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The NCAA Enters the Land of Make-Believe

By on 7.23.12 @ 3:50PM

Any punishment of Penn State handed down by the NCAA was always going to be inadequate. The sports body doesn’t have the authority to deliver what would be justice for Jerry Sandusky’s unspeakable crimes and those involved in the cover-up. The $60 million fine seems fair. But what about vacating past wins?

Michael Brendan Dougherty writes:

Basically the NCAA will pretend (and ask everyone else to pretend) that Penn State football didn’t win those games. Consequently, we must pretend that Joe Paterno is no longer the college football coach with the most wins. And that is supposed to make everyone feel good about themselves.

Usually this punishment is reserved for cases when an athlete or sports program is alleged to have engaged in activities that call their wins into question or make them illegitimate: cheating, in short. But Sandusky’s monstrous behavior gave the Lions no advantage. The players who won those games may not have had even the slightest knowledge of Sandusky’s inclinations.

The logic runs roughly this: Paterno helped hush up Sandusky because he was concerned about his reputation and that of the Penn State football program. Take away his status as the winngest coach in college football history and that reputation takes the hit they endangered children to preserve.

But Paterno and Penn State’s legacy would have deservedly taken a hit without vacating those wins. And everyone knows that Penn State really won those games. This is an act of make-believe, not of justice. Prosecuting the living people complicit in covering up for Sandusky accomplishes something. Punishing innocent student athletes — including those now banned from postseason play under Bill O’Brien, without any connection to Sandusky or even Paterno at all — does not.

View all comments (75) |

Bob Grant| 7.23.12 @ 4:54PM

I have to respectfully disagree with the writer. One could argue that by not firing and reporting to the police a known child rapist, Mr. Paterno enjoyed a competitive advantage of attracting top athletes to his program who more than likely would not have attended PSU had they known the full story about the athletic department facilitating the behavior of such a despicable man.

Secondly, individuals are unfairly punished on a daily basis. As Jimmy Carter famously put it "life isn't fair", get over it. Moreover, the current athletes have the option of playing at PSU and focusing more on their studies i.e, becoming actual student athletes, or, transfer to another Football Factory.

This act was so despicable that PSU needs to become an object lesson in order for this to never occur again, collateral damage or no.

CJW| 7.23.12 @ 5:51PM

The police did file a criminal complaint against Sandusky in the 1990's but the Centre County DA declined to prosecute. It gets weird because the DA has been missing. I have not read any follow up why this charge was not prosecuted.

Penn State is not being punished. It is not a real person. It is a state funded school so the tax payers of Pa will pay the fine.The players who played from 98 to 2011 are punished because their wins are removed fromt the records books. The current players are punished because they cannot play in a bowl game.
The taxpayers and players did not abuse the victims but they are the real persons paying.
Sandusky should and will get life in prison. The other administrators were fired and some will be tried for lying to the grand jury.
The NCAA is a joke trying to gain respectability with these fines. College football has been nothing but a minor league for pro football, with players not graduating and going to college just to play pro ball, recruiting violations, and the rest.

JohnD| 7.23.12 @ 6:31PM

Penn State is a public school, but it has an endowment. The taxpayers won't take the hit.

CJW| 7.23.12 @ 6:45PM

Wrong. Money is fungible. If it is taken from the endowment then there is less in the endownment and it has to be made up by a tuitiion hikes and increased state subsidies to the university.

JohnD| 7.23.12 @ 7:38PM

Good point. Not to mention even if it comes out of their soon to be declining football revenues, those revenues fund other campus programs and activities. Wouldn't it be ironic if Pennsylvania taxpayers including University of Pittsburgh fans have to pony up.

Occam's Tool| 7.23.12 @ 8:30PM

Dear John:

For true yummy, yummy schadenfreude, go on the USA Today website and check out the sophomore chick's mouth in disbelief.

Saban is recruiting. Heh, heh. Nad punch.

JohnD| 7.23.12 @ 9:31PM

I saw those pictures. It was nice to see that smug look of superiority finally wiped off the face of the Penn State fans. I realize my sense of schadenfreude is not very becoming, and may reflect poorly on me, but I have had to hear it for too long from those people. This is my moment. . .

CJW| 7.24.12 @ 8:19AM

Maybe now we can have the Baseball Hall of Fame comittee throw out of the Hall of Fame all the players who played before Jackie Robinson because baseball was segregated. Or have the Olympic comittee fine the USA and throw out all our records before 1957 because we had segregated schools.

Bob K| 7.24.12 @ 1:16AM

This guy, John Ziegler, has the only pro-Paterno articles I've seen. There are at least 4 of them on his web site. This one is the most recent and most detailed.

http://www.johnziegler.com/edi.....torial=220

It is worth reading. He has done a lot of analysis.

Bob K| 7.24.12 @ 1:25AM

His analysis of the Freeh report here:

http://www.johnziegler.com/edi.....torial=219

Bob K| 7.24.12 @ 1:36AM

You can read 3 more recent contrarian editorials on this case here:

http://www.johnziegler.com/editorials.asp

CJW| 7.24.12 @ 8:22AM

Freeh was a good prosecutor in the Southern District of NY on convicting the "Pizza Connection" cases involving drugs and pizza shops. He was a lousy chief of the FBI during the Clinton era.

Bob K| 7.24.12 @ 9:15AM

Some of the Pennsylvania Press is having 2nd thoughts on this. Here is an editorial today from a very liberal, democrat leaning newspaper entitled "NCAA Goes Over The Top." It uses phrases like: "Because of the APPARENT failure of responsible Penn State administrators ...... ." It criticizes the NCAA because "it stepped outside it's own procedures and accepted as gospel" the Freeh Investigation "which was not meant to be a legal document" and that it further ignored it's own procedures and did not conduct it's own investigation or give Penn State opportunity to defend itself.

http://citizensvoice.com/news/.....-1.1347301

It ends by saying: "Today other universities should be wary that the NCAA has used that problem to give itself vast new powers."

Occam's Tool| 7.23.12 @ 8:20PM

Bob: the students also have the option of NOT playing football AND collecting their athletic scholarships (they were expecting to play for a nationally ranked team; instead, now they are playing for a weak sister). How sweet is that!

I bet if they blow athletics off they will STILL get to eat in the athlete's dorm and use the athlete's weight room.

JimPA| 7.23.12 @ 11:44PM

It would have been difficult for Paterno to fire a man who had retired several years before the first report of actual sexual abuse was brought to his attention in 2001. In fact, Paterno had already told Sandusky he would not succeed him as head coach and Sandusky was negotiating his retirement before the only other incident Penn St leadership and Paterno are accused of knowing about - the 1998 shower incident which neither the victim or his mother characterized as sexual abuse. This incident was investigated by the police and the Department of Child Welfare. No charges were filed. It's all in the Freeh Report. Maybe you should read it.

Derek Leaberry| 7.23.12 @ 4:56PM

The NCAA is a fraud as is "college" football or "college" basketball a fraud. Most of the athletes playing for the NCAA schools don't belong in a university and would make a better fit on the back of trash trucks of cities like Birmingham or New Orleans. The NCAA blasting Joe Paterno is about as honest as a rat claiming a skunk stinks worse than him.

R Martin| 7.23.12 @ 5:00PM

If Penn State is deemed not to have won those games does that mean they lost them? Accordingly can Temple claim to be 13-0 against Penn State over the previous seasons? And what about Penn State's losses; are they also "vacated"? This ruling is worse than make believe; it's just plain silly.

JohnD| 7.23.12 @ 5:44PM

I'll answer your question with a question:

Sports Trivia: Which school has the longest losing streak in NCAA Division I football history?

Answer: Penn State, 164 games (1997–11) (Active)

Wikipedia has already updated all of its NCAA football stats to reflect the vacated wins.

JD| 7.23.12 @ 5:50PM

Well, if Wikipedia says it...

JohnD| 7.23.12 @ 6:32PM

I had that coming. . . :)

JimPA| 7.24.12 @ 12:11AM

Your concern for the victims is apparent and touching. Your willingness to exploit this tragedy to settle scores with PSU fans is a true credit to the University of Maryland.

JohnD| 7.24.12 @ 7:33AM

JimPA I probably deserve that, but I don't care. I realize I am looking at this through a prism of partisanship, My resentment of Penn State runs deep and developed over decades. That said, at least I didn't enable the criminal acts.

Butch| 7.24.12 @ 2:01PM

Many newspapers (my local included) published a FAQ directly from the NCAA. I'm paraphrasing, but a "vacated win" means we all pretend that nobody won and nobody lost; that is, we are all supposed to pretend that the games were just never played. Sic semper Wikipediaus.

Occam's Tool| 7.23.12 @ 5:05PM

I'm kind of worried more about the unfairness of the children that were molested.

Paterno deserves to have his statue ripped down and his wins pissed on. What he did was infinitely worse than what Pete Rose did. The bastard couldn't pick up the phone and call child protection? Whenever his family bitches, simply mention that all he had to do was pick up the phone and call child protection, or, more importantly, just consult his family attorney (or physician) to tell him what to do and act on that advice.

He was either a moron and/or an asshole. He deserves every bit of urine he's getting. Those molested kids should be given the legal right to piss on his grave whenever they feel like it.

As for the NCAA sanctions: You aren't getting to the best parts. First, I love the---any football player may leave and immediately play anywhere else. I ESPECIALLY also love the "you may sit on your ass and get your football scholarship, if you wish." If I knew that I wasn't going to the NFL, and I had half of my Mensan intellect (like most of these players do, or less) I would exercise this and take 5 years to get my degree. Screw Penn State. Never did a college deserve anal intercourse so much.

Derek: I like B'ham, as does my wife. It is considerably better than Nawlins. Otherwise, completely agree with you.

Occam's Tool| 7.23.12 @ 8:16PM

Oh, and they (the victims) should be allowed to pull down their pants, in broad daylight, and shit on his grave, too. In front of the Paterno family.

Thanks.

JohnD| 7.23.12 @ 9:33PM

While we are at it, lets all grab some shovels and head to Happy Valley and. . .

OK, I am sorry, that's over the line.

JimPA| 7.24.12 @ 12:01AM

Evidenced by the vulgarities you use in this post, including the very same acts Sandusky perpetrated on his victims, your concerns for those victims is as doubtful as your Mensan intellect. For accuracy and brevity, consider dropping the "Occam" when signing off.

R Martin| 7.24.12 @ 7:39AM

Very well said and entirely deserved. My experience is that such vitriol is usually directed against Penn State by those who applied for admission and were rejected.

MTB| 7.23.12 @ 5:06PM

I disagree with the author. PSU deserved to have their wins vacated and furthermore, I'm disappointed the infamous NCAA "death penalty" wasn't used against them. An independent investigation revealed a coverup and silence up to the highest levels of the university. Paterno had and made his choice: he remained silent and allowed child rape and molestation to continue. Shame on him. Furthermore, any state that has any school within their boundaries as complicit in facilitating or covering up a crime as heinous as this one should look at revoking the school's charter. We taught our children to go to an adult if they're hurt or abused, they did. The adults not only failed, they lied and allowed the abuse to continue. They, too, should stand trial and receive the same punishment Sandusky does. These men were and are reprehensible!! And for what? Money! A handful of dishonest, immoral people have nearly single-handedly taken down a once respected institution of higher learning. Now, like the Batman movie, whenever anyone hears or sees the name Penn State, what do you think will come to mind?

MTB| 7.23.12 @ 5:07PM

I should have said that in this case children did report the abuse and the adults failed. My children, to the best of my knowledge, have not been hurt or abused.

JohnD| 7.23.12 @ 5:13PM

I agree with you about the death penalty - just imagine what fans in Columbus, Ann Arbor, etc., will be yelling, and the signs they'll be carrying, when Penn State comes to town to play. It wil be an embarrassment to NCAA football.

Also, apropos of my comments below, the people of Penn State nation need several years of free Saturday afternoons to reconnect with their humanity and get their priorities in order, as well as deprogram themselves from their delusional idol worship of Joe Pa and PSU football.

That said, this might be worse - losing scholarships will make PSU the whipping boy of the Big 10 for the next decade. Ohio St, Michigan, Wisconsin will be cleaning their clock annually for the next 10 years.

Occam's Tool| 7.23.12 @ 7:32PM

The PSU players can transfer and IMMEDIATELY start playing for their transfer schools, without a waiting period. Wasn't anyone listening to the speech?

JohnD| 7.23.12 @ 5:08PM

I believe everybody in "Penn State Nation" is guilty - coaches, fans, students, boosters, players, everybody. For decades I have put up with PSU fans strutting around like their schoiol was so special because of Joe Pa's sterling reputation. They lionized the guy as if he were above other college athletics. All of "Penn State nation" created this false idol they had to protect,m and they were willing to allow the brutalization of innocent children to protect this image and maintain their self-proclaimed superiority. The most represehsible behavior was seeing the PSU fans protecting an inanimate staue of Joe Pa, when they failed to protect the living children that were scarred for life by what was done to them. Imagine how the victims felt seeing the people thnat refused to protect them protect a statue of the enabler of their rapist. Now Joe Pa is behind Pop Warner and Amos Alonzo Stagg in wins.

As a University of Maryland grad, I can say that now that we won't have Joe Pa swooping down and skimming off the cream of Maryland high school football UofM is about 3-5 years from a National Title.

JohnD| 7.23.12 @ 5:16PM

Oh, I forgot, congratualtions to Bobby Bowden, who today became the winningest coach in NCAA Div I history.

Oh, and PSU will start the season trying to break a 14 year losing streak.

Teflon93 | 7.23.12 @ 7:15PM

If you think Penn State fans are idiots who lionized a coach of questionable character, you must not have run into many Florida State Fans.

JohnD| 7.23.12 @ 7:40PM

They never claimed to be squeaky clean and above everybody else in integrity.

Crassus| 7.23.12 @ 9:56PM

Obviously, you've never seen Bobby Bowden interviewed. A more sanctimonious individual never lived.

JohnD| 7.23.12 @ 10:05PM

OK, Bowden was an a-hole (I am a Maryland grad so I have no love for FSU) but no one believed he was pure and clean. Maybe its because I live in an area where I have to deal with a lot of PSU fans.

Teflon93 | 7.24.12 @ 9:01AM

Ahh, so it's okay to be corrupt so long as you aspire to be nothing but. Gotcha.

JD| 7.23.12 @ 5:52PM

Yeah, uh this is just piling on now. You don't get to blame everyone who ever cheered for a football team for indiscretions they had nothing to do with.

This "guilt by association" stuff is way too liberal for me.

JohnD| 7.23.12 @ 6:35PM

I can't help it. I have been looked down upon by PSU fans for too many decades. I can't help but rub their noses in it, as they did to me for over 40 years. I am just glad Maryland football talent will now stay in Maryland and not all go to Penn State.

Occam's Tool| 7.23.12 @ 8:22PM

Kind of hoping all PSU games will go the way the second half did in The Longest Yard, with PSU playing the role of the guards. Particularly the clothesline and the groin throw.

Goldwater Girl| 7.24.12 @ 1:26PM

why would they go to Maryland? More likely they will head to the SEC. I want to see a show of hands among commenters here that would expose this situation at the risk of losing your job, and destroying the reputation of the PS program? Its awfully easy to sit here on our self righteous asses with hindsight now, and judge a man's actions when he is not around to defend himself? And why do you take the Freeh report at face value, when we know that similar investigations are only interested in finding a scapegoat, not necessarily the person who's guilty? Remember Scooter Libby? I'm no PSU fan, but I think this is piling on. What's next to satisfy the bloodthirst? Do we need to dig up Joe and hang his corpse in the middle of town? Joe did not have first hand knowledge of Jerry's activities. How many of you would sacrifice your career for hearsay?

Occam's Tool| 7.23.12 @ 7:31PM

Hey, I'm a TCU alum.

squalis| 7.23.12 @ 7:54PM

As an alum of Emory University, I can proudly say we have never lost a football game.

smee| 7.23.12 @ 11:35PM

Let's see:
US News Rankings: Penn State (45), TCU (97). Enough said.

Crassus| 7.23.12 @ 9:54PM

Is this the same Maryland team that went 2-10 last season? ROTFLMAO.

JohnD| 7.23.12 @ 10:10PM

Yes, that one. At least our coach isn't a pederast enabler. Now that we won't have our State football talent skimmed off by Joe Pa, expect a National Championship at Maryland within 5 years. The prgram has a lot of "Under Armour" money and we just replaced the field at Byrd stadium and built luxury boxes; we are perfectly positioned to take advantage of this.

JohnD| 7.23.12 @ 10:14PM

. . .and at least OUR statue of Testudo the Terrapin is still standing in front of the McKeldin Library as it has for 80 years. Legend has it if a female ever graduates from Maryland with her virtue intact, that 5-ton bronze turtle will get up and fly away. As an undergrad I worked very hard to keep Testudo there, if you know what I mean.

Crassus| 7.24.12 @ 10:11AM

Anybody that talks about sex the way you do probably can't get it up with a crane. :)

smee| 7.23.12 @ 11:38PM

John. Fat chance. You might lose a little less talent to Penn State, but they'll gladly choose Pitt, VaTech, Michigan, OSU, etc... over your team.

JohnD| 7.24.12 @ 7:37AM

Last year, as this scandal was brewing, The University of Maryland got 6 of the top 18 high school footbal prospects in Maryland. In Montgomery county alone there are about 6 high schools (including my alma mater) that are absolute football factories. If Maryland can keep getting 1/3 top propects to commit from their own state, expect a national title within a few years. We don't need all of them, but now that PSU is in the dock we'll get enough.

Crassus| 7.24.12 @ 10:14AM

Only 6 of the top in-state players? That's pretty damn pitiful iyam. High school football in Maryland doesn't compare to Virginia or Pennsylvania either. You'd better start getting some players from those states if you want to get within smelling distance of a national title (which you never will). Then again, you could always pull an Auburn and buy one.

RJ| 7.23.12 @ 7:07PM

The NCAA has a history of attacking wrong-doing with punishments which fall heavily on the innocent. The football players on Penn State today are being punished for no wrong-doing of their own and it is not credible to claim that they can effectively transfer just a few weeks before fall practice begins. Innocent players of the past have also had their achievements blotted out. There should be a better way. I like the idea of major fines on universities since that is an effective way to punish them and get their attention.

Nonetheless the lesson for Penn State in this matter is the same one which I learned as youngster from Whittier during Watergate. Your duty and loyalty is owed to values and ideals; not to a particular leader or institution. When Penn State officials valued the image of the institution over doing the right thing, they corrupted themselves and will now be held to account.

Teflon93 | 7.23.12 @ 7:14PM

The NCAA is now doing precisely what Penn State did then: taking a cowardly action to protect its own rear end.

Removing the victories was about one thing and one thing only: not reminding people that the winningest coach in NCAA history hid his eyes from a predatory pedophile in his own coaching staff.

If the NCAA were truly horrified, it would refuse to allow Penn State to field a football team period.

Occam's Tool| 7.23.12 @ 7:30PM

Again, the football players currently in the program at PSU will be allowed to transfer and play immediately for their new teams. I see no punishment towards the players there. Further, if they wish to be at PSU and NOT play, they can become full time students on full ride athletic scholarships and never have to play another down again for anyone!

I wish I could see the punishment. Unless you are going to the NFL, football is pain without gain at the college level.

RJ| 7.23.12 @ 10:48PM

Yes, the players are legally authorized to transfer and play, but big-time college football is about a 49 week a year job. Depending upon the position, they will face a major hurdle in learning the system of a new school. If they transfer, the upcoming season would likely be transitional for most of them, with limited playing time. My guess is that the Penn State starters will stay because they know they will be playing and that most of the transfers will come from the underclassmen and some backups who may have wanted to transfer to get more playing time, but didn't want to take the one year penalty hit.

The scandal and the 15 scholarship limit for 4 years will hit the program hard. While the highly successful college programs are raking in more money than ever, more and more schools are dropping out because of the expense. I think the long term health of the present-day college football is in doubt. Penn State should play out the season and then seriously consider dropping football. If you have ever been in Happy Valley on game day, you know that Penn State football has a huge following, but right now the program looks like the Costa Concordia.

Of course, the most important fact is that those executives at Penn State who did not take action against child abuse will be punished. The NCAA's role in this tragedy is not primary, but supplemental.

chasrome| 7.23.12 @ 7:41PM

I agree that the declaring past wins to be un-won is illogical as well as unjust. But I'm glad these folks are being banned from postseason play. No self-respecting American parent or grandparent should allow his or her family members to attend this place.

But the postseason ban does not address the real culprit, which is the university culture itself. A culture of sneering elitism coupled with an antipathy toward commonly accepted values. It should be no surprise that the university became the setting where young human beings were treated worse than livestock. I, for one, would be satisfied only if the university administration is jailed and the university itself disbanded.

Occam's Tool| 7.23.12 @ 8:23PM

It is a way of spitting on Paterno, a man who deserves to be spat at.

smee| 7.23.12 @ 11:47PM

Let's see. The 45th ranked university by US News and world report. Some of the top engineering, earth science, etc... The largest dues paying alumni association in the country. Yes, a few people did despicable things and they're currently being punished. That doesn't take anything from Penn State's 500,000+ strong family.

Bob K| 7.23.12 @ 8:14PM

Well, as Dudley Doright said in the Rocky and Bullwinkle show: "If it's in the newspaper it must be trooo!"

Oldefarte| 7.23.12 @ 10:04PM

I respectfully disagree. If memory serves, didn't some of the PSU stupents riot severly in protest over Paterno's treatment? Did not Paterno and others who were aware of these occurrances turn their blind eyes to protect PSU at the expense of these vulnerable children [as did the Catholic Church concerning the pedifilic clergy]? No, the whole damned organization is ultimately repsonsible, some more so than others. They are all guilty. Is anyone going to attempt to promote the idea that rumors and indirect knowledge wasn't rampant throughout the faculty, the student body, the athletes, the coaches, the administration about who/what this pervert on their coaching staff was doing? BS, and anyone saying otherwise is a fool!!!!!

Oldefarte| 7.23.12 @ 10:07PM

PS: May they all burn in hades for their sin of negligence...and they will eventually!!!!

Sean| 7.23.12 @ 11:18PM

This whole focus on PSU football is pretty stupid. There should be a focus on the police and the DA office who failed to prosecute. Paterno is still the winningest coach and PSU still won those games.

smee| 7.23.12 @ 11:53PM

A lot of self righteous comments out here today (almost confused this for the Huffingtonpost or some NY Times blog). Probably a number of them coming from people who also run around calling themselves Christians. Here's a great post from one of my friends.

In my view, with respect to the impending NCAA sanctions, and with regard to Joe PA's statute, we as a society have lost sight of the frailty of human nature; forgiveness, and proportionality of punishment. Why are so many bent on punishing scores of football players, thousands of students, hundred thousands or more of Penn State football fans who had nothing or ever will have anything to do with this scandal, for what essentially were the misdeeds of approximately 5 men within Penn State management and the inaction of one now legally dead district attorney? There are few of us who have not done wrong, if not shameful things in our lives, yet overall our families, friends and neighbors know us as decent, loving human beings, who seek to do what good we can in our small part of the world. That Joe PA insisted upon building a great football team of BOTH physical and academic prowess, whose simple uniforms were a symbol of the same humility of this man who did not squandor his fortune on a McMansion typical of this materialistic American society, but rather gave of his substance for the material benefit of others, is a legacy before God, that no blood-thirsty mob can tear down.

smee| 7.23.12 @ 11:53PM

(continued)
Amidst a stellar career and life of dedication, discipline, compassion, humility, faithfulness, and respect for God and religion, Joe PA made a mistake in judgment. How convenient for the world to now judge with such vitriolic harshness a dead man not here to defend himself.

IX-XI| 7.24.12 @ 12:31AM

smee, "Joe PA" made a "mistake in judgment?"

Correction: JoePA made 15,110 errors in judgment, one for every morning he woke up knowing he had not made sure his buddy the molester was prosecuted and jailed for his crimes. A 14 year stint does not constitute an "error in judgment." It constitutes willful, sustained corruption.

Here in York County we're scraping the Penn State stickers off our cars. You should do the same.

JP| 7.24.12 @ 10:29AM

Paterno did 2 things that still have people wondering:

1)He allowed Sandusky to continue to operater at Penn St.
2)He allowed Sandusky to run his "charity" at Penn St despite knowing full well what Sandusky did to the children.

IX-XI| 7.24.12 @ 12:25AM

Strongly disagree. If this coverup had blown up in, say, 2004, and your son were a top prep football recruit, would you even allow Penn State recruiters to darken your doorstep? No, you would not.

In perpetuating the coverup for 14 years, Paterno realized a record he never would have achieved if he'd been exposed as a fraud earlier. This is what we call unfair competitive advantage.

Sure those great players won those games fair and square, and you can never take away from them their performance and sportsmanship on the field. But what you are omitting is that those top recruits in all likelihood would have been playing for other schools if the fraud had been discovered earlier, and Joe Paterno, fired and in disgrace, never would have reached the wins milestone.

The players own their performance, and the fans own the experience they had at the games. But no way does the record belong to Joe Paterno or Penn State University.

Red Phillips | 7.24.12 @ 1:17AM

I agree with Antle. "Vacating" these wins is an exercise in magical thinking and serious people should treat it as the ridiculous absurdity that it is. Joe Paterno is still the winningest coach in NCAA history, and no amount of playing pretend by the NCAA is going to change that.

My thoughts on the whole NCAA penalty are here:

http://conservativetimes.org/?p=11806

JimH| 7.24.12 @ 8:08AM

The way this has all come down does not pass the smell test. I have not followed this closely, what I’ve heard is basically what is on the sports talk radio on my drive home. The university has accepted these sanctions from the NCAA, a body with arguably no jurisdiction in this criminal matter, without complaint. The NCAA made its decision supposedly on the basis of the Freeh report without additional substantiation. Pennsylvania’s governor was attorney general when these events were first brought to light. He is/was also on the Penn state board of directors. At the least he may have been involved in the cover up. I have heard other allegations that Sandusky was a front for a large pedophile ring. As unpleasant as it may be, more independant investigation is needed.

Mick Lee| 7.24.12 @ 10:51AM

Penn State reportedly has an endowment of over a billion dollars. 60 million dollars is a drop in the bucket. What Penn State needs is a penalty it will take years to recover from. What the students who protested after Paterno was fired is a direct hit to the old Penn culture.

Of greater importance would be the disillusioning with the gospel of football as character builder. Having played football, I knew that such self-serving talk was a bunch of cr*p. There were a whole lot of standup guys in the sport; but there are also a lot of guys--both players and coaches-- looking for way to cut the angles that made a mockery of any notion of sportsmanship and integrity.

On second thought, maybe when some coach gets tears in his eyes and waxes poetic about character and football, we should take him at his word. But we should wonder exactly what kind of man he really is and what kind of "character" he is serious in building.

wally| 7.24.12 @ 12:08PM

BS. Paterno was a vile man. Paterno cared about Paterno. Period.

The man who made him- Rip Engle- always regretted that he left the program to him. He found out what Paterno was really about only after he had retired.

They got off easy. Should have had a death penalty of one or three years and then the sanctions that were levied.

R Martin| 7.24.12 @ 1:10PM

Rip Engle coached Paterno for four years at Brown and employed him as an assistant coach for 16 years at Penn State. To suggest that coach Engle "found out" about Paterno only after Engle retired is nonsense.

Paterno made some terrible mistakes and his priorities seem warped. However, he was certainly not a vile man but rather, over the course of his life and career, quite a good one.

wally| 7.24.12 @ 1:41PM

It is not nonsense; and it is not a 'suggestion'. Came straight from the man's mouth. I heard him say it. His biggest regret.

And, sorry, but I never bought the facade. Paterno was all about Paterno. Nothing else mattered.

More Blog Posts by W. James Antle, III

http://spectator.org/blog/2012/07/23/the-ncaa-enters-the-land-of-ma

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Elijah Harper, R.I.P.

Aaron Goldstein | 5.18.13

If Only the Tsar Knew!

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Low-Level IRS Staffer: No, We Didn’t Mastermind This Entire Thing

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UPDATED: IRS Acting Chief Apologizes, But Defends His Actions

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Voter Fraud Affected Election Results in Missouri

Kaylin Bugos | 5.17.13

Purple Privacy Push Persists in House Drone Hearing

Luca Gattoni-Celli | 5.17.13

IRS Director: ‘Some People Call Me Maurice’

Kyle Peterson | 5.17.13

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Ross Kaminsky | 5.17.13

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