On scandals and the NCAA

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I don't have too much to say about the current "Penn State Child Sex Abuse Scandal," not really. I've read the reports, and others have read the reports, and a bunch of people who know more than I do about it have commented on it quite in-depth (as have a lot of people who know nothing about it). But there's something that bothers me about it that

Comments

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It's a rough road, all around. Like tesinth says below, any program, given proper scrutiny, will get ripped apart if its looked at under a powerful enough microscope (and Penn State is under a thousand of the most powerful ones ever created). I am afraid that it's going to get much worse for Penn State before it gets better.

Part of the issue, and something that came up many times in discussions bare weeks before this story broke, is that the rules are so difficult to follow, so strict and esoteric, that the whole system is clearly only limping along. No one can abide by all the rules that are put forth (though they might be able to, if they just put forth the four rules I summarized above, I guess: I did it), and the infractions are just getting worse and more frequent.

The idea of shuttering the PSU football program is something that might make a certain bit of sense, actually (though I'd hate to see it happen: it's incredibly debilitating and doesn't really benefit anyone, so far as I can tell). It sounds like the football program may have become a nexus for permissive behavior, and if that's the case, then maybe it turns out that it is a viable option. That makes me feel for the guys who never did anything wrong, though, and had no sense that anything wrong was going on. I don't know enough about federal law to know whether or not the Feds could do that, but I do know that the NCAA can pull it off.

In the end, the question will have to be: in what way does whatever happens to Penn State benefit those who suffered? Does it prevent that suffering from continuing? And does it make the dream of playing on a college field a safe one for our children?

To comment on the power of the Big Ten versus the NCAA: One thing the NCAA can do, though, is remove Paterno's (and/or Penn State's) record from their record books. That's a bigger thing than the trophy, obviously, but I don't think they'd do that (and hopefully I'm not putting that in their heads).