Buzz Bissinger on PSU: ‘The Mafia Has Higher Standards'

Buzz Bissinger tells NBC Philadelphia that he believes “The Mafia has higher standards” than Penn State University officials.

The sports columnist, author, and Pulitzer-prize winning journalist is voicing his outrage about the accusations against Jerry Sandusky, the alleged lack of action by university officials -  including former head coach Joe Paterno – and the rioting by Penn State students who disagree with Paterno’s firing.

Every student rioting in favor of Paterno should be given a copy of the grand jury report and then we’ll see if they’re still chanting for “JoePa,” Bissinger told NBC Philadelphia Thursday.

• Read Grand Jury Report [WARNING: Graphic Material]

Bissinger will be talking about the child-rape scandal on NBC 10’s afternoon broadcasts along with Sports Illustrated's Jack McCallum, starting at 5 p.m. Thursday. Bissinger will be discussing much of what he touches on in his Daily Beast column “Good Riddance, Joe Paterno.”

Bissinger says that this horrifying scandal displays the “evil that major college sports programs in this country have become, equivalent to Mafia families in which the code of omerta rules.”

Except, Bissinger says, “even the Mafia has higher moral standards.”

The horror of it all, both in terms of what Sandusky allegedly did and what Penn State officials did not, can be summed up by a single sound.

It is a “rhythmic, slapping” sound, according to page 6 of the grand-jury report. It is heard by a 28-year-old football graduate assistant named Mike McQueary in the locker room of the Lasch Football Building on the Penn State Campus at 9:30 p.m. on the Friday night of March 1, 2002.