WE ARE! …. Screwed!

The Freeh report concluded their motive was to shield the university and its football program from negative publicity. Wrong! The Freeh report only escalated the problem to a panicked reaction from Penn State.

“That the president, the athletic director and the board of trustees accepted this unprecedented action by the NCAA without requiring a full due process hearing before the Committee on Infractions is an abdication of their responsibilities.”

On Sunday, Penn State president Rodney Erickson announced that the Joe Paterno statue would be removed. It was as if he died all over again. Only this time, (and from the current location of where the statue once stood) it looks like someone opened-fire and killed a once honored and respected Coach and program. I will never understand how removing a statue will help serve justice for Sandusky’s crime.

I know; it’s not the crime, it’s the cover up. I just don’t fully trust the Freeh report. I believe that with the information Joe Paterno was given (and clearly it wasn’t close to the whole story), the generation that JoePa still lived in (he didn’t have a cell phone, he didn’t have an email that HE used and he probably didn’t realize that TV shows were shown in color or that Chris Hansen had a TV show about child predators) that JoePa did what he thought was right. What we’ve learned is that JoePa is the only one who has said that he wishes he could have done more. No one supports the sick actions of Sandusky. But how victim’s parents knew their child was a victim and didn’t stop this monster from preying on other children will never make sense to me.

There’s more to the cover up and it’s not just from Penn State. In the Grand Jury report, the mom of victim #1 knew what happened to her child and you’re saying it took 15 years to file a police investigation? What was more important to keep a mother from protecting her child? Money? Promised scholarships? Please, tell me!

My point is that the cover up is deeper than Penn State. The whole scandal is just so complex. At the center of it all is Sandusky who will live in denial for the rest of his life behind bars. JoePa was fired and the University is doing everything to erase the memory of the man who was the single most significant pioneer for Penn State.

NCAA President, Mark Emmert announced that Penn State would be fined $60M, vacated Paterno’s 111 wins from 1998-2011, serve a four-year bowl ban and lose 40 scholarships over the next four years.

Where does $60M even go?

With Paterno’s 111 wins vacated, that makes 409 career wins to 298 wins. Paterno will drop to 12^th on the winningest NCAA football coach list. Six bowl wins and two conference championships will also be erased. Will they refund all the money from ticket and merchandise sales for the fans that were there too? If Emmert is saying the games “never happened” then fans never spent their money. Will fans receive refund checks in the mail?

Really, let’s put an asterisk next to JoePa’s wins and make everything all better. We all know he will be the winningest coach in Division 1 football FOREVER, but if adding an asterisk somehow serves justice for the crime Sandusky committed then go ahead and add a big asterisk. And no real coach wants to move up on the wins list that way.

“Any current or incoming football players are free to immediately transfer and compete at another school.” Mr. Emmert, pleeeeeas tell me how this is practical. In case you forgot, practice starts next week. No way a kid is  going to find a school that happens to have a scholarship just hanging in an empty locker when the NCAA continues to take scholarships away because someone else bought them lunch.

Who really is screwed in this are the students and the student athletes. I say the students because once victim lawsuits come flooding in, Penn State will be broke. Tuition will be the only source of economic income. That $220M TV contract won’t last long.

At least the death penalty would have been a shorter way to rip off the band aid. The NCAA’s penalties are actions that just lead to a slow and painful death of a football program. The University that was built on so much more. The actions of one sick man, Jerry Sandusky have screwed an entire program and university of its past, present and future.

I’ve had a JoePa statue/figure on my desk for years. It’s one of my favorite gifts from my twin brother and I thank the sports gods that Rodney Erickson and Mark Emmert can not remove it.