NCAA communists? Just ask some Penn State fans

STATE COLLEGE, Penn. - How do you express your outrage over the NCAA’s ruling against Penn State? How about calling them a band of Communists?

That’s exactly what one off-campus store is doing near the Penn State campus.

The unlicensed shirt, designed by Smack Apparel, reads, "National Communist Athletic Association" and uses the Russian hammer and sickle to create the "C" in NCAA. The back of the shirt reads "Overstepping Their Bounds and Punishing the Innocent."

The shirts were marketed following penalties handed down from the NCAA following the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal.

Those penalties, announced in July, included: A $60-million sanction, a four-year football postseason bowl ban, the vacation of all wins dating to 1998 (ending Joe Paterno's record for wins by a head coach) and the reduction of scholarships during a four-year span.

According to sports blogger Chip Patterson, “The shirts are not university approved, and Smack Apparel has every right to sell them at non-university sponsored book stores and in their online store. (The store) is located off the Penn State campus grounds, but still in State College. “

After photos of the shirts made it online earlier this week, repeated efforts have been made to specify that the shirt and book store have no ties to the university.