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lawsuit, if successful, could shake the foundations of the NCAA. "The consequences could alter the landscape of college athletics," John Doody told the Philadelphia Inquirer in an email. "If the courts rule in favor of us (remember as citizens of the Commonwealth we are considered to be part of the petition, and our tax dollars will help pay for this filing...), and claim the NCAA is in violation of antitrust laws, then that opens the door for the big five football conferences to split from the NCAA and control their own football factory." But what are the chances that the lawsuit is even heard? Michael McCann, a sports law expert who represented former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett in a lawsuit against the NFL, said the state's suit raises legitimate questions about the NCAA's authority. "I think the lawsuit makes a credible argument that what happened at Penn State goes beyond the regulatory authority of NCAA," McCann told the CDT. "The connection to that and the purpose of the NCAA is one that warrants greater scrutiny." Corbett's lawsuit claims the NCAA violated the Sherman Antitrust Act, which prohibits agreements that restrain interstate commerce. The suit argues: "The NCAA, as an organization of competitors, is prohibited from imposing, and arbitrarily enforcing, rules that bear no reasonable relationship to the NCAA's need for selfregulation for the purpose of denying the benefits of participation to a single competitor, and thereby lessening competition." Penn State still is facing three more seasons of bowl ineligibility and is beginning to feel the effects of its scholarship losses. The sanctions were intended to put the Lions at a competitive disadvantage, and if there's no reprieve coming, the team will make the best of its situation, Joyner said. "[The NCAA] put us in a cage, and we're gonna be cage fighters," he said. "We're gonna fight within the cage that we have. If something happens down the road, then so be it. But we're not going to plan our lives around anything changing." THE MONTH IN... OPINIONS There was a whiff of politics and public relations permeating the lawsuit that Gov. Tom Corbett filed against the NCAA almost six months after Penn State accepted sanctions stemming from the Jerry Sandusky scandal. BRAD BUMSTED (PITTSBURGH) TRIBUNE-REVIEW When you strip away the misguided political motivations, the suit contains, at its core, an important and persuasive argument: The NCAA exists, by its own definition, to advance the cause of "fair competition" among its members, while promoting the ideal of the so-called student-athlete. It has the authority to discipline schools that act in violation of those JONATHAN MAHLER BLOOMBERG NEWS goals. Period. We suspect [Corbett's] change of heart had something to do with his dismal approval ratings and the November election of Kathleen Kane to the office of attorney general. Kane, a Democrat, defeated David Freed, a Republican and Corbett's anointed candidate for the office. Corbett said politics was not behind his move to sue the NCAA at this time. The governor will be up for re-election in 2014. In her campaign, Kane promised to investigate the investigation of Sandusky by the attorney general's office, including a period when Corbett himself held that position before running for governor. Clearly, the voters want to know more about the Sandusky situation, including Corbett's role in the investigation. CENTRE DAILY TIMES As for Joe Paterno, as time passes and the fog of war clears, we are beginning to see that he was much less culpable than even his most determined critics wanted to believe. It is too late for him, now with the angels, except perhaps in the gracious hearts and minds of Pennsylvanians who understand human frailty. There he can regain some measure of the reputation he earned. But the NCAA must be held accountable for overreach, and that is something that can be remedied. Kudos to Tom Corbett for seeking another kind of justice in the courts, justice for the innocent victims of a man and a school and a mentality. That the NCAA has actually come out and criticized the commonwealth for filing a lawsuit on antitrust grounds as being an "insult" to the children who were abused by Sandusky is nothing less than disgusting and misleading rhetoric. Creating thousands of new victims does nothing to heal the wounds of those created by Sandusky. Hopefully, the courts will agree. CHRISTINE M. FLOWERS PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS In the case of Penn State, the NCAA used the horrors of Sandusky's crimes to assume powers it doesn't actually have. Hate the school all you want. Penn State is firmly on the side of the angels here. DOM COSENTINO DEADSPIN.COM

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