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| Statue honoring Joe Paterno has now been removed |
It’s been a week of wake-up calls for Penn State.
First, the iconic statue of the late football coach Joe Paterno was permanently removed from just outside Penn’s football stadium. Then the NCAA laid down the law on Penn’s famed football program with a vengeance.
For its role in the Jerry Sandusky sexual molestation scandal, the NCAA issued the following sanctions against Penn State:
– Penn State to be fined $60 million dollars over 4 years, with proceeds to benefit programs preventing the sexual abuse of children
– Penn State will be banned from all football bowl games for the next 4 years
– Penn State will now lose 40% of its scholarships
– All Penn State victories from 1998 to 2011 will be vacated, meaning Paterno’s legacy will no longer be college football’s “winningest” coach
In announcing the penalties, NCAA president Mark Emmert called the case the most painful “chapter in the history of intercollegiate athletics,” and said it could be argued that the punishment was “greater than any other seen in N.C.A.A. history.”
Many spectators have already called the harsh punishment the “death penalty” for Penn State, since it virtually kills the football program that Joe Paterno built. But not everyone believes the NCAA went far enough.
The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) issued a statement expressing disappointment that the football program was not suspended:
When money was misspent at SMU, play is suspended. But when boys are raped and crimes are concealed at PSU, play continues. This sends absolutely the wrong signal.
SNAP also said that the act of vacating wins and banning bowl games has traditionally been for forgettable punishments, not something as severe as the cover up of child molestation:
Bans from bowl games have been issued in the past because players traded championship rings for tattoos. This is not a punishment that is equal to the horrific crimes that happened at Penn State.
Officials are saying that the stunning and unprecedented sanctions against Penn State will cripple the football program for decades to come.
While some people/victims advocate groups may feel the NCAA sanctiions didn't go far enough (didn't give Penn State the Death Penalty), there are others who feel that the NCAA went too far. I respectfully disagree with both sides. As I expressed on a related post yesterday, I fully support the NCAA's sanctions. I think, in many ways, Penn State did recieve the Death Penalty. I'd say PSU's football program is all but dead for at least 10 years. But I also believe the bigger, and most important problem facing PSU_nay, the entire "Happy Valley" community_is their continued god-like worship of Paterno and his precious football program. <span>It appears a sizeable number of people in that community STILL REFUSE to see the Truth. They don't seem to care about anything BUT protecting Paterno's legacy (which now lay in shambles) and Penn State Football!?! It boggles the mind…smh. </span>