I'm sorry. I have no new information on the brawl that happened in State College last weekend. Everyone is sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to see the fallout. I'm sure there will be suspensions. Maybe some expulsions when it's all said and done. It might get ugly. I see it as something we have no control over, so all we can do is sit and wait and see what happens.
What concerns me more is the attitude some message board posters are taking in all of this. Heck, for that matter I'm concerned about some of the comments on this blog. I'm talking about the people who claim to be shocked that Penn State players are capable of this kind of behavior as if this kind of thing never happened before at Dear Ol' State.
Let's get something straight. This kind of behavior happens everywhere. You mix testosterone with alcohol in the body of a 220 lb 21 year-old male and you're going to have fights. I don't care if they play for Miami or Notre Dame. It's going to happen. Penn State is not and never has been any different. There have been some mean ass sons of bitches that have played for Joe Paterno over the years.
Football players acting like choir boys isn't what makes Penn State a model institution. The difference between Penn State and other schools is how these situations are handled. If this happened at another school, like say Pitt, the punishment would be much less harsh(1). The players involved might run extra laps or at most sit out at one game. Remember the scene last year in the game between Miami and Florida International? Players throwing helmets around like weapons, repeatedly stomping one another. Miami's punishment was to sit out those players one game. Larry Coker called it a shining moment in the history of the Hurricanes. How would Joe Paterno handle something like that?
Indeed, the list of Penn State players that caused trouble are too numerous to list here. Bobby Engram and Ricky Sayles stole a stereo. Engram sat out a year and Sayles was kicked from the team. Curtis Enis accepted a suit from an agent and was kicked from the team. Joe Jurevicius got senioritis and skipped some classes resulting in him staying home instead of playing in the Bowl game. Lavon Chisley, Maurice Humphrey, and Ed Johnson are all players that were kicked off the team. So let's not pretend for a second that just because we're Penn State we're saints.
There is going to be a lot of Nittany Nation soul searching over the next few weeks. On one side we'll have fans who say boys will be boys and we should just let them play. On the other side we'll have some fans say they don't care: Embarrass the school and you're out. Such is the price you pay when you choose to be part of the "Grand Experiment".
1. - None of the Pitt players missed a game of football.