Crafty Old Man
June 21, 2007 by Run Up The Score!
Maybe I’m just a bit clueless, but Dave Jones is giving Joe Paterno a little too much credit. I’m not sure that the PSU Office of Judicial Affairs ever gave a crap about Paterno’s pre-emptive punishment, and that organization’s prior actions indicate that they wouldn’t be swayed by something as odd and conciliatory as the football team cleaning up the stadium on Sunday mornings.
We all know it was stupid for the posse to be called into action. Nobody’s ever disputed that. The fact that these players (especially those not named Scirrotto or Baker) are being temporarily expelled for an off-campus fight is kind of silly, considering that nobody was seriously injured, no weapons were used, and most of the players involved were either not in the apartment or were actively trying to get their teammates out of there.
It makes me sad to see you evolve your position back towards “it was just a fight”. Calling the posse wasn’t just stupid; it was thuggery. And in the real world, calling your friends to invade somebody’s apartment party to deliver a beat down is, in fact, treated more harshly than getting into a fight on the street.
It’s easily possible that I overestimated the severity of the incident at first, and am underestimating it now.
Still, I think this trends much more toward stupidity than thuggery. I don’t endorse it, but I understand. If I’m in Anthony Scirrotto’s shoes, I probably do the same thing. Round up my friends and get those assholes.
Overall, I think the punishment fits the crime considering the entire incident from beginning (three idiots picking on a girl on College Avenue) to end (more idiots searching for three idiots at a party). It was always “just a fight”, the only real concerns is whether the D.A. and Judicial Affairs would treat it that way.
I don’t think “just a fight” is a rational interpretation of “forcibly enter somebody else’s home searching for somebody to beat down; and proceed to beat down on many people, whether or not they were involved in earlier confrontation”.
That’s the kind of thing that will get you shot in certain parts of the country. And the shooter will be justified, too.
Yes, that’s where the stupidity entered the equation.
I knew a guy who was tossed through a window by a PSU player who transfered. All charges dropped….sad
“Posse”? I know Penn State is old school, but why use a 15 year old word; especially when it has nothing to do with the facts of the case?