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Hammer Falls Just Right On Penn State

By DERON SNYDER

The “death penalty” would’ve been more merciful for Penn State’s football program. Instead of being hooked up to tubes and machines and continuing to exist with a pitiful quality of life, Penn State would’ve suffered less if the NCAA simply pulled the plug for a year or two.

But showing mercy and easing suffering isn’t part of the NCAA’s sentencing guidelines, and certainly wasn’t appropriate in this case of unprecedented, institutional anarchy. Suspending the program for former university officials’ role in the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal would’ve been too easy. Hitting the Nittany Lions with a four-year postseason ban and a four-year reduction on scholarships is more painful and longer lasting.

The NCAA created a spiritual and emotional void at Penn State in gutting the program for the next decade. The school escaped the death penalty but was relegated to a worse fate, the living dead.

It all makes for great debate, fodder to fill hours of broadcast programming and millions of column inches. There are those who say the punishment is too harsh. Critics contend that the sanctions are too lenient. Still others argue that the NCAA overstepped its bounds in venturing from its normal purview.

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