If I’d written this yesterday I would look like a genius. I almost did. But then I happened to catch the end of the WSOP the other night and wrote about that instead. The past few days the nagging feeling I had about this awful story at PSU was that it would get a whole lot worse before it got better. And last night it blew up. From here the possible ramifications are endless.
The student run radio station reported rumors that the senior football players might refuse to play on Saturday. The game could turn into a riot similar to what just happened on the PSU campus. It’s possible the NCAA might have to cancel the game in the name of “public safety.” And nothing about this story is going to go away any time soon. There will be a trial. Maybe several. And Lawsuits. Lots and lots of lawsuits. More information will continue to come out, probably implicating more and more people for failing to take the proper action. Who knows how far up the ladder it will go? Most likely more victims will step forward. The school is going to be dragged back and forth through the mud long into the foreseeable future. The football program will be decimated. How can they possibly recruit in the midst of this? Admissions as a whole will be affected too, why would prospective students want to go there? Even alumni searching for jobs will have to answer questions regarding the reputation the school may now carry.
So here’s why this will be bigger than Tanya Harding, Tiger Woods, and even OJ Simpson. Those stories were news to all of us, but really were only about those famous individuals and the people they involved. This touches regular people personally. EVERYONE with an affiliation to Penn State; who will now all have it hanging on their shoulders for the rest of their lives. It is what the entire university will forever be known for.
“Where’d you go to school? Oh, Penn St? Eww, yuck. Sorry.”
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About Mark Vandeusen