(07-24-2012 01:38 AM)NTMB Wrote:  

(07-23-2012 01:29 PM)kabluey Wrote:  

(07-23-2012 12:20 PM)georgiatiger Wrote:  

(07-23-2012 12:02 PM)kabluey Wrote:  I also wonder about the process. They opened the door to involvement in criminal activity and potentially rash and capricious discipline, furthering notions of inconsistency and lack of accountability. And I know what they said, that this is a special, unprecedented circumstance, that this is a special case that deserves a case-by-case analysis. But the door is still opened, the danger is out, and every case has been a case-by-case situation and that was previously perceived as a problem in the past (inconsistent results justified by the "case by case," not precedent-reliant, analysis).

Didn't they invent the term "strict liability" just for little ol' us?

And has it been used since? Until the NCAA itself is reformed, none of these punishments have any preventative effect. And it can be argued few extreme punishments do (i.e. SMU's dp hasn't eliminated cheating or buying players). The most they usually do is prevent the punished from doing more. We execute murderers, and it doesn't prevent further violence, it only prevents that person from murdering again.

In reply to the statement in bold, which I believe is the point of the entire post:

Just how rampant do you think institutionally sanctioned child molestation and rape are, in collegiate athletics?

To my knowledge these are completely unprecedented heinous actions limited to the athletics department of Pennsylvania State University. According to what Emmert said today, stoping the punished is exactly the goal, and setting precedent is not in any way desired in this case.

So what's the problem?

1. I'm not sure what you're referring to in "stop[p]ing the punished," whether it's the Sandusky 4 or PSU in general.

Assuming you're referring to PSU in general, the NCAA punishments are a quick fix to target the institution and Paterno's legacy. They are meant to send a message to the rest of the NCAA, coaches, the media, and the fans. They want to create the impression of order and justice. Send a clarion call around the NCAA to do the right thing, not just in child molestation cases. There is an inherent precedential purpose in this, which only works if the NCAA were consistently reliant on precedent. They brown-balled the Baylor coach who sanctioned the coverup after the murder. That used existing bylaws and existing punishments and procedures, I believe.

2. That institutionalized child molestation may (hopefully is) isolated to this one incident is inconsequential to my point. The problem that I think the NCAA is targeting with this act (I hope they are) is corruption involving criminal behavior and coverups of such beyond and including child molestation.

There are no quick fixes. Oh, and I wouldn't necessarily believe an NCAA's official's word about any current act's relationship with the future, particularly when he said that no Pandora's box has been opened. He can't limit it, or the calls for it. And, again, his organization doesn't yet respect precedential value to give his words the sort of "legislative intent" that the legal system often looks at. Maybe Emmert is different. He's relatively new and has indicated a desire to reform the bylaws. Still hasn't been done yet...

I think this was an incredibly heinous situation which required a unique set of punishments. The NCAA doesn't need to get involved when there are isolated cases of illegal activities.

This was a coverup of multiple child rapes by an entire management system.

When you have board of trustees making statements about how the NCAA is a bunch of "pansy presidents" and how the PSU president "rolled over and played dead" then you are just beginning to understand how they just don't get it.

They never will...to them, this will always be a personal crusade against Penn State and the Paterno legacy.

I'm torn about whether or not I think they should have gotten the death penalty. I know the reasons why they didn't, but I am also not certain watching a FCS team compete in the Big 10 does anything other than embarrass those kids. Not only will they not have enough kids...the ones they have won't be the caliber of athlete that PSU usually has.

It's disappointing that it had to come to this...when one man could have used his enormous power in 1998 and put a stop to all of it within 5 minutes.