Penn State Scandal: Franco Harris confronts NCAA president at speech in L.A.

Former Penn State running back Franco Harris has the microphone taken away as he tries to ask questions during a public question and answer session before the Penn State Board of Trustees on Sept. 14.

(PhatzRadio / USA Today) —- NCAA president Mark Emmert was in Los Angeles Wednesday morning to give a speech on amateurism and academics in college sports at the city’s Chamber of Commerce. If you’re familiar with recent events, you won’t be surprised to hear that former Penn State running back Franco Harris and documentarian John Ziegler were right on Emmert’s heels.

Harris has been one of the most outspoken critics of the sanctions the NCAA levied upon Penn State in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal – a $60 million fine, for starters, as well as a four-year postseason ban. Ziegler, who is working on a documentary about how the university treated former coach Joe Paterno, was on hand to film the meeting.

Depending on who’s telling the story, the inevitable head-to-head between Emmert and Harris – and you knew it was coming – went one of two ways.

According to Ziegler, Harris “confronted” Emmert, police were called and Emmert “ran away.” Via his Twitter account, Ziegler writes:

“Just dropped Harris off at LAX after we confronted NCAA Pres about PSU sanctions. Police were called & Emmert ran away out back door.”

Cut and dry: Harris spoke, police were called, Emmert ran.

The NCAA is painting a slightly different picture of what occurred on Wednesday, however.
According to Bob Williams, the vice president of communications for the NCAA, Ziegler was told upon arriving at the Chamber of Commerce that he would not be able use his camera inside the event.

After concluding his speech, Emmert conducted a question-and-answer session with the audience. Emmert called on Harris, who made a statement about Penn State and the NCAA’s penalties and asked for Emmert’s reaction.

“I guess we can agree to disagree,” Emmert replied, according to Williams.

While this back-and-forth was going on, said Williams, Ziegler pulled out his cell phone to record Emmert. A woman at the meeting told Ziegler to stop, since recording was not allowed at the event, but Ziegler refused.

“He wouldn’t stop,” Williams said, “and the police were called.” At the conclusion of the event, Emmert and Williams “walked out the same door we entered. The car was downstairs in the garage.”
If nothing else, the dual accounts of what occurred Wednesday serve as a reminder that there are two sides to every story. (It might also serve as a reminder that it’s very difficult to include every detail of a story in 140 characters or less.)

Afterwards, Ziegler and Harris held their own Q&A on the steps of the Chamber of Commerce. “I really wasn’t happy with his answer at all,” Harris says in the video. “He didn’t answer it, how he found Joe Paterno guilty when Jerry Sandusky, in those two time-frame instances, was found not guilty.”

Philip Liquori

Penn State Scandal: Franco Harris confronts NCAA president at speech in L.A. is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

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