Petty Betty Part Three
Hey {{first_name}},
I've been getting some interesting suggestions regarding a potential new name for my newsletter. I'd like to ask that everyone keep them coming because I love all of the feedback and excitement around the new direction for the newsletter. If you haven't already, check out that newsletter here and the subsequent poll here.
My second "Petty Betty" newsletter was a sore spot for me, but I don't think I'll get as much push back from what I'm about to discuss in this newsletter. That's because today's newsletter is all about collegiate athletics and my opinion that Pennsylvania State University shouldn't be allowed to compete in athletics ever again.
What if I told you the defensive coordinator of a major college football program had created a charity for underprivileged youth and a subsequent football camp that let him come into contact with over 100,000 children annually? And what if I told you that this defensive coordinator was molesting and having sex with these young men for at least 20 years? And despite others in the organization knowing about it, including the legendary head coach and the athletic director, nothing was done to either arrest the man for his crimes or stop him from coming into contact with 100,000 children annually until his retirement in 1999? Well, all of this happened at Penn State University and they're still able to field athletic programs with young men and women to this very day!
First, I don't wanna hear about how it was one bad apple, because I've already laid out my feelings about that particular figure of speech. If athletic director Tim Curley and head coach Joe Paterno knew about Jerry Sandusky, everyone knew at that point. I also don't want to hear about how you shouldn't punish today's Penn State athletes for what happened before them, because there are over 100 other collegiate athletics programs that they can attend. There are other choices for when they're barred from attending Penn State.
Lastly, I also don't want to hear about how Penn State has been punished enough by the NCAA for their role in the scandal in 2012. A $60M fine, a four-year postseason ban, scholarship reductions and a vacation of all victories from 1998 to 2011 has seemingly done nothing to hamper the growth of their football program. In fact, Penn State is currently recognized as the #4 best college football team in the nation and will be competing Saturday against #3 Iowa with a very real shot at becoming the #1 team in the country upon a victory. Not even a decade later! And that's utterly absurd to me!
I feel that sometimes you have to step in to guide the misguided, and this is one of those scenarios. Sacha Baron Cohen and R. Kelly have taught me that parents turn a blind eye when there's the promise of riches and fame with their children. I'm sure the allure of playing football at Penn State and ultimately ending up in the NFL was too much for some parents to pass up, so we should take that option off of the table and not allow Penn State to field athletic teams ever again. All of the victims deserve the closure of knowing that what they experienced won't happen ever again.
We should allow every student currently enrolled at Penn State for athletics the opportunity to transfer and retain their eligibility. We should pay out the remainder of the contracts for all coaches currently employed by Penn State or until they can find a new job, whichever comes first. And I implore everyone reading this newsletter to root for the Iowa Hawkeyes football team on Saturday.
And every school official that has profited off of the Penn State football program should be locked up.
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