Note: i finished this article around 12:30 last night, but decided not to post because PSU fans were rioting at the time. Since, Dan Wetzel has penned an eerily similar column at yahoo. Peep it here, after you finish this of course.
Last Friday November 4th here were some of the storylines for PSU football.
Scout.com Player to Watch: Devon Still
A QB Controversy
The season-long narrative was filled with the typical Joe Paterno talk of retirement, how much is he actually coaching the team, etc. Then late Friday, the Altoona Mirror amongst other media outlets broke the Jerry Sandusky Story. Last night, Joe Paterno after sixty-one years and five tumultous days Joe Paterno was fired.
The things that always hurt the most in life are the ones you don't see coming. When people die in accidents, friends lose a baby they were getting ready to meet, the truly unexpected. Joe Paterno was a man who won in an exemplary fashion at Penn State, donated millions to both Penn State and the Special Olympics and coached over 1500 men at Penn State. He has done good works for the people of his community and the community of College Football. No one would have expected that ole Joe could have turned a blind-eye to what Sandusky was up to.
Yet, it's become increasingly apparent that's what's happened here. The Grand Jury Report indicates Paterno was notified explicitly of the situation and reported it to his superiors. Legally, he appears to have covered his ass, but in the court of public opinion that doesn't mean squat. He didn't follow-up, he didn't do anything and Jerry Sandusky was working out on campus as recently as last week. Joe didn't do enough and neither did any of the other key decision makers at Penn State and for that they had to go. As they should.
Tonight the mob got it's justice and the key decision makers at Penn State have been removed except maybe Curley, but he'll get fired too. There will be other firings as time goes by and more details come out, more victims will come forward. The magnitude of awful attached to this story might not grow more, it might grow a lot more, we don't know.
A college buddy of mine was attending Virginia Tech when those shootings happened a few years ago. I had e-mailed to see if he was ok and luckily he was, but he had acquaintances who were killed that day. Within two days, he wrote that the only thing that would let that community heal is for them to be left alone. This is true at Penn State as well.
The mob justice has been served. It's time for the national focus to leave Penn State be so they can start focusing on the people who really matter in this: the victims. There are a number of children who will need lots of care and love in the next few months as their very intensely private matters become very public. As people living 500 miles away there's not much we can do for those victims, but perhaps we can all become a bit more vigilant in our neighborhoods.
It's time for us non Penn Staters to leave so the community can start putting itself back together and trusting each other again. When your Big Ten brethren see you on the field again, we'll be ready for a tough game of football. Hell, we might even commit some unsportsmanlike conduct penalties so you don't feel left out. Take your time, we'll be here for you.
Showing posts with label Joe Paterno. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joe Paterno. Show all posts
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
PSU: The Opinion Post I've Tried Not To Write
I've tried for 48 hours not to write this post, but it's getting to the point now where I feel like I have to. It's bothering me not to write this post. It should be noted though as an MSU blogger I have no stake in the matter or relevance for that matter. Just a guy with a browser tab and an opinion.
The story coming out of Penn State over the weekend is sad and terrible. You can read about them on the front page of CNN. The short version is that Jerry Sandusky, Joe Paterno's Defensive Coordinator of 23 years, sexually assaulted eight boys between 1994-2009. After this was reported to Athletic Director Timothy Curley and Gary Schultz the School's VP of Finance and Dodge Stratus Driving in 2002. Both men resigned their positions last night.
If true, this is the single worst cover-up that we know of in NCAA Football history. I worry that there is too much hyperbole in the previous sentence, I also worry there is not enough. In a cursory search of the googles all the worst penalties have been applied to players getting paid, given free drugs, too many hookers, etc. All of those things are different, they involve grown people making choices to accept said money, drugs or professional services. The actions of Jerry Sandusky if true deserve the most stringent criminal punishment. I'm a parent and so are many people who read this, to do what he is accused of is unthinkable.
A great man once said "Losing a game is heartbreaking. Losing your sense of excellence or worth is a tragedy.", that man's name was Joe Paterno. I love Joe Paterno, he's not just the face of Penn State, he might well be the face of the whole Big Ten. "COME TO PENN STAAAAAAAAAAAATE" gets yelled in my house on a monthly basis. He became the winningest coach in NCAA history just a couple of weeks ago and it couldn't have happened to a more outwardly deserving man. As a person he's one of the most generous coaches in the NCAA. He takes a low salary and donates a significant portion back to the school in the form of academic scholarships annually. As a casual Penn State fan, I'm sure that he participates in many more charitable endeavors.
That's why it kills me to write that if these allegations are true, he has to go. A person might not be able to prove whether he knew anything about this or not, for my own part I simply cannot believe you could work with someone for 23 years and not know about this. Joe Paterno is nobody's fool and certainly not the fool of a member of his inner circle. I honestly hope he could leave without having his legacy forever stained, but I doubt it. If Jim Tressel gets fired for lying about his players taking money, weed and cars, Joe Paterno has to go for this. I hate writing that sentence, but it's true.
As a football program, I don't know how PSU survives this. If this happened at Michigan State, I don't think I could root for MSU in any sort of financially supportive way ever again. I'd be upset that this happened at MSU, but only because it happened anywhere. A certain percentage of the population are pederasts, it's disgusting but true, and Penn State happened to draw the short straw on having this college coach be one at their school. What would set it over the top for me is that there was an active effort to prevent that information getting out into the community. That school would lose my trust permanently.
Finally, if these allegations are true, PSU needs to have NCAA punishments applied that are as harsh as any I can recall in my lifetime. I cannot think of a punishment that fits the crime right now, mostly because I cannot wrap my head around the alleged crime at this point. But the point is this, people who are critical decision-makers at Penn State allegedly covered this story up to protect the Penn State football program. The penalty for this needs to be so harsh that no other institution would ever consider doing the same. It's terrible that it happened, it's unforgivable that it was covered up.
The story coming out of Penn State over the weekend is sad and terrible. You can read about them on the front page of CNN. The short version is that Jerry Sandusky, Joe Paterno's Defensive Coordinator of 23 years, sexually assaulted eight boys between 1994-2009. After this was reported to Athletic Director Timothy Curley and Gary Schultz the School's VP of Finance and Dodge Stratus Driving in 2002. Both men resigned their positions last night.
Curley and Schultz "allegedly failed to report the sexual assault of a young boy after the information was brought to their attention, and later made false statements to a grand jury that was investigating a series of assaults on young boys," Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly said over the weekend.
If true, this is the single worst cover-up that we know of in NCAA Football history. I worry that there is too much hyperbole in the previous sentence, I also worry there is not enough. In a cursory search of the googles all the worst penalties have been applied to players getting paid, given free drugs, too many hookers, etc. All of those things are different, they involve grown people making choices to accept said money, drugs or professional services. The actions of Jerry Sandusky if true deserve the most stringent criminal punishment. I'm a parent and so are many people who read this, to do what he is accused of is unthinkable.
A great man once said "Losing a game is heartbreaking. Losing your sense of excellence or worth is a tragedy.", that man's name was Joe Paterno. I love Joe Paterno, he's not just the face of Penn State, he might well be the face of the whole Big Ten. "COME TO PENN STAAAAAAAAAAAATE" gets yelled in my house on a monthly basis. He became the winningest coach in NCAA history just a couple of weeks ago and it couldn't have happened to a more outwardly deserving man. As a person he's one of the most generous coaches in the NCAA. He takes a low salary and donates a significant portion back to the school in the form of academic scholarships annually. As a casual Penn State fan, I'm sure that he participates in many more charitable endeavors.
That's why it kills me to write that if these allegations are true, he has to go. A person might not be able to prove whether he knew anything about this or not, for my own part I simply cannot believe you could work with someone for 23 years and not know about this. Joe Paterno is nobody's fool and certainly not the fool of a member of his inner circle. I honestly hope he could leave without having his legacy forever stained, but I doubt it. If Jim Tressel gets fired for lying about his players taking money, weed and cars, Joe Paterno has to go for this. I hate writing that sentence, but it's true.
As a football program, I don't know how PSU survives this. If this happened at Michigan State, I don't think I could root for MSU in any sort of financially supportive way ever again. I'd be upset that this happened at MSU, but only because it happened anywhere. A certain percentage of the population are pederasts, it's disgusting but true, and Penn State happened to draw the short straw on having this college coach be one at their school. What would set it over the top for me is that there was an active effort to prevent that information getting out into the community. That school would lose my trust permanently.
Finally, if these allegations are true, PSU needs to have NCAA punishments applied that are as harsh as any I can recall in my lifetime. I cannot think of a punishment that fits the crime right now, mostly because I cannot wrap my head around the alleged crime at this point. But the point is this, people who are critical decision-makers at Penn State allegedly covered this story up to protect the Penn State football program. The penalty for this needs to be so harsh that no other institution would ever consider doing the same. It's terrible that it happened, it's unforgivable that it was covered up.
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