Penn State deserved the penalties the NCAA applied in response to Sandusky scandal

K, good job, I'm enjoying this. Rebuttal to opponent: 1: The sanctions were never meant to punish these men. The men DIRECTLY involved have been punished and marked for life. The sanctions were for Penn State, b/c Penn State itself failed. It failed to report the crimes that went on in its own football facilities. Penn State failed to stop a child molester out of fear of bad publicity. The university, sad and as unfortunate as it is, must take responsibility for what happened in its buildings for its football team. And the sanctions in regard to Paterno did affect him. The last and perhaps most powerful part of him left, his legacy, is obliterated for good. When people speak of Joe Paterno, they will speak of a coach who cared more about football than people. (This part was half serious half for a good laugh. Its true his legacy is damaged, but whether or not he cares, wherever he is, I don't know.) 2: I want to make it clear that I do feel sympathetic to the Penn State players, and to a lesser degree the Nittany Lion nation. (I feel less sympathy for the B10. It will function just fine with Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Michigan State, etc.) They were innocent, yet they are being punished. These players will never go to a bowl game again. These fans will live with this for the next 4 years. Yet, they were an unfortunate casualty of something bigger than themselves. They were caught in the crossfire of all this madness. But this does not mean the sanctions were unneeded. What happened at Penn State was vile, that me and my opponent fully agree with. However, as I said, a penance had to be exacted for the magnitude of these crimes. These fans and players, through no fault of their own, were caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Its a bad circumstance, but the sanctions are still necessary. And the argument that this will destroy Penn State football is completely baseless. We have no way of determining what this team will do in four years. They could band together and be stronger than ever before. Many current players have not indicated they will leave, despite the fact they may do so without penalties(1). Plus, the current recruiting class is ranked 16th in the nation by ESPN, in spite of the sanctions(2). I have a hard time buying that Penn State will become a new Vanderbilt for the Big 10. (and as you can see by my avatar for this site, that statement took some pain to say) 3: Speculation. The university has made no comment to anything of cutting scholarships, wages, or anything else.(unless you have a source saying so, in which case do share). I am reluctant to accept this as true without some evidence showing this. Even if it is true: The fine was equivalent to one year of the football programs revenue. The NCAA would be well within its rights to charge more, and this penalty, while harsh at first glance, is more or less an act of mercy upon Penn State. Sandusky did his dirty deeds over a period of nearly 5 years, and the cover up held out for longer. One year of football revenue to pay for the time these acts occurred is completely fair. And as I pointed out earlier, this scandal goes deeper than football. This went to the president of the university, which qualifies as a non-athletics position. Penn State football did not screw up, Penn State University screwed up. Yes people uninvolved were hurt, but maybe the leadership of the university should have considered this before covering up child-rape. (Its ironic they hid this to avoid bad publicity.......) My Opponent's Michael Vick analogy is flawed. The Atlanta Falcons did not discover this then hide it to save publicity. There was no cover up, and the management of the team was probably as shocked as any fan was of the events. Rebuttal to the rebuttal of my arguments: 1: Again, these sanctions were for the university, not the foul four (nice nickname, I think). The NCAA was punishing the school, and thus had every right to punish. The NCAA had to do something, and this was the only body to which they could do anything. 2: The precedent is not so much for the Sandusky's of the world, as it is for universities in general. This sends a strong message saying "Hey, you cover this up and we find out about it, your university is going to get hit HARD." NCAA sanctions mean nothing to a child rapist, but if you work in a university, are devoted to that school, than these sanctions will give you a reminder of possible ramifications for your actions. 3: It is obvious that my opponent severely underestimates the passion which Penn State fans hold for their football. Many fans were throwing their support behind Paterno, as we were learning that he had covered up illegal sexual acts between his coach and children! They chose his side instead of that of the victims! That is definitely deserving of a cult status. Now, I am a proud fan of Vanderbilt University. I love the black and gold playing on a Saturday night, where the cool air is broken only by a sea of fans and a good hit from some football pads. Yet, I could in no way support James Franklin (HC at Vanderbilt) if he had let his coach rape a child. This is because I (hopefully) can put my football fandom in perspective. The fans at PSU didn't call for Sandusky's head because he was long gone by then. Most of them probably never knew his name. They did call for JoePa to not be punished. They were outraged when he was fired. JoePa will still have a long legacy for himself (started PSU job in 66), plus the wins are purely official. We all know who won those games, the history books will just have an atserik next to them saying, "vacated because of NCAA sanctions". And unfortunately the CULTure at Penn State went beyond fans. the leaders of the school kept this a secret because they were protecting the football program. It was all about football. This was all for the dear love of Penn state football. And the statue had reasons for being removed. Like it or not, Paterno became a symbol of sexual abuse of children. Keeping it would have been an unnecessary point of contention for the university. I do want to take a moment to say that there were (are) some very sane PSU fans. Yet there was an alarmingly high number of them who were/are not. And I would hope if we found out a president was a child molester, we would be somewhat reluctant to picture him as a great hero. So ultimately, the NCAA had to step in and lay down the law for a school which had grossly overstepped the bounds of morality and decency. It was forced to respond when its member institution put football ahead of humans. More importantly, it did NOT levy the death penalty, giving PSU a hope, however slight it may be. If anything is encouraging, it is the healing that has already begun. The fans and players are staying loyal and making it through. Good for them. Con, I pass the baton. Put your game face on and then move your pawn (see what I did there ??) NOTE: I am sorry if my feeble attempts at humor are met with distaste. I simply find debates tend to be somewhat too formal and rigid. Human beings were made to laugh. I mean no disrespect at all, I just tried to be a little lively. Nevertheless, should my opponent find my conduct improper, I will become as funny and personable as Joseph Stalin. 2nd NOTE: Is it odd you get points here for spelling when you have a spell check button at the bottom of the screen? I feel this nullifies the spelling points a bit. 1)http://www.washingtonpost.com... 2)http://insider.espn.go.com...