Paterno Out At Penn State

[loucap81]

Won't have the chance of what, having drinking parties as fun as years past because the team is going to suck?

And you know what, listening to the responses of the former players, I don't have high hopes that those kids will gain proper perspective of this situation. The former players seem to make the following arguments:

1) This isn't a football issue, since no competitive advantage was gained from the wrongdoing (incredible that anyone could say that with a straight face, like Penn State football had nothing to do with providing Sandusky access to children)

2) Innocent people are being punished (Yeah guess what, that's how sanctions work)

3) Only Sandusky was at fault and no one else was


This just goes to show that Kool Aid drinking occurs in any large organization, religious or secular.

[PETE'S BROTHER]

Won't have the chance of what, having drinking parties as fun as years past because the team is going to suck?

And you know what, listening to the responses of the former players, I don't have high hopes that those kids will gain proper perspective of this situation. The former players seem to make the following arguments:

1) This isn't a football issue, since no competitive advantage was gained from the wrongdoing (incredible that anyone could say that with a straight face, like Penn State football had nothing to do with providing Sandusky access to children)

2) Innocent people are being punished (Yeah guess what, that's how sanctions work)

3) Only Sandusky was at fault and no one else was


This just goes to show that Kool Aid drinking occurs in any large organization, religious or secular.

so the fuckin' kid in the biotech lab that finally gets the balls to meet some chick he met online gets ditched at dinner cause she won't date somebody from "pedo-u". last year, his buddy got that chance.

[Nitro Express]

I agree ---- I think collegiate sports is far too much about $$$$ and so little about being a student-athlete. There is too much hypocrisy in the system --- such as punishing a kid for sellling his own jersey but then allowing him to leave school early to chase the big dollar contracts.

Congress needs to step in and make college football a private for-profit enterprise run by the schools --- the athletes are not students but professional players in a "training program" for the NFL --- and most of the profits go towards academic scholarships. It's a win-win-win for everybody involved.

That's exactly why I lost interest in college and pro sports a long time ago. I really don't follow any of it anymore. The desire just isn't there.

[Nitro Express]

I had college friends who worked part-time in science labs that were getting big government research grants --- some of the profs started their own companies and consulting firms and made nice bank --- but the students always got a fixed stipend and not a cut of the action.

It's an unfair system across the board.

I remember I had to meet with one of my proffessors in his office. On he desk he had a little model of an outhouse. It had two stories with two doors one above the other. The upper door said proffessors and the lower one said students. It was a pretty good symbol of how students are regarded in the university system.

When my brother was attending Stanford University one student in one of his classes went up to the Golden Gate bridge and jumped off. The class was in shock and they were talking about it. The proffessor said he wasn't a good student anyways and let's get on with the subject matter for today.

I mean college is brutal. Some of the meanest people I have ever met work in universities.

[Nitro Express]

Good point --- if some kid on an academic scholarship is a computer wiz and might become the next Bill Gates and contribute billions to the economy --- shouldn't he/she be given the same perks as some dope who knows how to catch a football?

Follow the money. Nobody wants to pay to watch a bunch of students study in the library or work in labs. The school makes more money charging to see the dopes running after a dead pig. Also, Gates was a college dropout.

[LoungeMachine]

I remember I had to meet with one of my proffessors in his office. On he desk he had a little model of an outhouse. It had two stories with two doors one above the other. The upper door said proffessors and the lower one said students. It was a pretty good symbol of how students are regarded in the university system.

When my brother was attending Stanford University one student in one of his classes went up to the Golden Gate bridge and jumped off. The class was in shock and they were talking about it. The proffessor said he wasn't a good student anyways and let's get on with the subject matter for today.

I mean college is brutal. Some of the meanest people I have ever met work in universities.

Those damn professors.

[BigBadBrian]

OK, but I repeat, in return for their football (or any other sports scholarship, for that matter) skills, they are being provided a top-notch college education on the house.....

Why discriminate against the other student-athletes? Why discriminate against those who, God forbid, get an Academic scholarship? I'm sure plenty of those kids would like a burger at McDonalds too, ya know....

Yep. Paying college "STUDENT-athletes" in any way shape or form is utterly ridiculous.

[BigBadBrian]

Good point --- if some kid on an academic scholarship is a computer wiz and might become the next Bill Gates and contribute billions to the economy --- shouldn't he/she be given the same perks as some dope who knows how to catch a football?

Perks? You mean like busting your ass during two-a-days in the 100 degree August heat? Countless hours in the weightroom?

[POJO_Risin]

How much actual coaching was Paterno doing the last 5 years or so anyway?

The last five years?.....

[clarathecarrot]

The mentioning on the last page by a poster here .. that the athletes, should be paid, but only football and basketball... the students who play volleyball and lacross should just live off thier student scholarships......(paraphrasing)

This is the reason students shouldn't get paid, where does it stop, you think the Vollyball athletes can't hire a lawyer,,,? The basketball and football garnish the most ..Television income, that is for sure and that is where the money is for the schools.

and ... the reason the don't pay the students, they want the money for themselves.

and... at long last the student body themselves can hire a lawyer and they should be paid as equally as the athletes.

Then you get into, why they don't pay, anyone.

Then they must pay everyone.

It would create Communism in a allready Socialist Organization.

[loucap81]

This isn't going to happen, but people have suggested that you should just break off the football and basketball programs into their own entities and only make them loosely tied to the school. The majority of football players at the big time programs don't graduate and aren't there for an education anyway. Then you can pay players, you don't have to worry about academic eligibility, and the communities that have nothing else going on there like State College PA, Norman OK, etc. still have an economic driver and a team to root for.

[clarathecarrot]

Don't they have AAA (trippleA) leagues out there already..?? for most sports,, separate from any schools ,as far as achademic requirements..??they could just fold all the athletes from highschools... into that, league, and skip the cheating on tests by linemen who can't spell at the age of 20.

Essentially a league that is respected as genuine, like how college recruits are first in line for professional drafts.

Then the schools loose big time....

No Harsh.

[loucap81]

They don't have AAA football teams unless you count Arena League, and there aren't many of those teams, and their season is in the summer.

I really don't think it's a bad idea, especially for football. Convert all the big programs into minor league-type professional teams, make them age restricted (18-22), have some kind of salary structure in place, and don't make them actually enroll in a college. Colleges that don't want to do that like the Ivy Leagues and the small ones that don't generate that much money anyway don't have to do that, they can just keep going normally. It's just making it easier to do what's going on anyway. College football is the minor league system for the NFL, and the NFL doesn't give a shit about anything other than money. And nor do most of these colleges care about anything but money other than the Ivy's and the de facto Ivy's like Duke, Stanford, Northwestern, etc. I'm willing to bet that when you hear about fraud going on where star players don't even show up to class, that's only scratching the surface of how much these schools get away with.

If a young kid wants to play football and get an education, great. But most of the outstanding athletes don't, so let's stop pretending. And very, very few of them are going to be persuaded to get the education if they're not already pre-disposed to that type of personality. You think any amount of pleading and begging would motivate Reggie Bush to get a degree?

[Guitar Shark]

We all got that point DAY ONE you fucking animal. You could argue that a few people out of a half a million didn't right away AND THOSE PEOPLE ARE EITHER DEAD OR ON TRIAL! WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT YOU FUCKING BLOODTHIRSTY ANIMAL??!?!

Have you considered seeking professional help for your anger issues? Good grief...

[Nitro Express]

Man. Penn State got it's throat ripped out. All I can say is if this sort of thing happens again somewhere people will blow the whistle to avoid the huge fines and suspentions. It's like crucifiying someone to keep the rest in line. Hard core.