The NCAA delivered a shocking blow to Penn St. this week in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal following the release of a lengthy and extremely detailed independent report by judge Louis Freeh. If you haven't already heard, the school was fined $60 million which will be paid to programs for the detection, prevention and treatment of child abuse.
In addition to the fine, the football team is banned from any postseason games for the next four years; all wins between 1998 and 2011 are vacated; and the number of scholarships the program can give out dropped form 25 to 15. Once again, the NCAA got it wrong.
As usual, in an attempt to punish wrongdoing, the NCAA ends up punishing those who had absolutely no connection to the wrongdoing. I'm OK with the monetary fine.
That should be a drop in the bucket for a school as big as Penn St. Besides, the school agreed to pay the fine over five years. If it only takes you five years to pay $60 million, you're doing pretty well. I'm OK with the drop in scholarships. There is precedent in removing scholarships from schools involved in coverups of any size and scope.
It's the ban on bowl games and vacated wins that has me scratching my head. They have penalized the wrong people which is par for the course for most NCAA sanctions regarding athletic programs.
The kids being kept out of postseason play had nothing to do with Sandusky, Joe Paterno or the coverup that is alleged. The students who won those games over the 13 seasons that are now vacated are being treated the way cheaters are treated. While trying to come to a conclusion on a nightmare that has already destroyed lives, the NCAA has unnecessarily increased the number of those negatively impacted by Sandusky's actions.
Being banned from a bowl game or being told that you didn't actually win a game that you played in and won is no where near as life altering as what Sandusky did to his victims. Which is precisely my point. Why the NCAA even went to that extreme is beyond me. None of the actions taken, besides possibly the monetary fine, will have any positive impact on Sandusky's victims. Do you think his victims are cheering because Penn St. has to change a "W" to an "L" over all of those wins?
The vacated wins are to punish Paterno for his alleged role in the cover up. I know we all think we'd do the right thing if we were ever put in Paterno's shoes but how many of who really would can never be determined until we are in his shoes. If someone came to you and accused your best friend or a family member of what Sandusky did, wouldn't there be a part of you that might try to forget you were ever told that?
Why do you think molestation cases go undetected for years? Because people are human and part of being human is being weak. Sometimes reality becomes so vile and evil that you can't come to terms with it and you wish it would just go away.
We all say we'd do the right thing and tell authorities if we knew what Sandusky was doing to kids and we shouldn't doubt each other's sincerity. I think if you asked Joe Paterno at anytime before he knew what was going on, what he would do, he probably would have said the same thing and would have been just as sincere as you or me.
NCAA president, Mark Emmert, said in an interview with ESPN Tuesday night that the evidence in the Sandusky trial and the information in the Freeh report "demanded" that the NCAA take action. Why?
Sandusky's conviction is only the beginning in a long line of legal actions that will be handed down regarding this case.
The $60 million will seem like pennies after all of the civil suits are finished against the school. When it's all said and done, those who committed wrongdoings will either be in jail or dead or both by the time this all gets sorted out.
What more can the NCAA do?
Even the NCAA's explanation leaves a lot to be desired.
They said that the actions taken were not about what Sandusky did but rather the alleged cover up. I disagree.
The actions taken by anyone surrounding this case will always be about what Sandusky did and the impact on his victims should be the first thing taken in consideration.
Instead of helping this nightmare come to a conclusion and putting out some of the fires that are raging inside of people, the NCAA has simply displaced the anger, raised more questions and created an unnecessary road for this sad story to travel down.