GUEST POST: Reaction to The NCAA Sanctions on Penn State

This piece was written by Dan Ryan. Dan is a graduate of Quinnipiac University, where he majored in marketing and minored in public relations. Currently, Dan is a sport industry professional and is earning his Masters in Sport Management from Drexel University. From the I-95 crew, thanks for writing Dan!

into storage it goes...

The Penn State scandal has taken a mind of its own. As many sports related scandals go, similar to shark infested waters, once there is one drop of blood the feeding frenzy begins. Cue the media, the public, all lining up to take their own personal shot at the crucified remains of the Penn State Football program. At what point is enough enough When does the persecution stop and the healing begin?

Without doubt, some of the penalties handed down to Penn State make sense in my opinion. The $60 million fine going to programs designed to deal with victims of child sexual abuse (and the same with the Big Ten's decision to deny Penn State its share). The five year probationary period. All are just in my eyes.

However, the remaining sanctions seem to be as accurate as buck shot. Why penalize people who are guilty of nothing, the coaches attempting to rebuild today and most of all the student-athletes, who are supposed to come first in all NCAA-related deliberations? Reducing the scholarships to a near crippling point, removing all postseason play, all actions directly penalizing the people in place today that will be responsible for picking up the carnage left by one individual's actions and several others poor judgement.

As for erasing 111 of Joe Paterno's wins from the Penn State and NCAA record books, in what way does that bring justice to the young men whose lives will never be the same because of the horrible acts committed by Sandusky? What competitive advantage did Penn State gain from failing to act on an assistant coach who was suspected of child

abuse? The NCAA has decided not only to join the witch hunt, but lead it by tearing down the legacy of a now defenseless man who single handedly made Happy Valley what it is today.

Penn State's decision to tear down the Paterno statue is just another example of "a panicked response to the public's understandable revulsion." I understand and believe what Joe did and what he failed to do is unforgivable, but he also did so much good for the university as a whole, not just their athletics. No matter how deep the new, frightened leaders of PSU try to bury Joe Pa's legacy, the good and the bad, he will always be first in everyone's mind when you step foot in Happy Valley. Why not embrace that and let the statue serve as a reminder. By tearing it down it makes everyone forget the past. What we need to do is remember the past, no matter how painful the memory is.

As for the current and future players, the question is asked, Would you stay? The way I see it is this entire scandal, all the public opinion placed on this school, comes down to the question "if it was me, what would I do?" Well the public came out in crowds proclaiming had it been them they would have stepped forward immediately, they would've stopped Sandusky if they were Mike Mcquery, if they were Joe Paterno, they would've always made the right decision and never made a mistake. The only problem is we are all human, and none of us are perfect. Many of these same people are now saying leave PSU and try to avoid the darkest period in college football history, you shouldn't suffer because of the actions committed by someone else.

If we have learned anything from this tragedy it should be not to run from the problems that stand in our path, but confront them and move past them right now. To the players who have a decision to make, I hope they see the mistake Joe made in attempting to tip toe around the allegations rather than face them head on. PSU Football was built on pride. The players who take the field at Beaver Stadium over the next four years are not playing for bowls or championships, nor are they playing for themselves. They are playing to restore a legacy that took 54 years to build and just 9 months reduce to rubble. These men are playing for the healing and forgiveness of others.

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Penn State's Statement on the Freeh Report

The following message was sent to Penn State alumni yesterday a little before 5pm.  

PENN STATE ISSUES STATEMENT ON FREEH REPORT

July 12, 2012, SCRANTON, PA - Today's comprehensive report is sad and sobering in that it concludes that at the moment of truth, people in positions of authority and responsibility did not put the welfare of children first. The Board of Trustees, as the group that has paramount accountability for overseeing and ensuring the proper functioning and governance of the University, accepts full responsibility for the failures that occurred. The Board, in cooperation with the Administration, will take every action to ensure that events like these never happen again in our university community.

The focus of all of our actions going forward will be on driving a culture of honesty, integrity, responsible leadership and accountability at all levels and within all units of our institution.

Judge Freeh's report concludes that certain people at the University who were in a position to protect children or confront the predator failed to do so. There can be no ambiguity about that. The defenseless victims and their families are at the forefront of our thoughts and prayers. We are deeply sorry for the failure to protect these vulnerable young boys from the pain and anguish they suffered. At the same time, we are filled with admiration for the bravery shown by the young men and their families who came forward to ensure that justice will be done.

While today's issuance of the Freeh Report provides some level of clarity for our community, it does not undo the pain that the victims of Jerry Sandusky have experienced, and continue to experience. We will continue to offer counseling to Mr. Sandusky's victims, listen to them and take affirmative steps to address the harm they have suffered.

Beyond our campuses, the University is undertaking a number of actions to help build greater awareness of the societal issue of child sexual abuse. We are partnering with the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape (PCAR) and have also created the Center for the Protection of Children at the Hershey Medical Center. Penn State University intends to be a constructive leader in preventing, reporting and responding to such abuse. This is a problem that plagues our nation, and we have a special duty to increase awareness, prevention and treatment of child sexual abuse.

Judge Freeh's investigation was intended to identify where failures occurred and what changes should be made for the future. As the Freeh report noted, the University has already taken steps to begin addressing some of the shortcomings.

The Board of Trustees acknowledges that it failed to create an environment of accountability and transparency and did not have optimal reporting procedures or committee structures. Beginning in March 2011 and continuing until the publication of the Grand Jury presentment in November 2011, the Board failed to make proper inquiry of President Spanier and others regarding the Sandusky matter. As a result, the Board was unprepared to deal with the events that occurred in November 2011.

The Board has begun taking a more active oversight role and has implemented specific oversight committees, focused on Risk, Audit, Legal, Compliance, Academic Excellence, Governance and Human Resources. Furthermore, the Board is committed to greater transparency and communications with the entire University community.

Additionally, the University Administration has strengthened policies and programs involving minors, child abuse and mandated reporter training; ensuring a process for prompt reporting of abuse and sexual misconduct; hiring a new, full-time Clery Compliance Coordinator and providing Clery Act training for employees; and establishing a position of, and commencing a national search for, a director of University Compliance. Further information can be found here:http://progress.psu.edu/.

In the weeks ahead, the University will carefully review and consider each of the report's recommendations. Tomorrow at its regularly scheduled meeting, the Board of Trustees will consider a series of immediate next steps. President Rodney Erickson has appointed three members of his senior leadership team to coordinate and implement operational changes suggested by the Freeh Report.

As the Freeh Report notes Penn State "is an outstanding institution, nationally renowned for its excellence in academics and research." Nothing in this report detracts from the many significant accomplishments of our faculty, staff, students and alumni. We also remain proud of the accomplishments of Penn State's student athletes over many years, and we reaffirm the fundamental premise that academic excellence and athletic achievement are wholly consistent and complementary goals.

With the release of the Freeh Report we are beginning to correct our failures, promote healing and build a stronger tomorrow for Penn State. We are continuing the process of addressing the most painful chapter in the University's history so that we can heal and move forward.

Message from PSU Board of Trustees

A MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Today with the report released by Judge Louis Freeh, the Penn State Board of Trustees delivered on the commitment we made last November when we engaged Judge Freeh to conduct an independent investigation into the University's actions regarding former Penn State employee, Jerry Sandusky, and the handling of allegations of the child abuse crimes of which he has since been found guilty.

Judge Freeh and his team conducted a rigorous, eight-month investigation into all aspects of the University's actions to determine where breakdowns occurred and what changes should be made for the future. We like many others have eagerly anticipated Judge Freeh's Report of the findings of his investigation.

His report has just been released at http://thefreehreportonpsu.com/ and we currently are reviewing his findings and recommendations. We expect a comprehensive analysis of our policies, procedures and controls related to identifying and reporting crimes and misconduct, including failures or gaps that may have allowed alleged misconduct to go undetected or unreported. We will provide our initial response later today.

We want to ensure we are giving the report careful scrutiny and consideration before making any announcements or recommendations. We are convening an internal team comprising the Board of Trustees, University administration and our legal counsel to begin analyzing the report and digesting Judge Freeh's findings.

As we anticipate the review and approval process will take some time, our initial response and immediate next steps will be presented at 3:30 at the Dayton/Taylor Conference Room at the Hilton Scranton & Conference Center.

These top-line reactions will provide an overview of our process for developing and implementing a plan once we have studied the report and have a better understanding of what it means and how we can implement findings to strengthen Penn State's role as a leading academic institution and ensure that what occurred will never be allowed to happen again.

ESPN Bias

ESPN has a well-documented history of biased coverage, most notably on their signature show SportsCenter.  In 2012 thus far, ESPN’s bias has seemingly reared its ugly head more often than ever before.  The topic was discussed extensively in the sports business class that I took over spring term at Drexel with NBC Universal/Comcast Sports Group Senior Vice President of Sports Content, Mike Sheehey.  Whenever the topic of bias was brought up, Mr. Sheehey constantly harped on the “BooYah’s” and the “Back Back Back’s”.  Personally, I believe ESPN’s bias runs much deeper than that. 

We will get to you on Monday in Dollars & Sense, Mr. Berman.

I don’t want to get into nostalgia and dashed future expectations, but as an avid (maybe fanatic) sports fan I have literally watched this ESPN bias unfold before my eyes.  Growing up, I was that kid who would wake up and immediately watch SportsCenter.  I would watch rerun after rerun if I had the time.  The highlights and surface analysis never got old to me.  Maybe I was simply young and naïve. 

ESPN has changed since the good ole days of the 90s (yes 90s kids, I know you’re all with me on that one).  As I’ve gotten older and (hopefully) gotten wiser, I have begun to notice what ESPN truly is.   SportsCenter isn’t about sports highlights and it sure as hell isn’t about sports news.  SportsCenter epitomizes the entire ESPN business, a business that's out there solely to service their partners. 

The proof is in the numbers.  I want to thank Deadspin for doing the leg work here in their BristolMetrics section.  Let's crunch the numbers from last week.

Understandably, the NBA received the most coverage out of any league.  However, is over 100 minutes more coverage than the next closest league really justifiable?  Major League Baseball is in full swing of their season, yet the NBA deserves 100 more minutes (NBA - 178.75 minutes vs. MLB – 75.5 minutes).  I don’t see that as being impartial.  The bias runs deeper more when you check out the most covered teams by sport.  The Miami Heat got 143.25 minutes of coverage.  A whopping 132.75 minutes more than the next closest team, which not surprisingly was the New York Yankees. 

Winning a championship is great, but does it warrant that  much coverage.

ESPN’s bias is even more relevant when looking at the breakdown by player.  Six of the top fifteen players based on mentions were Miami Heat players.  Four more were Oklahoma City Thunder players, making ten of the top fifteen players mentioned coming from the NBA.  To make matters worse, LeBron James was mentioned 280 times in one week.  The next closest you ask?  Kevin Durant… with 113 mentions.  ESPN lovin’ LeBron James much?

It is one thing if ESPN simply loves the NBA more than every other league.  However, the reason is that they are solely out to protect their television interests.  Take a look at the week of June 8 to June14.  Both the NBA Finals were occurring and the NHL Stanley Cup Finals were wrapping up.  This is the perfect comparison because both leagues were in their championship finals and the NBA has a television deal with ESPN while the NHL does not.  Let’s rattle off the numbers.  Time by league: NBA – 190.5 minutes vs. NHL – 31 minutes.  Most covered teams by sport: Miami Heat (again) – 144 minutes vs. Los Angeles Kings – 29 minutes.  Top fifteen most mentioned athletes: NBA - 10 out of 15 vs. NHL – 1 out of 15.  Even if ESPN is biased, the numbers ain’t. 

The scary part about all of the clear numbers to support ESPN’s bias is their coverage (in this case lack thereof) of the Jerry Sandusky trial.  I don’t need to remind you of gory details and the magnitude of the case.  It does seem like ESPN needed to be reminded.  From June 8 to June 14, ESPN covered the Sandusky trial (the first week of the trial), for an unsatisfactory 45 seconds.  Yes, I am aware that I have typed seconds instead of minutes.  The NBA got 254 times more coverage on SportsCenter than the biggest tragedy to rock the sports world possibly ever. 

Biggest tragedy possibly in the history of sports, goes relatively uncovered by the Worldwide Leader.

Still believe that ESPN is a company of integrity?  Check this one out.  Last week, from June 15 to June 21 (the day before the Sandusky verdict was reached), the Sandusky trial was covered for 1 minute.  In comparison, the Roger Clemens trial received 6 minutes of coverage.  I know, I’ll give you a minute to let that all sink in… If you’ve been catching what I’ve been throwing throughout, then I think it goes without saying that ESPN has a television deal with the Big 10 conference.  Oh yea, and Penn State is one of the marquee teams in the conference.  As for Clemens, I think it is safe to assume that he has been irrelevant long enough for his trial not to impact ESPN’s television deal with MLB. 

Maybe I’m stuck in a childlike state of innocence that still believes the world is pure and good.  Maybe I’m some jaded sports fanatic that wants to bring back the good times.  Regardless of what I may be, you can’t argue with the numbers.  SportsCenter should be for sports highlights and sports news, not servicing the suits.  

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Quick Hits

Each and every Saturday morning! Must reads and interesting tidbits that you might’ve missed this week!

Mark Cuban says what many of us have always wanted to say to Skip Bayless’s face.

Jerry Sandusky is found guilty on 45 out of 48 charges against him. He faces 442 years in prison.

Eagles WR Mardy Gilyard has overcome great odds in his journey to the NFL, including a six month period in which he was homeless.

San Francisco 49ers fans purchasing seat licenses for the new Santa Clara Stadium are either making a great investment or a terrible one.

Connie Carberg, the first female scout in NFL history (Jets, 1976), has launched a new website “to create and share women-focused football content.”

The LA Kings are looking for the game six-ending puck and they think they know who took it...if you have any additional information, they’re asking that you send it their way!

Roger Clemens walks away legally not guilty, but the truth is out there.

Could social media and the instantaneous information of today stopped Sandusky before lives were ruined? The New Yorker weighs in.

Dan Wetzel continues his unparalleled coverage of the Sandusky trial.

Not content with small-school football offers, Holley Mangold (sister of Jets’ center Nick Mangold) opted for weightlifting...and now she’s participating in the Olympics.

James Varney of the Times-Picayune details the ongoings at the NFLs headquarters this week on the Saints bounty appeals.

“Frog juice” is the latest performance-enhancing drug being used in sports...horse racing.

Rick Reilly drops the legalese in a passionate post for ESPN regarding Jerry Sandusky, labeling him as the indecent coward that he is.

Steve Gleason, former Saints player and current ALS fighter, sends an inspirational message to the New Orleans Times-Picayune employees who are facing staff reductions this fall.

The Eagles plan a major refurbishment plan for the Linc.