The commanding generals of college football come down from the safety of lofty positions during Penn State’s battles to shoot the wounded and pick their pockets.
Taking away $60 million in fines and dozens of future athletic scholarships as well as past victories, the (paid) president of the NCAA harrumphs, “Football will never again be placed ahead of educating, nurturing and protecting young people.”
Purists can all rest easy now. College sports have been cleansed to continue under NCAA rules that turn institutions of higher learning into profit centers where student athletes, with no compensation or insurance, labor for the glory and financial gain of celebrity coaches and TV networks.
Joe Paterno’s statue is down, and all is well in the land of Saturday afternoon slavery except for those Penn State players who signed on for the possibility of future fame and wealth, only to be undermined by nasty news of a child predator in their midst.
Someone is paying a price for all this unpleasantness, but as usual, it’s not those who profit from it most.
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