Bernie Fine Scandal: Syracuse Assistant Shows Corrupting Power of College Sports

If there's anything we've learned from the Bernie Fine scandal at Syracuse, in tandem with the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case that's already engulfed Penn State, it's that there's validity in tried-and-true aphorisms, even (and especially) when applied to college athletics, basketball and football alike.

As Lord Acton once wrote:

"

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."

"

The details in these two cases, both involving alleged child rape by assistants operating under Hall-of-Fame head coaches—Jim Boeheim at Syracuse, Joe Paterno at Penn State—are rather dissimilar.

Fine's case was previously investigated but ultimately dismissed by the university and local authorities before Bobby Davis, one of the alleged victims, came forward with a recording of an incriminating conversation with Fine's wife, Laurie.

Emerging details have since sparked a new investigation involving federal law enforcement authorities. And as far as anyone can tell, Boeheim had no prior knowledge whatsoever of Fine's alleged offenses and, as such, was not part of a bigger cover-up.

As for Sandusky, his case didn't blow up in the court of public opinion until after a thorough investigation had been conducted and grand jury testimony had already been taken. His situation, of course, did involve a university-wide cover-up, in which Paterno, the head coach, played a part and, as such, had prior knowledge of what went on before the media went haywire on Happy Valley.

But aside from the important differences and the obvious similarities, there is one thread that runs through these horrific scandals, along with all the other, relatively minor transgressions that have shaken programs at USC and Ohio State.

The exercise and abuse of power within large institutions.

In Fine, we see a man who used his position of power, as a long-time assistant at one of the premier basketball schools in the country under one of the sports icons of central New York, to allegedly manipulate young boys to engage in illicit and illegal sexual encounters, going so far as to persuade his wife that these were just "his" issues and that she couldn't (or shouldn't) do anything about them.

And in Sandusky, we see a man who allegedly took that same power, expanded it into a charity for children and exploited it in a similarly sickening manner while enabled throughout by people at a football powerhouse who knew but would rather not have known, if only to protect the institution as a whole.

These scandals are, indeed, sad commentary on the state of affairs not only in college athletics, but also in our society as a whole, where upholding the reputations takes precedent over protecting the innocent and doing the right thing.

There's no telling as of yet how deep the rabbit hole of the Bernie Fine scandal goes, or if it will even come close to the sheer magnitude of Sandusky's alleged crimes. Still, Fine's transgressions are nonetheless sickening and to see the way in which some have lashed out at his victims only makes the situation that much more tragic.