I've thought an awful lot about the Penn State mess.
If you somehow don't know what I'm talking about, please go Google it or go to ESPN.com and read about what happened. It's too much to rehash and quite frankly, the details of the punishment aren't important to me at this point.
What I will talk about is how this affects the current student athletes who play football there.
Yes, there are other people affected by the actions of Jerry Sandusky besides the kids whose lives he completely ruined when they were children. There's more to this than what Joe Paterno did or didn't know, what it did to his legacy, and how much it tarnished a previously squeaky-clean university.
That said, what did happen was horrific. No child should ever have to endure abuse of any sort. No child should have to live with it. No person should ever try to cover up what he/she or anyone else did. That might be the worst thing in all of this; that people at the school knew something was amiss and did nothing to stop it all to protect their glorious football program.
Believe me. It makes me sick.
The school should be punished. Paterno's statue should've been removed as they did. All these people crying out about Paterno's legacy need to stuff a sock in it. All evidence points towards him hiding what was going on. I don't care how many national champions a coach wins, how many games he wins, how many NFL players his school produced, you hide child abuse of any kind, you don't deserve any of your accolades.
I agree with the $60 million fine. I agree that Paterno loses the victories earned during the years the abuse was going on.
That's about all I agree with.
The players who played those years should still be able to hold onto those wins, their accomplishments. The players on the team now should be able to experience the victories they earn and if they earn a bowl berth, should be allowed to participate in one.
I get the bowl ban. I do. It's designed to punish the school by making it less desirable to play there. Same with the scholarship bans. It's to discourage people from playing there, thus hurting the football team. I do get it.
I just don't agree with it.
You want to hurt the football program and those who helped cover this up? Fine. Go after them. Don't hurt the kids who want to play there. For some, Penn State is the only place they ever wanted to go to. You've now taken away any chance for them to look back and say "hey, I won a title," or "hey, I played in that bowl game and we were awesome!"
I think the bowl ban should be lifted. Let Penn State play in a bowl game if they earn it. Make them have to earn an extra win if you want. We all know the bowl games are money machines, so if you want to hurt Penn State, let them play in the bowl game but don't let them have the money that would normally be given to them. Instead, have it donated to sexual abuse programs and things along those lines. The coaches don't get paid for the bowl game either.
You want to reduce scholarships? Fine. Just don't reduce it by so many. 20 is a big number in the long run and hurts the depth. Make it 10 and at least the kids have some depth behind them.
Remember, this isn't just about the adults running the school and the program, this is also about the current students and anyone who's dreamed of playing there. Don't take that away from them.
Sure, you can argue they can transfer anywhere they want with no penalty, but it's July 31st. The chances of them latching on elsewhere and learning a new playbook are just not very good at all.
I'm not saying Penn State shouldn't have been hit hard, I just think the NCAA needs to be a little more thoughtful with how it punishes schools.
The local scene
I really don't even want to talk about the Indians right now. It seems like a carbon copy of last year. Fight and fight til the All-Star break, then fall apart in the second half.
*sigh*
They take 2 out of 3 from the Detroit Tigers, including a stunning four-run rally in the seventh inning against Justin Verlander. They follow that up how? By getting swept by the last place Minnesota Twins?
Not only that, they were completely dismantled in the series on both sides of the field. They couldn't pitch, they couldn't hit, and they couldn't field. Just sloppy.
I keep holding out hope that they're going to get hot and make a run, but it seems like they're going the other way. I don't know what to say really. I'm still going to watch, but it's just hard to imagine them passing both the Tigers and the Chicago White Sox by the end of the season.
The Cavs have been quiet since the Summer League ended with them absolutely blowing the New York Knicks away. There were some trade rumors for a while involving the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic where the Cavs would get Andrew Bynum, but that really never took off as it has become clear neither Bynum or Dwight Howard are interested in signing extensions, something the receiving teams are asking before they make any trade.
Bynum would be an interesting addition if they were able to nab him, but his character is always in question, as is his durability. I would wonder what he would be like taken out of a major market and dropped into Cleveland without the same level of talent around him in Lakerland. Sure, Kyrie Irving would make the transition easier, but I remember what happened when Shawn Kemp came to Cleveland several years prior to the LeBron era.
As is, the Cavs are probably going to be quiet the rest of the summer. I just don't see them making a huge, splashy move.
The Browns have been all over the news since the draft. First it was the selection of Brandon Weeden in the first round that caused people to nearly riot. Then there was the supplemental selection of Josh Gordon, whose previous incidents at both Baylor and Utah have caused some scrutiny, although many believe he was a risk worth taking, especially given the state of their receiving corps.
Then came the usual optimism. Weeden's arm looked lively. Greg Little was catching the ball. MoMass looked sharp. Gordon has looked good. Trent Richardson is running everyone over. The defense is demolishing the offense in the drills despite all that.
What?
I've never understood training camp talk. We hear how great everyone looks on one side of the ball, then the reporters are talking about how much better the other side was looking. Look, the defense is ahead of the offense. Always is. Jabaal Sheard should be running circles around rookie offensive lineman Mitchell Schwartz. Joe Haden should be able to read where Weeden is going with the ball. These aren't surprising things (especially since both are outstanding defensive players). What's encouraging is Haden is telling his rookie QB that he's staring his receivers down, giving the defensive backs a chance to jump the route.
Oh, and then there was the story of Pittsburgh Steelers minority owner Jimmy Haslam in talks to buy a majority stake in the Browns from current owner Randy Lerner (last rumor was Lerner keeps 30% of ownership). Nothing creates talk of stability like bringing in a new owner right at the start of training camp. No distraction there.
The hope is that the new owner, if the sale is approved, decides to keep things intact since most would say the Browns are finally building a pretty decent team on both sides of the ball. Tom Heckert said it was a 5 year plan in we're entering year 3 of that and progress is being made.
The last thing the team needs is for the entire thing to be torn down again. Fans might not be able to take another rebuild.
No comments:
Post a Comment