Jerry Sandusky on trial

[Steelgrave]

^No, personally I would rather him live to be 100 in prison and have what he did to kids done to him....by about a dozen of the ugliest men you would never want to share a shower with. Repeatedly. Dying is getting off too easy.

[Arctic Blast]

^No, personally I would rather him live to be 100 in prison and have what he did to kids done to him....by about a dozen of the ugliest men you would never want to share a shower with. Repeatedly. Dying is getting off too easy.

It's nice to know I'm not the only one who is this vindictive.

[Martok]

^No, personally I would rather him live to be 100 in prison and have what he did to kids done to him....by about a dozen of the ugliest men you would never want to share a shower with. Repeatedly. Dying is getting off too easy.

I'm ashamed to say I'm 100% in agreement with this. 

[MIGMaster]

Nothing to be ashamed of..... Anybody who hurts kids like this deserves brutal justice.

[Arctic Blast]

Did anyone else catch the line from one of his defense attorneys afterwards, where he was talking about how Sandusky was a good man who had lived a good life EXCEPT for the multiple convictions for child abuse that had just been handed down? I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

[Gusington]

^Well there is no denying Sandusky's mental illness. The issue is whether he should be institutionalized instead of incarcerated. To be honest I don't really care as long as he is gone. The real work now will be getting at his enablers and protectors...one of which, it seems, is dead and beyond accountability now.

[mirth]

Louis Freeh's report is out.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/sports/ncaafootball/13pennstate.html?_r=1&hp

Gotta think charges are coming for more people. Certainly the school is going to be writing some big checks. And I hope the NCAA buries the football program.

[Gusington]

Burying the football program completely would take a lot of time...but there are so many enablers involved, this case will be going on for months or even years. And it should. This whole thing is horrific.

[bayonetbrant]

And I hope the NCAA buries the football program.

There's nothing in this that should give the NCAA any jurisdiction over any part of this investigation.

That won't stop them from trying, as the prez (Mark Emmert) is a chickenshit who only reacts to bad press and will over-reach to look like he's doing *something* even if it's only symbolic.  (An aside, if Emmert were in charge of the TSA, we'd all be flying on airplanes wrapped in saran wrap and carrying nothing except a ticket and only after a body-cavity search, such is his uselessly-symbolic over-reactionism)

But the truth is there was no NCAA violation.  Remember that NCAA violations are things that against the NCAA's rules, but not necessarily against the law, or are unevenly legislated across the states so as to create an unlevel playing field for member institutions (like paying players to go to school, or faking classes to keep athletes eligible).
When the NCAA came down on Ohio State, the two rules that were broken were trading memorabilia for tattoos (bartering is NOT illegal, but this sort of exchange is against NCAA rules) and failing to report it to the NCAA (in no way whatsoever illegal, but clearly against NCAA rules).  There were no NCAA rules violated by Penn State. 

This is a legal matter, pure and simple.  That doesn't mean that the university can't fire people for breaking the law.  And in this case, they did.  And the law will continue to function such that those fired people are going to jail and/or paying a shitload of money for their illegal activities.

Now, all that said, I actually agree with Gregg Doyel on this.  Doyel is usually a blowhard ass-clown with about as much sense as the water bottle on my desk, but his point on this one is very clear: if the NCAA does get involved, they've got no choice but to give Penn St the death penalty, or they are going to be totally exposed for the sham that they are.

[Gusington]

I don't quite get punishing the current Penn State football team, unless of course the back office still includes a lot of the enablers, etc. Does it?

[mirth]

It's not the team, it's the entire program and the problem is that the university spent many years placing the interests of the program ahead of stopping Sandusky from raping little boys. So I don't have one little problem with the NCAA giving the program the "death penalty". Just getting rid of the scumbags who were involved isn't enough in my opinion.

[Gusington]

^I understand that. But what if the program were totally cleansed of all enablers? Is that possible? Are there that many in the woodwork?

I know that connections to this go all the way to the Governor of PA, but if they can all be rounded up in this investigation perhaps the football program can be surgically saved.

[mirth]

It don't think it should be saved. The school is practically built on that program and Joe Paterno and there was an institutional cover up of Sandusky molesting kids that lasted for more than a decade. I say nuke it and let them start over in 10 years.

[Gusington]

These are the ones who should be punished most severely:

President Graham Spanier, former Vice President Gary Schultz, former head coach Joe Paterno, and former athletic director Tim Curley

In my mind they are as bad as Sandusky. Maybe the whole program is so f'd up that it does need to be ended. But it would be a severe blow to State College, the school, students, alumni and even PA itself, collective punishment for the crimes of a smaller group.

[bayonetbrant]

There's something to be said for collective punishment, so that in the future people are less likely to tolerate (or become) enablers of criminal behavior.

That said, there's also something to be said for staying in your jurisdiction.  At what point have you so exceeded your mandate as to have it be irrelevant?