :lol::lol:;-)


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## Terry Devine (Mar 11, 2008)

Bob,
I think you are one of the nicest people I have never met lolololol

Terry


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## Craig Snyder (May 7, 2012)

David Ruby said:


> As for Second Mile vs. Penn State? Both deserve to be focused on since they seemingly both knew. I fail to see how Penn State should come across any better considering how absolutely damning Freeh's findings are in this matter.
> 
> -Cheers


Yes. the both do. But the whole focus is on Penn State alone. Nothing is being said or done about all the people who knew long before Penn State was ever involved, including the DA's office and social workers involved.

Craig


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## Craig Snyder (May 7, 2012)

Terry Devine said:


> Unfortunately with the way the NCAA operates, if they do hand down any sort of penalty it will affect the current and future students that are part of the football program. We have all heard about the Brian Bosworths' and the other athletes and coaches who have run afoul of the NCAA. The penalty imposed is always on the future players not on the ones that caused the problem. I do not know how the NCAA is going to come down on PSU or even if they will, but there have been rumors that they will hit them hard for lack of institutional control.
> 
> Terry


 
Terry,

The difference is that what occurred had no affect on the competitive nature or competition issues with football. Sandusky was not a football coach at the time of the incidents and was not reporting to JoePA. JoePa was not the peerson that granted Sandusky access to the campus and its facilties.

The Bosworth case and others were direct NCAA violations by the football programs. This has simply become a witch hunt and the NCAA is investigating under some general "for the good of the sport" clause. They only undertook the invetigation because of pressure by media and people to just "do something".

You may as well penalize the swim team, basketball team, field hockey, crew.. etc... 

Craig


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## Terry Devine (Mar 11, 2008)

Craig,
I do not agree or disagree. I was merely stating that if and when the NCAA gets involved there is no telling what they will do. My reference to past discretions at other schools by coach's, athletes and boosters always resulted in the fiture program and atheletes having to pay the penalty. All I have seen so far says that IF the NCAA does do anything they will likely blame it on lack of institutional control.

Terry


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## Terry Devine (Mar 11, 2008)

If I had to offer a guess, I think that PSU will take the statue down so that it does not get torn down by irate citizens.

Terry


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

We'll see, they announced yesterday that they would not take it down, that it would be unfair to the students and alumni.


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## Craig Snyder (May 7, 2012)

Terry Devine said:


> Craig,
> I do not agree or disagree. I was merely stating that if and when the NCAA gets involved there is no telling what they will do. My reference to past discretions at other schools by coach's, athletes and boosters always resulted in the fiture program and atheletes having to pay the penalty. All I have seen so far says that IF the NCAA does do anything they will likely blame it on lack of institutional control.
> 
> Terry


 
That I agree totally with!!! There is no telling what they will do! ](*,)In ANY case!

Craig


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## Jim Engel (Nov 14, 2007)

Joby Becker said:


> We'll see, they announced yesterday that they would not take it down, that it would be unfair to the students and alumni.


Yes, business as usual. Make nice a little bit in the press, sad words
about the poor poor abused children.


But nothing really changes, there is no real regret.

Just brush it under the rug.

And nobody is going to pull the statue down,
they don't give a damn about abused children
or much of anything else beyond the football cult.

They are going to handle it with public relations ploys
rather than real change.


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## Terry Devine (Mar 11, 2008)

As Jamie stated previously "panem et circenses"

Terry


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## David Ruby (Jul 21, 2009)

Terry Devine said:


> As Jamie stated previously "panem et circenses"
> 
> Terry


I would really like to think it is more than that. Do I think the statue should come down? Yes, I believe so. Is that even remotely close to important in light of everything else? No. So my opinion stands, however the more I think about it, that is trivial. It is MUCH more important that we address the problems and not just some statue. I am opposed to the statue more because it celebrates somebody who by doing nothing enabled this.

However, taking down some statue is not enough. It is not even the problem. Whether it comes down or not, I think as a society we should keep in mind the real reason behind this outrage. I refuse to be appeased by, or spend much more energy worrying about, some stupid piece of bronze by some college football coach. It is certainly not going to undo what led to this in the first disgusting affair in the place.

-Cheers


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## mike finn (Jan 5, 2011)

I think they should tear it down. I think a statue is a symbol, and this statue symbolises a guy that did not do every thing he could have to help these kids. I am sure he was a good guy, but he did not face his responsibility here. Maybe tearing it down will remind people to do the right thing when the occasion arises.


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## Terry Devine (Mar 11, 2008)

Just saw this a few seconds ago. Looks like the decision has been made.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/...fn-paterno-pennst-p1-20120722,0,2633900.story

Terry


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-400_162-57477382/ncaa-source-unprecedented-penalties-against-penn-state/


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

On the news they said that removing the football program wasn't out of the question.
That part would be wrong! The players had nothing to do with the situation and those players that look at football as a way out are the big loosers....aside from the tormented kids of course.


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

re "....removing the football program wasn't out of the question...."
.....excellent :-(
wanna stop the locker room attacks ? just remove the locker rooms ](*,)

reminds me of how the Navy dealt with many of their problems :twisted:


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## Terry Devine (Mar 11, 2008)

They did not remove the football program but they have dealt it a severe blow. 
http://espn.go.com/college-football...million-fine-4-year-bowl-ban-wins-dating-1998

It will take years for PSU football to get back to competing again. Still pales in comparison to what the kids went thru and with what they will have to deal with. I am sure that the trouble is just beginning at this point because there are bound to be civil lawsuits against the university as well as against individuals involved.

Terry


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## David Ruby (Jul 21, 2009)

Bob Scott said:


> On the news they said that removing the football program wasn't out of the question.
> That part would be wrong! The players had nothing to do with the situation and those players that look at football as a way out are the big loosers....aside from the tormented kids of course.


Honestly, I am not sure it would. The players could have (and should) be granted another year of eligibility and the right to immediately transfer to another school. As it stands now, the players are stuck on a team that has no chance of a national championship, a new coach, and years of being handicapped. You can take away as much of the impact of the punishment as possible from the students. I think they would be bigger losers in the matter if forced to stay and play on a team as hamstrung as Penn State will be this year, much less years to come.

Also, if you are ever going to give a football program a "death penalty" how much worse does it have be before you do that? According to what I've read, the last time they gave a team the "death penalty" it was because SMU paid its players. Somehow, a child molestation/rape coverup that reached that high up and for that long seems worse.

I am not relishing this. It is a sad affair overall. However, it is hard for me to justify them holding back in this instance and the punishment should be fitting. I do not want the players who had nothing to do with this negatively impacted, yet it is hard for me to think of any punishment on the program or the university as being too much, particularly when there is a pretty easy way to make it as fair on the players as possible (immediate transfer rights and another year of eligibility).


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## catherine hardigan (Oct 12, 2009)

Bobbie Bowden is smiling... Paterno just had a crapload of wins vacated. PSU can't promote their program on this part of his legacy (or maybe any of it) ever again. 

The Big 10 just tacked on a four year conference championship ban, and will redistribute PSU's cut of Big 10 bowl revenue over those four years to children's charities... that's roughly $13 million.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Sounds like the existing players still have a shot. They can stay or they have a right to transfer. I'm guessing other schools will send out their vultures now.


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## Thomas Barriano (Mar 27, 2006)

I"m not a big football fan. So don't really care about wins vacated or bowl bans. The only question I have is, how much (if any) of the $60M fine goes to the victims?


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## catherine hardigan (Oct 12, 2009)

Thomas Barriano said:


> I"m not a big football fan. So don't really care about wins vacated or bowl bans. The only question I have is, how much (if any) of the $60M fine goes to the victims?


Apparently the $60 million will endow programs to prevent child sexual abuse and help current victims. Sounds appropriate to me.

I'm sure Sandusky's victims themselves will have an opportunity to sue the university and the various individuals (Sandusky, Paterno's estate, Spanier, etc.) in the near future.


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## Adam Swilling (Feb 12, 2009)

1. $60 million fine.
2. Loss of 10? scholarships per year for 4 years.
3. All wins vacated from 98 thru 2011.
4. 4 year post season ban.
5. All current football players can transfer w/out the 1 year sit out penalty. Current players who stay keep their scholarship even if they decide they don't want to play football. 

Eventhough NCAA didn't give the death penalty, I believe this will kill PSU football. It will take years to recover if the program does at all. If it's not already been said, personally, I thought they should have just turned the statue around. That way it would look more realistic, you know, like he didn't see anything.


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## Thomas Barriano (Mar 27, 2006)

catherine hardigan said:


> Apparently the $60 million will endow programs to prevent child sexual abuse and help current victims. Sounds appropriate to me.
> 
> I'm sure Sandusky's victims themselves will have an opportunity to sue the university and the various individuals (Sandusky, Paterno's estate, Spanier, etc.) in the near future.


Catherine

Thanks for the information. Personally I'd rather see most of the money go to the victims then to endow programs and studies.
Too often programs and study funds get eaten up in administrative cost, overhead and salaries. On the other hand how many lawyers will get rich suing everybody involved?
Somethings wrong when fines don't go entirely to the victims IMO


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## catherine hardigan (Oct 12, 2009)

Thomas Barriano said:


> Catherine
> 
> Thanks for the information. Personally I'd rather see most of the money go to the victims then to endow programs and studies.
> Too often programs and study funds get eaten up in administrative cost, overhead and salaries. On the other hand how many lawyers will get rich suing everybody involved?
> Somethings wrong when fines don't go entirely to the victims IMO


The money is not allowed to be touched by PSU. There are lots of charities out there that have minimal overhead, salaries and administrative costs. I see no reason why the money shouldn't benefit children who are being abused NOW... especially since it will help a large number of kids as opposed to a couple handfuls of adults.

In this case, if the lawyers get rich then the victims they represented got super rich.


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## Katie Finlay (Jan 31, 2010)

Maybe I'm out of line. This decision affects way too many innocent people, IMO. Everyone else at the school besides this handful of people, football players included, had nothing to with this scandal.

And what is all of this going to do for the local economy? It could possibly devastate local families.


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## Adam Swilling (Feb 12, 2009)

Katie Finlay said:


> Maybe I'm out of line. This decision affects way too many innocent people, IMO. Everyone else at the school besides this handful of people, football players included, had nothing to with this scandal.
> 
> And what is all of this going to do for the local economy? It could possibly devastate local families.


It does effect people who weren't involved in the cover up, for sure. But the NCAA does have the right as the governing body of collegiate sports to dole out punishment as they see fit. I would have had a bigger issue persoanlly if the NCAA had not done anything. These punishments are unprecedented in college athletics but so was the whole case. The 60 million is what the football program alone grosses on average. It was broken down into 12 million per year payments. Football players were given options as to continuing their education. If it had just been people in high ranking positions within the football program it might have been different punishments. But the university president knew about it and did nothing. THe NCAA only has "jursidiction" over the athletic side of things. There are still civil liabilities that will have to be accounted for and that's when individuals will get hammered. Paterno is dead. How does he pay for what his role in the cover up? A tarnished legacy? Big deal. How many more kids were violated because adults made a conscience decision to not just keep silent, but to outright cover it up? Unfortunately, the many pay the price for the shortcomings of the few sometimes. If I were the parents of one of those kids I could care less about collateral damage.


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## Jim Engel (Nov 14, 2007)

Katie Finlay said:


> Maybe I'm out of line. This decision affects way too many innocent people, IMO. Everyone else at the school besides this handful of people, football players included, had nothing to with this scandal.
> 
> And what is all of this going to do for the local economy? It could possibly devastate local families.


I disagree.

It was not a handful of people, it was all of the people.

The alumni, students and people of the state are the
problem, because their priorities are false.

The problem was that football has become more important 
than scholarship and education, and it was the attitude and
leverage of the alumni, students, and state politicians that
put Paterno beyond control, made him essentially dictator
of the football program.

Power corrupts not only those who wield it, but those who
give it.


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## catherine hardigan (Oct 12, 2009)

Katie Finlay said:


> Maybe I'm out of line. This decision affects way too many innocent people, IMO. Everyone else at the school besides this handful of people, football players included, had nothing to with this scandal.
> 
> And what is all of this going to do for the local economy? It could possibly devastate local families.


Such is the nature of punishment: there is usually collateral damage. If a man is sent to prison, his wife and children will suffer even though they are innocent of committing any crime.

All the current players can either transfer or stay and keep their scholarships. No real harm done. PSU will still have regular season games (even though they will pretty much be a 1 AA team) and the university's endowment is such that there will be zero harm done to academics... which is why people go to college in the first place. 

Basically, the football program will have to rebuild itself. Given the nature of this particular program's transgressions I'd say that's fitting. Accountability can be a real bitch.


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## Katie Finlay (Jan 31, 2010)

Makes sense. Either way, glad they took the statue down.


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