Is the tide turning on Penn State sanctions?

Tide of public opinion?  Maybe.  But if the NCAA were to reverse course on their decision, they would lose whatever microscopic amount of credibility they have left.

The public outrage that would occur if the sanctions got turned around would be ridiculous. Joe Paterno is guilty in the eyes of the public and there really isn't much to do to change that. Penn state fans are the only ones to cry for a retrial and think thy Paterno is abstain from any responsibility. They just need to move on accept their punishment and quit trying to force everyone to believe Paterno's innocence.

Next question.

Hoke is selling Michigan jerseys like hotcakes in Pennsylvania, now?

In all seriousness, the sanctions are in, they are done. Of course the Penn State crowd prefers the new Paterno report. It's done up like a defense attorney would do it, demanding that everything be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The NCAA doesn't demand that. They operate like a civil trial, THings only need to be highly likely, not absolutely proven.  And everything the report said is Highly, HIGHLY likely.

Let the victims decide.

A few thoughts:

1. The NCAA is not who commissioned the Freeh report. The NCAA is an idiotic organization, and anything and everything they do is stupid. They could completely reverse the sanctions and award PSU extra scholarships and last seasons National Title, and it wouldn't change the fact that it might be the dumbest organization in the country.

2. Remember that the Freeh Report was commissioned by the school. The "critique" was commissioned by the Paterno estate specifically to defend Paterno. I don't think it's out of line to take the rebuttal with a huge grain of salt, given the obvious motives and biases. (Same should be said of members of PSU that point to the second report to publicly wonder aloud, "well, maybe our school wasn't some dispicable hot bed of tacitly approved child rape that everyone thinks it is...")

3. The NCAA presumably sanctioned PSU for the entire school and athletic department's involvement in the Sandusky scandal, not just Paterno. So even if Paterno wasn't directly involved, the sanctions probably wouldn't change.

there was still plenty of dirty coverup to go around by the others involved. The sanctions will rightfully stay in place. It doesn't matter if JoePa ever gets cleared or not, there was still plenty of culpability by other leaders at PSU, specifically the ones that have been indicted.

Even if you take Paterno out of the equation, it was still a cover-up by the university. They weren't punished exclusively because of Paterno's alleged involvement. They were punished because people in power positions knew about the 1998 and 2001 cases and didn't do anything about it.

The Paterno-sponsored "Critique" was aimed primarily at clearing Joe's name, not at absolving the university of any involvement. I don't see how you could justify revoking the sanctions when the goal of them was to change the "football is more important than anything else" culture that many large universities have.

Penn State tried to fire JoePa years before the Sandusky stuff came to light. JoePa told them "Nah, I'm good. I'm going to remain as head coach."

He obviously remained as coach. Now that is the epitome of power and influence. It's laughable the people who claim he didn't know or didn't have the power to do anything.

There was a mountain of circumstantial evidence against Paterno before the Freeh report ever came out. 

How about the fact that Paterno's top assistant had a 20 year history of sexually abusing children and that for at least 5-10 years he was brazen enough to use PSU facilities for this conduct?  That alone is enough to sully Paterno in my mind. 

But then we know that McQuery at the very least told Paterno that Sandusky was naked in the shower with the kid and Paterno did at most the bare minnimum in reporting it and clearly never did anything to follow up or ban Sandusky from football facilities.  Again, that fact alone is enough to indict Paterno in my book.

Beyond all that it simply stretchs credulity to think that Paterno never suspected his top assistant, whom he likely spent dozens of hours per week with was a serial pedophile when there were rumors and incidents all around. 

The Paterno family wants to try this like a court case and poke holes in the Freeh report because its much easier to do that then it is to respond to these simple truths.  Their response is almost as sickening as the underlying offenses. 

Is this tide controlled by the moon too? 

EDIT: Holy shit this post just made me how gross it is to be an Alabama fan. Good god. 

Ok...so where does the police department/state police come into all this?  How does a commissioned report (whether Freeh or Paterno side) dig up so much more information than the police ever brought to light?  Why are essentially "investigative reporters" doing all the legwork?