The Sports Monitor

After several days of recharging at Allegany State Park near Salamanca, N.Y., I get back to reality with some big news. The biggest has been the punishment handed down by the NCAA to Penn State. It's quite a lot to take in: $60 million fine No bowl appearances for four years Loss of scholarships Loss of all wins dating to 1998 Players can freely transfer Boom. Now, Penn State starts to rebuild. Coach Bill O'Brien has rolled up his sleeves to keep the team together. Quarterback Matt McGloin and others are saying that they'll stay with the team. That should be the least of O'Brien's worries. In fact, I think he'll be able to keep everyone on the team. He'll be able to rally the players and fans to support the team through this four-year postseason ban. The Us. Vs. The World cry will win over the players already on the team. The biggest hurdle to overcome is the loss of scholarships. We won't know the full effect of that for years. A...

A headline on ESPN.com said it all: Family says no Paterno coverup for Sandusky. You can read the story here . My question: What else would Joe Paterno's family say about the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State? If reports are true, Thursday is the day we'll hear about the Sandusky scandal.

I agree Joe Paterno had to go at Penn State. Tom Bradley was the logical choice to fill in while the university conducted a search. However, John Smallwood from the Philadelphia Daily News thinks Bradley would be the best choice as the replacement. Penn State needs a clean break from all things Paterno. Bradley has done the right things as the interim coach, but any reminder or link to Paterno or Sandusky needs to go away. If that means losing Bradley, so be it.

When news of Jerry Sandusky's alleged sex abuse scandal broke, my first reaction to the reported incident that then-graduate assistant Mike McQueary witnessed, was why didn't McQueary do something. Well, NBC News obtained an e-mail from McQueary to former teammates. The e-mail indicates McQueary did something. "I didn’t just turn and run," McQueary says in the e-mail. "I made sure it stopped … I had to make quick, tough decisions." The New York Daily News has a story . I also didn't understand why McQueary was still on staff when others, including Joe Paterno, were let go. After hearing Gov. Tom Corbett on Sunday, and he didn't say this specifically, but I'm of the opinion that McQueary's testimony is important. If McQueary ended up being charged or implicated, he could plead the Fifth, and not help the investigation. Maybe his paid leave is one way to keep him cooperating. On a separate note, Sports Illustrated has an interesting...

It had to happen. Penn State needed to get rid of coach Joe Paterno. I don't care how many wins he has or how much money he has given to the university. Joe had to go. Did Paterno do the minimum required in the scandal that's rocked State College? Apparently. But there was a moral obligation, too. Paterno had the power to stop Jerry Sandusky but failed. Paterno's a man that was bigger than anything at State College. He called the shots there, and he knew it. He was even defiant earlier Wednesday. Check out his statement: "At this moment the Board of Trustees should not spend a single minute discussing my status. They have far more important matters to address. I want to make this as easy for them as I possibly can." Joe thought he could go when he wanted. The school's trustees thought differently. They rightly showed him who was in charge. In my opinion, Paterno was all about Paterno, building a legend, setting records and coaching for...

I'm sure the events from this weekend surrounding the Penn State football program and former coach Jerry Sandusky have made the rounds. AD Tim Curley and Gary Schultz have stepped down, and coach Joe Paterno is said to have been shocked. I'm not ready to call on Paterno to step down, as Jason Whitlock has, but I'm having a hard time coming to grips over one thing involving JoePa. If Paterno, the man more powerful and influential than the Penn State athletic director and university president, was so concerned about an alleged incident being reported to him, why did he simply follow the line of command and report the incident to his AD and forget about it? Paterno couldn't do anything about it? He was helpless? I think we're in the early stages of information being released. I can't see JoePa emerging unscathed from all this. And, without a doubt, the university will be rocked by this scandal.

Finally. Pitt and Penn State will resume their once-storied football rivalry. The only problem is, we have to wait until September 2016 for it to happen. The wait will be worth it, however. If you're a fan of college football and you're from western Pennsylvania this series was the one to watch. The rivalry ended in 2000, so it'll be a long gap between games. So long, in fact, many young fans from western Pennsylvania don't have an idea what it was like to have such a heated rivalry. It was Auburn-Alabama, UCLA-USC or Ohio State-Michigan. Some blame Penn State coach Joe Paterno for the end of the series in 2000. I'm just glad it's back. Do you think JoePa will be on the sidelines for the game in 2016?