This morning, I was dismayed, but amused, by some of the Sunday morning TV news talking heads’ takes on whether Penn State football merits the “death penalty” being levied at the behest of the NCAA.
“Suspending Penn State football is really a dumb idea!” —James Carville
Speaking from the London Olympics site on Meet the Press, Bob Costas of NBC Sports was strongly in favor of Penn State giving up its football program either voluntarily or at the behest of the NCAA. Thanks, Bob. We appreciate the support.
George Stephanopolous asked his panelists on ABC’s This Week whether they thought that the NAACP [sic] should come in and shut down Penn State’s football program with the “death penalty.” Only after the panelists had all taken their turns did Wee George correct his initial faux pas.
First around the panel was milk chocolate toned Democratic adviser Donna Brazile, the only non-pasty skinned panelist this week. She was too kind to correct Stephanopolous about the mouthpo (which is a typo of the mouth), but she entered a sea of controversy by likening the situation at Penn State to that of the Catholic church in the wake of its long-term child molesting issues. As such, she believed that a suspension in order.
Conservative baseball überfanatic George Will believes strongly that not only should Penn State shut down its football program — for good — but so should every other institution of higher learning that has a big-time football program. He believes that academics and football are at best strange bedfellows, and the combination easily lends itself to corruption.
ABC political analyst Matthew Dowd, a Catholic, made an analogy that will send him to the confessional. Like Donna Brazile, he went papal on the PSU situation.
“If you took Jerry Sandusky and substituted Jerry Sandusky and put the word ‘priest,’ and then you put Joe Paterno and substitute the word ‘bishop,’ it’s the exact same thing,” Dowd said. “What you have is an institutional corrupt[ion] problem, that basically the ends of the institution become more important than the people involved.”
Dowd added something that hit at what this Turkey has been harping on all along: if you think that Penn State is alone in shielding the public and the legal authorities from its transgressions, think again. Just about all major universities have skeletons in their closets.
Meanwhile, Democratic strategist, cue-ball headed LSU junkie James Carville, said that it would be a “really dumb idea” to suspend Penn State football, as it would penalize people not even remotely responsible for Penn State’s recent scandal. In this Turkey’s opinion, Carville is right. This is one of the rare occasions on which I’ve agreed with James, so please note it well.
Carville’s wife, Republican strategist Mary Matalin, said that she’s not a football fan, but understands that there’s quite a football culture in Baton Rouge. So her opinion doesn’t count.
Everybody’s got an opinion. We’ll take this beyond the Sunday morning TV stage to look around at some of the other media stories addressing the dreaded death penalty for Penn State.
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Bryan Fischer, the football recruiting blogger for Eye on College Football, a CBS site, addresses the subject by trying to convince the reader that Penn State should get the death penalty “in order to move on.”
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Some players’ reactions to the death penalty rumors were reported by Audrey Snyder for USA Today.
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Mike Greger of Metro Philly believes that Penn State won’t get the death penalty.
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According to Michael Sedor of PennLive.com, the Nashville Tennessean, the Birmingham Alabaman, and the Orlando Sentinel all want the death penalty for Penn State. He gives links to their articles. All southern papers, all in SEC country. Whoda thunk it?
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The Patriot News, as usual, is full of the best material on the subject. You can access a page of links to a Sunday morning’s worth of interesting and intriguing stories here.
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Bob Flounders writes that “Maybe we didn’t know Joe Paterno after all.”
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On a more positive note, Adam Rittenberg of ESPN writes about the community starting the healing process.
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Unfortunately, vaunted SI sports writer Rick Reilly feels differently about the whole thing, which he strongly condemns in his piece for ESPN.
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Also for ESPN, Howard Bryant writes that Penn State should drop football.
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More ESPN: The unpronounceable Gene Wojciechowski writes that Paterno empowered a predator. This includes a video of Mark May’s perception of Joe Paterno and Penn State.
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Casey McDermott of the Daily Collegian addresses Penn State’s failure to comply with the Clery Act.
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That should give you plenty to chew on for a peaceful Sunday evening. As always, comments are welcome.
