Unprecedented became unfair in a hurry.
The penalties that NCAA President Mark Emmert and his executive committee handed out to Penn State were ridiculously excessive.
The only thing I agreed with was the $60 million penalty. Heck, I would have socked PSU even harder in the pocketbook. I would have gone back to see how much money PSU made in football from 1998 to 2011, and whatever that amounted to is what PSU would have to pay over 14 years.
Where the NCAA screwed up is getting involved in a criminal matter. That's what this Penn State situation is - a criminal matter - not an NCAA matter. Jerry Sandusky committed several heinous crimes, and he was punished. Coach Joe Paterno has died. Other PSU higher-ups found to be involved in a cover-up will be punished, and they should be put in jail for their roles in that. There will be civil cases galore before all is said and done.
Did the Nittany Lions use ineligible players? Did they pay their players under the table? Did they violate any NCAA rules?
I answer that with a resounding "No." At least, I don't see any of those things being mentioned, so why is the NCAA punishing the school? Those are the things that the NCAA should be looking at and nothing else.
Since when did the NCAA become the moral leader for colleges and universities? The penalty given to USC over the Reggie Bush fiasco was like a slap on the wrist. Why do you think Pete Carroll bolted for the NFL when he did?
I also disagree with wiping out 111 of Paterno's wins. He is now eighth on the all-time wins list instead of first. By throwing out all Penn State victories from 1998 to 2011, the NCAA stripped Paterno of the top spot in the record book. It was in 1998 that Penn State allegedly learned of an allegation against Sandusky.
Heck, Sandusky retired after the 1999 season, so how can PSU be penalized when that coach wasn't even on the field, wasn't part of the program? Was this just Emmert's way of further punishing Paterno for the cover-up?
The Nittany Lions will lose 20 scholarships a year, bringing them down to 65, 20 below the maximum of 85 the NCAA allows. A school can't compete with that few scholarships, especially in a conference like the Big Ten. Without giving the Nittany Lions the death penalty, the NCAA has sent PSU to its football death.
It's wrong to punish kids who were in elementary school when some of this stuff happened. Why are innocent student-athletes being punished, and why are Penn State officials standing idly by and not fighting this?
I think the four-year bowl ban was too long. Two years would have been fine, but again, you are punishing kids who have done no wrong.
The NCAA? Guys, you screwed up - big time.
