Good.

[lindentreeisle]

The NCAA has sanctioned Penn State by consent decree, fining them $60 million, banning them from post-season games for four years, and vacating 111 of Paterno's wins (1998-2011) from the official records. The Big Ten conference imposed separate penalties also

Comments

[bulleteyes]

I lived in that area for a very long time. It was more than a little unsettling the amount of adoration and deification given to Paterno by the fans and media.

[lindentreeisle]

I totally hear you. Especially since I don't care for sports and never really gave two shits what the football team was up to.

[lawless523]

I think the penalties levied are more appropriate than the death penalty would have been. Clearly, people at Penn State, Paterno included, put the reputation of the football program, and the money and prestige it produced, ahead of the welfare of children. There was probably also a lot of rationalization involved.

The adulation was due to the belief, otherwise seemingly justified, that Paterno ran a clean program in which players actually attended classes and graduated and that he was down-to-earth and humble -- he lived in an unassuming rambler his entire tenure and walked home from games. It's terrible that after 1998, this was built on willfully ignoring Sandusky's criminality.

[lindentreeisle]

People who are bitching up a storm are of course saying, "But they're just punishing Penn State!" Um, yes. That's kind of the point.

I think the punishment is necessary, if only as a symbolic message that this kind of shit is Not Cool and has real consequences.

[lawless523]

I also think it's necessary and appropriate because the school privileged the money football made it over the victims' well-being figuring no one would ever find out.

The NCAA was in a position to impose a monetary penalty so that in the future, other schools might not be as apt to make the same mistake.