Jo Pa was a dottering old fool. All he cared about was winning. If he were still alive, he would be primed for trial like the rest of them. The FACTORY should be shut down.

Excellent column. Shut it down.

Never happen

I agree that it probably won't happen, because the NCAA won't kill off a cash cow that size (SMU in the 1980s was nowhere near as big a deal as Penn State today) ... but it should. The argument that the players shouldn't be punished for someone else's crimes doesn't hold up. They aren't being (or wouldn't be) "punished," because they can always transfer to another school. If anything, they're being inconvenienced. As for coaches losing their jobs - they can get other jobs, that is if having "Penn State" on their resumes doesn't make them too radioactive to touch.

Your's is one of the few voices of reason, Dan, relative to this issue. Couldn't agree with you more. Shut the program down.

I don't always agree with Dan, but today I do. In fact, I'd go one big step further: shut down the entire athletic department. Talk about a complete "lack of institutional control," how could anyone justify anything less?

For once I agree with Dan. Shut it down, return all Bowl game money remove all signs of paterno

Have to agree with Dan on this one....shut it down. To do anything else would be telling the world that football and the glory and money that come with it are more important than justice and decency. We all know that Penn State made a lot of money and garnered much glory during these years of silence and complicit approval of what Sandusky was doing.....to children! What an awful, disgusting message for all to see and hear. The college alumni should be ashamed at what happened and understand the need for the death penalty. And the NCAA should move quickly on this, otherwise it risks it's reputation as well.

End Dan Shauhnessy's column. Goes after the wrong people. I think the sportswriters who god-ify coaches are as much to blame as anyone

It's long passed high time that childrens' rights to be protected by adults was manifest... in any situation. Our children are our future. What kind of zombies are we going to have on this Earth if we allow them to be molested when they are unable to protect themselves? Ask anyone who has been 'attacked' as a child by an adult and you will find one haunted poor soul - for life. Fortunately, it's not me, but I can tell you that the demons don't ever go away... and sometimes, they breed more. Were it my decision, I'd shut down the entire university for 10 years. Period.

I'm sure that's gonna heppen Dan!

it is just time for women to rule the world!!!

I 100% agree - SHUT IT DOWN. How can anyone disagree with this? If you have one iota of empathy in your body you should be able to put yourselves in the shoes of one of parents of the sexually abused boys. How would you feel if a Univeristy decided their football program was more important than the saftey of your child? How would you feel if these "leaders" cared more about money and football then about protecting your son from being raped in their locker room. I don't care if it was a small minority of people at Penn State that made these decisions and participated in the cover up - the message needs to be loud and clear that the dignity and respect of young boys is more important than football and each and every univeristy needs to know it.

cindyloulou, mark the date.You and I are on the same page and I doubt that will ever happen again. Well said.

Shaughnessy, we told you not to drink until AFTER you've written your column!!

Really?

Great piece! What happened there was an abomination. The aftermath was even worse. Thanks for writing it.

Sounds like a great idea. Can you imagine if there were professors engaging in sexual abuse of children? Whole universities would be shut down. Penn State can't even bring themselves to shut down their football factory.

Dan...agreed.....but shutting it down would require some real soul searching without regard to dollars. Unfortunately, they have no soul and all they care about is the dollars.

great piece and true but curley headed sports genious, the WORST SCANDAL in college sports is an entity called NIKE. ma

Keep the program in place, but re-direct the revenue to worthy causes.

If I didn't know better I'd think that coaches had more influence than university presidents! (Does the name Bobby Knight ring a bell?)

All or nothing? Close it down, end it, so we can all feel like "we" did something about this terrible crime. I've got news for you, the horse is out of the barn. Close it down for one year, no.... two years, no .... three years. Then let's decide if the university has learned it's lesson. How many years will be the prudent time period? Until "we" feel better about this scandal? Louis Freeh, of FBI fame, one of the most corrupt government organizations under J. Edgar, was the lead investigator. We didn't close down the FBI and somehow it has returned to respectability. The Catholic Church has not been closed down and their crimes were at the least comparable to Sandusky, Paterno, and Penn State Leaders. Has the Catholic Church been disbanded? or a specific church where these crimes were perpetrated been closed down "for that reason"? Congressional abuse of page boys and girls.... didn't close congress down. Unfortunately this list can go on and on and on. Knee Jerk Reaction to close it down. Put the program in receivership with someone like Louis Freeh's stature. Again, this idea of a death penalty does nothing to change a culture except point and label shame, shame and more shame at innocent people left in the wake of those that have already died, been punished, or exiled.