NCAA boss won't rule out death penalty for Penn St

[IDemo]

Source: chron.com

NEW YORK (AP) — The president of the NCAA says he isn't ruling out the possibility of shutting down the Penn State football program in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

In a PBS interview Monday night, NCAA President Mark Emmert said he doesn't want to "take anything off the table" if the NCAA determines penalties against Penn State are warranted.

Emmert said he's "never seen anything as egregious as this in terms of just overall conduct and behavior inside a university." He added, "What the appropriate penalties are, if there are determinations of violations, we'll have to decide."

The last time the NCAA shut down a football program with the so-called "death penalty" was in the 1980s, when SMU was forced to drop the sport because of extra benefits violations. After the NCAA suspended the SMU program for a year, the school decided not to play in 1988, either, as it tried to regroup.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/article/NCAA-boss-won-t-rule-out-death-penalty-for-Penn-St-3712909.php

[mopinko]

1. considering the university's non-response

they fucking well better. i don't know who would want to go to that school for anything now, anyway. i think they are circling the drain. i hope, anyway.

[Posteritatis]

30. I almost wish it was only a non-response; they're practically defending Paterno at this point. (nt)

[rurallib]

2. my recollection is that money speaks loudly to Emmert

I doubt he will do anything.
Maybe make some well meaning remarks.

[Kelvin Mace]

3. This is what happens when you glorify

sports above all else, and deify the players and coaches.

I enjoyed playing various sports in high school, but had the good fortune to go to a school where sports were never allowed to overshadow academics. We didn't have a bunch of trophies, but we did have 90%+ of our grads go to college.

College sport programs should be shut down and relegated to intramural status. They are a massive waste of money, and create an elite class of people who contribute almost nothing of value or substance to society.

Also, it seems to be a license to riot when "your team" wins some sort of championship.

[RKP5637]

10. Well said! College should be all about academics, not sports. If one wants

sports, there are plenty of alternatives. If one wants just sports, college is not the place for them.

[msongs]

4. sure let's punish the innocent for the crimes of the guilty. it's the American way nt

[Odin2005]

7. Many of those "innocent" people still worship Paterno as a god.

[KeepItReal]

13. The Program and University *are* guilty

The only innocents are the victims of the past 20 years.

Current players can transfer or just be students. Playing at Penn St. does not guarantee you an NFL contract.

Fans and boosters will have to face facts that their Penn St. football program turned a blind eye to child abuse. Even the janitors knew.

These people should be thanking their lucky stars that the death penalty for the football program is all we are talking about - not wholesale investigations and prosecutions for people that knew and did nothing.

[hifiguy]

5. Christ Jeebus on the fifty yard like spiking the ball,

what SMU did was absolutely nothing that other schools haven't done before, they were just more sloppy about it. What happened at Penn State is almost literally unbelievable. People are gonna be going to the Big House for years and years for what happened there.

[cstanleytech]

6. I believe the school should be given an option though of

play (though the facility who knew should be forced to resign and or fired) and all profits their team makes for the next 6 years goes to something like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children or they take a 4 year suspension with zero games.

[iandhr]

8. Good.

If this doesn't deserve the death penalty then WHAT DOES?

[RobinA]

9. As A Person

who works in mental health and worked in child welfare, this entire episode has been eye-opening. There is nothing "unbelieveable" about this and most people in my field have seen worse. And I'm not minimizing what happened at PSU, it was egregious. I had no idea people were so clueless about what goes on out there. A LOT.

Mr. Emmert might want to get out of the game business and take a walk in the world.

[MicaelS]

11. Excellent....

I think a 20 year death penalty for the Penn State football program is completely appropriate. Or at a minimum 1 year for every year the Admins at Penn State knew what Sandusky was doing and did not stop him.

This would not have happened if Penn State, it's Admins, Alumni and those in Pennsylvania weren't so focused on having a winning football team, no matter the costs.

Penn State is very wealthy and all college football is very big business. The way you punish the wealthy, and big business, is hitting in the place they value most, which is their pocketbook. Penn state got wealthy off it's endowments, and the money they made from a winning football team. They made money from licensing their logo and products and TV air time payments for ballgames added to their wealth. The winning ball team attracted more donations and endowments. If they don't have a winning ball team making money for them, they are going to have to rethink their priorities.

And spare me "the poor innocent Penn States Students" bullshit. The idea that somehow the ball players and students are the victims is unmitigated bullshit. It's those children, now grown men, who were raped, repeatedly who are the victims. When Paterno was fired, the students rioted, so I feel little sympathy for them. Students not having a winning ball team does not make them victims or decrease the quality of their diploma. There are other universities out there to attend for those who want an education, others that have football programs for those that value football so much. PSU is not the only university in the State of Pennsylvania.

[RobinA]

12. What Does

disbanding the Penn State football program (about which I care nothing) do to a) help the victims, and b) stop child abuse?

[eggplant]

14. It sends a very strong message to other schools to choose justice over profit. n/t

[4th law of robotics]

15. Put the fear of god in to other schools

so they crack down on this sort of thing.

There will always be child molesters out there. Getting rid of them is sadly not possible.

So we need to crack down on those who provide them with a safe haven to operate.

[skepticscott]

17. Based on what?

Your sense of outrage is to be the basis for how justice is measured out now?

Show us the established NCAA rules that were violated and the penalties that are specified for violation of those rules. Neither you nor anyone else gets to decide after the fact that something SHOULD be against NCAA rules and SHOULD warrant a certain penalty.

[MicaelS]

18. Did you read the article the OP linked to?

If the Head of the NCAA won't rule out the DP for Penn State, I'd say he knows more about established NCAA rules and penalties, than either you or me. And thus the DP should be in there for what happened at Penn State.

[skepticscott]

19. I was aware of that long before I read this article

And just as a aware that he's engaged in standard ass-covering, trying not to look too evasive but not saying things that aren't appropriate yet. And I don't recall him saying anything about a 20 year death penalty for the Penn State football program being completely appropriate. Or 1 year for every year the Admins at Penn State knew what Sandusky was doing and did not stop him. Those are just things you made up out of thin air, fed by nothing but a sense of moral outrage.

[MicaelS]

24. Frankly I don't give two shits for Penn State ..

Or any of their athletic programs. And fuck the NCAA as well.

As Are_grits_groceries said over here

So I don't give a happy damn about the punishment that befalls that culture. Because that's exactly what it is, a culture that thought football was so important that kids were expendable. I have yet to see or hear real change in that culture.

What I hear is denial, minimization, why bother now?, Joe didn't rape them, Joe was a saint, only a few people knew, and on and on. Stop it! Unless people face what happened, that culture will remain.

I'm sick and tired the the emphasis that this country, and by extension Colleges and Universities put on athletics. Universities exist to provide an education to their students, not to act as the minor leagues for the NFL and NBA. This country has it's priorities totally fucked when it comes Education vs. Sports and my "moral outrage" is me showing my utter contempt for those priorities.

And if me arguing for giving PSU football program the DP pisses some sports fans off, too bad.

[RobinA]

25. Everybody

needs to give a happy damn if a culture engaged in a legal activity (there's nothing illegal about worshipping sports) is punished by a self-appointed governing body. Liking a culture has nothing to do with it.

[Posteritatis]

31. Uhhhh, they're not talking about punishing PSU for *legal* activities.

Christ, the point-dodging going on with this subject from that school's acolytes is insane.

[RobinA]

32. I Was

responding to the poster's point about punishing a culture. I happen to think that the culture of religion is dangerous but I'm not advocating outlawing the Catholic church.

[MrSlayer]

16. Considering the idiotic things they punish teams for, PSU should never take the field again.

Taking away trophies and championships earned on the field because a player got some money or benefits is ridiculous. But if they're going to be so harsh for things that hurt no one, Penn State should never be able to play football again, ever.

[skepticscott]

20. NCAA rules are intended ensure a level playing field

and to punish teams for actions that give them an unfair competitive advantage, an advantage that they would not otherwise have had. That's why they punish schools for giving improper benefits, and no, it's not "ridiculous". Unless you root for a school that got caught doing it. But that's not what happened here. Nothing Penn State did gave them a competitive advantage that they would not otherwise have had, nor can anyone cite NCAA rules violations that would warrant any NCAA action against Penn State, let alone the death penalty. Just because people THINK that something so bad should have been against NCAA rules (which were never designed to be the primary bulwark against criminal activity) doesn't mean it was. You can't mouth platitudes about "justice" in one breath, and then talk about making up and applying rules and punishments ex post facto on the other.

[MrSlayer]

21. Ok.

It doesn't really matter to me that much.

[Freddie Stubbs]

22. Lack of institutional control

If the NCAA imposes the death penalty, it will be for that. If you doubt that there was a lack of institutional control, just ask Vicky Triponey.

I am a graduate of Penn State. I has season tickets for four years when I was there. I still watch almost every game on TV, and I return about every other year to see a game.

I would completely understand if the NCAA imposed the death penalty. If I were in charge, I would impose that.

[skepticscott]

23. "Lack of institutional control"

is a state of affairs underlying actual violations of specific rules, but it is not a violation in and of itself. Its presence is a factor that the NCAA can take into account when deciding what sort of penalty to apply for actual rules violations, but if no actual rules have been violated, an institution can be as lacking in control as they please.

[Freddie Stubbs]

27. Is it a violation of NCAA rules to exempt athletes from the normal student disciplinary process?

[RobinA]

28. Good One

If it is and they decide to enforce that one, college sports will cease to exist. That was an issue at my little state school back in the '70's.

[skepticscott]

29. Is that what happened particularly at Penn State

and is that why people are calling for the death penalty for their football program and no one else's? If not, then whether it is or not is irrelevant.

[Rambis]

26. This should be the easiest decision ever made

DEATH!