Worst sports scandal ever?

[N.Y. Orangeman]

Have to disagree with Joyce on this one (though I believe she makes some very fair points). While the Black Sox scandal, the various CBB point shaving scandals and the Pete Rose scandal went to the integrity of the respective games, nothing as heinous has directly touched sports. When you combine the nature of the underlying crime with the fact that it potentially involves a cover up that possibly involves a university president, a high-level VP, an AD, several assistant coaches (current and former) and arguably the most well known coach in college sports, it conceivably rises to the level of greatest sports scandal ever.

 

[rrlbees]

What about the deal at Baylor? Didn't Dave Bliss help cover up a murder or something awful like that ?

I can make an argument that this also led to the death of a person.

 

[rrlbees]

1. 8 children (at least)

Actually it is 9 at a minimum. The 8 that came forward and the 1 from 2002 who they haven't identified nor has come forward. Splitting hairs here.

 

[Blaster]

Actually it is 9 at a minimum. The 8 that came forward and the 1 from 2002 who they haven't identified nor has come forward. Splitting hairs here.

I have a feeling that number is gonna go wayyyy up in the next couple months. This thing is gonna take forever to get to court becouse they are gonna have months of taking testimony from victims. He started that 2nd mile place in 1977 and he was more than likely doing this even before then. I cant even imagine the that we are gonna be hearing about here in the near future.

Even if you wanna say that the Baylor thing is a toss up right now we are only comparing the entire baylor story to not even a fraction of what this is gonna be.

BTW this is and will be bar none the worst ever that might never be beaten within my life time and will only get darker as time goes on.

 

[Blaster]

Hope Joe Pa doesnt think that he is gonna be talking about nebraska tomorrow at his presser.

 

[Chip]

Hope Joe Pa doesnt think that he is gonna be talking about nebraska tomorrow at his presser.

Did you see Penn State already sent something out to the media saying he was only answering questions about Nebraska?

 

[PoppyHart]

Canada junior hockey has a long history with this sort of behavior.

 

[NKR1978]

Canada junior hockey has a long history with this sort of behavior.

I totally forgot about that. That guy who is/was in jail for hiring a hitman to kill his agentl/molester/youth hockey coach.

Deadspin had a really in depth story about that years ago.

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[cliftonparksufan]

Have to disagree with Joyce on this one (though I believe she makes some very fair points). While the Black Sox scandal, the various CBB point shaving scandals and the Pete Rose scandal went to the integrity of the respective games, nothing as heinous has directly touched sports. When you combine the nature of the underlying crime with the fact that it potentially involves a cover up that possibly involves a university president, a high-level VP, an AD, several assistant coaches (current and former) and arguably the most well known coach in college sports, it conceivably rises to the level of greatest sports scandal ever.

Definitely. This is the kind of event that that you can't make up. Unfortunately this is a by product of what millions and millions of dollars does to some people. Doesn't matter if its sports or politics. People don't think the rules apply to them. A prison term isn't enough punishment for all of them. One thing I am happy to see is the number of Penn State fans that are calling for Paterno's resignation. Hopefully they can somehow organize a massive boycott of this Saturday's football game. People should not show go into the game but instead protest around the stadium.

 

[SaintTristan]

This is not a debatable point, really.

The biggest sports scandal of all time is the '72 Olympic game between the US and the USSR. Black Sox scandal impeached the integrity of baseball - but no one outside of the U.S.'s baseball world gave a rats ass.

The '72 game had massive sports and political implications and the entire world, whether it cared about hoops or not, was entranced.

#2 was likely the Singapore F1 race in '08.

#3 might be the black sox. But I actually think that if people were informed they'd vote for the '50 college hoops point shaving incident.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

This is not a debatable point, really.

The biggest sports scandal of all time is the '72 Olympic game between the US and the USSR. Black Sox scandal impeached the integrity of baseball - but no one outside of the U.S.'s baseball world gave a rats ass.

The '72 game has massive sports and political implications and the entire world, whether it cared about hoops or not, was entranced.

#2 was likely the Singapore F1 race scanal in '08.

#3 might be the black sox. But I actually think that if people were informed they'd vote for the '50 college hoops point shaving incident.

Sorry Tristan. That was not even the #1 scandal of the 72 Olympics. You are forgetting about the 11 Israeli athletes who died at the hands of cowards. That truly had massive sports and political implicantions and the entire world, whether it cared about sports or not, was entranced.

 

[SaintTristan]

Sorry Tristan. That was not even the #1 scandal of the 72 Olympics. You are forgetting about the 11 Israeli athletes who died at the hands of cowards. That truly had massive sports and political implicantions and the entire world, whether it cared about sports or not, was entranced.

no reason to be sorry. I didnt and wouldnt forget about them. I was thinking actual sports scandals involving sports. those events had nothing to do with an actual contest, as you know.

but yes, if you are going to speak more generally obviously that would be #1 by a big gap.

 

[SmilinBob]

I wonder how many players were ever approached by this pervert? Is it possible this may be a lot bigger than we think?

 

[Sullycuse]

Baylor was worse. He tried to make the murder victim look like a drug dealer.

am i the only one that thinks molesting children is ridiculously worse than saying something hurtful about a deceased person? unless bliss was found to be involved in the murder, i don't see how that could be deemed close to this.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

They weren't made scapegoats, they ARE at fault.

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[Orangemen]

To me, this is the worst:

1. 8 children (at least)
2. Several years of this going on
3. Several people involved in the cover up including one of the most iconic coaches in the history of major sports.

Maybe I'm more sensitive about it as someone who became a father in the last few years, I'd like to think I would have been just as angry if I heard about it, say, 5 years ago. But hearing about it now, it really shook me to read that stuff. Not to say the other situations don't have their place, but I can't imagine anything worse than this.

I do wonder how much being a parent impacts your view of this.

Clearly, everyone in their right mind knows it's awful, but as a father of young kids, I feel much more strongly about this than I did before the kids were born.

I've seen quotes from college kids defending JoePa, and posts on message boards that seem like they are written by younger posters defending JoePa. I would be shocked if any parent out there would state something defending him.

 

[Guinness]

I do wonder how much being a parent impacts your view of this.

Clearly, everyone in their right mind knows it's awful, but as a father of young kids, I feel much more strongly about this than I did before the kids were born.

I've seen quotes from college kids defending JoePa, and posts on message boards that seem like they are written by younger posters defending JoePa. I would be shocked if any parent out there would state something defending him.

This could kill the program for decades. Parents are not going to want their kids associated with Penn State. There is no way in hell I would even think about sending my kid there.

 

[OrangeinBoston]

Is there any sports scandal, not just college sports, worse than this?

Jim Tressel got fired over some tattoos.

As another aside... Zach Spence, who a PSU colleague of mine said was their top recruit, tweeted he didn't want to be involved with that program. So, I guess there is already some recruiting fall out.

This will blow over. In a week, nobody will be talking about it.

 

[N.Y. Orangeman]

no reason to be sorry. I didnt and wouldnt forget about them. I was thinking actual sports scandals involving sports. those events had nothing to do with an actual contest, as you know.

but yes, if you are going to speak more generally obviously that would be #1 by a big gap.

I agree with your point on this; I don't consider Munich murder/hostage event to be a scandal in that it was a terrorist attack at an athletic event.

Time will tell, but I think this one shakes out as the most heinous and well-covered scandal that we have ever seen. While the US/USSR dynamic in the seventies is captivating, the underlying nature of the crime (which the '72 event wasn't) and cover up will exceed that of 1972 games.

 

[SaintTristan]

This could kill the program for decades. Parents are not going to want their kids associated with Penn State. There is no way in hell I would even think about sending my kid there.

what fun negative recruiting - "mam, with all due respect - do you really want your son to attend a university where boys are raped in the shower? Come to Syracuse. We dont rape boys."

 

[Chip]

This could kill the program for decades. Parents are not going to want their kids associated with Penn State. There is no way in hell I would even think about sending my kid there.

If they fire the President, AD, Head Coach, staff, they have their best shot of moving on quickly. Penn State is still Penn State, still a 100,000 seat stadium and a Big 10 conference there. But unless every single person involved with this is in the rear view mirror, it's not going away. Frankly, I'm surprised they haven't caved yet on the President and JoePa. But it's coming soon. Front page of the newspaper in the capitol city of PA isn't going to make it easier on them. If the link below doesn't work, it shouldn't be hard to find this morning, probably already been posted here somewhere.

http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/hr.asp?fpVname=PA_PN&ref_pge=lst

 

[ImperialOrange]

Sorry Tristan. That was not even the #1 scandal of the 72 Olympics. You are forgetting about the 11 Israeli athletes who died at the hands of cowards. That truly had massive sports and political implicantions and the entire world, whether it cared about sports or not, was entranced.

My first thought as well but not sure it classified as a "scandel". What happened there was bigger than sports and no cover up was done.

As for this PSU thing. This is like a bad movie, and may actually become one at some point. Reminds me of the movie "Sleepers" actually.

For those who think this will pass over, I think as soon as names and faces get attached to this story it will get bigger still.

 

[OrangePA]

That was not a "sports" scandal.

Oh.

So, a middle aged guy who has not coached football at PSU in four years rapes a ten year old kid is a "sports" story?

I guess I don't see the distinction you see.

 

[Chip]

Oh.

So, a middle aged guy who has not coached football at PSU in four years rapes a ten year old kid is a "sports" story?

I guess I don't see the distinction you see.

On their facility. With his own key. With the head coach learning that something is going on at his facility. With the school President and AD and Sr. VP still actively holding their jobs knowing it went on.

Seems much more sports oriented than the OJ tragedy, which was a domestic murder in a private home. Doesn't make the OJ issue any less tragic, just less sports related. To me, anyway.

 

[cuseincincy]

Did you see Penn State already sent something out to the media saying he was only answering questions about Nebraska?

Yeah that'll go over well with all the national media there now. Uh coach, Nebraska doesn't matter any more. No one cares about Nebraska. What don't you get? If he trys to stay on Nebraska this may be the shortest press onference he has ever had. Any reporter that asks a single question about Nebraska should have their media credentials permanently revoked. The game doesn't matter and Paterno is the reason for that. His failure to act is monumental. Joe was supposedly better than this. Personally I expect Joe to be his normal grumpy self and walk out of the press conference shaking his head. And I still don't think he'll get it. He hasn't gotten it for 9 years (or more).