Sep 30 2008

Crime and Precedent for Evans and Koroma

admin| Category: Penn State Football | 3 Comments

“How in the world can Joe Paterno play people that have been charged with a crime? This shouldn’t happen. He needs to set a precedent.” - September 30, 2008

What precedent should Joe Paterno be setting?  Are you suggesting that any player charged with any crime should be banned from playing football ever again?

Maurice Evans and Abe Koroma did serve a three game suspension.  Don’t you think that’s sufficient for the crime… in this case being charged with possession of a small amount of marijuana?  (Also remember that here in the United States of America, those charged have not yet been convicted.  Luckily, everybody here is innocent until proven guilty…. right?)

From a friend quite familiar with the law: “The whole point of the criminal system is that it punishes those charged/convicted of crimes.  Just because they are football players does not mean they should be doubly punished (criminal sanctions like a fine/community service AND no longer allowed to do their passion). Taking it into the real world, assume that someone is an avid runner that was charged with marijuana possession. Would we say, okay, you must pay the fine and do community service, but you also can never run again?  No, it doesn’t make sense.”

Trust me.  I don’t think Paterno has been right in the way that he’s handled every situation.  Anwar Phillips probably shouldn’t have played in the 2003 Capital One Bowl after being charged with aggrivated sexual assault and expelled from the university in late 2002.

In this case, however, the punishment fit the crime.  It’s time for Evans and Koroma to be back on the field.

Sep 10 2008

More Penn State Football Trouble

admin| Category: Penn State Football | 3 Comments

Another day, another article about crime and the Penn State football program. Joe Paterno used to run a clean program 20 years ago. He needs to retire. - September 7, 2008

The Penn State Football program’s continued run-ins with the law have gotten embarrassing.  So many players have been involved in off-the-field incidents that Penn State was featured on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines.”  Even after the show aired to a national television audience, incidents with the law have continued.

Still, I don’t blame Joe Paterno.  Paterno isn’t any less in control of the team than he was 5, 10, 20, or 30 years ago.  “Incidents” like last Tuesday night probably happened back then (and they are probably happening all over the country)… they just never become a story.

State College is a very small community, and PSU football players are (literally and figuratively) the biggest people in town.  Local law enforcement cherishes the opportunity to brush them up a bit, and the local media likes to make it a story.

Last Tuesday night is a perfect example.  Police received a noise complaint regarding 5204 Nittany Apartments.  So why didn’t the story end here?  Why didn’t a security officer simply tell the apartment to turn down the music?  It’s because the State College Police Department knows who lives at 5204 Nittany Apartments.  The fact that Abe Koroma, A.J. Wallace, Andrew Quarless, and Maurice Evans live at 5204 Nittany Apartments was enough for the police to not just show up but to request an emergency search warrant.  A search warrant for a noise violation?  You can’t tell me that 5204 Nittany Apartments would have been searched had four Penn State Football players not lived there.

Obviously, an over-zealous police department is not the only problem.  The players know that they’re targeted, and they need to act accordingly.  Team captains need to take charge to ensure that these incidents do not continue.  Kirk Herbstreit said it well last Saturday on College GameDay.

“I see where the illustrious Penn State football team is making the police blotter again. I’m sure because of depth-chart justice, this won’t reach disposition until April, May, June or we’ll suspend them for the summer. Nobody can tell me we aren’t a win-at-all-cost program anymore. We’re becoming just a bunch of thugs.” - September 5, 2008

First, it must be noted that no criminal charges have yet been filed from the incident last Tuesday night.  Still, Paterno suspended Evans, Koroma, and Quarless for last Saturday’s game against Oregon State.

And please, let’s keep things in perspective and not get ahead of ourselves by calling the Penn State Football team a bunch of thugs (cruel or vicious ruffians, robbers, or murders).  A small amount of marijuana was found in their apartment.

Hopefully, the time has come where the team is ready to take some responsibility and ensure that the only newspaper coverage of Penn State Football comes from on-the-field wins and losses.

Aug 30 2008

Maurice Evans… not in the top 20.

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“Penn State’s best player is Maurice Evans, who was a high school All-American and a top-20 recruit. If you recruit enough of the top players, it will pay dividends. Penn State is not able to do this lately.” - August 30, 2008

They don’t give Top 20 recruit status to just anybody. Evans wasn’t in the 2006 Top 20 on Scout.com or Rivals.com, but another future Nittany Lion was. Defensive Back A.J. Wallace hit #19 on Rivals.com.

OL Antonio Logan-El, WR Chris Bell, QB Pat Devlin, and DT Jared Odrick all appeared before Evans on the Scout.com list for 2006.

Scout.com has Evans listed as #62 in 2006. Rivals.com has Evans listed as #46.

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