Penn State Punishment Justified

By: Scott Anderson

The NCAA doled out their punishment to Penn State the other day and by doing so they've effectively crippled that program for nearly the next decade. Slashing scholarships, $60-million in fines, post season bowl bans, allowing student athletes to transfer immediately with no penalty, and wiping away all that Joe Paterno thought he accomplished over the last 14 seasons should have long lasting damage. And yet, by the tenor of some calls, emails, ticket texts and tweets, some feel that taking away Joe Pa's wins doesn't make any sense.

Let me help you out. If we all admit that Joe covered up for Sandusky since 1998, then you have to understand that he should have been fired from the moment he made that choice. If he was fired, then he wouldn't have been able to lead PSU to victory, thus those wins should have been stripped.

Sure, the games were still played and PSU dominated in most of them. But, if they are going to be subpar in the wake of this scandal, don't you think they would have been subpar 14 years ago had Paterno been fired at the onset of his deceit?

The Death Penalty in College Football would have been too clean of a break for PSU, after a few years they could rebuild by starting fresh. This punishment handed down by NCAA President Mark Emmert is almost like a "Scarlet Letter" that the University and its Football Program must bear for at least 4 years. Penn State is wounded, marred and scarred for all to see because the school was rotten from the top down. This message will resonate as loud as the Nittany Lion's growl in Beaver Stadium, that such behavior should never be tolerated nor accepted and as the years go by, I doubt that sympathy will be emoted towards that program, but rather re-directed immediately to those who were victimized by Jerry Sandusky and to those who betrayed the children's innocence by hiding it for so long.