In what is becoming common place at Penn State when a player runs into problems off the field, all Big Ten linebacker Navarro Bowman will not receive any sort of suspension in relation to the recent violation of his probation.  “Now he’s got a probationary officer who he’s got to report to,” Paterno said. “I said, ‘You mind your p’s and q’s and you’re fine.’”  For those who do not know the story click here.

Penn State over the past few years has run into a good bit of off the field trouble and for the most part players have not been punished.  The most public off the field incident involved former Penn State starting safety Anthony Scirrotto organizing a group of friends to bust into an off campus apartment and attack a few individuals who he felt disrespected his girlfriend earlier on the street.  The entire group received little to no punishment from Paterno and the most harsh punishment was a suspension for the summer session while still being allowed to participate in team activities.  In other words they got a vacation from going to class while being able to participate with the team. 

Of course many Penn State apologists will cite that most of the charges against the players involved in the fight were ultimately dropped.  What few point out though is the reason for them being dropped.  A few of the players charged were not correctly identified by the victims from the apartment thus making the case a largely "he said he said" type case.  It is understandable that they would not remember exactly what their attackers looked like considering there was more than a few of them hitting them with various objects and beating them up at the time.  I know i would not be concerned with getting a good look at my attackers and more worried about protecting myself.

ESPN's show, Outside the Lines, did a piece on the recent string of off the field incidents at Penn State and many a Penn State fan felt like it was an unfair piece.  To me it does not seem all that unfair when players continue to get into trouble yet they are not punished.  It is no coincidence that shortly after this piece aired when two more Penn State players, Chris Baker and Phil Taylor, got into some trouble off the field they were dismissed from the team.  These dismissals only occurring after Joe Paterno and his staff took a lot of heat as a result from the ESPN piece.

It is unfortunate that at the end of Joe Paterno's career Penn State continues to not only have problems off the field but continues largely to brush them under the rug.  It is little wonder why the off the field problems continue as players know full well there is little chance that they will be punished in any way.  Until actual punishments happen players will continue to get into trouble off the field at Penn State.

Penn State fans are some of the worst when it comes to trashing other schools publicly when off the field incidents happen at those universities.  However, those same fans fail to recognize that those very same transgressions are happening at their proud university.  It is time for Penn State fans to start speaking out and holding their great university to the same public standards they seem to hold other schools.  Joe Paterno is a great coach and it is hard to measure just how much he has contributed to college football over the years.  He graduates players and in large part Penn State student athletes do things the right way.  Unfortunately in recent years though Joe has been on the wrong side of these off the field problems too often for a man of his intellect and character.