Is Penn State the biggest sports scandal/tragedy/drama of our time?

The cribbing scandal was significant because of where it happened. These were the young men the country was counting on to keep us safe - and during wartime no less. It would have been a blip on the radar at any other school except Navy.

If we're going back this far, the on-field attack on Drake's Johnny Bright deserves mention.

 

Biggest scandal? Yes.
Biggest drama? Probably.
Biggest tragedy? No. But, whereas we know all we're probably going to know about Munich, I think we've just scratched the surface on this one, particularly if it opens the door to further revelations -- at Penn State and elsewhere. We might look at this a lot differently in a year or two.

And I watched the Munich Olympics. It's "our time," as far as I'm concerned.

Edited to clarify for the enraged shopper armed with breast milk and a biting wit.

 

JD, may I ask your reason(s) for not placing this story under the "tragedy" category?

 

I don't mean to speak for Clerk, but I'm assuming he means some similarities between the two incidents, not actually comparing child molestation to test cribbing. AT least, I would hope that wasn't his intent.

They do have some similarities. For Penn State, you have McQueary and the mess that he is in. For Army, it was an athlete in a different sport who had to wrestle with the notion of either reporting the incident and being seen as a squealer to his fellow cadets, or keeping silent and violating the school's honor code. The Army football team was given favorable treatment over the other cadets, bringing a bit of a football-first culture. Both programs also had pretty clean images with the public, leading to a "How could this happen here?" element to the whole thing.

There had also been speculation that Red Blaik would resign after the incident, even though he didn't have anything to do with it. But, according to Maraniss' book on Lombardi, Blaik had a press conference to say he was staying, leading to a standing ovation, including by the sportswriters (different era back then).

So, while no means is there a question over which is worse, there were some intangible similiarities.

Oh, and Munich is the worst. Not only the deaths, but the fact that violence occurred at an event which is supposed to symbolize world peace made those deaths even more painful.

 

This is on the list of the worst of the worst not only because of the monstrous crimes Sandusky is accused of, but because of the institutional cover-up that went with it. I can't think of a precedent for that. Even the Baylor scandal was a Dave Bliss issue, not neccesarily a Baylor University issue.

In terms of tragedy? It depends on how you want to define the term. In one sense, the ignorance of common sense safety rules in auto racing in the 50s, 60s and 70s was a "tragedy" because so many died needlessly and not just drivers. Look up the LeMans disaster of 1955 for just one example.

The European soccer disasters PC mentioned were failures of society and the sport to deal with them. Throw the Bradford City stadium fire in that group too. Hooliganism itself was a tragedy of sorts when it was at its peak in the 70s and 80s.

On a one-person level, Andres Escobar's execution was a tragedy.

It's all bad. That's what we all know.

 

It is a tragedy. Just not the biggest. That's what I meant. I should go back and edit. I was answering the question in the subject line.

Munich was not a "scandal," in my mind.

 

Are the two NCAA football plane crashes in 1970 in the running (Wichita State and Marshall).

 

If those are included, also don't forget about the 1961 U.S. figure skating team plane crash.

 

And Evansville basketball in 1977.

 

And another one I forgot, the Cal Poly football team in 1960.

He's never fully said it's the reason, but it's often speculated that crash is the reason why John Madden hated to fly.

 

My bad. I should have read your response more carefully. You may retract your breast milk umbrella. You will not need it.