Support MGoBlog: buy stuff at Amazon
I saw this on Twitter yesterday and over on BSD today. Penn State will wear names on the backs of their jerseys this season. It seems like a symbolic move and an effort to break with past tradition and create a new identity. Or maybe they just wanted to make it easier on opposing fans who don't have the PSU roster memorized.
http://www.blackshoediaries.com/2012/8/14/3242898/photo-jersey-names-penn-state-uniforms
It might also help a wee bit with recruiting, since they already have to fight public perception at PSU. Maybe getting a name on the back of your jersey might give kids a little added incentive to go there and be recognized.
I had the very same thought initially; but then I thought I was crazy to think that something such as a nameplate could help sway potential recruits. Perhaps I'm not so crazy after all . . .
When will they add shame and remorse to their fanbase?
Honestly, comments like these no longer feel fair to me. There was that poll showing that Pennsylvania/PSU households were pretty evenly split between believing that the NCAA punishments were too harsh and believing that they were appropriate or not harsh enough. That's not bad at all. I'd bet that the majority on MGoBlog believes that the punishments were too harsh.
Yes, there are asshats in the PSU fanbase, but there are a good number of asshats in almost every fanbase (including ours, no doubt). Hell, some fanbases are composed almost entirely of asshats (looking at you, OSU). The fact that some particularly vocal PSU fans don't seem adequately concerned about what happened doesn't mean that the whole PSU fanbase deserves that criticism.
seriously, turd? (ok, maybe juvenile but something about saying that cracks me up!)
you feel that the majority here think psu's punishments were too harsh. that really surprises me. have thought the majority here feel just the opposite, too lenient, especially with the continued call for b1g ouster.
That poll was of everyone connected to PSU, whether or not they followed football or not. If PSU is like every other state school, there are probably a lot of people who don't follow sports (and who, presumably, wouldn't care if sanctions were applied to them).
Based on every online PSU site I've seen (whether it's Rivals, Scout or one of the blogs), the vast majority of actual PSU football fans feel the sanctions were too harsh.
Let's say this had happened at Michigan instead of Penn State. Do you honestly believe that the fan reaction across MGoBlog, Mlive, the Detroit newspapers, etc. would have been much different? Keep in mind that we'd probably be talking about 10 years without real Michigan football. It just seems like people are talking about Penn State fans, students, alumni, etc. as being uniquely awful and insensitive. I don't think that's true.
and that is the main reason for the severe punishment. A larger than usual portion of people looked to the protection football prominence over the saftey of young children. They have a near cult society going on there with Paterno and football as their god.
You think the main reason for the severe punishment is that the NCAA thinks Penn State students, fans, and alumni are really bad people? Did you mean to say that the people in power seemed especially bad/insensitive, which led to the severe punishment?
I'd agree with the latter interpretation but definitely not the former one.
Honestly, based on all reports I've seen and read we are talking about a handful of people who knew what was going on and covered it up. Hell, my guess is that what happened at UNC was known by more people than at PSU. And people in those stands, in those classrooms, etc. were not cheering for PSU while saying "as long as we keep winning 10 games let the pedophile stay." The fans didn't know what was happening, and acting as if their fandom created a "cult" that allowed this to happen is buying way too much into the narrative created by the media and bolstered by the severity of Sandusky's crimes.
What happened at PSU really could happen anywhere. It only took 4-5 people to keep quiet, and for others to (logically) conclude that the measures in place would have caught these crimes before their escalated. But they didn't, because the necessary breakdowns failed, usually because of mistakes in judgment by those in the atheletic department. But again, we are not talking about a school-wide cover-up.
I get why everyone wants to see PSU suffer, and it is because people are angry and Sandusky, Paterno, etc. and those men are either dead or in prison. So we lash out and want to inflict more retribution. And while I'm not in the camp that PSU didn't deserve any punishment, a very fair and unbiased argument (one I share) can be made that the severity of the punishment is inappropriate given the NCAA's previously-displayed powers and reach.
Honestly, based on all reports I've seen and read we are talking about a handful of people who knew what was going on and covered it up.
I have no idea why you would assume this. We know for a fact that a janitor, an assistant football coach, a head football coach, an athletic director, a university vice-president and a university president knew about it. That's six people from very different levels of the PSU hierarchy. You think they collectively kept this a secret for 14 years - from everyone else in the community? Even the nutcases on BWI/BSD think the coverup went beyond that, extending to the Board of Trustees. And then there's the fine folks at the Second Mile Foundation, not to mention the fact that there were at least 10 rape victims and their families, and Sandusky himself, who was hardly discrete about what he did. Someone posted here a few weeks ago that it was basically common knowledge at PSU that Sandusky was some kind of a pervert, if not a full-fledged rapist.
As for this...
I get why everyone wants to see PSU suffer, and it is because people are angry and Sandusky, Paterno, etc. and those men are either dead or in prison. So we lash out and want to inflict more retribution.
...I think you are attacking a straw man. I take no pleasure in seeing their program suffer. I think it was essential for the NCAA to send a message to everyone that football can't become such a monster that it overwhelms a sense of decency. This scandal represents an existential crisis for big-time sports. How do you justify them if they're becoming so important that people are willing to overlook child rape for "the good of the program"?
Why should I assume that we are like PSU? Do you think Michigan fans would have harassed one of the rape victims so much he had to go into hiding, as Victim #1 did?
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-07-09/victim-1-sandusky-witness/56278226/1\
I know we have some idiots in our fanbase - everyone does. But I'd like to think we would not go this far. After I heard this story, I had a hard time feeling too much sympathy for them. If there is a "silent majority" that is embarassed by everything that's gone down, it's time for them to speak up. I find it curious that even the university president now won't attempt to justify accepting the sanctions. If you want to argue that people are basically sheep and follow the lead of their leaders, OK. But I don't think our school's leadership would ever take the path PSU's has.
even close to as bad as what went down in Pennsylvania, I would have been the first to re-affirm the moral core of the University and the need for punishments against the program. Michigan gutted its basketball program and is only just starting to recover thanks to the Ed Martin scandal. Actions have consequences and the word on the street from the average Penn State fan is a response of victimhood and denial.
50% of the fanbase are asshats?
I'm not even saying that. If 50% of PSU affiliates said that the cover-up wasn't all that bad, then yes, I'd say that they're a bunch of asshats. The NCAA penalties were serious stuff, though. My two cents is that the punishments were about right, and If you forced me to say that they were either too severe or too lenient, I'm not sure what I'd say.
Please return this puppy to the sarah mclachlan/aspca ad where he belongs. His stare is boring holes directly through my soul. Thanks!
ALL IS FORGIVEN
this repost doesn't even bother me. I feel as though the community has been much better the last few months at checking the blog history before posting. You, MA, get a break.
believe the new coach gets he has to change/distance it from before. so this is a small initial step, will probably be more in future years, maybe an entire uniform revamp. understand it, value tradition and am sorry slightly. however, with what has gone down they cant embrace their previous traditions that surrounded their program. tarnished forever by being intertwined with such depravity.
This won't end well....
what wont end well? the post repeat or the names on the back of the uniforms?
Revamp happens next year. Might even see some gray on there. The helmet will probably remain intact, although I'd go all out n' slap the beaver head on there.
Tradition is at this point dead, or even worse, taboo. A redesign might very well be the catharsis that campus sorely needs.
Told you guys last year this would end up happening...
herm would not like this
At first I negged you OP, but than you posted a picture of a puppy and manned up to the repost so then I upvoted you.
Until I can create a duplicate thread. Man, it's gonna be sweet!
Put nameplates on the front and back. Get rid of the Penn State in the front and put the kid's name there instead. That'll help their case that it's all about the students now.
More changes are needed to the PSU uniforms and I think many on the fan base would respect a change, but too much at once would happen. This is a good start and maybe they can introduce a more revamped uniform for a big game or night game in the future.
