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Extreme emotions drive people to pursue extreme action. In the wake of former Penn State football coordinator Jerry Sandusky’s 45-count child molestation conviction, in the wake of former FBI director Louise Freeh’s reporting that university officials consistently neglected to intervene in Sandusky’s raping of young boys for a decade and half, many public figures have been driven by extreme emotion to call for the Penn State program to receive the “death penalty” by NCAA. As the governing body for major college athletics, the NCAA concerns itself with policing the proper recruitment of college players, the legitimate management of athletic departments, and the formal organization of competitions. Rarely do they punish school officials or even student athletes for criminal behavior. But many, like ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith and our own editor-in-chief, have suggested that, if the NCAA really cares about integrity, discipline and morality, it will drop the hammer. That is, …