[janmcn]

For someone who prided himself on running a program that had no NCAA violations, a very high graduation rate and two national championships, Joe Paterno sure disappointed a lot of people. We'll never know why he did what he did or didn't do. I agree it's not fair to punish innocent people like the players, the merchants, the townspeople and students who had nothing to do with the horrendous actions of one man and the cover-up by others.

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

I'm not completely familiar with the entire situation, but from what I understand, the one guy was abusing kids and Joe Paterno, evidently knew about it and didn't say anything. If that's the case and there are no other people involved why punish the school or the program at all? The guy that committed the crime is being prosecuted and the guy that covered it up is dead.

If there were other people involved in the cover up then they should be removed from their position and prosecuted criminally. Punishing the program is punishing people that had nothing to do with the crime.

[2BNTV]

Should Joe Paterno's statue be taken down.

Statues of living, like Penn State's of Joe Paterno, problematic - Steve Rushin - SI.com

[buckscounty]

Yes, and very soon.....

[Rubber Bucket]

Yes! The sooner, the better.

[Taltarzac725]

Should be up to the victims/survivors and their families from the Penn State football program child abuse scandal. If this statute is a reminder of the cover-up done by some of the Penn State football team administration of long term child abuse-- which I take it included Joe Paterno-- then it should be removed, and soon.

It should be about empowering the victims/survivors though and not so much about the image of Penn State.

[tkret]

The NCAA has spoken and removed ALL wins from the Penn State program dating back to 1998. No Bowl games for the next 4 years. Fines and scholarship losses. Players may switch schools without sitting out a season.
Some will say "too harsh" .... others will say "a slap on the wrist". The NCAA did not sit on it's hands on this one.
......
Sandusky, once a member of Penn State, is now a member of State Pen.

[justjim]

Have not heard this news yet. What about sanctions on other sports?

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by justjim

Have not heard this news yet. What about sanctions on other sports?

NCAA hands down punishments to Penn State - College Football News | FOX Sports on MSN

[Taltarzac725]

I will have to watch the Internet and see what kind of re-actions the various societies and associations for the prevention of sexual child abuse have to say about these punishments imposed on Penn State. National Association to Prevent Sexual Abuse of Children*

Prevent Child Abuse Pennsylvania https://www.facebook.com/PreventChildAbusePA

Home | CAPA

http://www.nationalchildrensalliance.org/index.php?s=99

[2BNTV]

No punishment handed to Penn State will make these victims whole again.

Pter King's MMQB Column.

Joe, and his statue, had to go.

Last fall, I was critical of the Penn State administration for firing Joe Paterno over the phone, during the crazy week when the board of trustees decided to dump the coach. I thought it was classless, given what Paterno had meant to the university and the football program.

Now, obviously, things have changed. I've thought for years that the Penn State football program, to Joe Paterno, had gotten to be more about Joe than it was about the players. There's no way Paterno was energetic and vital enough in his 80s to coach a Big Ten football team as well as a younger man, yet for years no one could oust him from the job. It was Paterno running the school, doing what he wanted, staying as long as he wanted, and it set the stage for other bad things to happen. Other very bad things.

Like an athletic director who allowed, according to the Louis Freeh report, the investigation into a sex act between Jerry Sandusky and a child to be buried. There can be no arguing how disgusting and disheartening that is. For those reasons, particularly now that the second one is out in the open, it's clear to me the university didn't owe Paterno anything at the end -- other than to take down the statue that would have been a constant reminder of the stain caused by looking the other way while young boys were sexually abused by Jerry Sandusky.

Last year, I asked Penn State student journalist Emily Kaplan to weigh in on her feelings about the case when it was at its peak. I do the same thing this morning, as the university braces for today's reported NCAA sanctions:

For as long as I can remember, my neighboring town has been known for a terrible scandal. It had to do with the football culture. Glen Ridge, N.J., is a well-manicured suburb of New York City, where the streets are lined with majestic shade trees and quaint gaslight lamps. But in 1989, three members of the high school football team sexually assaulted a developmentally disabled young woman. An idyllic community was ripped apart and lives changed forever. Twenty-three years later, Glen Ridge is still, to some, stigmatized by "Our Guys," which became the title of the New York Times best-selling book about the incident and its fallout.

As I prepare for my senior year at Penn State, I can't help but wonder if my school will forever be known for its terrible scandal.

Of course, it had to do with the football culture. Our guys failed, enabling a serial child molester to reign. Penn State's so-called leaders made a mockery of our school's motto, "Success With Honor." Innocent children suffered, and now, as men, they must still cope with the ramifications.

As we move forward, it doesn't matter what statues we take down, or what football games we don't play. Nothing can undo what has been done. So where do we go from here? Our school's in a crisis, but it's not an identity crisis. I think we can identify what allowed this to happen. Mostly, our football culture became, in essence, our university culture. We deified a flawed man and gave him too much power.

It's easy to say this in hindsight. We all fell into the trap, enamored by the brand and the promises. I owned a Joe Paterno bobblehead doll and had a poster of him in my dorm room. We can disassociate from Paterno all we want -- throw out the knick-knacks and take down his statue, which happened Sunday morning -- but what's more important is to disassociate from the culture of secrecy and prioritizing football in unhealthy doses.

We, the 500,000 living alumni and 40,000 students, need to find a way to ensure that money and football and public perception will never again take precedence over doing the right thing. Which will be a challenge. When I heard that some of my peers camped out in tents outside Paterno's statue, "protecting it from vandalism," I wish they had looked at the bigger picture. Who was protecting those children?

For years Penn State built a powerful brand, and did everything to protect it. Now our university, like the town of Glen Ridge, will be long branded by its scandal. But moving ahead, Penn State has a unique opportunity to be known for something more: as leaders in child-abuse education.

I look at a grassroots network of Penn State alumni who founded the ProudPSUforRAINN campaign, urging Penn Staters to donate money to prevent and treat victims of sexual abuse. They reached their goal of raising $500,000 in less than one month. That's a great start. What can we do in six months? One year? Ten years?

These are the people who are Penn State. We, not the football guys, have the opportunity to define our own legacy now

Read more: Tying up loose ends before heading out on my annual training camp tour - Peter King - SI.com

They will leave the Joe Paterno statue up but they're going to have him look the other way.''

-- @AlbertBrooks, the comedic actor.

[BarryRX]

Originally Posted by 2BNTV

No punishment handed to Penn State will make these victims whole again.

Pter King's MMQB Column.

Joe, and his statue, had to go.

Last fall, I was critical of the Penn State administration for firing Joe Paterno over the phone, during the crazy week when the board of trustees decided to dump the coach. I thought it was classless, given what Paterno had meant to the university and the football program.

Now, obviously, things have changed. I've thought for years that the Penn State football program, to Joe Paterno, had gotten to be more about Joe than it was about the players. There's no way Paterno was energetic and vital enough in his 80s to coach a Big Ten football team as well as a younger man, yet for years no one could oust him from the job. It was Paterno running the school, doing what he wanted, staying as long as he wanted, and it set the stage for other bad things to happen. Other very bad things.

Like an athletic director who allowed, according to the Louis Freeh report, the investigation into a sex act between Jerry Sandusky and a child to be buried. There can be no arguing how disgusting and disheartening that is. For those reasons, particularly now that the second one is out in the open, it's clear to me the university didn't owe Paterno anything at the end -- other than to take down the statue that would have been a constant reminder of the stain caused by looking the other way while young boys were sexually abused by Jerry Sandusky.

Last year, I asked Penn State student journalist Emily Kaplan to weigh in on her feelings about the case when it was at its peak. I do the same thing this morning, as the university braces for today's reported NCAA sanctions:

For as long as I can remember, my neighboring town has been known for a terrible scandal. It had to do with the football culture. Glen Ridge, N.J., is a well-manicured suburb of New York City, where the streets are lined with majestic shade trees and quaint gaslight lamps. But in 1989, three members of the high school football team sexually assaulted a developmentally disabled young woman. An idyllic community was ripped apart and lives changed forever. Twenty-three years later, Glen Ridge is still, to some, stigmatized by "Our Guys," which became the title of the New York Times best-selling book about the incident and its fallout.

As I prepare for my senior year at Penn State, I can't help but wonder if my school will forever be known for its terrible scandal.

Of course, it had to do with the football culture. Our guys failed, enabling a serial child molester to reign. Penn State's so-called leaders made a mockery of our school's motto, "Success With Honor." Innocent children suffered, and now, as men, they must still cope with the ramifications.

As we move forward, it doesn't matter what statues we take down, or what football games we don't play. Nothing can undo what has been done. So where do we go from here? Our school's in a crisis, but it's not an identity crisis. I think we can identify what allowed this to happen. Mostly, our football culture became, in essence, our university culture. We deified a flawed man and gave him too much power.

It's easy to say this in hindsight. We all fell into the trap, enamored by the brand and the promises. I owned a Joe Paterno bobblehead doll and had a poster of him in my dorm room. We can disassociate from Paterno all we want -- throw out the knick-knacks and take down his statue, which happened Sunday morning -- but what's more important is to disassociate from the culture of secrecy and prioritizing football in unhealthy doses.

We, the 500,000 living alumni and 40,000 students, need to find a way to ensure that money and football and public perception will never again take precedence over doing the right thing. Which will be a challenge. When I heard that some of my peers camped out in tents outside Paterno's statue, "protecting it from vandalism," I wish they had looked at the bigger picture. Who was protecting those children?

For years Penn State built a powerful brand, and did everything to protect it. Now our university, like the town of Glen Ridge, will be long branded by its scandal. But moving ahead, Penn State has a unique opportunity to be known for something more: as leaders in child-abuse education.

I look at a grassroots network of Penn State alumni who founded the ProudPSUforRAINN campaign, urging Penn Staters to donate money to prevent and treat victims of sexual abuse. They reached their goal of raising $500,000 in less than one month. That's a great start. What can we do in six months? One year? Ten years?

These are the people who are Penn State. We, not the football guys, have the opportunity to define our own legacy now

Read more: Tying up loose ends before heading out on my annual training camp tour - Peter King - SI.com

They will leave the Joe Paterno statue up but they're going to have him look the other way.''

-- @AlbertBrooks, the comedic actor.

What a great post! Thank you!

[2BNTV]

Originally Posted by BarryRX

What a great post! Thank you!

Your welcome!!!!

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by tkret

The NCAA has spoken and removed ALL wins from the Penn State program dating back to 1998. No Bowl games for the next 4 years. Fines and scholarship losses. Players may switch schools without sitting out a season.
Some will say "too harsh" .... others will say "a slap on the wrist". The NCAA did not sit on it's hands on this one.
......
Sandusky, once a member of Penn State, is now a member of State Pen.

By vacating 112 Penn State victories from 1998-2011, the sanctions cost Paterno 111 wins. Former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden will now hold the top spot in the NCAA record book with 377 major-college wins. Paterno, who was fired days after Sandusky was charged, will be credited with 298 wins. Vacated wins are not the same as forfeits - they don't count as losses or wins

[justjim]

ESPN is all over this today. It will take Penn State a long time to recover but it will recover. Only the football program gets the NCAA sanctions and not any of the other sports. At some point in time we have made "sports" more important than education in our Universities. Basically, Football was the most important thing at Penn State. But before we start throwing stones we had better take a closer look at our own schools and Universities. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge sports fan but truthfully sports at the H.S., College and Professional level has gotten completely "out of hand" the last several years. Just how much does a 100 million dollar (plus) player contribute to our society. Is there anything wrong when all 5 of your starting freshman leave for the NBA after using just one year of their college scholarship? I was under the impression they were at the University to get an education. We pay a coach 5.3 million which is much more than a top science professor or even the President of the University. Anything wrong with that? What does this say about our culture----about our society? We have no problem building a new multi-million dollar stadium but there are no funds available to staff the new cancer institute. Maybe just maybe we got our priorities all wrong. I feel badly for the students, faculty, staff and alumni of Penn State University but they will recover in a relative short time. For the children abused by a coach at Penn State, it will take years, if ever.