A logical Penn State argument, and why I disagree

Dave Zirin has a piece on why the Penn State football program shouldn't be shut down, and it's hard to argue with his logic. I won't spoil his arguments, which you should read, but he ends his column this way.

If (Sally) Jenkins, (Rick) Reilly and others really want to do something other that beat a dead Nittany Lion, they should call for the heads of the real enablers. They should call for the resignation of the Penn State Board of Trustees including board member Governor Tom Corbett. They should call for the abolition of the NCAA. They should call for anything other than the destruction of Penn State football: an action that would bring vengeance without justice.

But as compelling as his argument is, I still disagree with it. Although I wouldn't go so far as abolishing football at Penn State, I would shut it down for a year or two, because I think that's the only way to make people in the Penn State community get it.

I wrote about the Joe Paterno dead-enders in my last post, but the fact that there are still dead-enders is a commentary on the rot in Happy Valley, as is the story about the hundreds of millions in donations as the Jerry Sandusky scandal was going on. Although not all the giving was for the football program, tell me this quote doesn't make you sick.

"We're very grateful - humbled really - to have this kind of response from Penn Staters, who I think have rallied to the cause ... by the side of the institution through a very difficult time," Rod Kirsch, senior vice president for development and alumni relations, said Monday in an interview.

And let's not forget what happened on campus after Paterno was fired. (I've used this video before, but it bears repeating.)



I also can't forget watching the start of the first game after Paterno was fired, where despite the moment of silence, I just got the vibe (just a vibe, and through my TV, so take it for what it's worth) that people at the game still thought something bad had happened to them because their football coach was fired.

Mrs. Last Honest Sport and I were talking about Zirin's column this morning, and the way she described her feelings on it is that "King Football" and the people at Penn State who worship it should sacrifice ... something. Because right now, they're not. The home games will still be sold out; the cameras will still show up, and since not every Penn State game will be a three-hour rehash about the scandal, it will eventually largely become The Unpleasantness Which Shall Not Be Named.

And come December, should the football team be good enough, they'll play in a bowl.

In other words, nothing will change for 12 weekends this fall, and it should.

But the only way to do that is to take football away.