I generally agree with these sanctions, although I guess I’m of the camp that believes big-time college football’s out of control and needs to be reined in generally speaking. Thus, I wouldn’t have been upset no matter how hard the NCAA had thrown the book at Penn State University for its utterly unacceptable, disgraceful behavior over many years – looking the other way, not reporting, or even covering up the sexual abuse of numerous children at the hands of a PSU men’s football coach.
Why did PSU’s leadership act as they did? Power and money, basically, combined with unbelievable arrogance and a complete lack of empathy or sense of responsibility to prevent these heinous crimes from occurring over and over again. So, good riddance to Joe Paterno’s statue, and good for the NCAA for throwing the book at this out-of-control program, as well as for dedicating millions of dollars in fines towards protecting children from this type of abuse ever happening again.
Oh, by the way, I emailed UVA last Monday, before these NCAA sanctions on Penn State were announced, to ask whether UVA was considering canceling its mens’ football game with PSU on Saturday, September 8. UVA’s Assistant Athletics Director for Media Relations, Jim Daves, responded, saying he was “not aware of any discussions regarding the cancellation of the Sept. 8 Penn State game,” and that he had “not heard of any Penn State opponent in 2012 considering this action.”
P.S. I followed up with Mr. Daves, asking him whether there had been any consideration of the possibility of donating a portion of the proceeds from the PSU-UVA game to appropriate charities. I did not receive a response.
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