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Tom Corbett supported NCAA sanctions on Penn State in July

Governor Tom Corbett is coming after the NCAA, but he won't get to appear principled in his handling of the Jerry Sandusky mess.

Patrick Smith

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, led by Governor Tom Corbett, is suing the NCAA over its sanctions on Penn State for the Jerry Sandusky scandal. That's odd, given Corbett's words a few months ago. Audrey Snyder reports that Corbett said in July that he supported the sanctions.

Corbett in July: "Part of that corrective process is to accept the serious penalties imposed today by the NCAA on PSU."

Yeah. I'm originally from Wheeling, so Pennsylvania state politics isn't really my thing, but it's not surprising to learn this is basically a political move. The lawsuit has a point, in a way -- the NCAA is far from consistent in the way it hands out punishments, and it will be interesting to see what happens if this plays out in court, because the NCAA could find itself in trouble.

But Corbett won't exactly look principled. He was previously the Attorney General of Pennsylvania, and he organized a grand jury to investigate Sandusky in 2009. Sandusky wasn't charged until two years later, and in the meantime, Corbett approved a $3 million grant to Sandusky's Second Mile charity, even though he was well aware of much of the evidence against Sandusky.

Photographs by dizfunk used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.