With apologies to my friends who are Penn State alumni, and will likely take offense. Wrong is wrong.
I was so happy to see Bobby Bowden demand back the 12 wins he lost because of a cheating scandal. Not only does it call out the entitlement and absurd priorities of these men, it shows what college officials think of the NCAA after they backed off Penn State.
The NCAA’s choice to erase Paterno’s wins struck me as the smartest portion of their Penn State response. Joe Paterno chose to cover up child rape [and don’t even try to dispute that point–the arguments I’ve seen are far beyond absurd] because he cared more about his wins and his legacy. By stripping away those wins, and denying that legacy, the NCAA sent a clear message to other schools: There’s no point hiding something like this, because when we do find out you’ll lose it all anyway.
Their reversal sends exactly the opposite message, and functionally encourages schools to lie, cheat, and cover up criminal activity in the pursuit of winning at sports.
