INDIANAPOLIS (AP)
The NCAA announced Sunday that it will levy "corrective and punitive measures" against Penn State in the wake of the child sex-abuse scandal involving Jerry Sandusky and a scathing report that found school leaders covered up allegations against the now-convicted former assistant football coach.
The NCAA released no details, saying they would be disclosed on Monday morning by NCAA President Mark Emmert and Ed Ray, the chairman of the NCAA's executive committee and Oregon State's president.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Everyone wants to know what will happen to the Penn State football program. The NCAA will exact punishment tomorrow morning at 9 am. The most common prediction is the "death penalty" which translates into 1-2 years of no Penn State football whatsoever. Less draconian measures call for heavy fines and maybe Bowl suspension ranging from 1-10 years.
Here's what I predict. During the year of 2012-2013, Penn State will play ALL their home games in an EMPTY stadium. You heard it here first. The stadium will be entirely empty except for the players, coaching staff and officials. The games will still be televised though. There is precedent for this in Europe. Several soccer teams in the last decade have been penalized in this fashion, mostly relating to unruly fan behavior (hooligans) and match fixing scandals (Italy Serie A). They had to play in completely empty stadiums. Of course, this would only apply to Beaver Stadium, not any of the away games.
And I think the NCAA might make them bowl ineligible, but for how many years, I have no idea. Probably just one.
This would be a fascinating precedent because the NCAA would be delivering harsh hometown economic justice to Happy Valley. Lots of people will stand to lose a ton of money. Restaurants, hotels, parking, etc. It could even have political ramifications - I suspect Obama's lead to diminish in Pennsylvania as the election nears. Could make for an interesting discussion about government accountability, oversight and intrusion. When it's all said and done, they'd probably set up widescreens near the stadium so fans could still assemble outside.
But here's some REAL-WORLD NOSTRADAMUS SHIT. As many of you know, I've been predicting the stampedes will take place this year. Likely early September, I imagine they'll tear a swath through either the NFL or NCAA football circuit. Wouldn't it be possibly the MOST IRONIC incident in the history of humanity if... the stampedes ripped through the East Coast and into the Midwest, but Beaver Stadium was left completely immune to the domino or cascade effect. Hell, 100,000+ people would be totally absent. All because Jerry Sandusky sodomized the living fuck out of all those kids. His depravity ends up sparing a couple hundred lives and a few thousand injuries of the Penn State faithful. Talk about the definition of irony. The only other case that comes close is when Elaine tells Jerry they must have sex in order to SAVE THE FRIENDSHIP.
Just for the record, Penn State President Rodney Erickson was one of the select group that had the courage to respond to my concerns. I salute him.
Chairman of the NCAA Executive Committee, Oregon State's President Edward Ray, who was mentioned earlier in this blog did not respond to my concerns. Coward.
Anyhoo, that's my prediction. Empty home stadium for the 2012-13 season and maybe a year or two of bowl ineligibility. And they'll likely be on "probationary status" (whatever that means) for 5-10 years. Remember, you read it here first.
