The "Culture" at Penn State

[KirkHerbstreit]

To me, this says it all. What happened at Penn State is the worst thing to ever happen in College sports, but don't pretend Penn State is the only University in America where the culture needs to change.


http://frankthetank.wordpress.com/


(3) Little Glass Houses For You and Me – Finally, the Penn State scandal seems to continuously get worse and worse for the university in the wake of the issuance of the independent report by Louis Freeh. This has led to calls of punishments such as the death penalty for the football program, which NCAA president Mark Emmert said is an option that is not “off the table”.

I really cannot defend anything that Penn State’s leadership, including but not limited to the late Joe Paterno, did (or more appropriately, did not do) in covering up multiple instances of child rape. There is truly nothing more heinous than letting child rape continue on for years and years when it could have been prevented by someone just speaking up. However, I have also seen a lot of commentators, columnists, bloggers and message board posters spend a ton of time acting sanctimonious and try to one-up each other in terms of how outraged they are. What troubles me, and as Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal poignantly pointed out in this piece, is that there’s an argument being parroted by many people that the “insular culture” in State College that allowed a massive coverup to protect the Nittany Lion football program is somehow a unique Penn State problem. If you believe that to be the case, ask yourself about how confident you are that your own alma mater or favorite college team hasn’t skirted or outright violated the law at some point. How many sexual assaults by star football and basketball players have been swept under the rug over the years? How many schools use coeds as “hostesses” for top-level recruits visiting campus where there are certain expectations of how those hostesses are supposed to provide a memorable weekend? How would you feel if your own daughter was one of those hostesses? What about the murder of a transferring player, like in the case of Baylor in 2003? How about sending a student to a tall video tower with 50 mph wind gusts? Even a marching band in the SWAC can have its own insular culture that results in horrific consequences.

It’s not just about whether child rape is worse than the recruiting violations at SMU back in the 1980s that caused the NCAA to hand that school the death penalty. Child rape is obviously exponentially more heinous and awful than anything that the NCAA has on the books (and frankly, I’m someone that believes that most recruiting rules are completely ridiculous). However, the supposedly insular culture at Penn State where the protection of the “brand” is of the utmost importance is a culture that permeates everywhere in big-time college sports. Chances are pretty high that your own school has some skeletons in its own closest that would bury your football or basketball program if the truth ever came to light. This isn’t to excuse anything that occurred at Penn State, but it’s something that everyone needs to remember when trying to pass judgment on the culture in State College. None of us are in a position to be sanctimonious here. The culture everywhere in college sports needs to change (not just at Penn State).

[WPIAL~Titan]

Good points, college athletics, especially football and basketball, are out of control.

However, there is nowhere in the world, let alone in college athletics, where such a cult-like atmosphere existed around a man (Paterno) who was worshipped as a God and a program (football) that is seen in that little nook of the world as the be all and end all. Jonestown and Branch Davidians are the closest things to the PSU football cult. Someone will do a PhD dissertation on this.

Sure, every program has some skeletons in their closet. But to compare what has happend at PSU to ANYTHING ELSE ANYWHERE IN COLLEGE ATHLETICS is ridiculous. What happend to those victims was tragic. Even more tragic is the fact that it never should have happened to those who were abused between 2001-2012...the 1998 issue was blown by law enforcement.

The problem with PSU football is that their cult leader wrote and preached tales of vurtue, honor, righteousness and self-importance for the last 5 decades, all which have turned out to be mythology and lies. JVP lied to his own family, lied to the Grand Jury, and lied to a news reporter a few days before his death. The arrogance and attitude of moral superiority permeated from Paterno, Spanier, Curley, and Sandusky...I am sure that they all believed that they would never get caught and I am sure they believed that they were doing teh right thing, the "humane" thing. They said it themselves. This self-righteous culture impacted the fan base as well. The amazing part is that most people there still don't get it.

I'll say this, there is NO WAY a cover up like this would ever happen at Pitt. The reality is that the sun does not rise and set on the football or basketball program, and football simply isn't a religion at Pitt as it is at PSU. That explains the yellow seats at Heinz Field on Saturdays. You see, football simply is not the end all at Pitt. Other things are a lot more important. Sadly, that has not been, is not, and likely won't ever be the case at PSU. Judging by many of the cult's reactions and the reaction of the Paterno family, PSU hasn't learned a thing. Pateno's reputation, the statue, and the possibility of NCAA violations are ALL MORE IMPORTANT to the cult than the crisis and tragedy at hand. As I have said, the LAST THING PSU should be worrying about is football. It seems like it's the FIRST THING they are worried about, which again illustrates that the PSU football and leadership culture is a huge part of the problem there.

At Pitt, there wouldn't have been a second thought of repeatedly and consciously protecting a man who exhibited the behaviors of a pedphile several times when the leadership knew it. Football or one man isn't nearly that important at Pitt, nor anywhere else. That's the difference between PSU and the rest of the world.