Ken Jackson: No, why punish innocent players, fans?

Ken Jackson
Staff Writer

Just when we thought that talk of the Penn State molestation scandal (notice my choice of words, this is not a “sex” scandal) would start to fade after Jerry Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts ... the noise fired up all over again last week with the release of the Freeh Report.
If you thought it couldn’t get any lower for the Penn State football program, there’s indications that Joe Paterno knew more about more things than most of us were led to believe. And the word “believe” is a tough one for college football fans, because it’s not easy to transform your opinion of Joe Pa from beloved coach and winner to an enabler for a felon and abuser of children in less than a year.
I mean no disrespect to his family, but Paterno made out best by passing away. If he was still with us he’d probably be facing child endangerment charges ... and many, many, many questions.
He’s not around to be accountable. Sandusky is headed to prison (by the way Jerry, rot in hell), and the school’s high-ranking officials who swept this mess under the rug face their share of discipline. So who does this leave to deal with the ashes?
A group of players and coaches who had no part of this; a group of people who want to play and coach football like they would in any other program. Yet, there’s plenty of people across the land, and right here in this office, who don’t want to give them that chance – at least not in State College.
Assess the NCAA “death penalty.” Kill the program. Scorch the earth and leave no signs of life, they say.
Someone I know spent a whole day trying to convince me that the only proper course of action is to shutter the Nittany Lions program for a couple years. (That person is an Ohio State fan, by the way. I hope he realizes that eliminating a Big Ten team puts the conference membership at 11 and ruins the whole two-division, conference title game model they finally put in place this year. And the rest of the conference will be dragging Penn State along for the 5-10 years; it will be poison upon return.)
I’m outraged at what has happened, but I’m not advocating this. A college football program, in general terms, serves three purposes: to provide scholarships for the players and prepare them for a possible NFL career; to bring enjoyment and a sense of pride to alumni and other fans, and to generate income for the school.
Players and fans pay the price, in their own distinct ways, for supporting their program. Let them pick up what they paid for, considering the Nittany Lions who will take the field this year, and those watching them from home and in the stands, had absolutely nothing to do with Sandusky’s heinous actions.
Let them play. But if you want to make a difference, mandate to the school that any profits derived by the football program do not stay with Penn State, rather they are passed on to child abuse advocacy groups of the community’s choosing for five years or so. Let the program be used for some good.
Others are mentioning probation, that the NCAA has to dispense some sort of penalty. But it won’t have to. Decent parents of prospective Nittany Lions can do that. If your child is a recruited college football prospect, are you going to let him attend Penn State right now? Kids and parents are going to hesitate and think twice about the program for a few years to come. At some point, there will be 18-year-olds who make the adult choice to try to make a difference and lead a revival in Happy Valley, but like me, nobody will be able to forgot what has transpired for a long, long time.
Eventually, the noise will fade. But, the silence is forever broken.