For decades, Paterno’s public image was the ambling, grandfatherly figure at the sideline of Penn State games. He was a throwback to a bygone era, when the [...]]]> Joe Paterno is dead, and I’d like to take this moment to ask many of you reading this to spare us the farcical tributes and forced empathy.

For decades, Paterno’s public image was the ambling, grandfatherly figure at the sideline of Penn State games. He was a throwback to a bygone era, when the sidelines were monitored without headphones and microphones and under the command of respectable old men whose scowl was maintained until the moment the final whistle blew. He became a living Saint in college sports because people wanted to believe in him and outlets like ESPN with a vested interest in maintaining myths and facades were all too eager to comply.

Then we found out he thought it was okay for little boys get raped.

Well…perhaps that’s not entirely fair. What really happened is that his pal and former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, engaged in unconscionable sexual acts with small children: molested them, raped them in showers, and not only destroyed lives but may ave created more monsters like himself. It was Sandusky that preyed on the young, the innocent, the confused, and the tearful.

Not Joe Paterno. All he did, when he was told about these awful things, was nothing. He decided that a slight inconvenience to himself and the Nittany Lions program was far too much to justify reporting a serial rapist. It’s not as if he stood watching with his hands in his pockets smiling while children as young as eleven years old and possibly younger were raped. Quite the opposite: he stood with his back to the abuse, smiling with his hands in his pockets while encouraging everyone else to look away.

Maybe he thought he did enough by passing the buck to another school administrator. And maybe if I see a building burning down with someone crying out for help from the second floor, I should just send someone an e-mail about it.

You get the point. What the guy did was awful and there’s no excusing it, nor does the good he did as the head coach of a goddamn football team undo all the awful things he allowed to happen. Unfortunately, we still have a culture that wants to forgive the transgressions of the dead out of politeness. Condemnation of the dead is seen by most as rude, disrespectful, and even sinful. Especially if they’re famous, because nobody would write such shallow and misguided tidings for Joe Pa if he drove a fucking bus for a living. Yet what I find truly distasteful is the hemming and hawing over a man who got to live a long, rich, full, and successful life despite the fact that left in his wake are an untold number of young men forever ruined by what he allowed his friend to do to children.

America is sick with Hero Worship. One of the symptoms is permission and forgiveness for all those associated with football to engage in terrible behavior and be deficient in dignity and human decency (unless it involves dogs, of course). In this case, it has made some very good people display some very strange sympathy for a man who deserves nothing of the sort from them.

Joe Paterno is dead, but do not mourn him. Mourn those that have to live with what he let happen.

There aren’t any if, ands, or buts about it. There isn’t a discussion to be had about what could have been done differently. Claiming ignorance of extent is not a valid excuse. Neither is invoking the phrase “hindsight” as a means of deflection.

Joe [...]]]>

John P. Surma, Vice President of Penn State's Board of Trustees, announces the firing of President Graham Spanier and football head coach Joe Paterno.

Penn State students and alumni siding with Joe Paterno: you’re wrong.

There aren’t any if, ands, or buts about it. There isn’t a discussion to be had about what could have been done differently. Claiming ignorance of extent is not a valid excuse. Neither is invoking the phrase “hindsight” as a means of deflection.

Joe Paterno was told, and knew, that Jerry Sandusky was abusing a child. Instead of going to the proper authorities to ensure the safety of that child and all of Sandusky’s other victims – which no matter how many have come forward there will likely be others that out of shame and scarring from the activities will opt not to revisit it – he chose instead to quell a fire that might have provided temporary discomfort to the school.

Yet, the worst case scenario would have been that the school would be under a dark cloud temporarily for the actions of one man. It would have been a distraction, but it would have been brief. Instead, Joe Paterno and others at Penn State decided it was best if they swept it under the rug as quickly and quietly as possible.

It was a bad decision from a PR and logistical standpoint, and that alone deserves firing.

But that’s neither here nor there. Because the decision was wrong on a moral and ethical level.

As I’ve written in this space before, sports figures occupy a curious space in our culture. As cynical as it becomes, athletes and coaches are easily lionized. When the reality doesn’t fit the image that has been crafted for them, fans get very upset. They feel betrayed, even if the person in question did not necessarily purport to be the very thing that we find out they weren’t.

Or, as is more often the case, they accuse everyone else of lying.

The facts are the facts, as admitted by Paterno himself to a grand jury and others: he was told Jerry Sandusky was raping a ten-year-old child. And he protected not the victim and future victims, but the offender, by not reporting it to the proper authorities. In other fields of work, and indeed in many primary and secondary schools across the country, Paterno would have been found criminally negligent as a mandated reporter of abuse. That he got away with it was only because Sandusky was craft enough to simply use Penn State as a locale, rather than a means, of securing his prey and executing the heinous acts.

Right now, as I write this, the student body at Penn State is upset because a football coach with a long and storied career was told that what he did was wrong and that he would pay the consequences of not only a bad decision, but one that endangered and ruined the lives and safety of an as yet unknown number of children as young as ten. They are angry, chanting, have set at least two fires and overturned a news truck.

But who can blame them? They are Penn State, where football is more important than anything: truth, safety, property, values, and lives.

It makes me sad to see so many so angry for all the wrong reasons. It’s my hope that “with the benefit of hindsight” they, too, will one day see their error. And to Sandusky’s victims and all victims of sexual abuse for whom their reaction is likely bringing forth some terrible feelings, please note that there are so many more of us out there that aren’t taking the streets, are on your side, and would do the right thing if someone came to us with the same information Joe Paterno had. In fact, for all the coverage the angry students are getting, there are also thousands that are holding a candlelit vigil for the victims of the abuse. Because they, like most other human beings, know that nobody, for any reason, should be allowed to endure such abuse.

Not even for the sake of football.

This Saturday, November 12th, the Penn State Nittany Lions football team will take on Nebraska in a home game at Beaver Stadium.

Don’t go.

If you haven’t been following the news the last several days, then you have been spared horrific and atrocious accounts of rampant sexual abuse of children as young as ten [...]]]>  

Joe Paterno in 2006, four years after an incident of child abuse was allegedly reported to him. Image via wikipedia.

This Saturday, November 12th, the Penn State Nittany Lions football team will take on Nebraska in a home game at Beaver Stadium.

Don’t go.

If you haven’t been following the news the last several days, then you have been spared horrific and atrocious accounts of rampant sexual abuse of children as young as ten years old at the hands of former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, who used a charity he created called “Second Mile” to prey on disadvantaged and troubled youth.

Allegations were made throughout the years that Sandusky was abusing children. In one instance, an assistant found Sandusky in the midst of a sex act with a child. He reported it to head coach Joe Paterno, who passed the buck upward through the chain.

Other than not allowing use of the facilities, nothing was done nor reported. The abuse continued.

A Grand Jury probe revealed some truly horrifying details. Sandusky, who at one time was thought to be the heir apparent to the man Penn State community members and fans affectionately called “Joe Pa,” is a monster. But just as monstrous was the response – or rather, complete lack thereof – from Penn State officials and Paterno himself. They turned a blind eye to the abuse and allowed it to continue for the sake of keeping it quiet and maintaining the quiet dignity of the football program.

Like in so many other instances on college campuses throughout the country, the right thing took a back seat to a high-profile sports program. Except this time, there is absolutely no justification.

Sandusky committed deplorable acts, but also unforgivable was the inaction of Paterno and others who were by their own admission aware that something was happening. In my mind, he and every other official that was made aware of the allegations and chose to not pursue proper channels are culpable in the abuse of these children.

The controversy has lifted a veil that sports fans have willingly adorned for decades in regards to corruption at the college level and revealed an ugly truth: that nothing but the dollar and maintenance of a public image matters to the Athletic program at Penn State.

Which is why I’m urging anybody in, around, or even remotely associated with Penn State to boycott the next home game. The pleas of assistants and passerbys did nothing, nor did the knowledge that children were being raped. Empty seats, unfortunately, are the only thing that will speak volumes to the college.

Don’t occupy Beaver Stadium. The silence and your absence will be deafening.

Related:

• Joe Paterno’s pathetic response
• Penn State officials face charges (CBS News)
• Sandusky remained presence at Penn State last week (Yahoo Sports)
• Story timeline & updates (CBS Sports)

“If true, the nature and amount of charges made are very shocking to me and all Penn Staters. While I did what I was supposed to with the one charge brought to my attention, like anyone else involved I can’t help but be deeply saddened these matters are alleged to have occurred,” [...]]]> From CNN.com:

“If true, the nature and amount of charges made are very shocking to me and all Penn Staters. While I did what I was supposed to with the one charge brought to my attention, like anyone else involved I can’t help but be deeply saddened these matters are alleged to have occurred,” Paterno said in a statement.

The legendary coach said an assistant coach told him in 2002 about an “incident in the shower of our locker room facility.”

“It was obvious that the witness was distraught over what he saw, but he at no time related to me the very specific actions contained in the Grand Jury report. Regardless, it was clear that the witness saw something inappropriate involving Mr. Sandusky. As Coach Sandusky was retired from our coaching staff at that time, I referred the matter to university administrators,” Paterno said.

So you knew there’d been abuse, but you feel okay because you didn’t know the disgusting details and passed the buck?

Fuck you.