It all started a few weeks ago when a well known message board poster with ties to the program dropped one of his imfamous "Brace Yourself" posts. He was alerting Nittany Nation that ESPN's Outside the Lines was snooping around State College working on a piece about Penn State's off the field problems in recent years. This week it was confirmed. (H/T RUTS)
Mark Wogenrich, one of our Penn State football bear writers, tells us that ESPN's "Outside the Lines" investigative TV show is pursuing a story about the legal issues involving the Lions' football team since April 2007.
This has all the signs of a journalism with an agenda. ESPN isn't going to devote weeks of investigative work without going back to Bristol with a story. And you can bet that story will not say "You know what, it turns out things are pretty good at Penn State." Reading the following comment on RUTS about this topic from a self-professed Penn State faculty member just confirms my belief.
I received an email on April 28th from Steve Delsohn about being interviewed for this piece. He was looking for a PSU faculty member to go on record about their dissatisfaction with the legal problems with the football program.
I responded that while I think that big time college athletics in is bad for higher education in general and for Penn State in particular, I thought that things at Penn State would be much worse without Paterno. Further, I wrote that I didn’t trust Spanier’s judgment in replacing Paterno.
I also declined to come out from behind my pseudonym.
Mr. Delsohn thanked me and asked me if I could suggest a faculty member to interview who would go on record as being dissatisfied. I could think of none.
Sounds like fishing for a quote to me. Just go from one faculty member to the next until you find someone to back up your claims. Then paint with a broad brush to make it appear the Penn State faculty is up in arms over the football program. I'm guessing nobody is contacting Joe, the other coaches, or the players for an interview either. And if they are they will probably be denied.
Many people are pointing to "The List" floating around the internet lately spelling out all of Penn State's problems with the law in recent years. You've probably seen it, but here it is in case you haven't compliments of Run Up The Score.
PENN STATE PLAYERS ARRESTED SINCE 2002
1. Maurice Humphrey - Arrest, Assault & Prison - Guilty
2. Maurice Humphrey - Probation Violation - Guilty
3. Maurice Humphrey - Fake ID Probation Violation - Guilty
4. Tyler Reed - Drunk in Public Summary Charge - Guilty
5. Andrew Richardson - Drunk in Public Summary Charge - Guilty
6. Rashard Casey - Arrest, Assault, - Dismissed
7. Anwar Phillips - Arrest, Assault, - Dismissed
8. T.C. Cosby - Arrest, Assault, - Acquitted
9. Michael Robinson - Ice-Rink Fight - Summary Charge
10. Lavon Chisley - Arrest, Sexual Assault, - Dismissed
11. Paul Jefferson - Drunk In Public Summary Charge - Guilty
12. Ed Johnson - Ice-rink fight Summary Charge - Guilty
13. Matthew Rice - Ice-rink fight - Summary Charge - Guilty
14. John Bronson, Arrest, Assault - Dismissed
15. Jeremy Kapinos - Drunk in public - Summary Charge
16. Tom McHugh - Hitting a woman - Summary Charge
17. Tony Johnson - Arrest, DUI - Guilty
18. Richard Cheek - Arrest, Stolen Credit Card - Guilty
19. Yaacov Yisreal - DUI - Guilty
20. Dan Drogan - DUI Leaving Accident - Guilty
21. Dethrell Garcia - DUI - Guilty
22. Scott Paxson - Criminal Mischief, Summary Charge - Guilty
23. E.Z. Smith - Drunk in public - Summary Charge - Guilty
24. R.J. Luke - Arrest Assault - Acquitted
26. Mike Sothern - Terroristic Disorderly Criminal Mischief - Guilty
27. Mike Sothern - Criminal Mischief Expelled - Guilty
28. EZ Smith - Criminal Mischief Summary Charge - Guilty
29. Scott Paxson - Criminal Mischief Summary Charge - Guilty
30. Tyler Reed - Criminal Mischief Summary Charge - Guilty
31. Andrew Richardson - Criminal Mischief Summary Charge - Guilty
32. Ed Johnson - Sexual Misconduct Arrest - Guilty
34. Dan Connor - Criminal Mischief Phone Summary Charge - Guilty
35. Nolan MCready - Criminal Mischief Phone Summary Charge - Guilty
36. Jim Kanuch - Criminal Mischief Summary Phone Charge - Guilty
37. Paul Cronin - Drunk In Public Summary Charge - Guilty
38. Scott Paxson - Sexual Assault & Aggravated Indecent Charge - Guilty
39. Francis Claude - Arrest At Bar Disorderly Conduct - Guilty
40. Ed Johnson - Failed Drug Test Condition of Parole - Guilty
41. Lavon Chisley - Murder Charge - Guilty Life Sentence
42. Anthony P. Scirrotto - Burglary, criminal trespass, criminal solicitation, simple assault, harassment. - Trial Pending
43. Chris I. Baker - Burglary, criminal trespass criminal trespass, disorderly conduct, harassment.
44. Jerome A. Hayes - Criminal trespass, disorderly conduct, harassment. - Dismissed
45. Justin King - Criminal trespass, disorderly conduct, harassment. - Dismissed
46. Tyrell A. Sales - Criminal trespass, disorderly conduct, harassment - Dismissed
47. Lydell R. Sargeant - Criminal trespass, disorderly conduct, harassment - Dismissed
48. Andrew Quarless - Underage Drinking - Guilty
49. Willie Harriot - Underage Drinking - Guilty
50. Austin Scott - Rape, Drugs - Trial
51. Joe Suhey - Underage Drinking - Guilty
52. Ryan Breen - Underage Drinking - Guilty,
53. Joe Paterno - Road Rage - No Charges
54. Chris Baker - Felony aggravated assault, simple assault, disorderly conduct, summary harassment and stalking, - Pending.
55. Navarro Bowman - Felony aggravated assault, simple assault, disorderly conduct, summary harassment and stalking, - Pending.
56. Knowledge Timmons - Disorderly conduct and defiant trespass - Pending
57. Tyrell Sales – Under age drinking 2008 - Pending
58. Chris Bell Dismissed from the team off the field issues and academics
59. Phillip Taylor Dismissed from the team off the field issues and academics
60. Andrew Quarless Suspended, charged with DUI.
61. Chris Bell Dismissed from the team for threatening a teammate with a knife in team dining room.
There are gross omissions and mistakes in this list. For instance, the list makes no mention of the fact Lavon Chisley was no longer with the team when he committed murder. Tyrell Sales was charged with disorderly conduct, not underage drinking, and the charges were thrown out by the judge the next day. And several of the charges from the Apartment and HUB fights have been dropped recently as well.
RUTS has a call out to fix this list. He's asking for help to research each item on the list to come up with a true list representative of the facts. BSD whole-heartedly supports this effort. Get to it busy little google stalkers!