Death is too good for them

Thank you, NCAA. While the argument rages on whether or not it was right involving yourself in the Penn State/Jerry Sandusky scandal, I applaud you.

For anybody who argues that this was not an issue for the NCAA, I put this question to you. What department was Jerry Sandusky associated with? Physics? No...Medicine? Wrong....Oh, that's right. The Football Program - which means, this was an NCAA issue as well as a legal, moral and ethical issue. 

About two hours ago, the NCAA handed down a punishment to Penn State that makes the Death Penalty to SMU in 1987 look like nothing more than a finger wagging. In detail:

• Vacating all wins between 1998 and 2011, therefore making Joe Paterno's career win total 298, not 409, ranking him 12th all time instead of first. 
• $60 million fine - average annual revenue the Penn State Football Team generated during the time period
• Initial reduction of 10 scholarships, and then reduction of 20 scholarships for four years
• A four year (FOUR YEARS!) post season ban
• Five year probation
• Players are free to transfer to any Division 1 program and do not have to sit out a year

This is going to set Penn State back to the stone age. If they had received the Death Penalty, they would have resumed play in two years to a sold out Beaver Stadium and been haled as martyrs by Penn State fans and made darlings by the local and national media. With the punishment that NCAA President Mark Emmert  handed down today, Penn State will essentially be forced to play the next four years of football with a Scarlet Letter on their jersey's. 

This team will not be able to recruit enough top tier talent to remain even a footnote in the Big 10, let alone to  remain competitive. No Blue Chipper is going to come to Penn State in the next four years because they will have no chance to play in a Bowl Game. The Nittany Lions will have a roster of 85 players, and approximately 20 each year will be walk on's. They will become a glorified high school football team playing against nationally ranked college teams. It is going to take Penn State more than a decade to recover. They made a movie about something like this 20 years ago that never really got its proper respect:

Just like the movie, and its faded star Sinbad, this is not funny. 

And you know what, I'm so glad this happened. To all the Joe Paterno apologists out there, shut up. Please, just shut up. You know who Joe Paterno was? He was Michael Corleone. He did what he wanted, to whom he wanted, and how he wanted. He was revered, and feared. 

The difference is, when the United States Senate had Michael Corleone dead to rights, they let him slip away. Mike was too smart, too savvy, and too ruthless to go down. He cut the dead weight, he got rid of anybody or anything that would have brought him down. Just when Frank Pentangeli was about to deliver the death blow, Big Mike played his ace. 

Joe Paterno shared all of the narcissistic characteristics that defined The Godfather. He had all the pawns, button men and capo regime's that The Corleone's did. He was that powerful. My God, the man has his "Boss" come into his home in 2004, tell him he had to step down as coach, to which Paternoleone replied "No, I'll retire when I'm ready. But thanks for stopping by. By the way, get the fuck out of my house." That's how powerful he was. He was, without a doubt, the most powerful man in Pennsylvania. And that's what was his downfall. He thought he could make anything bad go away. His actions left a trail of bodies so long that eventually he couldn't hide it any longer. 

1998: "Jerry Sandusky's sexually abusing kids? On campus? In the Football Facilities? Hmmm, let's handle it internally - I don't want the Football Program's (read: FAMILY) good name and reputation to be sullied."

How in the world does a man who is supposedly so honorable, so morally and ethically sound, and who ran a program that was supposedly so squeaky clean cover something like this up? How does he allow such a monster to operate with such impunity, to ruin so many lives, to perform such atrocities on defenseless children? 

Even if none of this was true (which, as has been proven, is not the case. IT IS ALL TRUE. EVERY LAST DISGUSTING DETAIL IS TRUE.), how could Paternoleone even allow the mention of Sandusky's name to be associate with the program? Wouldn't he, as an honorable man running an upstanding program, want even the sheer whisper of a scandal like this as far away from his team as possible? Apparently not. 

It makes me sick to think that Paternoleone knew about this and did nothing. He's an enabler. He's the wife/husband/mother/father of an alcoholic who just continues to make excuses for their sick and desperate husband/wife/son/daughter. Instead of giving them the tough love and support they need, they simply feed their addiction. Joe Paterno literally gave Jerry Sandusky free reign to abuse these children instead of stopping him and getting him the help he so desperately needed. 

So here we are. 14 years after he first found out about the monster in his midst, Joe Paterno is now a disgraced hero. Jerry Sandusky awaits sentencing for acts so heinous I won't get into them here. Frankly, whatever punishment he receives is too good for him. I hope that he accidentally gets "placed" into Gen Pop for about one hour one day and all of those inmates just happen to know he's coming.  

I could go on and on with this, but instead, I'll let Micheal Corleone sum it up perfectly to all of those people who think that Joe Paternoleone and Penn State are getting a raw deal.

Don't tell me your innocent. It insults my intelligence and makes me very angry.