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BSD Mailbag

By BSD

I don't do this often, but let's take a look at what's in the BSD mailbag today.

I just read your fabulous post on the Greatest Penn State Running Backs of All Time. I went to a Class B high school in Southwestern Pennsylvania and when I was a sophomore 50 years ago I got the chance for a couple of plays to play against Robert "Red" Worrell, who may be the greatest schoolboy athlete ever in Pennsylvania. For some strange reason, I thought of Red this morning, and wondered if this might be the 50th Anniversary of his tragic death. It turns out that this December will be that milestone. Had he lived and played for four years as he had played his Freshman Year, there's no doubt that Red would be at the top of your list. Can you tell me what PSU plans to do to honor Red and where I might read more about his exploits?

-Chip-

Thanks, Chip. I'm sorry to say I've never heard of Red Worrell before I'm not very familiar with Worrell. (ed note: The Red Worrell Award is given to the most improved offensive player every spring, so I have heard of Red Worrell). If he were that memorable to you he must have been a great kid. I'm not aware of any plans Penn State has to honor him this year, but hopefully the powers that be are reading this and take note. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for it and I'll try to do some more research on Red for you.

Can you update the recruiting board? Lots of changes that aren't reflected in there. E.g. AJ, etc.

thanks

-Brett-

Thanks, Brett. To add three or four players and look around for new articles to link to usually takes me two or three hours. I try to sit down every Sunday afternoon and update the recruiting board as I watch the NASCAR race. Unfortunately with the holiday weekend and other family stuff going on I haven't had much time to address it. It's on my list of things to do this weekend and I hope to have an update for you by Sunday evening.

Greetings, Friend

You have been declared a WINNER in our grand prize sweepstakes. You have been entered in a drawing to take place later this month. The Grand Prize is $1 million. All other entrants receive an exclusive offer for bargain deals on Viagra.

How did that get in there? I have to check my spamguard settings. Next email, please.

Mike,

I have been reading your Blog for a few months now and enjoy the intelligent points of view.

I already like this guy. Continuing...

There is one issue about the "incident" that bothers me that I haven't seen discussed. I'll pose it as a question. "How many times should a student/athlete be punished for the same incident/crime?" I think the punishment Joe dished out is appropriate for the incident. In fact, except for Scirrotto and Baker, it may be the only punishment. My issue is with Scirrotto and Baker. They face additional punishments from the State (court outcome) and the University (JA). Three punishments for one incident/crime. Isn't this over kill?  What they did was wrong but should they receive 3 different judgments and punishments for the same stupid act?

-Aging Lion-

Thanks, Aging Lion. I've thought about this myself. You can't argue with the authorities pressing charges. They broke the law, although it's questionable in some of the cases, like with Justin King. But those who broke the law deserve to be punished by the law.

I can understand Judicial Affairs getting involved. The university owes it to each and every student to provide a safe atmosphere to study and live. If one student threatens or injures another, the university has to act. It's no different than if you beat up a co-worker in your job. You would face criminal charges, but you would also likely face punishment from your employer as well.

The debatable issue for me is: Does there need to be punishment by the football coach as well? Is the football program not part of the athletic department which is part of the university? That's where the double punishment comes in to play. I think the problem is too often we hear about kids getting suspended from the team for "unspecified team rules" and Judicial Affairs never gets involved. It's led to this belief that if a kid does wrong he's automatically suspended by the team. If Judicial Affairs suspends them for a fall semester, that's pretty steep since they wouldn't be able to play football. But what if they get suspended for the spring semester? Should they be punished again by the football coach when they return in the fall? Or have they paid their dues?

Personally, my feeling is when Judicial Affairs gets involved, the head coach should be given a pass to say, "Fine. Whatever they say will be the end of it." It doesn't seem right for a kid to get two separate punishments from two different branches of the same university (JA and Athletic Dept).

What's interesting in the case of the apartment fight is that Joe put the cart in front of the horse so-to-speak. Had he waited for Judicial Affairs to act, anything he did on top of that would have looked like overkill. So he pre-empted their ruling by dishing out his own punishment. Now anything JA does on top of Joe's punishment puts JA in a bad light and makes it look like they have a vendetta against the football team.

Let's take a freak poll. What do the readers think? Is punishment by both JA and Paterno too much?

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