nittanylions360.com - Sunday, July 27 2008
Tomorrow, we’ll be just 32 days away from the first game of 2008, but the problems of 2007 continue to haunt Nittany Nation.
And no, I’m not talking about Anthony Morelli.
Today’s report on ESPN’s sensationalized show Outside the Lines, hosted by Bill O’Reilly, um, I mean Bob Ley, lambasted Joe Paterno and Penn State.
There is little doubt that all alumni and fans feel embarrassed about the flurry of off-field issues that Penn State felt last year. However, this piece combined skewed statistics, interviews with long-time haters (Ron Bracken), and a not-so-flattering interview with Paterno to paint a devastating picture of the current state of the program.
Some of the show presented a balanced portrayal, but much of the information misrepresented the problem.
Let’s start with their 2002–2008 statistic that 46 players were charged with 163 counts, for an average of 3.5 counts per players. Forty-five of the 163 counts brought a conviction or plea, for a batting average of 27.6 percent. Of the 46 players charged, 27 were guilty for a winning percentage of 58.6 percent.
I’m not sure where that stands in comparison with other cases in Centre County. If I were a betting man, I’d bet the average tends to be higher.
Therein lies the problem with the whole report. It had no comparison data. What’s the Bowl Sub-Division average for players getting in trouble? What’s the Big Ten average? I imagine we’re near the top in 2007, but are we really from 2002–2008? I find that very hard to believe.
Another question I can’t help but ponder: of those 46 players charged, how many were for underage drinking offenses versus violent crime offenses? Not to ‘excuse’ underage drinking, but it shouldn’t be ticker news for ESPN.
Their 2007 data shows that 17 players were charged with 72 crimes for an average of 4.2 per player. Nine were found or pleaded guilty for a winning percentage of 52.9 percent.
So, we have a combination of factors leading to PSU being common ticker fodder for ESPN: Players doing dumb things, a hyper-aggressive DA, and a "deny! deny! deny!" from the 81-year-old head coach.
All of that said, those that love PSU have held significant pride in both the on-field and off-field stature of our Nittany Lions.
It’s time for Paterno, the coaches, and the captains to manage this problem in-house, and the players to act responsibly.
13 comments Last one added 11 months ago — Leave a Comment
keith confer 11 months ago
Here in central Pa. Penn State is know as State Penn....
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Vince Zuccaro 11 months ago
The only problem with the piece was that it presented no evidence to support its implicit conclusion that PSU had increased its admission of character risk players. The story went something like this: PSU was struggling a few years ago + PSU stopped struggling and its players started to get into trouble = PSU admitted players with character issues. That evidence is anecdotal at best, which means it isn't evidence at all, really. Had OTL pointed out a few players who had criminal records or other problems while being recruited, the piece would have done a better job documenting its case. And if OTL couldn't find such records, perhaps they had no business coming to the conclusion they did.
Other than that, the facts of this piece were laid out exactly as they were on the blogosphere last year when this story broke. PSU players beat a bunch of kids senseless, and ESPN didn't take any creative license with that.
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Vincent Franco 11 months ago
Forget the comparision stats with the common criminals in Centre County... In a six year window, 27
Penn State player were convicted of 45 criminal acts... that is a poor reflection of the type of recruit that Penn State University is bringing to campus... they can do better... one final thought is that solid
citizens do not differentiate between felony or misdemenor offenses... this problem can easily be fixed
by only bringing to campus recruits of high character and then for the coaching staff to provide the necessary leadership for these young adults.
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Brian OC 11 months ago
You have to be kidding me. You want to see how your thugs stack up against the rest of the thugs on other Big Ten teams? That's your beef with the report? So that you guys can rationalize what you're players are doing by pointing the spotlight at other teams?
You would think a fan of the program would be a little more introspective and ask the question "why are our players stepping out of line and what is being done to get rid of this?" The head Zombie in charge has completely lost it (it's not a witchhunt when there are cold, hard facts staring you in the coke bottles, Joe) and until someone else steps in and actually disciplines these players, expect to be at the top of the Fulmer Cup list.
State Penn, indeed.
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Jake Lee 11 months ago
If this was happening at a school where they actually discipline players and even kick players/students out of school for things like smoking pot (i.e. Notre Dame), they wouldn't even have enough players to field a team. Yet at Penn State, like many schools in the NCAA, they do things like "suspend" players for the summer but let them practice anyway. It's sad, because Penn State used to be a model university for athletics and academics, but now it's just another Florida State or Southern Cal.
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Keith Bagarus 11 months ago
The question is - did ESPN sensationalize the story? Of course it did. That's what ESPN does. What about the other big time program schools that have simialr or worse off field records and have had them for years? Everyday it seems there's a story about this program or that having a player in trouble. The NCAA needs to make sure schools enact and enforce stricter penatlies and the head coaches need to be held accountable. Start taking away scholarships from schools with too many off field incidents and I bet the schools will start taking action.
And who cares what Stephen A. Smtih thinks about anything?
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BabyTate 11 months ago
ESPN plays to the Pop Culture element of viewer. I wouldn't lose any sleep over this if I were a Penn State fan.
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hans yilek 11 months ago
Of course they did. As Matt Millen had indicated - PSU players have always been getting into fights.
The difference is now you have ESPN targeting Penn State because they seem
to have some underlying dis-like for the program and for Joe. Also, the
media is different now and does not hesitate to jump all over infractions
that in the past decades know one knew or cared about. It is all part of
our new - media controlled, high-tech, reactionary society where
everyone is so willing to point the finger at their neighbor in order to
make them selves feel better about their own dark soul. The difference
between PSU and other programs is that PSU still has a top 10% grad rate
among players, recruits players who have good academic records and has very
few ghetto type drug crimes going on ---- unlike alot of other schools
who will recruit anyone to play who has a pulse - regardless of intellect
and ability to handle college level school work and only graduate 50% of their players
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lou leke 11 months ago
Also - the big fights were in april and oct 07 --- why bring it up now?? Lame! Witch hunt! The students from the fight last April were surprised that more was not done to the players that beat them up --- hmm? The loser in a fight always becomes a victim. friggin pathetic. Boo hoo - I got cocky and lost a fight - lets call daddy and the lawyers now. Take your lumps. Don't complain to the lion keeper if you get bit when playing with the lions.
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Tyler Jones 11 months ago
I agree with you. As someone else mentioned, we should look at why these players are getting in trouble, but that's not what the article was about. And just because we need to ask why the guys are getting in trouble, it doesn't mean we can't ask whether an Outside the Lines report was skewed.
Most Outside the Lines reports have bias. Have you ever seen a positive one? They made KG look like a complete ass when they did a peice on him long before he joined the Celtics. KG?
A lot of this stuff happens during the season too, but there's actual game news that puts it on the back-burner.
Lastly, I bet you're right about a comparisson. These things happen at EVERY university and it varies year-to-year who has the most guys in trouble. You can ask "What's wrong with these kids. Why are they getting in trouble?", but it kind of seems like a waste of time.
I know why they're getting in trouble. BECAUSE THEY'RE KIDS. Lets please not forget that all of these guys are below the age of 22. God knows I did some stupid shiz in college. I don't think it'd be college if you didn't.
Good luck though. We're having our own off-feild problems with our linebacking core at Arkansas. Gonna be a tough year for the defense.
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Michael Felder 11 months ago
I agree with Tyler,Lou and Hans,
Players are kids and those same kids have been getting in fights for decades at Penn State. The major differences now can mostly be attributed to the media and American publics insatiable thirst for bad publicity and character killing stories.
I'm not saying that the kids were right or that they were all innocent I am point out that the college athlete of today lives under a microscope that was never even imagined by players of even a decade ago, let alone a quarter century. Gone are the days where a group of PSU guys could go out to a bar, drink beers perhaps get into an altercation with a wisecracking student and then go home. Now that same wiseass student has his lawyer on the phone that night, his friends and by standers have camera phones trained on the event.
Again not condoning this just saying that people calling this an "epidemic" of collegiate athlete crimes has seriously never been close to the game and has had their head in the sand for years. At Carolina the stories of the antics of Al Wood, Lawrence Taylor and the guys during that era are legendary and no one was arrested or lambasted in the news for them. Had today's athlete partook in that type of activity he'd be blackballed from every D-1A or 1AA in America.
This isn't new folks, its just a rush of the media to get a big scoop on something that has nothing, at all, to do with sports. ESPN needs to focus more on zone blitzes, non-conference schedules and box scores than a 20 year old kids arrest, drinking tickets and bar fights.
Just my opinion.
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Michael Messmer 11 months ago
Michael has a good point, but one I would repectfully disagree with. I am a physician, and all during college, and subsequently my whole life, I had, and will have to live with my head in the sand. Unfortunately it comes with the territory of being a physician. In the community, if you do anything wrong, you are under the microscope and you could risk losing the trust and respect of your community and potentially the people who license you. It is the same with these athletes. I agree they are kids, but TECHNICALLY, they are adults (over 18), and therefore are expected to know their responsibilities, which as collegiate athletes, includes NOT going out to bars etc, and not presenting yourself in a situation that could get out of hand in any way.
Its a tough situation, but many people (not just athletes and physicians) live under a microscope as well, and know better than to do what they did.
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Lisa Horne 11 months ago
There's a reason why ESPN stands for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, or something like that. They must be really short on actual sports news stories. Paterno dumped two players from the team, so he's taking the necessary steps.
Good topic to debate!
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