OT-BlackShoeDiaries

Submitted by BILG on

Yes, this is another PSU/Sandusky post.  Sorry, I know many of you are annoyed with this topic already, but I feel the need to post for my own sanity.  It is my first post on this subject for what it's worth.

How many of you have visited http://www.blackshoediaries.com/ since the NCAA sanctions came down?  I have to say it is truly another universe.  The shit I see over there is insane.  It really is the Joe Pa cult at its worst.  The overwhelming theme is of being slighted and victims of the NCAA.  I would post examples, but there are just too many.  You can go over to the site and pretty much every post and comment has to do with the NCAA taking their sacred football away.  From not believing the Freeh report to stil denying that it was a "football" scandal, I have never seen such a deluded group outside of scientology.

I really hope this is just the fringe of Nittany Lion fans.  These people really "do not get it."  I can't emphasize enough how bizarre and twighlight zone like it is to read through their material.  I started to question my own reality for just a moment, then snapped out of it, remembering kids were raped and their god-like worship was for a man who enabled and hid the horrific acts.

I feel it is way too early for anyone on that campus or in that community to feel "cheated" by anyone other than the prior leadership.  Their venom towards their current President and Board of directors for not "fighting" for the university's rights is ludicrous.  They still fail to realize that you lose any moral authority when you enable a child rapist for over a decade. 

It's called collateral damage, and it tends to happen in places that never challenge or question the status quo, but instead enable it through hero worship.  To me, these fans, while not guilty of the crimes or the coverup, are getting exactly what they deserve.  Were they more contrite about the scandal or focused on the victims, I would have much more sympathy.  But the fact that their precious football is still the #1 issue suggests that maybe the NCAA did not go far enough.  A four year death penalty is perhaps what they really deserved.

CRex

July 27th, 2012 at 4:26 PM ^

Well we had so much trouble beating them under the Carr Regime that we had to do something.  We were just away with jealous and....

 

Oh wait, that's right, they gave us less trouble than Iowa or Wisconsin most years and the one year they were good, Henne to Manningham.  

oc michigan fan

July 27th, 2012 at 3:49 PM ^

Yes, I have been over there a few times this past week and could not agree more with EVERYTHING you said.

I'm still wondering, why do I need to read the Freeh report? They never say what I'm supposed to see that the all hating media won't say because it would cripple their convient bashing of a JoePa story. 

 

Feat of Clay

July 27th, 2012 at 3:51 PM ^

The important thing when you have zero firsthand knowledge about something is to be loud, determined, and unwavering in promoting your view.   Passion and bluster >>> thoughtful, balanced, careful consideration.

antidaily

July 27th, 2012 at 5:33 PM ^

Maybe. I've always thought that Michigan cares more about academics than athletics. Sure, football is huge and means everything to the fans. But the AD and even the head coach still serve at the pleasure of the President here. Maybe Bo had more power, but it hasnt been that way since. So maybe that shit wouldnt happen here.

snarling wolverine

July 29th, 2012 at 8:51 PM ^

It's pretty hard to make an apples to apples comparison between Practicegate and the PSU mess.  

I'll raise you a better example: the Ed Martin scandal.  That had serious ramifications for our basketball program, but Michigan fans did not blindly lash out at the NCAA.

bronxblue

July 27th, 2012 at 7:25 PM ^

This.

People act as if other schools would be better, but the lunatic fringe always pops up. I do think that the defensiveness of the PSU faithful is a bit misguided, but they also are hurting in a way that no school's fanbase has ever really experienced.  To look down on them as a whole because a couple of knuckleheads are ranting seems foolish.

CRex

July 27th, 2012 at 7:32 PM ^

MLive would be a cesspit of support for child rape (if the chose was support child rape or face sanctions), but places like MGoBlog and the like would be rational.  PSU's main problem is they appear not to have one single sane site.  Look at Off Tackle Empire for example, the other B1G fanbases are united with us on the fact PSU is crazy and they mock PSU on it.  It's the lack of even one sane site that makes PSU look extra bad.

ijohnb

July 27th, 2012 at 3:58 PM ^

one front page post that has to do with the scandal, the rest is about football and even basketball.  Looks like they are handling it pretty well.

Needs

July 27th, 2012 at 4:05 PM ^

That's a shitty story to write. A journalist throws questions at her as she's walking down the street. She says she loves her husband and that she can't believe the stories, and it gets written up as if she's making some grand public statement proclaiming his innocence.

LB

July 27th, 2012 at 4:14 PM ^

when your husband is responsible for the criminal acts and for being part of what brought down PSU, you have to expect every word you utter will be publicized, and that it will be done for the benefit of the media outlet/reporter, not to benefit the family.

If everything that happened is as it was reported, you will never, ever convince me that a woman lived in that house and had no clue as to what was going on, so I'm a long way from being able to feel any sympathy.

Leaders And Best

July 27th, 2012 at 4:10 PM ^

Cut them some slack.  I have a bigger problem with lack of leadership at PSU, and it has allowed delusional fans like Anthony Lubrano to get into positions of power on the Board of Trustees and only make it harder for the university to move forward.

Urban Warfare

July 27th, 2012 at 4:37 PM ^

I'd say they're vacillating between denial and anger.  A majority of posters refuse to acknowledge that Paterno or the administrators did anything wrong and continue to justify their behavior.  Alternatively, they think this was a smokescreen by their governor in order to divert attention away from the organized pedophile ring that got him elected. 

LSAClassOf2000

July 27th, 2012 at 4:57 PM ^

Penn State fans are literally all over the map when it comes to where they are between "anger" and "denial", and to a lesser extent, "bargaining" (there are a few scratching the surface of this phase). 

A summary scan of the BSD threads finds one which wonders whether or not the release of the Freeh Report was a good idea, asking if the Board of Trustees should perhaps have had the chance to review it. Another poster talks about the little things they could just do, such as support the team, but also suggests a boycott of the sponsors that jumped ship. Still another thread is attempting to discredit Louis Freeh himself by posting a BusinessWeek article about a coverup at the FBI. There are numerous threads decrying the NCAA sanctions - some in a nonsensical manner, others it a somewhat more collected but still essentially flawed manner. 

In essence, they are far from fully comprehending all  this, and I think that,  if this where they are right now, it will  be a long fall on their boards as well. Keep in mind, of course, that this is a small sample of their total fanbase. 

CLord

July 27th, 2012 at 4:54 PM ^

Before condeming the reaction at BSD ask yourself if it's out of the ordinary.  If 2 out of every 3 PSU fans agreed with the sanctions, would you expect those in agreement to post??  "Yay we got what we deserved?"  Wouldn't passive, silent acquiescense be the more normal response?  One normally has a greater propensity to speak up and post when they disagree with the matter at hand.  To extrapolate that comments on BSD, which represent but a minor fraction of PSU fandom, are indicative of the prevalent attitude of PSU fandom in general, is a logical failure on your part.

snarling wolverine

July 27th, 2012 at 6:22 PM ^

Except that BSD does not appear to be an outlier.  Every PSU website, be it their Rivals, Scout, 24/7, SBN, etc.  site, is making the same arguments.  They're all overwhemingly pro-JoePa and are convinced that the media is conducting a "witch hunt." 

If there really is a "silent majority" that disagrees with them, they don't seem to be posting anywhere on the internet.

 

snarling wolverine

July 27th, 2012 at 6:48 PM ^

Sure, but what's the point of seeing what non-fans think about all this?  They have no personal attachment to the program.  

The post above implied that large numbers of PSU football fans  agreed with the sanctions.  I haven't seen evidence of that anywhere.  Usually, when a program gets hammered by the NCAA, you will find a faction of the fanbase - even hardcore fans - that agrees with the punishment.  It was true for us when we were punished for the Ed Martin scandal.  I loved the Fab Five, for instance, but I agreed with taking down the banners.  

There seems to be something particularly cultish about that fanbase.  The fact that this directly implicates Paterno, the object of their worship, is too much for them to handle.

 

NOLA Wolverine

July 27th, 2012 at 6:26 PM ^

Can we just stop posting non-content from "rival" blogs all together? It doesn't really shock me that someone said something stupid on the internet. I don't know why we have to point at it and gasp every time. 

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

July 27th, 2012 at 7:28 PM ^

I had an ounce of sympathy for PSU fans until they had the gall to compare it to the Yeardley Love murder, in which the UVA administration did not pretend a murder didn't take place.

TESOE

July 27th, 2012 at 9:05 PM ^

Erickson did the right thing to accept the summary judgment of the NCAA.  To drag this out would give this fringe/insanity more legs than it already has.  Franco Harris was lobbying for the statue to stand as is right up to it's removal.