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‘As for the probation and other things levied against Penn, it’s pretty lame and/or harsh, since Allen was acting for personal gain when he took money from Philip Esformes, who wanted his son Morris to play for the Quakers and attend the Wharton Business School. Penn had their program under control, and it wasn’t like they were benefiting from this; it was simply Allen taking a bribe that didn’t really tip the scales or create an unbalanced playing field.’

Er, not quite. Readers will recall UD‘s extensive, and really kind of fun, coverage of the inimitable Philip Esformes (scroll down) and his BFF, U Penn HEAD basketball coach (datz right – not coaching staff, not booster, HEAD COACH) Jerome Allen, a man who used a position of high responsibility, visibility, and salary to pretend that Esformes’ pisher was actually a Penn basketball recruit in order to get the unskilled unbright cheater into Wharton. This was a version of the Varsity Blues deal, with a $250,000 bribe going directly into the hands of the man U Penn judged ethically appropriate to run its entire basketball operation.

Lots of sports writers are okay with Allen getting thrown out of the college game (Who cares. He now has a job in professional basketball, where taking only a quarter million bribe is a mark of serious inadequacy.), but they’re all huffy cuz Penn got some penalties too. After all, they just housed a moral degenerate… and the whole bribery thing didn’t fuck up their winning average or anything, so why, God, why?

Margaret Soltan, February 29, 2020 1:08PM
Posted in: sport

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One Response to “‘As for the probation and other things levied against Penn, it’s pretty lame and/or harsh, since Allen was acting for personal gain when he took money from Philip Esformes, who wanted his son Morris to play for the Quakers and attend the Wharton Business School. Penn had their program under control, and it wasn’t like they were benefiting from this; it was simply Allen taking a bribe that didn’t really tip the scales or create an unbalanced playing field.’”

  1. JND Says:

    Roll Quakers!

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