Vikings got a steal in the 7th round, no doubt.
Posted on 08/16/2013 5:45:14 AM PDT by FlJoePa
To write his forthcoming book "Fourth and Long: The Fight for the Soul of College Football," author John U. Bacon embedded himself with four Big Ten programs—Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan and Northwestern—in search of the sport's old ideals as it is roiled by money, greed and scandal. In this excerpt, he offers a behind-the-scenes look at how Penn State's team reacted to the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse scandal last year.
...An NCAA spokesperson said the organization "worked to minimize the impact of its sanctions on current and incoming football student-athletes."
But the NCAA sanctions were encouraging "student-athletes" to behave like athlete-students. They were putting the lie to the NCAA's own propaganda, which officially discouraged transfers because "student-athletes" are supposed to pick their schools for the education, not the athletic opportunities.
But there Emmert was, inviting Penn State's student-athletes to jettison the university that graduated 91% of its student-athletes—a big reason many of them chose Penn State in the first place—to transfer penalty-free to bowl-eligible football programs, whose graduation rates were often much lower.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Vikings got a steal in the 7th round, no doubt.
ping
Because the NCAA is a crock of an organization. Schools need to drop them like a bad habit and keep the money.
O’Brien deserved national coach of the year honors last year. He’s a great coach.
All you need to know about the NCAA was encapsulated a couple of years ago when Terrelle Pryor and a couple of other Ohio St. players got into trouble for violating NCAA rules between the end of the regular season and the BCS championship game that OSU was to play. They were suspended for four games, but that suspension was not to take effect until the start of the next season. Can’t have any of the luster taken off the BCS championship game, can we? Might cost some TV ratings and some money.
If the organization that is supposedly in charge of keeping everyone on the straight and narrow can be so cynical and corrupt, is it any wonder that the schools, coaches and players involved don’t play by the rules? Time to end the hypocrisy and the fiction of “student/athlete” and just start paying these guys and making “college” football officially the minor league developmental system that it already actually is.
I think the phony classes at UNC was another tipping point for the ncaa. If you aren’t going to confront that, then what exactly is your purpose?
The solution is simple. Stop watching it. Stop writing about it. Stop talking about it.
Kill king football. Bring it back down a few notches in the pantheon of sports. It’s not that exciting, or our lives just that boring?
Reading about the 500 I got goose bumps. The NCAA, MLB, NFL, NBA, NASCAR, et al, all are attempting to be gods to the athletes. Mostly worthless in their present forms. Major revisions need to be made. They SUCK!!!!!!! JMHO of course.
Several of the big conferences (Big Ten, SEC, etc.) are already making rumblings about leaving the NCAA and going off on their own. THAT is why PSU did not get the “death penalty”.
Well, PSU didn’t deserve any penalty from the ncaa. It was a criminal matter being handled in the courts - and still is to this day.
If not for a week-kneed administration accepting (even by some accounts WRITING) the consent decree, none of this would have taken place. Donna Shalala would have laughed at them and said “we’ll see you in court”. The “death penalty” would have been much preferable to what was handed down anyway.
This isn’t the focus of the book excerpt though, and shouldn’t become the focus of this thread.
Sounds like Coach O’Brien, Mauti and Zordich kept the team together, while the vultures were circling above trying to recruit some of the players. I was extremely surprised and happy that the Lions were 8-4 last year. Thanks to the Coach and the great players! May this year be even better!
They’ll be very good this year provided they can stay healthy. They can’t do full contact in practice, and they can’t miss on any recruits. The room for error is about zero.
Their 22 starters can play with anyone in the country (assuming good QB play). The depth - especially at LB - is going to be an issue.
The lean years are yet to come, unless the ncaa comes to their senses and puts a halt to the ridiculous sanctions.
Just released today
Thanks, for the link. The more I see of Coach O’Brien, the more I like him. Hope he stays for a long time.
Bump for all the apologists and enablers...
Who are the apologists and enablers? Is it those of us who think the NCAA went too far with their sanctions? The players did nothing wrong yet they bear the brunt of the NCAA’s wrath. The NCAA really had no business meddling in this matter. It was a criminal issue that should be left for the courts. Why do the players have to pay the price for the crimes that sick individual Sandusky commited. JoPa and the Administration of PSU deserved to get fired and should spend time in prison for looking the other way. But there is no way in hell the players should have been punished for this.
While I agree about the players and the school, there is a trial scheduled for Curley, Shultz, and Spanier. How about we wait for the trial to see what’s what, huh?
As far as Joe - he was praised by the prosecution for his cooperation, and was never charged with any crime.
Joe ran that program. He knew. He looked the other way.
Yep.
The penalties imposed on Penn State were completely hollow.
Sandusky was in or nearly in prison. Paterno was dead. The AD had been fired. The President of the school had been fired or had quit... who cares which.
My point is simple...everyone involved in the scandal were gone...so who was punished?
Not the guilty but those left behind by the culprits. The forfeiture of the victories, fine. But the other penalties were against the innocent.
As an example, if all of the murderers in Chicago were gone. If the law enforcement personnel had been let go. If the city government had been replaced.
Who should be punished?
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