Quote:
Originally Posted by jammies
I think you're the one who doesn't understand your own argument. You are anthropomorphizing "football program" as if it is some kind of independent entity. See your quote below:
That's so sloppy it's worthy of every bit of derision I can heap upon it. The "football program" doesn't exist apart from the people running it, and their collective understanding of its purposes, goals, and rules. It has no independent volition, it's not a philosophical position, and it doesn't "perpetrate any actions". That you don't see how this undercuts your entire argument, shows that you aren't really arguing so much as reiterating your assumptions in different forms.
Again, the idea that football concerns should trump all other concerns is where the root of this cover-up came from, and the best way to demonstrate that this isn't so is to end, or at least suspend, football at Penn State. Yes, this will greatly upset the alumni, and the student body, and the staff, and the local economy, but far more importantly, it will demonstrate that football, in the grand scheme of life, is a freakin' game, not a sacred institution whose practitioners are above morality and question.
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These allegations had nothing to do with football though. A "football program" has a problem if players are improperly recruited. It has a problem if players are taking performance enhancing drugs. It has a problem if players are betting on games that they're playing in. It has a problem if players are getting paid. It has a problem if players are allowed to play when they should be academically ineligible. Those are all things that were covered in the mandatory lectures that I had to attend during my freshman year of college in order be be an NCAA athlete.
You know what they didn't tell us? Don't get molested. Because that's not a football problem. That's not a problem with the program. That's a serious issue with the individual who commits those heinous acts and with anyone who looked the other way, but I guarantee that Nebraska isn't complaining that Penn State has an unfair advantage this week because Sandusky was a predator and other coaches didn't stop him. Why? Because that isn't a problem with the "football program;" it's a problem with some people involved with the football program.