Blue White Illustrated

the Golf Channel, Rupert Murdoch, Donald Rumsfeld, Hillary Clinton, Bill O'Reilly and – do I even have to say his name? – George W. Bush.) Those who choose to engage him in debate do so at their own risk, because with Olber- mann, the nuclear option is always on the table. The problem with his approach is that sometimes innocent bystanders end up in harm's way. In his Twitter exchange, Olbermann attacked Penn State students and graduates "for proving my point about the mediocrity of their education and ethics." He went on to explain that "PSU students are pitiful because they're PSU students – period." As if having any association with such a disreputable university im- mediately called one's character into question. Let's be clear: The Penn State alums with whom he sparred on Twitter had no involvement in the Sandusky scandal, which was the reason the university had been in Olbermann's crosshairs in the first place. They were just a couple of graduates who happened to be proud of their alma mater. Yet by his lights, they were still guilty of something. In blasting Penn State students simply for existing, Olbermann invoked the specter of collective guilt that has been shadowing the university from the start of the Sandusky scandal. It's an idea that gained traction when Sports Illustrated put it on the cover of an issue from Oc- tober 2012, and one that Olbermann clearly was tapping into when he dispar- aged students' ethics. His attack was exactly the sort of blanket indictment that Penn State has been pushing back against ever since the Freeh report was released in July 2012. In a recent interview with The As- sociated Press, university president Eric Barron said he was "not a fan" of the re- port, which led to an array of NCAA sanctions and a barrage of condemna- tion – not just of the football program, but the entire school. Barron told the AP that the Freeh report "very clearly paints a picture about every student, every faculty member, every staff mem- ber and every alum. And it's absurd. It's unwarranted." He's right. Students and alums shouldn't have to bear the shame of crimes they had nothing to do with and were not in a position to prevent, nor should they be flamed for expressing pride when their school does some good in the world. The NCAA's abandonment in January of its remaining sanctions against the Nittany Lion football program put the university back in the spotlight, and in so doing it touched off a flurry of at- W H A T T H E Y ' R E S A Y I N G [Twitter is] perfect for people like Keith Olbermann and most college under- classmen who want so desperately to exhibit their status as intellectual alpha dogs in the short-attention age. It's a cauldron designed for sophomoric con- frontation. And what's more sophomoric than an Ivy League alum citing the in- feriority of a "safety school"? That's, honest to God, what Olbermann's dust-up with the Penn State kids distilled to – nothing about Sandusky's crimes against kids or THON's kindness toward kids but a 56-year-old Cornell grad lording his status over state-university students. Perfect. Has there ever been a keener ex- ample of what Twitter does to intelligent people? It almost without fail brings out the worst in them. DAVID JONES PENNLIVE.COM That slap on the wrist ESPN gave Keith Olbermann, a four-day vacation with pay for his insensitive Penn State tweets, won't solve the core problem here. And it has nothing to do with Olbermann being a bully with a glass chin. Think about it. ESPN gives Olbermann a platform – five nights a week – to say what he wants, praise whomever he wants, or rip whomever he wants. He has a license to beat the spit out of the target of his choice. Fair enough. But the cat is so unbalanced, he can't get enough. So after conducting a national TV show, or whenever, he heads to Twitter and starts head-banging there. Doesn't he have anything better to do with his charmed life? Or is this just a case of a man who can't help him- self? That's not even sick. It's terribly sad. BOB RAISSMAN NYDAILYNEWS.COM It's one thing to be critical of the university's handling of Sandusky and the way some of its fans seem to care more about winning on Saturday than the welfare of the disgraced and jailed former defensive coordinator's victims. It's quite another to bash those Penn State students who are, by all accounts, doing good in the community and had nothing to do with the Sandusky case. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. ED PUSKAS VINDY.COM Olbermann, whose mission in life seems to be to go out of his way to offend peo- ple, was suspended Tuesday by ESPN for the rest of this week for self-admittedly "being stupid and childish" on Twitter in exchanges with Penn State students he had on Monday. He has appropriately hosted an afternoon show called "Olber- mann" since 2013. The former studio anchor plunged to a new low by calling Penn State students "pitiful" after receiving a link about a campus event that raised $13 million to fight pediatric cancer. This all stemmed from the notorious- ly thin-skinned Olbermann being essentially challenged for criticizing the school's settlement with the NCAA last month. DAVID LARIVIERE FORBES.COM

• Cover