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‘Death Penalty’ Would Be an Act of Mercy for Penn State Football
Time ^ | Tuesday 17 July 2012 | Sean Gregory

Posted on 07/17/2012 6:32:19 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican

In a PBS interview broadcast Monday night, NCAA president Mark Emmert refused to take “anything off the table” regarding its possible punishment of Penn State University in the wake of the damning Freeh Report. The results of former FBI director Louis Freeh’s investigation, released last week, concluded that top Penn State officials — including former President Graham Spanier and former head coach Joe Paterno — “repeatedly concealed critical facts relating to Sandusky’s child abuse from the authorities” in order to “avoid the consequences of bad publicity.”

So the so-called “death penalty” for Penn State football is possible. And though that punishment seems particularly severe — and totally unwarranted, according to Penn State supporters — it’s actually an act of mercy. Plus, the consequences can be very productive, both on and off the field.

The “death penalty” sounds much worse than it is. It’s actually a temporary shut-down of a college football program. In the 1980s, SMU’s football team got a one-year sentence, and took another year off to regroup, because players were being paid from a slush fund. (You can certainly argue that SMU should be lauded, not punished, for allowing revenue-producing players to get a piece of the college football revenue pie). If Penn State sat out, say, this upcoming year, the players could retain their eligibility for next season. So a current senior, for example, would be able to play in 2013. An incoming freshman could still play four years of football at Penn State.

(Excerpt) Read more at keepingscore.blogs.time.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: football; joepa; ncaa; paterno; pedostate; pennstate; sandusky; sports
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To: goodwithagun

convicted liar or not; there was proof player after player received illicit gifts banned by the NCAA....this wreaks of the Dennis Erikson era when the rapper from 2Live Crew was paying players and the NCAA did nothing...


21 posted on 07/17/2012 8:01:54 PM PDT by God luvs America (63.5million pay no federal income tax then vote demoKrat)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Can we dig up JoePa and send him to the State Penn too?


22 posted on 07/17/2012 8:07:18 PM PDT by GGpaX4DumpedTea (I am a Tea Party descendant...steeped in the Constitutional Republic given to us by the Founders.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Can we dig up JoePa and send him to the State Penn too?


23 posted on 07/17/2012 8:07:18 PM PDT by GGpaX4DumpedTea (I am a Tea Party descendant...steeped in the Constitutional Republic given to us by the Founders.)
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To: God luvs America

Nope. The only thing they had was a convicted liar telling them things. Let me tell you, I never violated NCAA reulations yet it would have been so easy to do so. The NCAA is irrelevant.


24 posted on 07/17/2012 8:08:15 PM PDT by goodwithagun (My gun has killed fewer people than Ted Kennedy's car.)
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To: Loyal Sedition
"They DO teach something more than football"

Bad climate science?

25 posted on 07/17/2012 8:16:18 PM PDT by 103198
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To: MinorityRepublican

Penn State WILL NOT be given the so-called Deathy Penalty. Who is the worthless, corruption CAUSING NCAA to judge any program anyway? The damage is immense and lasting to both PSU and the football team. Who would want to play there now? The nutty football fanatics will have nothing to cheer about for years. What better punishment is there than that?

The following joke says it all|:

They are moving the statue of Joe Paterno from the front of the football stadium. They are moving it to the front of the library to remind people to be quiet.


26 posted on 07/17/2012 8:44:06 PM PDT by LeonardFMason
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To: Vince Ferrer

I would push more for 8 or 9 years where two “generations” pass through without football. The idea is when last year’s freshman eventually graduate, the freshman the next school year after that graduation will little connection to football at PSU but when that freshman group graduate 4 years later and the next group of freshman come in, there be no connection and time to bring football back. So a timeline below:

2011 - freshman & scandal (Fall)
2015 - freshman now seniors graduate (Spring)
2015 - new incoming freshman class (Fall)
2019 - students who started in 2015 graduate (Spring)
2019 - Fall semester, resume football or even wait out a year

This would also take care of something like 5 or 6 year students who take longer to finish their coursework as well. The idea is to obliterate what Penn State football from the collective memory of PSU students and then start with a clean slate.

Allow the current ball players to transfer to a different school and even make sure they don’t waste a year of eligibility.

> Five years is minimum. It allows a full “generation” to pass at Penn state before they start over.


27 posted on 07/17/2012 8:47:06 PM PDT by CORedneck
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To: CORedneck

I love the liberal idiot author says the death penalty is not as bad as it sounds. Laughable. In this day and age, it would utterly destroy any top 50 program. Heck, SMU is now just barely relevant 30 years later.


28 posted on 07/17/2012 8:55:28 PM PDT by Treeless Branch
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To: Treeless Branch

Yeah but SMU is better off for it.


29 posted on 07/17/2012 8:59:01 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican
(You can certainly argue that SMU should be lauded, not punished, for allowing revenue-producing players to get a piece of the college football revenue pie)

I disagree. Student athletes already receive an all-expenses paid scholarship which for most non-athlete students cost from $10,000-$20,000 per year, or more. And many of these non-athlete students pay for their college expenses with student loans which have to be paid back.

30 posted on 07/17/2012 9:28:32 PM PDT by Isabel C.
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To: Loyal Sedition

“If pro-ball wants to continue using the colleges as a farm system, let them put money into the ENTIRE university, not just the pockets of players essentially winning a lottery.”

Better idea, force all the “pro-ball” teams to take their fat wallets and stay completely out of the collegiate athletic picture. Actually, better still, get rid of collegiate athletics all together. They add nothing to the real mission of a university!


31 posted on 07/17/2012 9:57:18 PM PDT by vette6387
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To: God luvs America
"why just the football program??? the former president, VP and the AD were also involved in the cover-up- the VP and AD are charged with perjury .... "

BINGO- You nailed it. Some sort of "punishment" will be levied on the football program, and everything will be pronounced "all fixed now, no problem". In a very few years, the problem is "gone".

Bullshite. The problem is with the educational system, and it's not limited to PA. Punishing the "football program" is idiotic and worthless. The NAZI's (National Socialist Democrats) own the education system now, and fixing it is not going to happen for generations, if ever.

32 posted on 07/17/2012 11:22:38 PM PDT by matthew fuller (Election 2012- Epic Fail candidate vs Epic Fail President!)
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To: GGpaX4DumpedTea

He should be charges posthumously for violating the clery act.


33 posted on 07/18/2012 4:29:48 AM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Instead of punishing the players, how about big fines & jail time for the officials?


34 posted on 07/18/2012 4:40:10 AM PDT by P.O.E. (Pray for America)
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To: LeonardFMason
They are moving the statue of Joe Paterno from the front of the football stadium. They are moving it to the front of the library to remind people to be quiet.

If they don't tear it down, they should leave it where it is and replace the legend on the base ("Coach, Educator, Humanitarian") with a sign that says "If you suspect child sexual abuse, use this finger to dial 911."

35 posted on 07/18/2012 9:22:53 AM PDT by Scoutmaster (You knew the job was dangerous when you took it)
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To: aMorePerfectUnion
For a broader and insider perspective on the Penn State situation, see OnwardState.com
36 posted on 07/18/2012 9:42:25 AM PDT by StopGlobalWhining (Buy a US Govt Railpass to visit Obamavilles in all 57 states on the Intercontinental Railroad)
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To: Treeless Branch

SMU is a great school, in some ways the death penalty was the best thing that could have happened to it.


37 posted on 07/18/2012 9:43:44 AM PDT by dfwgator (FUJR (not you, Jim))
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To: Loyal Sedition

Exactly right — it is ALL about money for PSU. The way to stop this behavior dead, forever, is to kill ALL sports at PSU for 10 years. Bury their athletic programs, fire all the staff, layoff all the administrators, and let the current students transfer without prejudice. After 10 years, PSU can reapply for reinstatement — one sport at a time per year. Sports programs at PSU must die to cure this disease.


38 posted on 07/18/2012 10:12:56 AM PDT by MasterGunner01 (11)
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To: StopGlobalWhining
Here is a link to a much more accurate article... Freeh Report is full of assumptions
39 posted on 07/18/2012 1:10:29 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion ("I'm comfortable with a Romney win." - Pres. Jimmy Carter)
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