The NCAA is a shameful organization.

#1

milohimself

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#1
If any of you have been keeping up with the Penn State/Sandusky saga on here, you've probably seen my numerous posts saying that the NCAA should have no authority to punish Penn State for the actions of Sandusky and Paterno and the men who covered for him and were complicit in the rape of children.

I still maintain that. If the NCAA had stuck to what its charter says, particularly the explicit parts, it shouldn't have done anything here. This is still purely a criminal justice matter.

Tomorrow, the NCAA will take a quantum leap from an organization that enforces fair play and amateurism in college athletics to one which can interject itself into purely criminal matters, and one which can issue arbitrary punishment.

Not that I like to bring in politics as a comparison, but this decision is reminiscent of President Obama bestowing upon himself the power to execute American citizens if they are deemed threats; He may well exercise that authority responsibly, but there is a far larger problem in that authority exists in the first place. Likewise, as of tomorrow the NCAA will have the authority to effectively wipe out college athletics programs as it sees fit, and by extension wipe out the economies and livelihoods of the individuals, universities and communities all over the United States that are supported by college football programs. And it can do so with no oversight and the ability to loosen its rules and bylaws as it sees fit.

I understand measures taken by the NCAA here are to correct the wrongdoings of an institution. I disagree with that premise entirely; crimes are committed by individuals. Penn State did not commit a crime, Penn State cannot be locked up in prison and Penn State cannot die of heart failure.

Yes, some people possit that these crimes were done in the name of the institution (again, I whole-heartedly disagree; they were done in the name of Joe Paterno), but punishing the instution is akin to restricting guns or violent video games in the wake of tragic outbursts like the recent one in Colorado; the step the NCAA is taking tomorrow will be overly-punitive and entirely misdirected, and the only reasoning I can fathom is to satisfy a public outcry for aimless revenge.

This point has been explained ad nauseum, but cannot be emphasized too much: the NCAA's actions will not have one iota of negative effect on those individuals responsible guilty of child rape. It could quite possibly, however, devestate the economy of central Pennsylvania of which Penn State football is the keystone.

But, now that these senseless and terrifying steps have been taken, the NCAA did the worst thing it possibly could have: stop short of the death penalty.

Emmert has deemed himself in a position to provide justice to Sandusky's victims, and to respond to the whims of the most vengeful, self-righteous voices out there.

And to balance the scales of justice, Emmert has apparently decided that a few years of bowl games and a few dozen football scholarships are of equal weight to the rape of dozens of children.

Emmert took the absolute worst possible course of action on this, to first decide that the NCAA was in a new, massively expanded and practically unaccountable authority, and then use that position to decide that a punishment usually reserved for LOIC and players getting paid off was fit.

In this whole episode, the only more vile group than Emmert and the NCAA is the former leadership of Penn State.
 
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#10
#10
Disagree with th OP. I think the NCAA has some jurisdiction here as it pertains to institutional control and covering up a scandal that could have otherwise hurt the program.

I don't think the program should be banned from play, but I do think athletic penalties in addition to existing criminal and soon to follow civil penalties should be levied.
 
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#11
#11
The NCAA is doing the right thing

Other programs must understand that this type of behavior will not be tolerated.

They did solely to protect the Football program. Now the Football program and Penn State will pay for ignorance on their part

I will not shed a tear for them or any program, including UT, that enable a child molestor.

Some things are more important than a game
 
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#13
#13
In other breaking news, the sun will rise tomorrow.
The NCAA took on a whole new level of malfeasance today.

Disagree with th OP. I think the NCAA has some jurisdiction here as it pertains to institutional control and covering up a scandal that could have otherwise hurt the program.
Go read the letters Emmert sent to Penn State. They almost literally said "You didn't break any laws we actually have written, but we've decided we can punish you anyways."

I don't think the program should be banned from play, but I do think athletic penalties in addition to existing criminal and soon to follow civil penalties should be levied.
And why is that? The NCAA deciding to step in here is tacitly making itself an arbiter of justice. And in doing so, it is tacitly saying some bowl games and schollies is an eye for an eye with child rape. If the culture was so bad at Penn State as to enable child rape to be covered up, then the punishment they're reportedly getting is mealy-mouthed and frankly offensive.

The NCAA is doing the right thing

Other programs must understand that this type of behavior will not be tolerated.

They did solely to protect the Football program. Now the Football program and Penn State will pay for ignorance on their part

I will not shed a tear for them or any program, including UT, that enable a child molestor.

Some things are more important than a game
Programs do not enable child molestors. People do.

The people who enabled Sandusky are dead or will rot in prison.

You can't claim this falls under the NCAA's purview without extending the definition of "fair play" to the ends of the Earth.

And isn't preventing similar things from happening at other schools what the legal system is already doing?

What we need on that front is what we already have: "Cover up for child molestors and you will die behand bars." NOT "Cover up for child molestors and we'll make the football program you used to work for suck for a few years."
 
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#14
#14
The NCAA took on a whole new level of malfeasance today.


Go read the letters Emmert sent to Penn State. They almost literally said "You didn't break any laws we actually have written, but we've decided we can punish you anyways."


And why is that? The NCAA deciding to step in here is tacitly making itself an arbiter of justice. And in doing so, it is tacitly saying some bowl games and schollies is an eye for an eye with child rape. If the culture was so bad at Penn State as to enable child rape to be covered up, then the punishment they're reportedly getting is mealy-mouthed and frankly offensive.


Programs do not enable child molestors. People do.

The people who enabled Sandusky are dead or will rot in prison.

You can't claim this falls under the NCAA's purview without extending the definition of "fair play" to the ends of the Earth.

And isn't preventing similar things from happening at other schools what the legal system is already doing?

What we need on that front is what we already have: "Cover up for child molestors and you will die behand bars." NOT "Cover up for child molestors and we'll make the football program you used to work for suck for a few years."

The culture surrounding Penn State and its Football coach allowed those crimes to go unreported for 14 years.

Because Penn State did not have measures in place to insure Institutional Control, they will have to suffer the consequences

If a worker gets hurt on the job, is the company still not responsible?

Its not the companies fault the guy got hurt. Yet it can go back to safety measures in place, proper training, proper supervision
 
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#16
#16

One, it isnt't. Explain to me how covering up child molestation gave PSU some competitive advantage. It is a criminal matter, not a NCAA matter.

Two, if you believe it is a NCAA matter then you should be livid they are not shutting down the program.
 
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#17
#17
The culture surrounding Penn State and its Football coach allowed those crimes to go unreported for 14 years.

Because Penn State did not have measures in place to insure Institutional Control, they will have to suffer the consequences

If a worker gets hurt on the job, is the company still not responsible?

Its not the companies fault the guy got hurt. Yet it can go back to safety measures in place, proper training, proper supervision

Not a strong analogy. Not all workplace injuries are the fault of the company. Standards must be met and due process would be followed.

Hell, the NCAA didn't even conduct an investigation here.
 
#19
#19
One, it isnt't. Explain to me how covering up child molestation gave PSU some competitive advantage. It is a criminal matter, not a NCAA matter.

Two, if you believe it is a NCAA matter then you should be livid they are not shutting down the program.

Exactly. Criminal violations and NCAA violations are two mutually exclusive things. There is no overlap between the two IMO. The courts should handle the penalties for actual criminals, while the NCAA should monitor and maintain the competitive integrity of a sporting organization.
 
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#20
#20
Penn State lobbied to be exempt from the open records law in order to prevent release of JoePa's salary. Other reasons were given, but that was the big issue. They effectively prevented the public release of any police reports, safety records, OSHA reportable injuries, who knows what else? Bottom line is PSU has a culture of not allowing any outside accountabilityt--they maintained their "we are Penn State" motto while simultaneously covering up any and every accident or crime that could hurt their precious image--an image that revolved around the football program.

It is this culture that has to be destroyed and in my mind only the Pa DOE or the NCAA have the power to do so. I don't want the NCAA to have such power, but I don't trust the DOE to do much to hurt their crown jewel institution. Thw NCAA has to act because they are the only ones who can act.
 
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#21
#21
The culture surrounding Penn State and its Football coach allowed those crimes to go unreported for 14 years.

Because Penn State did not have measures in place to insure Institutional Control, they will have to suffer the consequences

If a worker gets hurt on the job, is the company still not responsible?

Its not the companies fault the guy got hurt. Yet it can go back to safety measures in place, proper training, proper supervision
At the end of the day, individuals made the decision to cover up for Sandusky, and they are paying for that choice.

If a worker gets hurt on the job, and it is found out to be the fault of somebody else's negligence, then that second person will damn sure end up under review and/or out of a job.

I get that the point you're trying to make is having these punishments as a way to prevent something like this from happening in the future, but the core crime that was committed here had nothing to do with amateurism or fair play, and thus should have been outside of the NCAA's purview.

There are already laws on the books that affect to prevent child rape and people who committ those crimes, and those laws are already effectively being carried out.

Besides all of that, I don't know about you but I am very bothered by this whole new realm of authority the NCAA has bestowed upon itself.
 
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#22
#22
I agree.

The NCAA exists to ensure fair competition. These crimes did nothing to give PSU a competitive advantage.

Moreover, it shouldn't be meting out punishment with ex post facto rules.
 
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#23
#23
Penn State lobbied to be exempt from the open records law in order to prevent release of JoePa's salary. Other reasons were given, but that was the big issue. They effectively prevented the public release of any police reports, safety records, OSHA reportable injuries, who knows what else? Bottom line is PSU has a culture of not allowing any outside accountabilityt--they maintained their "we are Penn State" motto while simultaneously covering up any and every accident or crime that could hurt their precious image--an image that revolved around the football program.

It is this culture that has to be destroyed and in my mind only the Pa DOE or the NCAA have the power to do so. I don't want the NCAA to have such power, but I don't trust the DOE to do much to hurt their crown jewel institution. Thw NCAA has to act because they are the only ones who can act.

So the criminal justice system has just sat there twiddling their thumbs this entire time?
 
#24
#24
Penn State lobbied to be exempt from the open records law in order to prevent release of JoePa's salary. Other reasons were given, but that was the big issue. They effectively prevented the public release of any police reports, safety records, OSHA reportable injuries, who knows what else? Bottom line is PSU has a culture of not allowing any outside accountabilityt--they maintained their "we are Penn State" motto while simultaneously covering up any and every accident or crime that could hurt their precious image--an image that revolved around the football program.

It is this culture that has to be destroyed and in my mind only the Pa DOE or the NCAA have the power to do so. I don't want the NCAA to have such power, but I don't trust the DOE to do much to hurt their crown jewel institution. Thw NCAA has to act because they are the only ones who can act.
The justice system already has that power and is exercising it.

The next time somebody who works for a college football program has first hand knowledge of a coach committing child rape can think back to this instance and say "Spanier and co. are still rotting in a 4'x6' cell becuase they didn't say anything. I had better say something."

That sounds like prevention to me.
 
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