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

If we're including plane crashes, the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv crash of a few months ago caused by pilot error (apparently one pilot trying to stop and applying the brakes while the other one wanted to take off and lifted the nose too sharply) is up there. You could probably write a pretty good thesis on how that was an institutional failure of the Russian aviation industry that led to 44 deaths in that crash.

Graham James is a pretty good sexual abuse comparison. Weren't there rumblings of something similar in a high-end high school basketball program as well recently?

 

thought the basketball program was AAU, not hs, but not positive.

 

Loved Rupp's "they couldn't touch my boys with a ten-foot pole."

Maybe not . . . but as other observers said at the time, "Six-foot Italians had better luck."

 

I was only 12, but I definitely remember it. It had been about 30 years since the end of World War II, and the Germans were looking at this as a "welcome back to the human race" type of event. Instead, the latest round of Israel vs. the Arab world. Can't say it's affected my daily life, since at that age I was still trying to figure out what the hell was going on. But, perhaps because of this, I'm more skeptical about symbolism vs. substance. It's nice to have the ideals of the Olympics, for example, but doies it work? Still not totally sold.

But to answer the OP's question, I'll take Munich gor now, mostly because Penn State is still unfolding, and I fear there are several more layers that will be exposed.

 

This is the year of the scandal. The Ponzi scheme involving dozens of elite men's basketball coaches and the Houston Select AAU team promises to be pretty juicy when all is said and done in that case.

But nothing in my lifetime -- my parents were years from even meeting in 1972 -- compares to Penn State and Sandusky. It will be interesting to find out, if we ever truly do, who knew what, when. But this is already a bigger mess than the Baylor scandal. Dave Bliss might be one of the worst people in college athletics history (Have you heard about his recent scandal at the high school he was coaching? Guy is still cheating!), but he's a shining beacon of light compared to Jerry Sandusky.

 

I was 14 at the time. The Olympics frankly were a bigger deal then than they are now.

Munich was a massive worldwide story.

PSU/Sandusky is a nationwide story but won't get traction outside the U.S.

 

The basketball point-shaving is the one that comes to mind for me.

Kentucky - KENTUCKY!!! - got the death penalty.

And Rupp kept his job through it all.

Shows what a different era that was.

 

A decade ago, coach Russell Otis of Dominguez High in Compton (which produced Tyson Chandler, Tayshaun Prince and - sort of - Brandon Jennings)was accused of these things. Big article in SI. He finally was pushed out due to appropriating some shoe money or something.

 

Not at the top but The Pat Tillman story covers all the bases -
scandal / tragedy/ drama.

 

Hartford Courant wonders how can you not??

http://www.courant.com/sports/wdcw-the-15-worst-sports-scandals-of-alltime-20111110,0,3720548.photogallery

P.S. A couple months ago CoedMagazine.com wanted to know if this one was the worst of all time. I voted no just now.

http://coedmagazine.com/2011/08/17/university-of-miami-college-sports-football-scandal-nevin-shapiro/

 

Also Sandusky-like charges against the former Christ the King (NY) basketball coach.