The Lions' Pride

This was already commented on in the twitter thread, and someone correctly pointed out that we can't receive the death penalty if we aren't repeat offenders. This article just proved these "experts" they have don't have a damn clue what they're talking about.

I have no desire to click the link and give them another hit, but do the experts put their name to this? Or are they staying anonymous?

They out their name. Just hedge their bet on the "if it's true Joe made them not go to police."
So again, nothing but a fluff piece that states it's headline as factual, yet the content has no substance.

Spanier is the one who made the final & binding decision.

Let's say, hypothetically, that Paterno was evil & tried to change Curley's mind.
In the end, it is still Spanier's final decision.

This is an institutional issue, not an athletic department issue. No NCAA involvement.

I don't disagree, but ESPN has already made it their talking points similar to other mainstream news outlets. Topic of conversation this morning for Freddie Coleman..."Should PSU get the death Penalty"? I was always under the impression that the NCAA governed college athletics and not the institutions themselves. This was a horrible criminal act and it was disgusting all the way around. No way around it, but where exactly did the Athletic rules get broken. This wasn't covering up a paid player or recruiting violation, this was 50 times beyond that. We all get that, but how again does the NCAA rule on such a matter. I honestly don't think they have the capacity to deal with it. The thing that scares me is those calling for the death penalty don't even stop to ask which rule was broken. What history of NCAA rules were broken? PSU jacked this up to no end, but if it were a retired professor or a baseball coach...it's not even on the news anymore. This is still about Paterno as they know that name will draw the ratings. I never thought the NCAA could or would be able to do anything, but nobody is going to call them out if they do.

Legal and journalistic rigor is something we see less and less of. We see peoples emotional wants and needs placed above the integrity of their charters. Leaving asside the idea that the NCAA would have to expand their legitimate powers to apply sanctions, we should inquire as to the purpose of sanctions: Is it assumed that Penn State has not paid a heavy enough price? Consider all the many impacts to our entirety institution let along our sports program(s). The focus should be meating out punishments to the "gang of 5", through the criminal justice process. Make no mistake about it, calls for "death penalty" are made by - what amounts to the ''mob" - whose motivations are often not much more complicated than improving the outlook of their own football programs.

Well stated. I see this is your second post, welcome to the site and post more often.

Very well said!

The talking heads want to punish the football program to satisfy their own sense of self righteousness.

Sanctions will do nothing to help the victims, in fact you could argue punishing the money making program could even hurt the victims.

Sanctions do nothing to punish JS, he's already convicted and will spend the rest of his life in jail. They do nothing to punish the Gang of 5, they are no longer part of the University, and at least two and possible a third will be on trial for their alleged crimes.

The media wants their pound of flesh and the football program has the meat. They made this story about Joe & the program from the very beginning and will continue to beat that drum.

They don't give a rat's ass about the actual victims, they just want the program to suffer because they either don't like Penn State to begin with, or they've bought into the storyline that the alleged cover up was to protect the program, despite the evidence that any cover up was meant to protect the University as a whole.

rck127 - I should return the compliment as you are right on. In addition to satifiying this sense of self righteousness, this story fits a sort of narritive the media loves and that has allowed it to gain more traction. The media types love the contrast of anything that stands as a "good example". Their unstated assumption is that there really is nothing good...Behind every door evil lurks. In some sense they're right; man is fallen. Penn State is, in most ways, no different than other universities in good standing. We generally have tried to do things right, but unfortunately have been extremely poorly served by these empty suits that have led us. A lesson here is to scruitinize our leadership and pick men and women who understand all the aspects of good leadership - not just folks that look the part. We have to look hard because folks like that seem to be in short supply in our country today..

Agreed. If my team were going through this I would be grabbing at anything I could to help me hold out hope just like everyone here is. But, as an outsider with no emotional involvement in the team, it doesn't look good. Seems like some on here are reaching for legal nuances in making the case for State stating out of trouble.

Keep in mind the NCAA has substantially more latitude than a court of law when it comes to sanctions. The allowance of "secret witnesses" in the Albert Means case and no hard evidence that wasn't circumstantial in the Reggie Bush case taught us that. Public pressure will be in play as well.

I hate what happened to the kids and Sandusky is a monster that deserves all that he is about to get and more. That said, it would also sad to me to see people that had no involvement at all get hit so hard. The fans I met in our two games with y'all the last two years were among the classiest I have ever had the pleasure of interacting with.

Again, I hope it doesn't happen, but, I feel like something will come down. Just an outsiders opinion.

If I was a Miami fan, then yes. But sorry, I still don't see the NCAA's involvement in this one. But thanks for the support.

Not being a smart arse but I think you meant 86-87 season. 82 was UGA...