Enough Already!

Alright before we begin you can file this away as the hearsay and the conspiracy theories of a Joe Paterno loyalist if you so choose. And it is very likely that this post will be proved entirely false within a matter of hours if it hasn't been already. But all and all this is something that needs to be said for no other reason than to give a counter point to belief that the Penn State Football Program is out of control.

Ok here's the current situation as I understand it. (Thursday September 6th 1pm )

Police were called to Nittany Apartments around 8 pm on Tuesday for a noise complaint.
The residents of the apartment were AJ Wallace, Andrew Quarless, Maurice Evans and Abe Koroma.
When police arrived, they noticed the smell of pot smoke, and asked to enter the apartment.
The residents declined, police called in and received a warrant.
Upon searching the residence police found a "small amount of pot" (no word on the exact amount)

That's about all I know without venturing into the bottomless pit that is sports message boards

So here are my thoughts on this:

• Seriously Quarless? If you weren't such a screw-up you would be the #1 tight end in the Big 10 by now (or at least on the depth chart) Lots of players have made stupid mistakes but after getting in trouble they got their shit together. Heck Connor and A.Q. Shipley shot arrows through the wall of their dorm. It seems like this kid just doesn't get it, maybe it's time he transfers out of the Happy Valley.
  

• 8 pm Noise Complaint? It's a college campus not a retirement community.

• College kids smoke pot, it happens. I mean chances are a bunch of you smoked pot in college. It's illegal but then again so is u-torrent and I didn't hear any complaints when you were all watching The Dark Knight at 3 am after a long night at the bar.

• Kids play music loudly and occasionally do really stupid things like smoking pot at an on-campus apartment. Its unfortunate, but to an extent it can be excused as the stupidity of youth. What cannot be excused is the refusal to cooperate with the authorities. Making them get a warrant? Are you serious? These aren't shady evil crooked cops they're good people doing their job. These kids obviously did something wrong and that can be forgiven. Their actions afterward were inexcusable and I support whatever the punishment is appropriate for this.

• When I was in school one of my rules was never party with the football team. There were a couple reasons for this.

1. Because the football team never wanted to party with me
2. Because I had no chance of getting the girl when she had to choose between me and a linebacker.
3. Because they're big, scary, and drunk.
   
4. Most importantly. Where ever the Football Team was the police were near by. I will be the first to admit (and I think my friends would agree) that if the cops had followed our group closely throughout our stint in the Happy Valley there is at least an outside chance that one of us would have had a run in with the law.But if you are on the football team you know the cops are watching, maybe it would be a good idea to keep illegal activities to a minimum or at least be a little sneaker.
   

• To the jerk sitting in his dorm room that says the players get away with this when he would get kicked out of school. Shut up, no you wouldn't. You would get a slap on the wrist and would have to go to drug classes on Sunday mornings, if you were caught at all. Chances are no one would even notice that you were toking up while watching Sponge Bob in you pathetic little dorm room.

• This sounds like a conspiracy theory and I'm not sure I believe it but could their possibly be some pressure by the higher-ups in the University to discredit Paterno by finding these types of behaviors in his Football Program? Not to condone the actions of the players but it seems like there is witch hunt going on. Who called out the dogs? Spanier? The Athletic Department? Powerful Alumni? Local Politicians?
  

• People will undoubtedly use this incident to bolster their case against Coach Paterno. They will claim that he is out of touch with his players. And although I think this is unlikely I will not completely dismiss the possibility. But I would like to point out that the same people making these allegations are the ones that said the game had left the program behind. These people demanded PSU start recruiting faster more talented players with more questionable records, that they accept more junior college transfers, and they let true freshman start. Paterno to one extent or another was opposed to these things but has allowed them to occur more often in recent years. It's not a coincidence that the last 6 years has seen an resurgence of the football program and an increase in off-field incidents.
  

I could probably say at least a half dozen more things about this incident but I'm sure there's someone else out there that's said everyone of them already. So there's one final thing that needs said before putting this topic to bed.

To all Penn State Players, Coaches, Alumni, and Fans,

Our University has a saying that sets us apart from other programs.

Success with Honor

It means that we strive to be the best but we are not willing to compromise ourselves to do so.
It means that at Penn State we do it the right way
It means that when we say "May no act of mine bring shame to one heart that loves thy name" they are not just hollow words memorized at freshman orientation.

Every Saturday 110,000 people say We Are Penn State in unison. They don't do it because Arrington jumped over the line, or because LJ lit up the Nabraska defense one cold night, or even because Paterno has won more bowl games than most coaches will ever see. No we say We Are Penn State because we saw Pozlezney studying in the Hub every Tuesday, because Hali sat in the same row as us the day we graduated, because on our campus the football stadium is named after a Governor and the Library is named after a Football Coach.

We are Penn State. We don't just win. We win the right way


Maybe we have been a little to caught up on the Success side of that in recent years.
Here's a question for you, think about it and answer honestly.
Would you give up a National Championship Season to have a program that lives up to those ideals? That's what I thought.


Peace Out Yo

We Are...