Penalizing Penn State
The NCAA has given Penn State punishments similar to, although stronger than, the punishments given to USC for Reggie Bush’s indirect payments. But here the punishment does not fit the crimes as it did with USC. These crimes of pedophilia and the coverups parallel those in the Catholic Church.
Of course, the NCAA does not have powers of criminal law, but it collectively feels that it has to do something, by golly, so it resorts to its old punishments for NCAA infractions — no bowl games, fewer scholarships, etc.
The trouble with these punishments are not that they are too strong, as some Penn State supporters claim, but that they are irrelevant to the legal and moral crimes committed by the perp and his cohorts.
David Eggenschwiler
Los Angeles
It was the court system’s job to take care of Jerry Sandusky and it did. Sandusky will spend the rest of his life in jail. Did we need the NCAA to get involved? Did they really need to destroy the football program and ruin the college experience for 85 kids? Once again the NCAA has punished people who had nothing to do with the crime. Did the university system really need the sanctions on Penn State to keep them in line?
The NCAA did not need to act. We have the Department of Education and the Department of Justice to do the job. However, if the NCAA was going to get involved, they had to go all in and issue the death sentence. Going into the water knee deep is cowardly.
The NCAA wants to frame this as being about the victims. The victims are no better off due to the NCAA actions.
Gary Price
Glendale
To those who claim that Joe Paterno’s lifetime of good deeds should not be eradicated by one mistake, I suggest a recalculation of your math. Joe Paterno remained silent for 14 years. During this time period, Joe awakened each and every day to another opportunity to do the right thing, which by my calculation increases his number of mistakes to approximately 5,110.
Maury D. Benemie
Corona
With the NCAA vacating all of Penn State’s wins between 1998 and 2011, that means the Nittany Lions’ last official victory was against Wisconsin on Nov. 22, 1997, when Jerry Sandusky was still an active
coach. How bitterly ironic.
Rhys Thomas
Valley Glen