Shocked and Persuaded

We are on the verge of finding out that one of the greatest and most disgusting coverups of all time was committed in State College, PA by none other than Joe Paterno and his minions and it will extend vertically and horizontally across the state. This is the case of a college football program ripping a page out of the playbook of The Vatican and they will come up similarly soiled. I strongly recommend everyone reading this read the Grand Jury account to see the extent of former Paterno assistant coach Jerry Sandusky’s predation. Please consider reading the account of Sandusky-Grand-Jury-Presentment and then ask yourself if – and I stress if – this was relayed to Paterno then he needs to leave his position and Penn State has so much explaining to do that it should have started decades ago. I don’t usually find myself attracted to these kinds of stories but this one speaks to the loss of innocence, sports corruption, and administrative capture in supposedly above-reproach academic institutions. There is even the possibility that a murder or permanent relocation of Centre County, PA District Attorney was linked to his failure to prosecute Mr. Sandusky at a time that no doubt would have prevent some of Sandusky’s most horrific abuses of power.

This is  sad story because you have a man in Joe Paterno that presumably for many many years lived an exemplary life only to be swallowed up by the temptations of absolute power and the image he had commendably created. He had a predator in his midst that he felt should simply be relieved of his keys and access to the locker rooms. This is vintage Catholic Church stuff but in this case you have a legacy that will be remembered for facilitating countless acts of sexual molestation by Mr. Sandusky. I found the Grand Jury PDF extremely hard to read but more importantly found myself amazed that apparently Mr. Paterno read the same thing….AND DID NOTHING!more

Mr. Paterno is probably the most important man in the history of the state of Pennsylvania and that is not an overstatement. He represented the right way to comport yourself as a coach and member of the community. Was it all a lie? Probably not but at the very least Mr. Paterno’s errors of omission proved equally perilous relative to Mr. Sandusky’s errors of commission. Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley and vice president for business and finance Gary Schultz are being charged with perjure for their failure to report what they were told by a graduate assistant coach to the appropriate authorities. Immediately upon silencing himself the aforementioned GA was promoted again and again and again. I wonder why? Looks like a duck, walks like a duck…

Sadly Penn State students continue to chant “We Want Joe” and “Joe Pa-Ter-No” in support of their beloved coach. That is fine but I hope they understand this is not a game and very serious allegations are currently being investigated with the potential to render their support of Joe Pa looking childish at best and completely insensitive to the condition of the victims at worst. I would suggest they focus on their classes and hope that all of these horrible allegations are a bad dream. Innocent until proven guilty but the trend line is heading in the wrong direction.