Rest of Penn State Sanctions Lifted

The Penn State case was always a complicated one and without precedent (thank God this is a unique situation) the punishment handed down by the NCAA was not going to be met with approval by everyone. And when the NCAA announced the multiple years of bowl bans and scholarship losses, plus monetary fines, half of the population applauded them and the other half was upset. Well the other half just won out as the NCAA, after already reducing sanctions once before, wiped them out today while mentioning the magic word--"integrity". Everyone's first reaction when the Penn State scandal erupted was horror. It was a black and white situation. What Sandusky clearly did--and he had admitted a fair amount before--was wrong and then once the shower scene was brought to our attention, we all were aghast. But almost immediately the gray aspect of this came into play centered on what coach Joe Paterno knew etc, etc. I do not want to rehash that here. But as we see with the Ray Rice case, video is the be all and end all. The victims did not have video. Mike McQueary did not video the meeting he had with Paterno in which he told his boss something about what he saw. If there were videos of elements of what we think we know about the case Penn State may have gotten the death penalty. Look at Rice. Video of him dragging an unconscious girlfriend out of an elevator is two games. Video of him knocking her out--even though everyone knows he knocked her out--pretty much ends his career. As to the timing, I feel that it is in direct relationship to what happened on the field Saturday night. The Big Ten is falling apart and the quicker Penn State can return to the top ten the better. Not only will they need PSU in a decent bowl this winter, they also need one of their members in the final four by next year (this year seems long gone although it is only September). Having the cream of the conference, or at least four or five from the likes of OSU, Michigan, MSU, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Iowa, plus PSU, playing well and crowding the rankings will guarantee the conference winner a spot. Only one Big Ten team, Michigan State, is currently in the top 15 and all three of the conference teams ranked in the AP Poll sit at uninspiring 1-1 records. The conference needed a boost.