WE ARE! .... Screwed!

 Joe Paterno's statue now removed

The Freeh report concluded their motive was to shield the university and its football program from negative publicity. Wrong! The Freeh report only escalated the problem to a panicked reaction from Penn State. 

“That the president, the athletic director and the board of trustees accepted this unprecedented action by the NCAA without requiring a full due process hearing before the Committee on Infractions is an abdication of their responsibilities.”

On Sunday, Penn State president Rodney Erickson announced that the Joe Paterno statue would be removed. It was as if he died all over again. Only this time, (and from the current location of where the statue once stood) it looks like someone opened-fire and killed a once honored and respected Coach and program. I will never understand how removing a statue will help serve justice for Sandusky’s crime. 

I know; it’s not the crime, it’s the cover up. I just don’t fully trust the Freeh report. I believe that with the information Joe Paterno was given (and clearly it wasn’t close to the whole story), the generation that JoePa still lived in (he didn’t have a cell phone, he didn’t have an email that HE used and he probably didn’t realize that TV shows were shown in color or that Chris Hansen had a TV show about child predators) that JoePa did what he thought was right. What we’ve learned is that JoePa is the only one who has said that he wishes he could have done more. No one supports the sick actions of Sandusky, but how victim’s parents knew their child was a victim and didn’t stop this monster from preying on other children will never make sense to me.

There’s more to the cover up and it’s not just from Penn State. In the Grand Jury report, the mom of victim #1 knew what happened to her child and you’re saying it took 15 years to file a police investigation? What was more important to keep a mother from protecting her child? Money? Promised scholarships? Please, tell me!

My point is that the cover up is deeper than Penn State. The whole scandal is just so complex, but at the center of it all is Sandusky who will live in denial for the rest of his life behind bars. JoePa was fired and the University is doing everything to erase the memory of the man who was the single most significant pioneer for Penn State.

NCAA President, Mark Emmert announced that Penn State would be fined $60M, vacated Paterno’s 111 wins from 1998-2011, serve a four-year bowl ban and lose 40 scholarships over the next four years.

Where does $60M even go?

With Paterno’s 111 wins vacated, that makes 409 career wins to 298 wins. Paterno will drop to 12^th on the winningest NCAA football coach list. Six bowl wins and two conference championships will also be erased. Will they refund all the money from ticket and merchandise sales for the fans that were there too? If Emmert is saying the games “never happened” then fans never spent their money. Will fans receive refund checks in the mail?

Really, let’s put an asterisk next to JoePa’s wins and make everything all better. We all know he will be the winningest coach in Division 1 football FOREVER, but if adding an asterisk somehow serves justice for the crime Sandusky committed then go ahead and add a big asterisk. And no real coach wants to move up on the wins list that way.

“Any current or incoming football players are free to immediately transfer and compete at another school.” Mr. Emmert, pleeeeeas tell me how this is practical. In case you forgot, practice starts next week and no where is a kid going to find a school that happens to have a scholarship just hanging in an empty locker when the NCAA continues to take scholarships away because someone else bought them lunch.

Who really is screwed in this are the students and the student athletes. I say the students because once victim lawsuits come flooding in, Penn State will be broke and tuition will be the only source of economic income. That $220M TV contract won’t last long.

At least the death penalty would have been a shorter way to rip off the band aid. The NCAA’s penalties are actions that just lead to a slow and painful death of a football program and University that was built on so much more. The actions of one sick man, Jerry Sandusky have screwed an entire program and university of its past, present and future.

I’ve had a JoePa statue/figure on my desk for years. It’s one of my favorite gifts from my twin brother and I thank the sports gods that Rodney Erickson and Mark Emmert can not remove it.  

The statue of Joe Paterno on my desk

Changing of the Guard

Jeremy Lin has been the best personal story of the NBA in years!  The phenomenon of Linsanity gave the Knicks and the NBA a feel good story that had the world rooting for the underdog.

The twenty-three year old point guard received zero athletic scholarships out of high school, became a walk-on for Harvard, graduated, went undrafted in the NBA, and then reached a small contract deal with the Golden State Warriors; his hometown team. With little playing time his rookie season he bounced back and forth from the D-League before making a roster spot with the New York Knicks for the 2011-2012 season.

It was no surprise when sports fans voted for Jeremy Lin as the Best Breakthrough Athlete at the 2012 ESPY awards.

In the 35 games that Lin was healthy, he averaged 14.6 points, 6.2 assists and 3.1 rebounds with 25 starts before he had surgery on his knee to repair torn cartilage and earned a $788,000 paycheck as a restricted free agent.

Knicks coach Mike Woodson said Lin would be the starting point guard next season. But after acquiring point guard Raymond Felton in a multiple trade with the Blazers and then on July 5^th the Knicks signed a three-year deal with point guard Jason Kidd making the Knicks look Lin-sane.  

The Houston Rockets have offered Lin a three-year, $25 million offer that give the Knicks 72 hours to match the deal to keep him. Fellow/former teammate, Carmelo Anthony called Lin’s deal “ridiculous”. 

Are the Knicks Linsane or are the Rockets Linsane? According to ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith the Knicks will not be matching Houston’s offer. As a fan, I liked Lin in a Knicks jersey. This is a 6’3 kid and an Ivy League graduate who started off 2011 sleeping on his brother’s couch in a one bedroom apartment on the lower eastside of Manhattan. And according to Forbes, the overnight sensation earned the Knicks an extra $10-$20 million in revenue. So I think what Melo was trying to say is that Jeremy Lin has earned a Lin-diculous offer.

The debate that Jeremy Lin hasn’t “proven” himself will be the new LeBron story for next season. What surprises me most about the Lin-sane Knicks is forgetting that in the world of sports you can win and lose in the same game. Points can win the game and sold out games are a win for the franchise. The hype of Linsanity alone filled seats, moved merchandise, made media headlines, and gave Knicks fans a reason to be Lin-sational. Even if next season is Lin-barrassing, the franchise that recognizes how Jeremy Lin can Lin-pact a team from a revenue stand point will be bal-Lin. Jeremy Lin is Win-Lin deal.