I wish I didn't agree with Yahoo Sports.  I wish I remembered this past year as the year where an athlete with one leg won an NCAA Championship in wrestling, or as the year where Dirk, Kidd, Terry, and Marion took down the Heatles, or even as the year of Tebow!  But no, this year will go down as the year of the Penn State scandal.  If there's any story that stays with you, it's that one, and how can it not?

Now much has been written and discussed on this atrocity and scandal that continues to unfold, but I saw this as yet another effect of the gargantuan that is NCAA athletics.  Child molestation is prevalent in society.  It's as simple as that unfortunately.  Even if the right thing was done in the Penn State case, at least one child would still have been victimized and tortured for life.  But the right thing was not done.  Penn State coaches and administrators chose the dollars of college football over protecting children from a rapist. 

I was with everyone else on this one.  I went from trying to believe Joe Pa was innocent to being shocked that he harbored a child molester, to appalled at the Penn State students rallying around a football coach and team rather than condemning a culture that shielded a molester's crimes from coming to light.  But my range of emotions did not stop there.  Eventually I went to being resigned to an understanding that the NCAA is more concerned with dollars and cents than the morality and rules they claim to live by.

The NCAA has created a culture where it's okay to do what Penn State did.  My favorite argument besides that of preserving "amateur athleticism" is that of wanting to preserve tradition.  Really?  Maybe I forgot the tradition where schools bolt their conferences to chase television money.  Response from the NCAA . . . radio silence.  Maybe that doesn't fit into this column but it's just another in the laundry list of complaints I have for the monster that is the NCAA.  A coach wants to leave his school, and contract, to go to another school?  Fine.  A kid wants to leave Tennessee to go play for Michigan or Michigan State because his father in Detroit has suffered a series of heart attacks among other issues from diabetes?  No go.  Tennessee mandated that he plays for Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, or the Mud Dogs with Bobby Boucher.  Response from NCAA . . . more radio silence.  Kids exchanging memorabilia and autographs for tattoos?  Massive investigation.  Immediate response with suspensions doled out.  Well, not really immediate.  Those suspensions were served after the Sugar Bowl so the money could get doled out.  Lesson learned.  Massive cover-up of child rape and molestation by the university administrators where the perp was a football coach?  Hmm.  NCAA response . . . well, maybe we should look into this, but we're going to let the case play out in court first.  HUH?! 

CHILD RAPE.  Please look at those words in all caps.  Maybe it will sink in because it sure hasn't for the powers that be at the NCAA.  The rapist was a coach for Penn State football.  The administrators knew about it and buried it.  The head coach knew about it and did nothing.  For 10 years.  If there was ever a case for the NCAA death penalty, how was this not it?  No, we're worried about tattoos and money changing hands, because that's what's wrong with college athletics.  Please.

And here's where I wasn't the least bit surprised.  The Penn State officials knew that if word leaked that their assistant football coach was a child rapist that it would kill recruiting in the short run.  There would be massive backlash.  The "how could this happen" people would be out in full force, as well they should.  The team would start losing and the money being brought in would go the way of the NYSE in '08.  But like the NYSE, the Penn State program would have rebounded.  There's no keeping down a big time college football program (unless you're SMU).  If Joe Paterno had followed up and made sure the police had been involved countless numbers of kids would have been saved.  If the administrators had involved the police, countless numbers of kids would have been saved.  If anyone made sure that Sandusky wasn't allowed within a football field's distance of a kid, well, you get the idea.  But those things didn't happen.  A college's image was at stake.  BCS money was at stake.  A coach of all coach's legacy was at stake.  And all of those took precedence over the lives of children in the community.  The NCAA remains silent. 

Congratulations NCAA.  You've still got your fairy tale of amateur athleticism and all the money it generates.  Unfortunately your ways of dealing with the culture it has created has now made sure that countless numbers of children will live with nightmares for the rest of their lives.  Sleep well NCAA.

Sorry to end the year with that.  I wish you all a Happy New Year and health and happiness in 2012.  On to the football picks.  Let's crack 50% for the season!

WEEK 17 PICKS

Washington +8 at Philadelphia
St. Louis +10.5 vs. San Francisco
Minnesota -1.5 vs. Chicago
Detroit -4.5 at Green Bay
New Orleans -7.5 vs. Carolina
Tennessee -1.5 at Houston
Indianapolis +3.5 at Jacksonville
Miami -3 vs. New York Jets
Buffalo +10.5 at New England
Atlanta -10.5 vs. Tampa Bay
Cincinnati +2 vs. Baltimore
Cleveland +6.5 vs. Pittsburgh
Oakland -3 vs. San Diego
Denver -3 vs. Kansas City
Seattle +3 at Arizona
Dallas +3 at New York Giants

Last Week:  10-6
Season:        116-115-9