PSU L/B Suspended

[cygnus34]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05232/557150.stm

[Papa_Bull]

Another article on it:

Cook: Connor disgraces PSU

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

We should be talking this morning about Penn State linebacker Dan Connor's chances of making some of the All-American teams this season.

Or maybe we should be talking about Connor's sizable role on a terrific Penn State defense that seems more than capable of bringing a disgraced football program back to respectability and perhaps beyond.

But there's no way we should be talking about Connor's suspension from the Penn State team because of his involvement in a series of crank telephone calls to a retired football staff member in the spring and summer.

Connor couldn't be that stupid, could he?

At a time Connor should have been getting ready for a critical season for Penn State and its legendary coach, he was playing silly phone games?

When Connor should have been on his best behavior, especially considering the scrutiny on a Penn State program that has had its share of criminal behavior in recent years, he was involved in a State College police investigation and was tagged with a summary offense?

A team leader?

No player could be that stupid.

But that terse, troubling statement out of Happy Valley Friday said otherwise. The university announced Connor had been suspended indefinitely by coach Joe Paterno because of his role in the calls, which, quoting the school spokesman in a stunning admission, "escalated to the point of harassment." The target was Joe Sarra, a longtime Paterno assistant.

That's beyond stupid.

That's despicable.

It's too easy to blame Paterno, too easy to suggest this pathetic behavior by a Penn State player is just one more example that Paterno has lost control of the program. The players clearly don't fear or respect him the way Penn State players once did. Penn State already was heading into the season with four players -- E.Z. Smith, Tyler Reed, Andrew Richardson and Scott Paxson -- in limbo because of off-the-field indiscretions. Connor makes five.

Of course, it's easy to say this is further proof that Paterno has stayed on way too long.

But, at some point, don't the players have to be held accountable for their actions?

Paterno must be getting tired of all the nonsense. That can be the only reason he responded so swiftly, so severely and so publicly with Connor, that and the fact Sarra, a member of the Penn State football family and a close friend and loyal lieutenant, was the victim of the crank calls for no apparent reason. As abhorrent behavior goes, whatever Connor did is significantly down the list of incidents -- sexual misconduct, drunk driving, underage drinking, an ice-rink fight, a potentially deadly bow-and-arrow episode -- that has put other Penn State players in the jackpot during the past few years. It's almost as if Paterno is trying one more time to send a message to his squad by making an example of Connor, one of his stars.

Connor deserves what he gets.

Before the calls, Connor showed no signs of being so foolish. He was smart enough to graduate from high school a semester early so he could enroll at Penn State in January, 2004. That gave him a big jump on last season, when he became a starter on a defense that was one of the best in college football, a defense that should be even stronger this season, perhaps so strong that it could carry the Nittany Lions to a third- or even second-place finish in the Big Ten Conference. It's hard to imagine any college team in America having a better pair of linebackers than Connor and Paul Posluszny.

Now, it is unclear when Connor will play.

Paterno left the suspension open-ended, which means it could end tomorrow, next week, after the Sept. 3 opener against South Florida or sometime later. The guess here is Connor will have to sit out at least the first game. What good is sending a message without any bite?

But the length of Connor's suspension isn't what's important.

What is significant is that Connor embarrassed Penn State. He let down his teammates. And, perhaps most unforgivably, he did no favors to Paterno, who is fighting hard to go out with a little dignity after enduring the worst five-year period of his otherwise spectacular career.

Some All-American, huh?

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05235/558304.stm