PENN STATE; punish the criminals not create more victims!

   There is no question that Penn State deserves a heavy penalty for (apparently) knowingly allowing ongoing pedophilia in its coaching staff. Moreover, those who knew, like Joe Paterno, had an obligation (moral, if not legal) to inform authorities or, at a minimum, take steps to protect children involved in activities at the school. With that said, however, I have two problems with the NCAA solution.

   First, vacating Penn State's wins from 1998 – 2011 simply to hurt Paterno’s record is specious at best and more likely a farce. Whatever Sandusky, Paterno & company did wrong, it did not result in those wins - hard work, pain and some blood from the student athletes did, and vacating the wins from their record creates a total disconnect between the offense and the punishment. Ultimately, the other teams lost those games, and all it will result in is an asterisk in the record books; everyone will still know who REALLY won the games. Moreover, instead of merely punishing Penn State for its actions, or lack thereof, it creates an entire class of innocent new victims - the student athletes whose records will be altered, and whose professional advancement may be forever stymied because of events which they knew nothing about, and over which they had no control.

   Finally, the post season ban will mean that high quality football players who cannot transfer to another highly ranked school in time, may have their NFL hopes dashed, and potentially lose millions of dollars; thus being held responsible and paying a heavy price for the acts of others over whom they exercised no authority. It has long been understood that authority without responsibility leads to tyranny, while responsibility without authority is slavery. The NCAA needs to rethink its "knee jerk" reaction and refocus the punishment on those who deserve it, not the innocent athletes. We should strive for less crime, not more victims.