[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

Well, it's a very strong penalty - hopefully this will get USC fans to shut up for a bit ... it's probably worse, in a football sense, than a one-year break, in that the team's depth is crippled until about 2018. Unfortunately, that won't be obvious to non-football fans, whereas the "death penalty" is both catchier and more immediately obvious (which is why I assumed the NCAA would take that tack).

Coach O'Brien and the current administration are saying the right things so far - they're being very up-front and accepting of the penalties, and are directing their points toward being good citizens, and not just good at football. Hopefully, that continues, and something good can come out of it yet.

I don't know if this penalty will actually have the intended effect - that kind of sea change would be almost too convenient to believe anyway. It certainly has a smell of "Well, we need to do something..." which does not bode well for precedent-setting or etc.

The first step has been taken. Paterno and every person he put in power at PSU is gone. Hopefully they have learned the lesson that checks and balances are good. Allowing one man to wield too much power (even when he seems to be the benevolent grandfather) can backfire and bring down the whole institution like a house of cards. The next step is for the people of PSU and PA to stop playing the victims and place their anger where it belongs and where it will do some good...at the PSU administration that allowed this culture to thrive.