Not the end of the argument.  Bill Clinton had sex (although maybe not "sexual relations") with an intern.  Did that prevent him from being an effective president?  No.  (Although you might agree with his politics, at least he didn't screw up the economy and plunge us into a decade-long war.)  And that wasn't an impeachable offense (remember, they impeached him -- without a conviction -- for allegedly lying about it at deposition).  Do we want pedophiles in athletics depts?  No.  But this wasn't something involving the relationship between the school and its students.  The NCAA has no business getting involved.  It's better left for the courts -- where the school is looking at maybe $250 million in civil claims -- and the DOE, which is looking at further civil and maybe criminal prosecutions under Title IX.  Penn St isn't going to profit out of this, and in fact might go bankrupt.

Personally, I think the school would be smart (unlike O$U last year) to impose harsh sanctions on itself.  No bowl or Big Tedozen championship this year and maybe next; no TV games for the next three or four years; a big reduction in scholarships; maybe other things.  Something to show they're willing to penalize themselves without the NCAA getting involved.

Then everybody better start donating enough to cover what we would lose from the game as well as what we would owe from backing out at such a late date. I'm sure if we could raise $3-4 million to cover this game then we could easily raise the money it would cost to leave the MAC and join the Big East or others. I'm sure the board could donate $5 million a year to cover travel costs to fly all of our teams around the country.

Steven A. Smith on Sports Center this morning let his feelings be know.
CANCEL THE SEASON and the PROGRAM.
The pressure is mounting for the NCAA to make a some type of a decision now that FBI has released it's findings.
This story will have some legs especially since fall football camps are about 2 weeks away from opening.
In addition there will certainly be charges filed against the 3 administrators which will also keep this story on the front page.
If our game is played and remains on TV I can see it now...all the announcers will be discussing is the Sandusky case and it's impact on PSU.
I wonder how Solich will handle the build up and prep for this game. The players need to be educated as best as possible on what to expect and how to handle all the press and expected media frenzy around the game and the campus. I wouldn't be surprised to see ESPN do interviews at OHIO leading up to this game. After all, Kirk only lives 75 miles from campus.
We can all speculate on all the emotion around this 1st game for PSU.
IMO...Our team should not feel sorry for the PSU team only the victims, and play the game accordingly.



GO BOBCATS

Herby no longer lives in Columbus.  He now lives in Nashville.

Regarding the PSU situation all enities involved have a very difficult decision to make in a very short period of time. We have approx. 49 days before the 1st game week.

I have never seen the NCAA act on a "spur of the moment".  They take months to make inquiries.  They may wait until all parties have faced their court appearances, as well all of the court appeals that will follow.  All of the those court appearances are not scheduled until the middle of August.  The NCAA takes months to establish those penalties as well as those involved being allowed to make appeals on those actions. 

Let us say that the NCAA does react with a penalty very shortly, one would think that PSU would immediatley react by going to courts for a stay on those actions.  There are only 49 days before the first week.

Thus, I don't see any immediate decisions by the NCAA.  The only action that could be a possiblity would be the Board of Trustees establish the "death penalty"on the FB program..That could happen within weeks.  A possibility, but not a reality. I think that they would be faced with court actions by the taxpayers to stop such actions by the board.

The taxpayers are the one's who will be paying any lawsuits.  Any of the suit actions on Penn State presently will directly involve the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  The taxpayers. 

A LONG WAY TO GO WITH A LOT OF LEGAL MANUVERS IN 49 DAYS??

I for one would not look forward to explaining to the women's basketball coach and the olympic sports coaches that their salaries and budgets are getting cut by 70% over the course of a self-imposed football-death...

I'm afraid that this is one thing that you just shouldn't be able to use money to buy your way out of.  There's a principle here that's far more important than the inconveniences -- even major disruptions -- that it might cause other programs.  

Well, my response would be let 'em sue.  I know you're a lawyer and I'm not, but I don't think they'd be successful in suing the NCAA if they came down hard on PSU.  The NCAA rules are flexible enough -- look at the letter from the NCAA prez, as an example, that they can make a very reasonable case that NCAA rules have been violated.   Now, if PSU self-imposes a moratorium on playing football for a year or two, I will admit that that would be better than NCAA doing it.  But, if PSU doesn't have the will to do it themselves, it needs to be done from the outside.  Penn State needs to be made an example to show the world that D-1 college football is not a world unto itself and that if you engage in a coverup of this magnitude there will be very unpleasant repercussions.  This problem developed because of a culture of corruption in the football program and the football program needs to be punished for it.  

1 count of loss of institutional control is nowhere near deserving the death penalty. The example needed isn't the most severe punishment for REPEAT severe rules violators. They absolutely should not throw away their athletic budget over this. They fired the responsible parties. The culture has been cleaned out and changed.

I think what you're trying to say is that journalists like to influence events and drive the news, rather than be impartial reporters of fact. (An observation I'd agree with)

I wonder how much of the media pressure is moral outrage, how much is CYA by those who feel betrayed by Paterno, and how much is anti-big school bias.

+1 Mike -- great quote.   

Bob Costas is the latest sportscaster to come and recommend the death penalty for PSU.
He was interviewed on Meet the Press this morning, from London, obviously a plug for their broadcasting the Olympic Games.






GO BOBCATS

Wow. Having someone like Costas call for that brings a little more credibility to the argument. Could this really happen??