(09-10-2013 04:05 PM)bullet Wrote: (09-10-2013 03:57 PM)NittanyLion Wrote: (09-10-2013 02:43 PM)bitcruncher Wrote: The decision was made by the NCAA. The NCAA can't unmake it, or what ever semblance of power and respect they once had is gone forever...
Penn State fans, and everyone else with an opinion that disagrees with the NCAA, should accept that - or stew in silence...
Frankly though, all the improvement at Penn State came far too late. The 2 decades of abuse that happened before hand aren't eliminated because of PSU's contrition...
Sure the NCAA can re-make it. It says so EXPLICILTY in the consent decree: "This consent decree may be modified or clarified at any time by mutual written consent of both parties."
If the NCAA does reduce the penalties to some degree (not saying they will), it will be couched as being part of the effort to rehabilitate Penn State's reputation.
These penalties were never meant to be exclusively punitive. That was obvious from Day One. They were meant to be punitive with an effort to rehabilitating Penn State's reputation in later years.
Whether fans like you have decided that "Penn State must wear the scarlet letter forever", or are open to a mentality of "they paid a penalty, rightfully so, and now they've worked to get themselves in a better place" --- that choice is yours.
Bitcruncher and I said the same thing. Changing the penalties hurts the NCAA in the general public's eye. So they won't do it.
But here's a question: why did the NCAA and Penn State agree to the Mitchell Reports, and their
public release in the first place? I noticed this right away on "judgment day", 23-July-2012. While that was clearly a "day of judgment," the first steps towards a rehabilitation of Penn State were also clearly put into place these days.
The NCAA's "Q rating" stinks these days as is and I'm not sure they can get hurt too much further in the general public's eyes. This may even be an opportunity to strengthen their opinion (if they do it carefully).
It's all PR anyway and just watch (if it happens) how the NCAA phrases things, when they do it, and what the reductions will be.
(1) how they phrase it --- they'll couch it in terms of "Penn State realizing the mistakes they made previously, being contrite, and working faithfully to be better."
(2) timing --- they'll announce it on the Friday right before Easter or the Friday right before Memorial Day.
(3) the reductions themselves --- no doubt the most public penalties remain. Anything lessened would be ones that only the die-hards pay attention to.
Something like keep the $60MM fine, keep the Bowl ban til 2015, keep Paterno's victories vacated, but lessen the scholarship reductions to something like 75/20 as opposed to 65/15, and only valid through 2015.