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tributing those funds as it sees fit, ���the NCAA has gone well beyond its bylaws and believes it can operate as an unchecked governing body.��� Why would the NCAA believe that? Maybe because it is allowed to operate, essentially, as an unchecked governing body in some instances. Thanks to a constitutional principle known as the Dormant Commerce Clause, states are not allowed to impose regulations on the NCAA that are inconsistent with the organization���s bylaws. For instance, states do not have the right to establish their own academic eligibility standards or redefine amateurism in a way that conflicts with the NCAA���s definition. Bylaws expert John Infante predicts that if the Pennsylvania case goes to court, the NCAA will ���fight viciously��� to defend and even expand one of their most important legal precedents.��� In other words, this case isn���t about spending that $60 million where it will do the most good or helping the communities where the crimes at the heart of the scandal occurred. It���s about protecting the NCAA���s sovereignty over college athletics. Penn Staters see the problems at NCAA headquarters as an opportunity to reopen the debate over the Nittany Lions��� sanctions. Trustee Joel Myers recently penned a scathing letter containing a list of reasons why the sanctions should be immediately withdrawn: ���One, they were based on an inaccurate interpretation of the Freeh findings. Two, they were in clear violation of the NCAA���s own rules. Three, they have wronged thousands of innocents. Four, they have damaged the University. Five, they have sent the exact opposite and wrong message to people and institutions throughout the nation: that swift and decisive action to address and cure a bad situation is to be condemned, not rewarded.��� Myers concludes that ���the NCAA was wrong and it is time for them to admit it and do the right thing themselves.��� As you might imagine, this is going over quite well in central Pennsylvania, where even people who don���t care much about the football program ��� yes, they do exist ���have taken offense at the way Penn State���s culture has been caricatured. But the rest of the country is going to be a tougher sell, and those people are not going to be quite so inclined to view an argument against the NCAA as an argument for Penn State. When columnist Gene Wojciechowski wrote on ESPN.com recently that it was time for the NCAA to revisit the sanctions, it took all of two posts for a flame war to break out in the comment thread. The university has spent nearly $28 million so far on lawyers and PR, so someone in Old Main clearly thinks it can win back a scandalized public. And maybe that���s not such a farfetched notion. Before the Sandusky scandal horrified the nation, the university���s reputation was pristine, thanks largely to its athletics programs. It was one of only four majorconference schools that had never been on probation and was a perennial leader in graduating its athletes. As far as the NCAA was concerned, the Nittany Lions were model citizens, and their upstanding reputation cast the entire university in a flattering light. But all that goodwill, built up over decades, was squandered in a matter of months, and now Penn State has to find a way to reclaim it. Which brings us back to THON. Before leaving the stage, Paterno told the dancers that he was confident they would raise $11 million by the end of the event. ���I have no inside information,��� he said. ���But I know Penn Staters. You put a challenge in front of us and we don���t knock at the door; we kick it in.��� The final tally was $12.37 million. It was a staggering figure, topping last year���s total by nearly $1.7 million. And while it was an enormous windfall for the Four Diamonds Fund and the pediatric cancer patients whom the organization supports, it was also, in its own way, a win for the university. The kids on that floor may have been unpaid student volunteers, but they did more for this place than the high-priced PR flacks ever could. www.AmericanAleHouse.net 821 Cricklewood Drive, Toftrees State College Now in 2 Locations

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