It was as if they were trying to prove that every “Jock” stereotype was true. Proof that the only reason any sporting action has an impact is to save face from the Jerry Sandusky scandal
On Monday, September 8, the NCAA spat in the face of the victims of the Jerry Sandusky gender mis-word scandal by canceling all remaining sanctions against the Penn State Nittany Lions football team two years earlier.
The Timing couldn’t have been bolder or more shameful with Jerry Sandusky. By the end of Saturday’s college football day, B1G was already all but eliminated from the newly introduced college football playoffs after crippling early-season losses at the hands of three of its flagship teams. Two days after, the undefeated Nittany Lions, the only B1g team reasonably qualified for the “Final Four”, had their post-season ban lifted and their scholarship allocation restored to 100%.
The NCAA’s decision goes against the words of its president, Mark Emmert, who said: “Our goal is not only to be punished, but to ensure that the University creates a sports culture and a daily mindset where football will never again be confronted with education, education and protection”
Will football never be about education, education and youth protection? What about profit?
Is it about education, education and protection of minors? I would say that it was.
The word “culture” is important, and it is a word that the NCAA distinguished from its high horse when it imposed the first sanctions on Penn State in 2012. There is a “culture” in sports in the United States where athletes, employees and entire organizations are not held accountable for their actions.
In 2012, an Ohio teenager and member of the local high school football team was convicted of raping a 16-year-old disabled girl after he passed out after drinking at a party. He was also convicted of taking and sending nude photos of the victim. That fall, the level two gender lawbreaker returned to his high school’s football team after being released from a juvenile detention center.
Regarding the case, tennis star Serena Williams said that the victim “should not have been in this Position.”
Serena Williams wasn’t the only one blaming the victim. When the Ohio story became public, many expressed similar opinions at the local and national levels, with some even saying that it was not only the victims’ fault, but that they “deserved it”.
The sports culture in the United States was and still is peril. Especially when it comes to venereal mis-word by employees and athletes. When mis-word is reported, no one wants to believe it. They don’t care. You take care of your team, your conference and your organization. They blame the victims, they discredit the victims, they intimidate the victims and they humiliate them.
After waiving the sanctions on Monday, Michigan State Spartans football coach Mark Dantonio said: “It strengthens it and I think it’s good for the top ten and it’s good for our Division and it only strengthens it.”People don’t care about the victims, the pain, the suffering. They care about the victories. Victories, Prestige and Dollar signs.
The NCAA clearly doesn’t have a code of ethics, but it definitely has a business model, and that business model clearly includes Penn State University and the B1g conference.
