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

Thanks for the opening argument!For the record, I agree that Sandusky's abuses were horrible and that he and that those who didnt report him deserve punishment. The issue is whether the NCAA's sanctions against the university were warranted. They were not for the following reasons:1. Not a punishmentWho is at fault for Sandusky's crimes? My opponent's source puts the blame on 4 specific people: Sandusky, Paterno, and 2 others related to Penn State athletics.Sandusky himself could care less about the NCAA punishments. He has much bigger issues to worry about, such as being in prison for the rest of his life. The sanctions, which only affect Penn State football, have no affect on him - he's not involved with the program anymore.The penalties won't affect Paterno either. He's dead.The other 2 will also serve prison time and won't be involved in any college athletic program again, so they are also unaffected.So who exactly is being punished here? Not the ones responsible. The NCAA sanctions have absolutely no affect on the people who are actually culpable for what happened.2. Unfair to those not involvedSo who is really harmed by the penalties? Predominantly, its the Penn State fans, players, and the Big Ten conference in general. Of course, none of those groups had anything to do at all with Sandusky's abuses. Bob Knight, one of the winningest coaches in NCAA history, agreed earlier that "The football program really had nothing to do with this" (1). Penn State was an elite football program previously, and was a favorite to go to a major bowl game. But due to the 4 year bowl ban, not only will the players currently enrolled have their dream of playing on the big stage shattered, but any good recruits from high school won't play there either for the same reason. They're essentially going to be a garbage team for the next several years.Which makes no sense, because the players and fans of the team (the ones who actually suffer from the above) did nothing wrong. Brent Musburger, arguably the most well known commentator in NCAA sports, agreed in saying that "I'm very disappointed in the NCAA...I thought a lot of innocent persons were caught up in this yesterday who had absolutely nothing to do with it." (2)3. Harms non-athleticsThe 60 million dollar fine seems acceptable at first glance, but is ridiculosly unnecessary. Musburger also commented that several of Sandusky's victims are already negotiating lawsuits which would cost the university hundreds of millions of dollars. Tacking 60 million onto that is beating a dead horse, and if Penn State's football revenue drops (it will), they may have to resort to cutting scholarship funding, professor wages, and other educational areas. Another example of the NCAA penalizing people who weren't involved with what happened. Really, the NCAA had no place in doing what it did. This has nothing to do with college sports. When Michael Vick was imprisoned for dogfighting, did the NFL come down and penalize the whole Atlanta Falcons organization? No, because it was a criminal issue, not a sports-related one.Rebuttal to opponent's case:1. Magnitude warranted responseMy opponent argues that because of the magnitude of what happened, "the NCAA had to do something". Thats fine, you can argue that they should have done "something". However, the debate is about the specific penalties that they actually dished out: the ones which don't affect the ones culpable and instead punish fans and players who weren't involved. I also contest that any action was necessary at all. Sandusky and his associates will already be serving extensive prison time, where they will be raped more times in 1 year than the number of rapes Sandusky committed in his entire life. They already have been given their punishment. Further penalty is, as previously stated, beating a dead horse.2. Setting a precedentPro argues that the punishments were necessary to deter future child abusues and cover-ups. I disagree - what should actually deter future child abuses is Sandusky being sentenced to life in prison, which the NCAA didn't and can't do. They can only fine and penalize the university, which has no deterrent effect to an individual. If someone is thinking about having sex with a child, which thought do you think is more likely:1. "Hold on, I shouldn't do this. They might throw me in prison for the rest of my life"2. "Hold on, I shouldn't do this. They might fine my school and not give us as many scholarships."If you picked option 1, you believe that the threat of criminal punishment deters better than anything the NCAA can do, making their punishment unnecessary for deterrence purposes.3. Too much "cult"Pro argues that the sanctions reminded the fans that the scandal was bigger than football. However, the fans knew that way before the NCAA even did anything. If the fans really thought football was more important that punishing Sandusky and friends, they would have called for them to not be punished at all. No prison time, no negative publicity. Of course, nobody did that. Everyone acknowledged that Sandusky/Paterno should be punished.There were calls for the Paterno statue to not be removed, and that his career victories shouldn't be vacated. And there's no issue with that because those have to do with Paterno's football life - not his personal life. Paterno as a coach deserves recognition for his success. Maybe his *character* wasn't that we thought it was, but taking away his legacy as a coach is ridiculous. As an example, imagine if we elected a president who immediately solved the debt crisis and repaired the entire economy in one term. But then we find out that he was a child molester. Even though we can bash his moral character, the Fed isn't going to come down and say "Oh, well because you molested some children, we declare that you get no credit for fixing the economy". So ultimately, the NCAA should have had no involvement in this as this is a criminal issue, which is outside the NCAA's jurisdiction. More importantly, no guilty parties are affected by the penalties. 100% of those harmed are innocent bystanders. I look forward to Pro's next round.1. http://espn.go.com...;2. http://espn.go.com...