Editorial

Hi all,

This post is a little heavier than my usual ones, but reading the news this morning I just had the urge to "talk" to someone about what's going on. It's early here, so this will have to be an adequate substitute. First of all, I was really saddened to see what happened last week in Aurora. People are sometimes truly horrible, and it makes me so angry that innocent people have to die due to one person's mental illness. My heart goes out to their families, and I wish there were something that could have prevented such an awful attack.

Second, I was reading this article this morning about the Penn State sanctions, and found myself desperately wanting a rebuttal. I disagree with this sports writer on almost everything he says.

http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/NCAA-sanctions-Penn-State-Joe-Paterno-Jerry-Sandusky-child-molestation-072312

The headline from yesterday is that the National Collegiate Atheltic Association (NCAA) laid down harsh sanctions for the Penn State football team. These sanctions were punishment for the lack of disclosure by high ranking academic and athletic officials at Penn State. The punishment included a $60 million dollar fine (revenue for the Penn State football team for one year), they will be stripped of all of their titles during the time of the scandal, they will not be allowed in the postseason for 4 years, and they will lose 10 scholarships a year during those 4 years as well.

The writer's main argument is that you can never repair the damage done to Sandusky's victims, so therefore Penn State should not be punished. He sees the NCAA and its leadership as bullying and already down and out Penn State because they want to appear strong.

I actually agree with the writer that nothing we do can fix what happened to the victims, but that's where our opinions start to differ. Making things right by the victims was not the point of these sanctions. We have a legal system to try criminal cases and provide justice to people wronged. The NCAA, however, is responsible for the rules and codes of conduct for college athletic teams. They have made it perfectly clear that letting staff engage in illegal and immoral activities without repercussions in order to save face, and funding, is absolutely not ok.

It was determined that even though several Penn State athletic and academic officials knew about the allegations, they did nothing to investigate or remove Sandusky from the company of young boys. They chose to ignore what they had been told in order to protect their precious football revenues and the prestige of their team. It is reprehensible that they chose their image and their money over the safety of these children, and by doing so made it possible for more children to be victimized. That is what the NCAA is punishing them for. They are doing it to show that no team should be choosing their revenue and reputation over the safety of innocent people.

By laying down these sanctions, the NCAA has made it clear that a team will lose more revenue and more prestige (all of your wins, four years of playoffs) for being dishonest than if they come forward and do the right thing. This way, the management will not be tempted to sacrifice morality for other less important things. It is sad that this has to be reinforced by the NCAA. It seems to me that protecting children should be paramount, whether Mark Emmert tells you to or not. I hope that these sanctions show all NCAA teams that your athletic organization is not nearly as important as human lives and wellbeing, and that this changes the culture of these teams to reflect that understanding.

One part of the santions I didn't agree with was removing the scholarships. I understand that recruiting is one of the biggest draws for football teams, and is a sanction that effects their pocketbook and their image, but the students who won't receive those scholarships seem like collateral damage. For some students, athletic scholarships are the only reason they can afford to attend college. Without them there are potentially 10 of those students who won't go. That was disappointing, but certainly adds to the harshness of the punishment.

That's my two cents (or 50, this is way longer than I intended). I am very excited to move back home next week and start medical school. I still can't believe they're going to let me be a doctor. I sure have them fooled =).

More stuff and happier stuff later. I love all of you!

Lynne